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VOL. 18 ISSUE: 5 DEC. 30, 2020 - JAN. 12, 2021

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The Cover

The Street Sense Media Story, #MoreThanANewspaper

A collection of portraits taken of Street Sense Media customers in their COVID-19 masks.

Originally founded as a street newspaper in 2003, Street Sense Media has evolved into a multimedia center using a range of creative platforms to spotlight solutions to homelessness and empower people in need. The men and women who work with us do much more than sell this paper: They use film, photography, theatre, illustration, and more to share their stories with our community.

Our media channels elevate voices, our newspaper vendor and digital marketing programs provide economic independence. And our in-house case-management services move people forward along the path toward permanent supportive housing.

At Street Sense Media, we define ourselves through our work, talents, and character, not through our housing situation.

PHOTOS BY WENDELL

WILLIAMS Artist/Vendor

Brian Carome

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EVENTS

// 3

NEWS IN BRIEF

Photo of D.C. Superior Court. COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

D.C. Superior Court rules ban on filing for evictions is unconstitutional

Young Adults Helping Hands in D.C. Sunday, Jan. 3, 2:30 p.m. // Union Station THRIVE Young Adults Ministry will be giving out hats, gloves, blankets, sanitary items and coats as well as a bag lunch to people experiencing homelessness around Union Station. Volunteers and donations are needed. Donations of any of the listed items are welcome For more information about volunteering, visit: https://preview.tinyurl.com/thrive-ministry-outreach

SUNDAY, JAN. 3

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

SATURDAY, JAN. 2

Epiphany Diaper Drive

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings

Community Clean-up

10 a.m. // St. Columba’s Church, 4201 Albemarle Street NW St. Columba’s Church is going to celebrate Epiphany this year with their own baby gifts. On January 3rd, there will be a collection for donations of diapers (size 5 is the greatest need), formula and wipes for the Greater DC Diaper Bank.

None scheduled yet ***For call-in information, as well as meeting info for unlisted working groups, contact: ich.info@dc.gov.

For more information, visit: https:// tinyurl.com/epiphany-diaper-drive

9:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. // 5501 1st Street NW This will be a community clean-up of Kennedy Street NW between 1st and 7th streets NW. Volunteers are instructed to meet at La Coop Coffee. Supplies and PPE will be provided, as well as coffee and treats.

For more information, visit: https:// preview.tinyurl.com/la-coop-cleanup

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D.C. Superior Court Judge Anthony Epstein ruled on Dec. 16 that legislation passed by the D.C. Council earlier this year banning landlords from filing eviction proceedings is unconstitutional and violates property owners’ rights. The legislation from May prohibited eviction filings until 60 days after the COVID-19 public health emergency, which will be extended until March 31, 2021 pending Mayor Muriel Bowser’s authorization, ends. The ruling means landlords can now start filing for eviction, even while tenants are still protected from actually being evicted until the May 31 deadline.

In his ruling Epstein wrote that “the filing moratorium limits [landlords’ rights] by denying property owners their day in court for an extended and definite period.” The new ruling will speed up the process for evicting tenants by allowing landlords to begin filing in preparation for the moratorium ending. The eviction ban is a temporary relief for those who are struggling to keep up with rent payments or will be overwhelmed by rent debt once the moratorium is lifted. There is currently no grace period to pay rent or make a payment plan to assist with rental debt that has accumulated over the course of the pandemic.

According to the Aspen Institute, there are between 118,000 and 131,000 renters in the District at risk of eviction. Although the council has passed emergency legislation to help tenants those protections will not last. Some landlords have continued to illegally evict tenants during the ban mostly impacting low income or vulnerable renters.

A recent study conducted by Johns Hopkins University and the University of California, Los Angeles showed cities that lifted their eviction moratoriums saw an increase in their numbers of COVID-19 cases and homelessness. More than 10,000 people have died from COVID-19 as a result of evictions. The CDC has acknowledged that displacement will increase the spread of the virus and recommended halting residential evictions. D.C. has not lifted its moratorium since it was first put into place at the beginning of the pandemic.

Epstein noted that the lack of affordable housing in the District has been a problem since before the pandemic and wrote that he “hopes that the legislative and executive branches of government will find ways to enable the families to keep or find affordable housing after the current public health emergency ends.”

— Aoife Maher-Ryan

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NEWS

Annual vigil goes virtual to remember people who died without a home in DC this year

BY MEREDITH ROATEN Volunteer

C

ommunity members gathered at Luther Place Memorial Church on the afternoon of Dec. 20 to kick-off 24 hours of activities centered on one thing: remembering the more than 70 people known to have died “without the dignity of a home” this year. Twenty-three of them died from the coronavirus, according to city data, including two people within the past week.

At the time of last year’s vigil, 81 people experiencing homelessness were known to have died. But the D.C. Office of the Medical Examiner confirmed in a response to a FOIA request from the Washington Post that it had recorded 117 deaths.

The event looked radically different than the previous seven years that the People for Fairness Coalition has organized this overnight vigil. Last year, more than 100 people packed the nave of the church to hear from a host of advocates and officials. An intimate group of about 15 people gathered at this year’s event, where the crowd kept their distance. Others watched on a livestream set up by organizers.

The COVID-19 precautions weren’t the only change this year. The ceremony began with one of D.C.’s strongest advocates in the fight to prevent and end homelessness finding his final resting place. The ashes of Michael Stoops, who co-founded National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day in 1990, were solemnly spread in the churchyard where the ashes of a number of homeless people have been buried. He died in 2017.

Stoops would have wanted to find a resting place at a church with ties to the homeless community and near the remains of fellow advocate Mitch Snyder, said Megan Hustings, deputy director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. Throughout the ‘80s, Stoops and Snyder fasted and slept on grates together while working to recruit record numbers of people to pressure Congress to do more for the homeless community. Snyder’s ashes were scattered in the Luther Place churchyard in 1999 and his name is included with 13 others on a memorial headstone there.

Stoops helped to establish the National Coalition in the early ‘80s and was a staff member there from 1988 until his death. “He was the most amazing person to be around — especially doing this work, because he was so passionate, so knowledgeable,” Hustings said.

