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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2009)
10 NATIONAL to th a t I had told them that I was gay, and communities will be overcome. The stories them being older and from a generation yoir’11 hear as part of the (Vocalo) project where homosexuality wasn’t tolerated, they don’t sound like normal news stories. They group. “Homeless youth are often invisible gave me $40 and told me to have a good life. are not editorialized at all, I’d like to show to policy makers and to the public. One of So that’s what4 did.” journalists and other people who make the many survival strategies that homeless “At that time I decided that I was going to media that it is a lot more compelling to youth utilize is to ‘blend in.’ SO the public hear people tell their own story in their own do every activity that I never could before, will not see most homeless youths so I joined every school club available. I downtown panhandling (or ‘spanging,’ as the authentic voice.” used to sleep in the school dugout at my On June 9, the 24 gathered youths of youth call it), holding a sign that says, ‘Will HELLO shared their stories and work for food.’ Homeless youths are far less experiences with Streetwise. ? vulnerable to predators when they look like One girl said, “The first time that I " I was In my junior year of ' any other youths walking down the street. became homeless I was 13 ... My “Just like any other youth, most take high school and I had lived homelessness was a choice. My family is pride in their appearances and express with my annt and uncle prior Nigerian and Puerto Rican, and in my family, themselves via a personal style, so they girls are-worthless even though we aré the to that. X had told them that I don’t |ook like the homeless stereotype. Also, just like other youth, they tend to hang breadwinners. I was the black sheep in my was gay, and them being out in groups,” Holcomb said. “Relationships family and I wasn’t going to go along with older and from a generation that. Me being a lesbian was definitely on the street can become very intense and where homosexuality wasn't something I had to battle ... my family serve as both substitute families and [about]. When I was 13, my brother, who tolerated, they gave me $ 4 0 bodyguards (I would compare thia to the ; was 16 at the time,left, so I thought that bonding with one another that many- , and told me to have a good there was rto point in me being (there soldiers experience while uhder fire). life. So that's what I did." either). So I gathered up my chump change Sarah Lu of Vocqjo.org has been working — ■ a little over two bills — and I got on the with HELLO over the past few months. Her b u s.... I had a lot of friends, so I had people goal w asto record the youths’ stories on high school Until I got caught. Sometimes I certain topics, such as their expérience with to turn to. I graduated high school even . though I went through all that out on the had to sit in the office because I smelled police abuse, lack of shelters, employment really bad, but I still graduated 10th in my barriers (and how they acquire money whefr streets. Lstill went to prom, I still went to homecoming.” class. So, I came up north where there are they can’t find a job), educational barriers, Another girl shared her story: “The first homeless youth programs, and now I’m back etc. She hopes to edit .these stories and time that I became homeless, I was 17 and in school utilizing the programs ... I’m send them to lawmakers to make them it was my senior year of high school. . I The studying nursing. I’m still homeless and aware of the homeless youth community’s • reason why I became homeless waS that my staying in a shelter, h ut I ’m making it ,r issues. mother passed away from a brain aneurysm. happen.” “The idea behind the project is pretty I hopped between several different family “It’s hard to go day-to-day,” said one simple: we believe that storytelling is members and friends, but no one wanted to young man who grew up in gangs on the powerful. We want to create a space for deal with my grieving and acting out. So I West Side, and who talked about his life as if street-based youth to share their thought I would take on the world myself. I . it was loosely held together with duct tape. experiences and insights with each other, guess I was happy that I had the motivation “I don’t have financial etiquette.; We don’t and we want the community at large to and pride to graduate despite everything. It have any clue about how to be responsible recognize their experiences and insights. was the most crucial time in my life. It’s | with m oney... Even if you have a little “I hope that the problem of ignorance hard — you barely get any sleep; It helps , that money you’re stuck in the middle between about the lack of resources for homeless YOUTHS, from page 9 Ig U t h a t t h e p r o b le m o i m e d ia e d ito r ia liz in g t h e experiences, of street-based folks, of youth, of people of color, and of LGBTQ people in a way that is not accountable to these kicked , out of his home for being gay. “I was in my junior year of high school and I had lived with my aunt and uncle prior .“it’slike people coming out of prison — they’re stuck trying to decide whether to keep doing what they were doing or try and make it right. There’s no one to show you how to make the step-by-step to put it all together and make it all the way. The system is incomplete. Right now I don’t have the luxury of bettering m yself... I’m trying g not to become homeless again ... I had a job for two years, but I was laid off because of the economy. I wouldn’t have had a job if it ; weren’t for programs like this — they sent off for my ID. They sent off for my birth certificate. They helped me get my sanitation license. It helps keep your hopes up, and now I’ve had a place (to live) for three years,” The youths of HELLO are emotionally sensitive, displaying a mix of street smarts and vulnerability. Rather than focusing exclusively on their own problems, many are concerned about the well-being of their fellow citizens and the state of our nation as a whole. -And instead of dwelling on personal pain, discussion at HELLO is focused on voting, advocacy walks,, démonstrating, and meeting with other members of their unmoored community. One has plansfor a, master’s degree after she finishes at Columbia College*, Several are pursuing their GEDs, and the majority. , of the rest have some so rt of continued education in their goals for the future. Some youths just want to learn a trade like carpentry o r auto mechanics, while others want to be forensic scientists, firemen, caseworkers for the LGBT community, graphic designers, paralegals, chefs, or dancers. One youth declared, “People always say that ‘young people are the future,’ but why can’t they hélp us out when we and the programs we utilize are suffering?” Another youth said, “Cops see us every day, but people don’t. Invisible nothing. People make me sick, because they sayA ey want ito helm but Be one óf üs for á day.” , Reprinted from nam e of Streetwise, Chicago © Street News Service: www.street-papers.org qreeni& hom e by GcoTeeh save energy • save money • save Che plgnec K g Trade Aliy of EnergyTrust o f Oregon, Inc. 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