Getting "Ready" for the Academy Awards

(an excerpt of Tyler's recent blog, to read the complete article, view www.tamostul.wordpress.com)

I now work at a shelter in Hollywood, which is still a part of PATH just a different location.  There are two main functions that go on here.  Outreach and case management.  Outreach is where we go out onto the streets of mainly West Hollywood (which is the really nice area and its weird to see people suffering there), and talk to those who are living outside.  We ask them how they are doing, ask them if they would potentially be interested in shelter, and give them socks and a sack lunch.  Once someone chooses to come into shelter, or expresses an interest in housing, case management begins to help them get there.

At this point, I have been mainly just learning how things work.  I don’t have any direct responsibilities that are mine yet, other than to help out where needed and try to learn as much as possible.  Earlier this week, I went with the LAPD as they did a “sweep” through Hollywood, basically kicking all of the people who they deem not presentable out of the area because the Oscars and other award shows are coming up and the streets have to look nice.

My co-workers had been telling me about these sweeps that happened once in awhile.  Apparently, every year around this time before the Oscars the police tell all the people living on the streets to leave, they run their information and arrest them if they can find a reason to.  The police want PATH to be there to offer people services and shelter if they want it. 

I went with two of my colleagues to join the police.  We called and they told us where they were.  When we got there about 6 cops were surrounding two men, one was in handcuffs.  The cops told us to talk to the man that wasn’t in handcuffs.  He was either high on Meth, or needing to be I am not experienced enough to tell the difference.  He wouldn’t look at us when we were talking to him, and you could barely hear him when he spoke.  He was definitely not interested in services.  The cops then told us to talk to the man in cuffs.  They took off his cuffs when we spoke to him but made him keep his hands on his head.  His pants were around his ankles, because they didn’t fit.  We will call him Dave.  Dave smelled and needed a shower and something to eat, so he came with us.  I am not sure why he was originally in handcuffs, but he was now with us sitting in front of me in the van.  His choice to come with us possibly saved him from going to jail.

We then followed the police car to the next spot.  I also need to mention that with the police was a full blown garbage truck and a 5 man “Hollywood Beautification Team.”  We pulled up to an encampment where at least one person called home.  Nobody was there.  There was a lot of stuff at this encampment, whoever’s home this was had obviously been there awhile.  I then watched as the cops ordered the dumpster lowered, and the “Hollywood Beautification Team” which was mostly high school students thinking they were doing something awesome in preparation for the Oscar’s, proceeded to throw away everything.  Treating a person’s belongings as if they were worth nothing. 

As I was observing this horror, I saw a man with a dog walking down the street.  As he got closer, I realized that this was the man whose home and possessions were being thrown away at about the same time that he realized what was happening.  I was too far away to hear exactly what was said as he began yelling and flailing his arms.  I saw the cops point and tell him to go to the opposite sidewalk.  He then sat on the curb and started crying recognizing that all of his possessions were just thrown away by the police and there was nothing he could do about it.  As the man was crying, I couldn’t help but notice a woman who lived in the apartment complex across from this man’s now destroyed home and stolen possessions rejoicing and thanking the police for what they had done.  She no longer would have to worry about the eyesore, and the man would be forced to leave her direct view and be homeless somewhere else. 

 

I was very overwhelmed by this experience.  I have never seen such blatant discrimination and dehumanization take place.  Hearing about things like this, and actually seeing it occur are two very different things.  The reason this was happening was so that the high profile actors and actresses, media, and the world wouldn’t have to see the poverty and hopelessness that exists in Hollywood.

I understand people not wanting to see poverty and people living on the streets, I wish I didn’t have to either.  We should be disturbed when we see people living in poverty, I wish there was no such thing as poverty and homelessness.  However, the reality is that hundreds of people in Hollywood have nowhere else to go.  When we complain about this, or the state makes people at least temporarily move from sight we are not asking why this person is living on the streets or helping him change that reality.  We are simply wanting them to go live on somebody else’s streets so we don’t have to see them.

May we recognize that events like the Oscars and the gentrification of our cities mean displacement and violence against the poor.  May our lives seek to liberate the oppressed, instead of celebrating and enjoying the accomplishments of the oppressors.  May we begin to spend money and resources on things that bring life and not death.  May our disgust for poverty lead us to compassion and change; not hatred, judgement, or worse, nothing.