[Disclaimer: Michael Stoops was a founding board member of Street Sense Media] He helped pass the largest federal government response to the homelessness crisis, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which led to food stamps, Section 8 housing, and more. Stoops pushed the government to track hate crimes against homeless people — the National Coalition just published its 20th annual report on hate crimes against people experiencing homelessness. He was also committed to educating young people about advocacy for the community he cared so much about.

“He put a lot of effort, a lot of energy into getting interns, getting young people involved in one way or another, and teaching them what the reality is of

homelessness and making sure that they really understood what was going on,” she said.

Stoops’s spirit inspired Hustings to continue her work advocating for people experiencing homeless even after he died. He created a movement in the future generations he invested in, she said. Anti-discrimination legislation that the D.C. Council recently chose not to advance had been named in honor of him.

After respects had been paid to Stoops, People for Fairness Coalition co-leader Reginald Black kicked off a series of speakers calling for more investment in preventing and ending homelessness. He raised awareness for the proposed “Vacant to Virus-Reduction” plan to turn 10,000 vacant units in D.C. into shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Unsheltered people need housing now to properly socially distance, especially because of the virus’s disproportionate effect on the vulnerable community, Black said.

“You have a public health emergency, and you still have at least in two wards, up to 200 people that live outside,” he said. “We don't even let dogs and cats live that way, so why are we letting our fellow humans live that way?”

Washington, D.C, has the highest rate of homelessness in the country with 93 out of every 10,000 people experiencing homelessness, according to a study by the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

“At some point, I don't want to be doing this every winter solstice,” Black said. “It's just unconscionable that we have a situation like we have here today.”

Rev. Karen Brau, the senior pastor at Luther Place, called on government officials to work harder to care for unhoused Washingtonians. She said the memorial is

a reminder of those lost and a push forward. “We mourn together their loss and we call this opportunity for God’s justice that we have to do better,” she said.

One official, Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto, whose district includes both Luther Place and Freedom Plaza, joined the event remotely. "Everybody has and should have a right to housing and to live in dignity and to die in dignity," she said over Zoom. "I'm so grateful to have you all as partners as we fight for housing and to move people into housing. I pledge to be a partner in that fight every day."

Robert Warren, co-leader of People for Fairness Coalition, said the pandemic has been hard on the homeless community this year, with 23 coronavirusrelated deaths. He thanked volunteers for continuing to do outreach into encampments and other parts of the community during a challenging time.

He added that it’s frustrating not seeing any change in who is dying on the streets. People over the age of 55, people who face economic discrimination and people who should have had access to housing continue to be vulnerable.

“It seems like every year gets harder and harder, every year, remembering folks that we grew up with, definitely been homeless with, that we've worked with,” Warren said.

Leaders and members of the community walked to Freedom Plaza to continue the overnight vigil where there was enough space for members of the public to join in while following CDC guidelines. The group chanted “Homeless lives matter, too!" and "Housing is a human right! Fight! Fight! Fight!" as they went.

Eric Falquero contributed reporting.

Rev. Karen Brau presides over a ceremony to bury the ashes of Michael Stoops, whose photo is displayed in a frame. Julie Turner, a social worker and friend of Stoops, buries the ashes. Megan Hustings, another friend and colleague of Stoops, stands next to Turner. PHOTO OF MEREDITH ROATEN

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

Coronavirus exposes “people that we missed” amid homelessness crisis

BY MEREDITH ROATEN // Volunteer

A

t a press conference commemorating Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day on Dec. 21, leaders of the People for Fairness Coalition (PFFC) laid out their demands for D.C.: a $1.5 billion increase in spending on adding and maintaining affordable housing, the implementation of a coronavirus housing plan, and support for anti-discrimination legislation protecting people experiencing homelessness.

The coronavirus pandemic took resources away from unsheltered people this year, making action from lawmakers even more necessary, the activists said. One economist estimates homelessness in the District will rise by 6.6% if things continue as they are.

“There is no true increase of homelessness due to COVID,” said PFFC’s advocacy director, Reginald Black, who is also a vendor and artist with Street Sense Media. “COVID is revealing the unhoused people that we missed.”

Advocates counted at least 79 people who died while unhoused in D.C. this year, three of whom were added during a memorial service that preceded the press conference. Street Sense Media added two names to that list based on our obituary for Anthony Denico Williams, 20, who was killed in February and our reporting about the death of Devonne Harris, 62, was struck and killed by a Metropolitan Police Department officer while crossing the street.

Each year, this number is assumed to be an undercount. In 2019, 81 people were remembered at the vigil but a records request the Washington Post filed with the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later confirmed 117 people experiencing homelessness had died. The National Coalition for the Homeless estimates that between 17,500 and 45,000 people died without a home nationwide.

Those who died in D.C. in 2020 ranged in age from 20 to 80 years old. Many people on the list were acknowledged only by age and some by initials or first name only, for privacy reasons.

Twenty-three deaths were caused by COVID-19, according to city data.

Black said that to prevent more deaths from the virus, officials need to give the homeless community housing where they can social distance. At the press conference, he highlighted PFFC’s Vacant to Virus-Reduction plan, which asks the D.C. government to house people in 10,000 vacant units across 3,000 buildings in D.C. The District’s total COVID-19 infection rate has surged over the past few weeks, prompting more public health restrictions like shutting down indoor dining. D.C. shelters reported more than 30 new cases of COVID-19 in December, according to Department of Human Services data.

PFFC also called on Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council to focus on policies that prevent people without homes and with low incomes from being discriminated against when trying to obtain housing. The Michael A. Stoops AntiDiscrimination Act and the Fair Tenant Screening Act combined are just one part of creating “true housing equity” in D.C., Black said. Both bills were introduced in the last legislative session but did not receive a vote. They will need to be re-introduced if the D.C. Council wishes to pursue either bill.

Black said a spending increase is necessary to produce more public housing units and to fund housing interventions, including $430 million to repair the District’s crumbling public housing stock and to create new public housing units. In 2019,

D.C. Housing Authority Director Tyrone Garret estimated it would take $2.2 billion over 17 years — which equates to $129 million annually — to “rehabilitate and redevelop” the city’s existing public housing portfolio without adding any new capacity..

