At least allow us to exist
I RECENTLY wrote an article for the Seattle homeless newspaper Real Change about the death of Phil Carrasco, a formerly homeless veteran who committed suicide following his release from the Veterans Administration hospital here.
Readers can learn more about Carrasco at the link above, but I wanted to share part of an interview I conducted that didn't make it into that article due to space constraints.
A friend of his, Gregory Connell, described a time when he was working security shift at a tent city on a cold winter night and Carrasco showed up looking for shelter. As Connell remembered:
People told me you can't let him in, he's too drunk. But it was 14 degrees out. Wind was howling, snow was blowing. I said I have to let him in, I've got to, because if I don't, he's going to die. It was against the rules, but I got away with it because of the circumstances.
He never forgot that. It was like a year later, I was homeless. I was sleeping in the woods, and it was cold, and it was wet. He says, "Hey Greg, I got a little something for you here." He took me to a place where he was staying. It was a squat, but it was a nice one. It had plumbing, heat, everything. For nine months, through the entire winter, he saved me. Because he didn't forget.
But he probably would have done it anyway, regardless of what I did, because that's just the way he was. If he sees anybody who's ever in any kind of need or any kind of trouble on the streets, he would give them a sleeping bag. I've seen him do it. Give them a sleeping bag, help them find a warm place. He did that all the time, and that's the truth. That's why everybody cared about him. That was Phil Carrasco.
This story once again reminded me of the immense generosity among people who literally have nothing--and the cruelty of those who have far more than enough, but refuse to help those in need.
In fact, it has been consistently documented that the poorer a person, the more they give to charity, proportionate to their income. One study by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University found that those making less than $100,000 a year actually gave more in absolute dollars than those who made over $1 million.
The same pattern can be found in the case of health-care reform. Right-wing scare tactics notwithstanding, a large majority of Americans think that everyone should have health care--even if it means paying more taxes. Americans actually aren't as tax-averse as one would think. If their money were going to schools, libraries or a whole host of other social programs, majorities of Americans are all for paying taxes.
Instead, our tax money is being given hand-over-fist to a minority of wealthy bankers, who in turn use it to buy politicians in order to ensure that they don't have to give even a tiny bit of their riches back to those in need. As SocialistWorker.org has documented in so many ways, even a small portion of the bailout money or the lavish executive bonuses being doled out right now could alleviate so much misery overnight.
Gregory Connell would be satisfied with simply being left alone. He's been repeatedly hassled by the police for sleeping outside. "The city should allow places like Nickelsville," he said, referring to a local homeless encampment, which is being evicted at the end of this month for the eighth time in its year of existence. He added:
At least, I think they should set aside some space. King County's going to be closing 36 parks or something I read in the paper today. What else can you do with that park? There are a lot of homeless. They need to live somewhere. Allow places where we can go to exist as human beings, safely. Without having to worry about am I going to make it through the night without some kind of trouble. Just allow people to live peacefully. At least allow us to exist.
Leela Yellesetty, Seattle
