[Noisebridge-discuss] Homeless in NB

[hep]

When I spent years as a homeless teen with a baby I was never kicked out of
anywhere. This is because I was vigilant about presenting myself as
non-homeless. Exchange your beat up backpack for a softsided suitcase, and
wear a suitjacket over your outfit and you will just be another
dot.combusiness man in town from SFO. You can get a suit jacket for $3
from the
Good Will on Van Ness and Mission from the rack on the left side. They
usually have a stack of suitcases going for anywhere from $5-15.

Please do not compare yourself to the plight of minorities in this country
as a homeless person. This is not because you do not choose whether to be
homeless or not, but because time and again it has been proven that a
homeless person when put in other clothing becomes just another person.
Class is easy to change the appearance of. Minorities are unable to just
change their appearance to become "accepted", as has been proven time and
again when police harass or illegally arrest minorities who are in their
natural places, just the cops assume they don't belong there. Whether it is
black people in the wealthy part of town, mexicans in nice cars, native
americans in the casinos they own, etc etc. This is further evidenced by
the overwhelming number of homeless people who manage to put their lives
back together, break out of being homeless, and are not penalized for the
rest of their lives as homeless, because homeless is not a permanent
visible reminder of lowered status, or assumed lowered status, that is
unable to ever be removed. Please especially do not compare yourself to the
plight of minorities using racial slurs which reinforce the divide between
homeless people and minorities as a class level that can be changed, versus
a permanent visible  prejudice that can never be overcome. And please
remember that one of the reasons homeless people are so reviled is that
most people assume homeless people, especially homeless minorities, put
themselves in that position purposely in order to bilk the system, again
reinforcing this countries racist viewpoints of those it considers lesser.
Not even a year ago we went through a whole thing with a woman who painted
the entire homeless population of SF as african americans leeching off the
system, and qualified this stupid opinion by using her position in the
social services sector of San Francisco to validate her racist viewpoints.

So again: I am sorry that you are experiencing prejudiced based on the
things people assume about you. But please do not compare your experiences
of prejudice that are easily changed, to a systematic racial system that
permanently impacts minorities of all class levels for the last 200yr in
this country and perpetuates a system of abuse that still oppresses
minority cultures of all kinds.

Thanks,
Hep



On Sat, Jul 6, 2013 at 9:57 AM, Danny Dismal <dannydsml at gmail.com> wrote:

> Umm they can see out the window at our bikes and gear which is a little
> more than your average bike tourist. It wasn't even in the coffee shop. All
> we had was our laptops and the coffee we ordered no more or less than most
> of the other customers. And where do you get off saying we choose to live
> this way. You think it's okay to spit on and look down at a class of people
> by justifying why they are there as if you knew. Just like the racist know
> that all those black men are bad right?
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 6, 2013 at 12:44 AM, Jake <jake at spaz.org> wrote:
>
>> Really?  thrown out of a coffee shop just because you're homeless?
>>
>> HOW DID THEY KNOW?  they must have read your mind.
>>
>> If they could tell you're homeless maybe it's because something about you
>> was disrupting the place from doing what it was meant to do.  For example,
>> if people are in a place to enjoy food and coffee and someone smells really
>> bad, that person might be asked to leave rather than everyone else stop
>> enjoying their meals and being disgusted.
>>
>> If a cafe was trying to provide space for people to socialize and work on
>> their laptops or whatever, and someone has all their property spread out
>> all around them and is taking up too much space, they might be asked to
>> leave.  Especially if they're not participating in buying anything (which
>> is how they pay the rent on the place).
>>
>> For you to compare your "suffering" to that of african americans of the
>> 19th century is obscene.  You need to quit whining and get some
>> perspective.  I am assuming you are a healthy young person who could easily
>> get a job and afford an apartment.  You could also find a home by
>> squatting, which takes a bit of WORK if you want it to last a while.
>>
>> If you choose (and it is a choice) not to do these things, own up to the
>> consequences and accept that other people the right to not support you if
>> they don't want to.
>>
>> And if you want to use the N-word that way you can get the FUCK off our
>> mailing list and go do it somewhere else.
>>
>> -jake
>>
>>
>> Danny Dismal wrote:
>>
>> I was just thinking to myself after getting thrown out of a coffee shop
>> for no other reason than I'm homeless...
>> I thought just what that meant and how it reflected on our history in this
>> nation and realized one thing and I do mean it is really happening.
>> The homeless are the new Niggers of the 21st Century. We are scorned and
>> pushed out. People walk across the street to avoid us and we are
>> constantly
>> being asked to move, wake up and getting robbed, beaten and in some cases
>> killed where no one bothers to find out why.
>> Now's the time to look at your feelings on this and ask yourself "how do
>> the homeless make you feel"?
>>
>>
>
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-- 
hep
hepic photography || www.hepic.net
    dis at gruntle.org || 415 867 9472
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