The rest of the $1.5 billion PFFC proposed would be split between the Housing Production Trust Fund and various housing interventions.

The pandemic has put these spending increases in jeopardy.

Though the PFFC proposes taking funding out of the Metropolitan Police Department budget to free up funds, Bowser has already announced plans to cut funding from nonprofits that serve homeless residents to make up for budget shortfalls.

Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, a facilitator for the Unhoused Collective of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, said even though the scope of the cuts is currently unknown, any cuts to staff and programming will directly affect the number of people able to be housed in shelters. Cuts to nonprofits that provide meals also mean people without housing will struggle to find food, she said.

“How can a city be so unconcerned about people?” she asked, rhetorically, at the press conference.

Andrew Anderson, a member of the PFFC, said resources are scarce for former prisoners and more engagement from the Mayor’s Office on Returning Citizen Affairs could help keep people off the street. More than half of the people experiencing homelessness in D.C. were formerly incarcerated and about the same rate of people report their incarceration caused their homelessness, according to a D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute report released this year.

“It’s disheartening because you actually have to fend for yourself once you’re on the street,” Anderson said.

The pandemic has exacerbated this existing problem as well, Anderson added. Key documents that former inmates need to get a job or housing can only be accessed at government offices whose hours and staffing have been affected by the health emergency, he said.

Beyond resource limitations, living in shelters during a pandemic means being at higher risk for infection, Anderson said. He lives in the New York Avenue Men’s Shelter where he said there is little education about how to follow CDC guidelines like mask-wearing and social distancing. Shelters residents have made this claim since the onset of the pandemic.

A Street Sense Media analysis found that people experiencing homelessness test positive for COVID-19 three times as often as the average D.C. resident.

“Once you enter that shelter, there’s no such thing as social distancing,” Anderson said.

Residents have reported other issues with shelter living during the health crisis such as the disruption of frequent sanitations and restrictions on personal belongings.

Queenie Featherstone, a member of the PFFC and a Street Sense Media vendor and artist, said she, like other people who experience housing instability, is willing to work and pay “reasonable” prices for housing but there are not enough “reasonable” housing accommodations for everyone who needs them.

“That’s hell,” Featherstone said.

Some demonstrators at the press conference were mourning deceased friends or family members. One memorialized community member was Karim El-Amin, who had been

// 5

In Memoriam

People who died without the dignity of a home Washington, DC | 2020 1. John, Age 69 18. Andre, Age 69 2. Kevin Chamberlain, 19. Donald, Age 57 Age 48 20. Charles, Age 73 3. Darryl Finney, 21. Beverly, Age 58 Age 62 22. Annalee, Age 70 4. Aaron Watts, Age 33 23. D. S. 5. C. Carroll, Age 32 24. J. D., Jr 6. Ricky P. 25. John Darby, Age 52 7. Caitlin P. 26. Jose Moisés Santos 8. Diamond Hernandez, Age 44 9. Louis White, Age 69 27. William Collins* 10. Robert Ross, Age 61 28. Jeremy Pretty* 11. Philip Driscoll, Age 69 29. Jay Swan* 12. Maurice Smith, 30. Anthony Age 39 Denico Williams, 20* 13. Yirgedu, Age 72 31. T. A. 14. Yolanda, Age 72 32. C. E. 15. Arnise, Age 47 33. T. M. 16. Tony, Age 63 34. J. M. 17. Carlos, Age 60 Another 45 people were recognized only by age, ranging from ages 30 - 80. *added to the original list

People who died after moving into housing Washington, DC | 2020 1. Charles Freeman, Age 87 2. Freddie Wilson, Age 87

3. Dorothy Walker, Age 64 4. Jewell Reaves, Age 70 5. D. M. Another 143 people were recognized only by age, ranging from ages 25 - 81.

homeless and advocated in the community for nearly a decade.

He was living in an encampment on E Street NW when he died earlier this month and would have turned 43 this week.

Qaadir El-Amin remembered his brother as out-going and sociable, making friends everywhere he went.

[Disclosure: This reporter donated to a GoFundMe to help cover Karim El-Amin’s funeral costs] “He always had to be talking and he had people laughing,” El-Amin said. “He moved around about every two years and no matter where he moved to, from the first couple months, he had a whole lot of friends.”

Another memorialized community member was Darryl Finney, a man experiencing homelessness who was murdered by an arsonist. The morning of the press conference, activists wrote his name on the sidewalk in front of the Wilson Building, putting a spotlight on the increased risk of hate crimes that people experiencing homelessness face every day.

In addition to the 76 people known to have died without housing in D.C. in 2020, advocates called attention to 148* individuals who moved into housing but died shortly after doing so. According to the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council, people experiencing homelessness die an average of 12 years sooner than the general U.S. population. *Street Sense Media has also added a name to this list, Artist/Vendor Dan Hooks.

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NEWS

Anti-discrimination law to protect people experiencing homelessness dies in Council, again

BY AOIFE MAHER-RYAN AND ANNEMARIE CUCCIA Editorial Interns

T

he Michael A. Stoops Anti-Discrimination Amendment Act, named after the homelessness advocate and board member of Street Sense Media who died in 2017, stalled out in the D.C. Council for the second time as the last legislative meeting of the 2019-2020 session came and went this month.

The bill, first introduced in 2017 by At-Large Councilmember David Grosso and reintroduced in 2019 by Grosso and three other members, would amend the D.C. Human Rights Act of 1977 to add homelessness as a class protected against discrimination. Over the past three years, the bill has received only one public hearing, in October 2020. But the Government Operations Committee, chaired by Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd, did not move the bill on for a full-council vote.

In the previous legislative session, the bill was referred to the Committee of the Judiciary, chaired by Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, but never given a hearing.

A 2014 study of people experiencing homelessness in the District found that just under 93% had experienced some form of discrimination because of their housing status. While respondents reported experiencing the most discrimination from private businesses (at 70%), two-thirds reported experiencing discrimination from law enforcement, and just under half said they were discriminated against by social services and medical services.

