They Said We Couldn’t Do It

I think about Harriet Tubman. She told her people, “keep moving” and that what Picture the Homeless has done.

DeBoRah Dickerson, PTH Housing Campaign Leader

The Picture the Homeless Oral History Project

Don’t Talk About Us: Talk With Us!

They Said We Couldn’t Do It starts at the beginning of PTH and runs through all of PTH’s campaigns.

This skill-share traces the history of how PTH created a space of organizing and political leadership by homeless New Yorkers. Not only did PTH organize when we were told it wasn’t possible, we created space in the social justice movement for homeless leadership and won policy changes that PTH was told “could not be done.”

The following reflections from the projects oral history interviews reveal the power of making sure homeless folks are respected and acknowledged and supported in all ways necessary to teach, learn, organize, and lead.

Creating a culture of many leaders:

• Respects the knowledge of homeless folks

• Everyone is a learner and a teacher

• Welcomes folks to share knowledge and support

• Disrupts negative stereotypes and changes how homeless folks are “pictured”.

• Believes that homeless folks must be in the leadership of social justice struggles to truly address root causes

How did we do this?

• Listening to what people say

• Finding the common threads across conversations

• Being accountable to one another

• Knowing the difference between speaking for yourself and speaking for an organization

• Developing collective analysis

• Identifying systemic solutions to homelessness

• Training and supporting members to take action

• Homeless folks represented PTH

• Organizing bold, creative direct actions

• Taking retaliation and harm into consideration as well as the safety offered by publicly being part of an organization.

What was accomplished through Homeless organizing?

• We changed negative stereotypes

• Built solidarity among members and the social justice movement around common issues

• Seeded the social justice movement with skilled leaders

• Moved innovative ideas and fought for policy change that was shaped by homeless New Yorkers.