15
Street roots
Jan. 7, 2011
EDITORIAL
Homes, not bullets,
end the violence
henever I see thé police kill another homeless
person,, my heart cries out and I shed a tear.
When is enough, enough? These people are
just housing challenged. Who knows what their
background may be or their chances at success in
life?” Thank Gôd I am clean and sober and now have
the ability to live inside. It could have been me.”
These are the words posted this week on Street
Roots’ Facebook page by former vendor Justin Dalby, a
20-something street youth who had spent most of his.
life in and out of prison and institutions.
This is the same Justin
Dalby who a year ago was
Justin's story matters
living on the streets and
because he was able to
was getting into fights and
transcend
experiencing the harsh *
homelessness and find
realities of homelessness.
stable housing and
In fact, police officers
personal stability,
had dropped by SR on
unlike so many of the
one occasion to tell us
individuals who
that Justin was too
experienced the cruelty
aggressive and that if we
we have come to know
didn’t find a way to calm
as homelessness.
him down, they would
have to bring him in. On
another occasion, the police had to subdue Justin and
his pit bull in front of the SR office.
We told the police that we believed Justin could go
either way, and we weren’t ready to give up on him. SR
has seen far too many individuals on the streets like
Justin who have lived a violent and tortured past -
people who are trying to find stability in a world that
_has been shattered from the start. There is no logic
and sometimes no place to turn for the resources
needed.
Fortunately, Justin never gave up on himself. Today;
he is in stable housing and working 40 hours a week at
a local gas station. H e has been sober for more than a
year.
What does Justin’s story have to do with the recent
shooting of a homeless individual who died of gunshot
wounds, or the homeless individuals who were beaten
by gang members last week, or the individual who
froze to death during thé cold spell? Justin’s story
matters because he was able to transcend
homelessness and find stable housing and personal
stability, unlike so many of the individuals who
experienced the cruelty we have come to know as
homelessness.
Despite years of public outrage and talk of improving
trust, people experiencing poverty - many times
dealing with a mental health issues - continue to be -
shot by police officers. Knowing first hand the violence
that exists on the streets, we also know there has to be
another way.
We also recognize that the police are working a
tough beat and have recently worked to apprehend the
individuals who assaulted two homeless people, arid
dealt with the realities of finding an individual who
froze to death. It all equals trauma - trauma for the |
community and trauma for the police officers involved.
And thousands of people experience that trauma night
in arid night out on Portland’s streets. The simple
answer to this trauma is housing and stability.
Like Justin, and the countless souls that have found a
productive and meaningful life beyond the streets,
there is hope. For the ones that have died on the
streets needlessly, and there are many, we have to do
better. And that means housing should be the highest
priority for our city. People’s lives are depending on it.
W
An amazing year behind us, and ahead
t has been a breakthrough year for
Street Roots. With your support of
vendors and the organization we have
been able to do some amazing things in
2010.
We wanted to stop and say thank you for
making this happen. We
are now better
positioned to start
DIRECTOR'S the New Year where
we left off — creating
D E SK
real change in our
community.
By Israel Bayer
Each day, people-
like you help
individuals
l B ayer is the executive
' o f S treet Roots an d
experiencing homelessness and poverty
the chairm an o f the North
gain a hand-up and build relationships
Am erican Street N ewspaper
Association. You can reach
through tiie sales of the newspaper. Your
him a t streetroots@hotmail.
support has meant more than 400 people
com.
gained immediate income and were able to
improve their quality of life.
. You helped SR produce some of the best
journalism, commentaries, poetry and
artwork in the city. Our investigative
reporting revealed a nation-wide movement
to dismantle the Catholic Campaign For
Human Development, which gives millions .
of dollars to community organizations in the
U.S. (SR was cut from the grant process, a
$10,000 annual income for the .organization,
for refusing to remove Planned Parenthood
from our resource guide.) We brought you -
I
in-depth news stories on harm-reduction
models, the sex and drug trades, and
profiled some of the smartest minds and
organizations in our city. We introduced
commentaries from a police officer, a gay
man living on the streets, and columns from
leading local and national advocates and
experts on homelessness and affordable
housing.
We published 60,000 Rose City Resource
guides that were distributed by more than
150 community organizations and
institutions.
Our advocacy efforts produced a larger
conversation about a local housing levy,
while creating an important dialogue about
health and homelessness. Our targeted
campaign to have the medical examiner
begin to count individuals on the streets
who pass away was successful. In January of
2012, our region will better understand how
many people are dying, and why — helping
create a broader conversation about
targeted resources for our community.
Together, we are in many ways like the
little train that could. And with supporters
like you, we will continue up the mountain
in search of dignity, justice and information
to help us better understand and do
something about the issue of homelessness
in our community.
From all of us at SR - thank you for
being, a part of our team!
LEITERS
Vendor's w ork doesn't go unnoticed by readers
WHAT DO
YOU THINK?
Street Roots
encourages readers
to submit letters and
columns for
publication. Send
letters to the editor
to the Street Roots
office, 211 NW Davis
St., Portland, OR
97209, or e-mailed
to streetrootsnews®
gmail.com.
oo often people go without
recognition for their contributions to
making our day a better place to be.
Vnd I would like to communicate a tip of .
he hat to George. He is a witty and
Peasant fellow who I regularly s.ee at my
ivening bus stop on 10th Ave at Powell’s,
■low, I don’t know George’s last name, as
ve just pass the’minutes between buses
;hatting about the latest issue of Street
toots, and having a good laugh at life in
general.
This is a cold time of year making a smile
in a vendors face more challenging than
lormal. But George’s smile is always at the
ready.
Best of the holiday seasons wishes to you
George and all the good people at Street
Roots!
r
BILL FALKENHAYN
I
Portland
his past year I have gotten a chance
to get to know a couple of your
vendors. Since most of the time
T
people probably write to complain about
something, I thought I would let you know
that Skip, who works at SW Alder and 10th,
and George, who works the afternoons at
Powells on Burnside, both do you proud.
They read the papers and can discuss
what’s in them, and tell you why th e /d be
of interest to you. They always have a smile
on their faces, and I’ve seen both of them
deal with street hustlers, drunks and
aggressive individuals with kindness and
authority. Quite frankly, I had started
walking a block out of my way on the way
home to avoid the comer of Burnside and
SW 10th because I felt like I was running
the gauntlet every night Thanks to folks
like George, I feel safe on that street again.
I’m looking forward to reading the stories
and meeting the people in 2011. You, by
example, have made me want to share your
vision in a more active way.
MARY JANE
Portland
STREET ROOTS’ EDITORIAL BOARD
The views expressed in the editorials in Street Roots are the
consensus of members of the editorial board and
contributing volunteers.
By Alex Lilly