The same study recommended the District pass something akin to a homeless bill of rights, a step other jurisdictions have taken to protect their residents experiencing homelessness.

Rhode Island was the first state to pass this type of legislation in 2012, amending their Fair Housing Act to prevent discrimination against people experiencing homelessness. Since then, Illinois, Puerto Rico, and Connecticut all passed similar legislation.

Some of these bills are more comprehensive than the Stoops Act, going beyond preventing discrimination to guaranteeing rights including the right of people experiencing homelessness to move freely through public spaces, receive emergency medical care, and have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

The push for the bill in D.C. has been spearheaded by the People for Fairness Coalition, an organization led by homeless and formerly homeless individuals. The namesake of the bill, Stoops, mentored members of PFFC as well as worked on the 2014 survey and advocated for D.C. to adopt a homeless bill of rights. A longtime advocate for people experiencing homelessness, Stoops was a co-founder of the National Coalition for the Homeless and played a key role in the passage of the federal government’s largest response to homelessness, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987. He died in 2017, the same year Grosso introduced the first version of the bill.

Failure to act on this legislation shows there is not a strong coalition in the council fighting for the rights of people experiencing homelessness, according to PFFC Advocacy Director Reginald Black. He said that while the D.C. Council did give the bill a hearing, the way it was handled felt like it was, “done just to check boxes on things” and there was no opportunity given for a question and answer period. The

“This legislation would protect residents experiencing homelessness from discrimination in purposes of employment, places of public accommodation, educational institutions, public service, housing, and commercial space,” Coventry said in her testimony.

The bill has also been endorsed by So Others Might Eat, the Children’s Law Center, the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development, the Fair Housing Clinic at the Howard University School of Law, and the National Homelessness Law Center.

Testifying on behalf of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, Amber Harding said her organization is often powerless to help the many people experiencing homelessness who contact them with complaints about discrimination. This hearing was combined with another bill, the Fair Tenant discrimination can look like ignoring the job applications Screening Act, which got considerably more attention from of those living in shelters because they list the address of a public witnesses. “I don’t even know who would be willing shelter on their application, not allowing people experiencing to introduce [the anti-discrimination bill] next session. Who homelessness to enter buildings because the employees know do we take the bill to?” Black said. they are homeless, or enforcing laws about public behavior differently for people experiencing homelessness than for housed individuals.

Enforcement capacity “Although we believe D.C. should aspire to be [a] ‘human rights city’ by providing enough affordable housing to end Though the D.C. Human Rights Act already includes 21 homelessness, until that goal is realized, the least it can do is more protected traits than the federal version of the law, protect people from discrimination while they are homeless,” the council has been hesitant to amend it. Another bill Harding wrote in her testimony. introduced this session, the CROWN Act, which would have Formerly homeless residents also testified in favor, sharing prevented discrimination based on hairstyles, also failed to their own experiences of discrimination. make it out of committee.

George Olivar, a PFFC member who is originally from If passed, the Stoops Act would be enforceable by the Office Mexico, moved to D.C. in 2014 but found his social of Human Rights (OHR), an office that has been routinely security was not sufficient to cover housing. While he was overburdened by individual civil rights complaints and the experiencing homelessness, he was barred from using a lengthy process of investigating each one. In the Committee restroom and received no responses from apartments and on Government Operations Fiscal Year jobs when his application contained the 2020 Committee Budget Report, it was fact he was homeless or lived in a shelter.

A 2014 study of recommended that the OHR “make better “While I cannot provide definitive people experiencing proof, I believe that the fact that I lived effort to minimize delays in the intake process.” The report also recommended a shelter, combined with the color of homelessness in the in increasing the budget by 2.7% to provide my skin, contributed in all three cases to more resources for the agency. these rejections,” he said in his testimony.

District found that This past February, there was a hearing Many of those who testified in favor just under 93% had to discuss the Attorney General Civil Rights of the bill saw it as a way to reduce Enforcement Clarification Amendment Act the long-term effects homelessness can experienced some of 2019 which would authorize the Office have on an individual’s employment and of the Attorney General (OAG) to bring form of discrimination housing prospects. civil actions under the Human Rights Alex Grady, a Howard graduate and because of their Act and provide some assistance to the Georgetown Law student, provided written OHR. In June, the OAG added a new civil testimony stressing the need for an already housing status. rights section to crack down on housing vulnerable population to be protected discrimination, including discrimination from further discrimination. “This bill is based on past housing status. The OAG a way to ensure that people experiencing began taking action by filing a lawsuit homelessness have equal access to against a landlord for discrimination and discriminatory economic mobility and the resources afforded to other vulnerable advertising against renters with housing vouchers. classes. These rights must be codified, especially since we know In the public hearing on the bill, Hnin Khaing, the general that they are not being respected in the absence of this crucial counsel of OHR, testified the office was in support of the bill, legislation,” Grady wrote. but would require additional funding to handle any additional The pandemic has only highlighted the preexisting injustices cases and to develop new outreach materials including that cause homelessness. The District has the nation’s highest homelessness as one of the protected classes. rate of homelessness, with 93 people experiencing homelessness out of every 10,000. This number is only expected to increase once the eviction moratorium ends with the public health Public interest emergency. People in District shelters are three times more likely to test positive for COVID-19 than other D.C. residents While most of the hearing focused on the Fair Tenant Screening and three times more likely to die due to COVID-19. The Act, the members of the public who did testify about the Stoops number of D.C. residents experiencing homelessness who have Act displayed overwhelming support for its passage. died due to COVID-19 remained flat from July 16 to Dec. 13 Kate Coventry, a senior policy analyst at the D.C. Fiscal but increased to 22 after another death was reported on Dec. Policy Institute, testified in favor of the bill, arguing that 14, according to city data. There were 301 new positive cases D.C. residents who are experiencing or have experienced detected in the District on Dec. 15. December has also seen homelessness also experience discrimination at high rates. an increase in coronavirus-related hospitalizations, the highest

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AT A GLANCE

Donald Whitehead testifies during the only public hearing for the Stoops Act.

