mekka okereke :verified: on Nostr: Sometimes when I talk to homeless people in the Bay Area, I ask them how they became ...
Sometimes when I talk to homeless people in the Bay Area, I ask them how they became homeless.
Sometimes, they say that they lost their homes in a wildfire.
More painful than seeing people lose their homes in a forest fire, is watching them lose their humanity, as our empathy for them evaporates.
https://www.redding.com/story/news/2019/06/11/annual-count-helps-identify-some-origins-homelessness/1409772001/
In the immediate days after someone loses their home in a wildfire, our talk is full of empathy.
But as days turn to weeks and months, we stop caring *why* someone doesn't have a home, and only care *that* they don't have a home.
We start planning to throw away their remaining possessions.
https://www.calhealthreport.org/2022/08/03/as-wildfires-grow-so-does-californias-housing-and-homelessness-crisis-here-are-some-solutions/
Homeless people aren't different people than us. They are us.
Many homeless people just experienced a sequence of unfortunate events that led them to this place.
"No! They're drug addicts! They did this to themselves!"🤡
Again, ask people with addiction how they became addicted.
They'll tell you
https://www.sfcityattorney.org/2023/05/17/san-francisco-city-attorney-announces-230-million-settlement-with-walgreens-after-victory-in-opioid-litigation/
There's a pervasive myth that people still believe about California homeless: that homeless people "come to California for the weather."
That's a lie that fortunate people 🙋🏿♂️ tell ourselves.
California homeless are almost all California residents (90%) who just had a bunch of bad luck in a row.
https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/our-impact/studies/california-statewide-study-people-experiencing-homelessness
Anyway, I skipped the "burrito taxi" discourse, AKA the meal delivery discourse.
Because if tomorrow you lost your home and your job to wildfire, and only had your car and a few hastily gathered possessions, and you needed to earn some money?
Your car would become a burrito taxi too.
I don't care if you know how to cook food for yourself for cheap, or if you treat yourself by having burritos delivered to your house.
I care that we live in a country so cruel, that some people deliver food in the cars that they live in, while those receiving the food don't even know or care.
Sometimes, they say that they lost their homes in a wildfire.
More painful than seeing people lose their homes in a forest fire, is watching them lose their humanity, as our empathy for them evaporates.
https://www.redding.com/story/news/2019/06/11/annual-count-helps-identify-some-origins-homelessness/1409772001/
In the immediate days after someone loses their home in a wildfire, our talk is full of empathy.
But as days turn to weeks and months, we stop caring *why* someone doesn't have a home, and only care *that* they don't have a home.
We start planning to throw away their remaining possessions.
https://www.calhealthreport.org/2022/08/03/as-wildfires-grow-so-does-californias-housing-and-homelessness-crisis-here-are-some-solutions/
Homeless people aren't different people than us. They are us.
Many homeless people just experienced a sequence of unfortunate events that led them to this place.
"No! They're drug addicts! They did this to themselves!"🤡
Again, ask people with addiction how they became addicted.
They'll tell you
https://www.sfcityattorney.org/2023/05/17/san-francisco-city-attorney-announces-230-million-settlement-with-walgreens-after-victory-in-opioid-litigation/
There's a pervasive myth that people still believe about California homeless: that homeless people "come to California for the weather."
That's a lie that fortunate people 🙋🏿♂️ tell ourselves.
California homeless are almost all California residents (90%) who just had a bunch of bad luck in a row.
https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/our-impact/studies/california-statewide-study-people-experiencing-homelessness
Anyway, I skipped the "burrito taxi" discourse, AKA the meal delivery discourse.
Because if tomorrow you lost your home and your job to wildfire, and only had your car and a few hastily gathered possessions, and you needed to earn some money?
Your car would become a burrito taxi too.
I don't care if you know how to cook food for yourself for cheap, or if you treat yourself by having burritos delivered to your house.
I care that we live in a country so cruel, that some people deliver food in the cars that they live in, while those receiving the food don't even know or care.