Ricardo Meriedy

COURTESY OF DCCOUNCIL.US

rates since June.

Donald Whitehead Jr., executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, who testified at the hearing and has been advocating for the bill, pointed out that adding homelessness as a protected class could directly reduce that high rate of infection. “The CDC says you shouldn’t displace people right now because you multiply the vulnerability. We shouldn’t do camp sweeps, which we are seeing, and these are the common discrimination practices that the Michael Stoops bill would cover,” Whitehead said. “They wouldn’t allow people to be discriminated against simply because they are homeless” noting the importance that homeless individuals “should have rights as well.”

The District has a more progressive policy on evictions than the national one; while the nationwide eviction moratorium ends in January, D.C.’s moratorium is tied to the end of the public health emergency. However, these moratoriums do not stop evictions from happening. Whitehead argued the government must respond to the demand for affordable housing in the city.

“The city needs to create more affordable housing and stop giving housing subsidies and creating upscale housing in the community,” he said.”So many units have been lost to the market due to gentrification in the District. That trend needs to be reversed.”

What gap would it fill?

According to Delta Associates, luxury apartment vacancy rates in the District have nearly doubled from 4.4% to 7.8% in the last year. Those empty apartments could be used for those in need of affordable housing. The District had the highest percentage of gentrifying neighborhoods between 2000 and 2013, displacing 20,000 people, predominantly Black residents.

Additionally, deciding whether to provide employment based on credit is prohibited in the District, but determining housing access based on credit is not, leading to discrimination against those with histories of economic struggle. Lori Leibowitz, an attorney with Neighborhood Legal Services, said housing providers can legally deny those with low credit even though that does not prove that a tenant is not currently able to pay their rent.

“Unfortunately, many people who are experiencing homelessness have no credit or bad credit or an eviction on their record,” Leibowitz said. “If you had great credit history and great rental history, you probably wouldn’t be experiencing homelessness.”

There are also subtle methods landlords use to make it more difficult for individuals with vouchers or those experiencing

homelessness to find housing. According to Leibowitz, landlords will change the rent advertised so it is above the maximum value of a housing voucher or they will not allow inspections until 24 hours before move-in, knowing that most rental subsidy programs require an inspection before the lease is signed. None of these tactics are legal. But because they are subtle, most people don’t realize such actions are illegal discrimination and that help is available, Leibowitz said.

“Once we get these cases, they are usually easy to prove,” Leibowitz said. “But the cases aren’t coming through the door.”

These forms of discrimination are just some of the issues the Stoops bill could address if passed. According to Whitehead, the legislation would be a small step towards ending discrimination in the District. “I think it would be a start. There are a couple of other things that need to be put in place and there are long discrimination lines,” Whitehead said. “But the Michael Stoops bill is absolutely a start and we certainly can’t get to those more concrete solutions until we get started and this is just a very minimal start to get moving to a place where we can actually start to reduce homelessness.”

Prospects in 2021 If the legislation is introduced again in a similar form, the council will not need to hold another hearing and can bring it to a vote sooner, according to Grosso.

“Since I chose not to seek re-election, it will fall to other councilmembers to re-introduce the legislation next Council Period,” Grosso wrote in an email to Street Sense Media. “Advocates need to continue to carry the bill forward and encourage other councilmembers to take up the cause next year.”

Newly elected At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson, a former staffer for Grosso, said, “I am supportive of the Michael A. Stoops Anti Discrimination bill and think it will be introduced next year. At this point, I do not know if one of the more senior councilmembers who were co-introducers of the legislation (R. White, Cheh, or Nadeau) would want to lead on this bill. But I will confer with them in the new year.”

When asked about the status of the bill and whether it would be introduced in the next legislative session, most councilmembers referred Street Sense Media to Grosso and another main sponsor, Todd, who chaired the Government Operations Committee that gave the bill its only hearing. None of these offices gave a definite answer on the status of the bill. Incoming Ward 4 Councilmember Janesse Lewis George could not be reached for comment.

BIRTHDAYS Ricardo Meriedy Jan. 2 ARTIST/VENDOR

Photo gallery: Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day The People for Fairness Coalition held an overnight vigil on Dec. 20-21 in Freedom Plaza to commemorate Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. Street Sense Media Vendor Employment Director Thomas Ratliff photographed the event.

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ART

Random Acts of Kindness: Who was that masked man?

STORY AND PHOTOS BY WENDELL WILLIAMS // Artist/Vendor

W

ho was that masked man or woman?

Just the other day, I was thinking about the current state of affairs regarding people’s resistance to wearing masks. I shook my head and chuckled. How could they be so stupid?

Maybe they’re just uninformed or just downright off their rockers not to see the importance of protecting themselves and others.

When I see news reports from some far off state where people are claiming they are only exerting their God-given right as Americans to do as they please, I first laugh and say, “You a**holes are killing people.” Then I gather myself and say, “Wait a minute, remember that in March and early April I was one of those idiots.”

I am not sure which one, Moe, maybe Larry, or Curly, but yours truly was a real Stooge about COVID-19 and the importance of wearing a d*** mask. I was not alone. Some of my good friends still share the view that the virus and deaths can be avoided by just eating right, boosting their immune systems, and connecting to some kind of metaphysical power without the need to wear a mask. I wanted so much to buy into all that. But as I look back now, I think, “What a crock, what the hell was wrong with my brain?”

In fact, the problem was I didn’t really think at all — and not in the least about other people’s safety. It sounded good not to have to conform and I just picked it up and ran with it.

I have spent my time the last several years searching for human kindness everywhere and writing about my experiences in the “Random Acts of Kindness” series. But here I was being a hard core resister to wearing a mask of any kind. Because I was a long-time vegetarian and in decent health considering my age, I even made jokes about those who did wear them. I was like one of those friends that you can’t seem to understand how they could align themselves with a wild conspiracy theory or, worse yet, a political demagogue.

When it came to masks, I was just as big a nut job as those who make fun of people supporting 45. I just thought it was much to do about nothing. What was the big deal? As I spent considerable time thinking and crunching the numbers, figuring

out the probability of me actually being infected with COVID19, I determined my chances were miniscule. The odds, so I thought, were long. They just didn’t worry me. This was absurd, considering I’ve never gotten better than a C in any science or math course my entire life.

I took to attacking the “wimps” who I said felt they had to wear masks because they were afraid of not being politically correct. And I boasted on social media of not wearing one myself and I felt invincible. And I thought science was in my favor as I held running emotionally charged chats with several friends who immediately understood the importance of mask wearing. I strongly rebuffed their attempts to reprogram me from the nonsense I’d been listening to and took a real beating

on a particular social media platform where some even publicly called me selfish and dangerous to myself and the others.

But even that didn’t stop me. For a while, I purposely went out without a mask and would photograph myself out and about town with others who held similar beliefs about masks to demonstrate that it wasn’t all that serious. Dumb had found dumber.

And to piss off some of my social media friends, when I visited places I would post about how nobody was wearing them or that I only saw this or that percentage of people in a mask.

I traveled to West Virginia and North Carolina by car during the early spikes, where mask wearing was not as widespread as now. I stopped in big-box stores where less than half of the workers and shoppers had masks on. I even complained about the inconveniences of social distancing in the restaurants and stores along the way. I was totally out of touch with the awesome power of this virus to take lives, even mine. I realize now that not wearing a mask today is like having unprotected sex during the height of the AIDS epidemic. Just stupid.

The source of my incorrect information was not so much from some outside influence but from right in between my ears: my own thinking. But on a day in mid-April, things began to happen to wake me up. A social media “friend” became frustrated with me and said these important words: “You fool: your age, race, and health makes you a prime candidate for coming down with COVID-19.” His statement hit home when people I had known or known of started to die. (A friend of 40 years is battling for his life as I write this.)

This metamorphosis all started when a college friend mentioned that one of our teammates had passed.

“You didn’t know?” he said.

“Was he sick?” I asked.”I thought he had stayed in pretty good shape, much better than me, and was still playing ball.”

His response shook my fantasy world at the core and challenged my assumption that I can beat this threat all by myself without taking any recommendations from medical professionals. Now, mind you, I have several friends who were physicians or who work in related healthcare positions among those who tried to school me.

Looking back, I am so ashamed and embarrassed by my ignorant stance, my actions, and the possibility of putting others in harm’s way. I’ve asked the universe over and over for forgiveness and readily admit how wrong and off-base I was. It’s as if some aliens came down, beamed me up to their spaceship and somehow got control of my brain. That’s the only logical explanation I can think of now that I am better educated about the virus.

So stop laughing and shaking your heads at me and walk with me though my journey to exercising some plain old common

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ART

^Photo courtesy of Charlene Vaughn, one of Wendell's supporters, sent from her cousins in South Africa.

sense and becoming responsible about masks and preventing the spread of COVID-19.

The first death I heard about didn’t shake me that much because I hadn’t seen him in decades and we weren’t that close, even back then. I was thinking that maybe he wasn’t eating right or was practicing some unhealthy behaviors. So I ignored this first warning that I could also lose my life. As I started to get my head out of the sand, the shock that sent me reeling was the death of someone very close to me. Doesn’t it always happen that way?

Some of us are in serious denial until it hits close to home.

That second death was someone I’d worked with over the years in the opioid wars to save the lives of people who were suffering from substance abuse disorders. He had mentored me and given me great advice and guidance on my career moves and my personal recovery. If there was a person who could withstand the complications from any virus, surely it would be my friend who looked like an NFL lineman at 6’5” and over 350 lbs. But one day, as I strolled through a social media platform after having not spoken to him in a while (which was not unusual), I noticed people repeatedly posting, “RIP Mr. [So-and-so].” Surely they were talking about another with the same name, right? I started to reach out to mutual friends and what I found rocked my foundation of delusions. “This can’t be true,” I thought. “We had just attended a 12-step meeting together a little over a month ago.” But it was true and he was gone in just a few weeks. His death set me off on a new course of action, as did hearing about others I casually knew who also died from COVID-19.

All of a sudden, the numbers I had crunched weren’t looking so good and the danger was getting closer to me. I started to worry. But how could I make a u-turn now, after all the wisea** remarks I had made and my talk of a hoax? My ego was in the way of me saving my life.

First, I dropped out of sight on that social media platform and just hid out in my apartment literally from March to July. Street Sense Media had stopped publishing its print edition, so I only left my home for an hour of “seniors-only” grocery shopping each Tuesday morning. I watched no TV news or network shows — only movies, mostly documentaries. I threw myself into my secret hobby: bird watching and feeding them from the many feeders hanging from my balcony railings. Watching nature and those birds helped me to see things differently. Just like helping the birds, I realized I had a part to play in the fight to save lives from COVID-19. But I strongly felt I needed to make a public mea culpa to convince others of the power of wearing a mask.

Then it came to me that a simple way to repay all the kindness shown me was to just wear a mask. It was required when working the paper but I started wearing one at all times and everywhere, even when going down to the lobby to check my mailbox. Then

I was hired to do homeless street outreach for a social services agency. Suddenly I became a mask-wearing zealot, reminding people to wear their mask and encouraging those wearing them to wear them properly. I also promoted social distancing, which is now defined as 6 to 8 feet between people.

In my community, on a daily basis, I witness people wearing their mask incorrectly: under their noses, just wrapped around their necks, none at all, or only putting one on just before entering a business and as soon as they hit the door it’s right back off. They are just like me in those early months.

I have on several occasions asked to speak with a store’s manager to inquire why their employees were preparing food with their noses exposed, as if you sneeze through your month, Or why they allowed customers to be noncompliant in their establishments. Sadly, I can now see the correlation between reluctance to wear masks and the high rates of infections in some communities.

After becoming a member of the Mask Police, I started to notice something I had not been paying attention to previously.

I recall now that part of my attitude towards masks was that they made everyone wearing one look like a reject from some low-budget TV hospital show. They were just boring and a long way from cool or hip. But when masses of people started to surrender to wearing them, little by little they turned them into these beautiful works of art. Right away I was smitten by the bright colors, fashionable designs, and clever messages.“Where did you get that?” I would ask.

Then things really took off when so many people started to make their own. I was at the markets craning my neck from side to side as shoppers passed by in the most creative and cool face coverings. I was fascinated by the style and panache. At first, I would follow people around to get a closer look before asking questions, which led to asking for permission to take a photo of their mask.

Once, as I drove down a street in Bowie, I saw a lady walking with an unbelievably beautiful array of colors in her mask. I pulled over, jumped out, and ran to catch up and ask her to take a photo.

But I forgot to think how it may have come across to the poor frightened woman with me running towards her, so she started to speed up. After showing her the other photos, she let me take her picture and asked, “What are you going to do with them?”

At that time, I was just a collector and would show friends how cool some were. But the collection got so big that I ran out of storage and had to change cell phones three times as I became more obsessed with taking pictures of other people’s masks.

There was a logical reason: they were wearing colors and combinations I could never think of wearing because of a disorder I have and manage well that forces me to dress only in solid colors. If you’ve known me for a while and think about it, you’ve

never seen me in stripes, plaids, or any patterns. Maybe a logo at times, but rarely. It’s because — and I am admitting this for the first time publicly — I am just like the famed fictional detective Adrian Monk. We suffer from some of the same severe obsessive and compulsive disorders. Just ask my closest friends who’ve had to put up with me. So I just envied those colorful coverings. But through your wonderful photos you’ve allowed me to take, I am able to finally experience this phenomenon myself.

Someone suggested as I showed my collection to people that it may have some value in not only making mask-wearing fun but chronicling what we went through in a year like no other.

Someone even suggested the Smithsonian might have interest.

That’s when this picture taking thing took on a life of it’s own and consumed me.

One day after sharing what I was doing, someone asked what my “project” was called. “Project, yeah, what could I call this?” I thought. So I started to count the number of masks I’d photographed and there were hundreds. Out of nowhere, I made the impulsive goal of 1,000 photos. Mainly because of my disorder, I only feel comfortable with round numbers and things being balanced. So 1,000 it was.

How was I to know I may have bitten off more than I could chew? I thought it would only take a week or two to reach that number. But once again, your “C” math and science student was way off. I’ve been taking mask photos for over three months now and suffering from mask fatigue, as celebrities often say. I may need a mask photo rehab stay when this is all over. I just had no idea what getting 1,000 photos would involve. All because of the ring of “a thousand,” I was trapped. Would “The 450 Masks of COVID-19” have the same punch? Of course not. So it was settled, the project would be “1000 Masks of COVID-19.”

As I continued to obsess over masks, I thought about how the fictional superheroes in my childhood and adolescence almost always wore masks. I can remember going up the block to my grandmother’s house, who had the extended family’s first color set, to watch Batman and Green Hornet save the world from multiple villains and disasters. Then there were the old Saturday standards, Zorro and the Lone Ranger, always saving the day while wearing masks.

So, the answer to my opening question is you and me when we practice the most important Non-Random Act of Kindness of our time: just wearing a mask. When we do, we join the ranks of those long-ago childhood superheroes who always arrived just in time, in a mask, to save the day.

Visit www.1000masksofcovid-19.com to see the entire collection of photos and learn how you can help. Maybe you’ll see yourself or others you know saving lives.

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OPINION

Army Cpt. Isaiah Horton, a doctor at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, receives a COVID-19 vaccination on Dec. 14, 2020. PHOTO BY LISA FERDINANDO

Trust the vaccine

BY ANGIE WHITEHURST

To trust the vaccine is to believe it’s a chance to continue to live. Hopefully, we will all give the science a shot to save millions of lives. Highly credible people want the same outcome.

I recently tuned in to a really informative, top-notch panel discussing COVID-19 and the vaccinations.

April Ryan moderated the event, which she aptly called “Champions on the Frontline.” Each panelist is worthy of a story on just what they do. Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, gave opening remarks and Dr. Patrice A. Harris, MD, immediate past president of the American Medical Association (and the first black woman to hold that post) sat on the panel.

Here are points that got my attention from the panel regarding African Americans and the COVID-19 vaccine: 1. Is the vaccination safe? Instead of just listening to the news or scrolling through social media, one panelist suggested we talk to people who have taken the vaccine or had COVID-19 to get firsthand experience of what it feels like. The African American community would call this listening, and peaking “the drum.”

2. Another panelist was Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, co-chair of President-elect Joe Biden’s Advisory Board on the Coronavirus, who stated that the distrust and resistance

that African Americans have about getting vaccinated was earned. Remember the Tuskegee experiment on black men with syphilis, the drug experiments on African American prisoners and the monetary rip off by research institutions derived from acquisition and resale of bodily materials?

To be fair, we must mention the development of blood plasma by Dr. Charles Drew, an African American. This is not exactly dinner table talk, but it is real.

3. Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett is an African American and one of the lead research scientists at the National Institute of Health, responsible for developing coronavirus vaccines. She spoke on the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the immunizations and the rigorous protocols that have to be met before approval for all human beings, and she clearly stands up for the vaccine’s safety and efficacy.

4. Dr. Gigi El-Bayoumi is local to our D.C. community at George Washington University, and is on the front lines with years of experience, service and cognizance on the issues facing the non-white communities in the region.

5. The big power in the room was Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who stated without hesitation that we have a President-elect and Vice President-elect who are not going to let us down.

6. African American volunteers are being tested.

Donald J. Alcendor, a biology professor, spoke about one such program in Tennessee. He stressed the importance of children being tested. It is recommended that children be at least 16 years old before getting the vaccine, but he did suggest that eventually he expects that a COVID19 vaccination will be added to the list of required vaccinations for school age children.

The town hall clearly made a case to build up the trust and confidence of communities of color. You could say there are folks at the table who are one of us and are alert, aware and leading us forward.

I say yes to the vaccine to save ourselves, families and loved ones, especially the essential front line workers: the doctors, nurses, teachers, public works, taxi drivers, truckers, bus drivers, grocery staff and catered home meal delivery staff. I want them to be well so they can protect their families and continue to serve all of our essential needs.

Let’s get vaccinated, mask up and stay in to recover as best we can.

Angie Whitehurst is a vendor and artist with Street Sense Media.

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The Alice Carter case study: an admirable and monumental effort that falls short

BY JEFF TAYLOR

A

lice Carter wanted to be known as a famous rap artist and perhaps that may yet be if her whole story were ever to be told. As it turns out, Alice’s main claim to fame at this point is an “unprecedented” (in the words of the Washington City Paper) case study titled “Lessons From the Life and Death of Alice Carter.”

Let me say up front that I appreciate and even applaud the efforts of Clara Hendrickson, who wrote the case study; Street Sense Media; and all those who had a hand in this Herculean task. And the study makes no bones about Alice’s mental health and self-medicating and substance use issues. I lived these issues with Alice since meeting her in May 2006.

Alice lived with me off and on, mostly on, for nine years.

No one in D.C. knew her better than me. Not even a single case manager knew Alice like I did. Weekly appointments are not like actually living with someone.

Yet even as aware as I was of her multiple encounters with police officers, I was a bit taken aback after reading the case study and seeing that even for Alice her arrest record was long.

Still, the study didn’t do enough to try to explain the “why” behind Alice’s beleaguered life. Oh yes, it did adequately address the fact that Alice suffered from chronic mental illnesses including schizo-affective disorder. But the study does understandably fail to sufficiently convey the pain of her very existence. I say understandably because the study’s authors — despite speaking with me — failed to really make the effort to do more in-depth interviews with those who knew Alice best.

Or perhaps a viewing of the 2001 Best Picture Academy Award winning film “A Beautiful Mind” is in order?!

Alice unfortunately comes across in the study largely as some kind of sociopath who menaced D.C. While Alice certainly could have her challenging moments, she was for the most part a peaceful and peace-loving person. People who knew her best knew this about Alice. It’s a shame that this doesn’t come through more in the study.

I will credit the authors for mentioning Alice’s obsession with letters and numbers. This was helpful in providing insight as to how Alice’s mind worked. But a little more digging by the study’s authors would have revealed what an integral part

of her psychosis this was. The letters K and X and the numbers two and six for example were always bad. It didn’t matter whether these otherwise rather neutral numbers were on a license plate or a T-shirt. To Alice, they had deep meaning.

Time and again, I did my best to give consistent reports of Alice’s behaviors and conditions to case managers, public defenders, psychiatrists, and others all to no avail. I tried desperately to get Alice effective help from folks who might be able to understand the full breadth and depth of her problems.

Let me give you a glimpse into the wonderland of Baby Alice and maybe you’ll better understand what it was like to be Alice Carter.

Alice just wanted to be accepted, and the pain of society’s rejection drove her to an early death.

Back when I had a real life with a real job, there was a round antique table used for small conferencing in my office next to my desk and that of my officemate. One day, I noticed “BA167” had been scratched into the table’s surface. My officemate noticed the etching about the same time I did.

Between the two of us we deduced it must’ve been the work of her youngest son. But weeks later I put it together based on Alice’s thinking.

The BA stood for Baby Alice. The number one is because she was number one. The six was for if things ended bad and seven was for when things ended for the good. That was her thinking. She talked about it all the time.

Alice often imagined that total strangers were muttering hateful remarks to her. And that was problematic at times. But what was truly heartbreaking with Alice was that there were times when total strangers did in fact mutter hateful remarks at her, often because she was transgender. She couldn’t distinguish between threats that were real to her safety and

those just in her head.

The study mentions numerous occasions where Alice threatened others with anything from box cutters to broken bottles. What it fails to fully address is the extent to which Alice’s situation in particular — being transgender in a city not as accepting as advertised — exacerbated her problems. She was actually threatened and assaulted on numerous occasions just for being transgender. So sorting the real and imagined threats was a constant struggle.

The numeric setting on the TV volume had to be very carefully selected so as not to end in a two, for some reason that made sense only in Alice’s tortured mind. Thirty-one was best.

Alice imagined big name rap artists knew of her and some were out to get her according to messages in their music.

So there you have several examples of just how tormented Alice’s thinking was. She wasn’t some soulless miscreant roaming the streets of D.C. looking for people to terrorize.

She had a conscience. She just wanted to be accepted, and the pain of society’s rejection drove her to an early death.

Time and again, the study documents Alice’s refusal to get the treatment she so desperately needed. While it hints at the question of Alice’s fitness to make good decisions for herself, it fails to mention that I pleaded in vain to get those working closest to her to understand this was a fundamental problem: Alice wasn’t capable of making consistently good decisions.

She was very clever and adept at hiding her symptoms when she knew she needed to: with the psychiatrist. You see, something I knew about Alice is that the last place she would ever want to be held against her will was a psychiatric ward.

She’d much prefer general population jail over being with what she called a bunch of crazy people.

This could and should have been in the study. It would have helped make Alice a bit more sympathetic and understandable.

I understand the purpose of this case study. It’s certainly not to soothe the feelings of loss for those who knew and loved her most. It serves a higher purpose. But that higher purpose is best served by being better informed.

Jeff Taylor is a vendor and artist with Street Sense Media.

America is in uncharted waters

BY JEFFREY MCNEIL

It shocks me that those who describe themselves as socialist are entirely on board with Joe Biden, when Bush-wing Republicans surround him, who got America into never-ending wars and made it beholden to the wealthy corporations that Bernie Sanders rails against. Ironically, the social justice Marxists want to change the system, but align themselves with Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos — who are not peasants, and want to maintain the system. Do they believe one penny will be extracted from their wealth?

The same swamp creatures believe they pulled the heist of the century by declaring Biden President-elect. It's comical that those who claim to be social justice warriors believe Joe Biden is some sort of savior. They learned nothing in 2008 with

Barack Obama; Democrats package him as Heaven and Earth.

By 2016, they had their fill of Barack Obama.

Some do believe Biden will be an honest broker for the left. But his 47 years of political experience show it will be a continuation of the top-down extraction of resources from the people to enrich the oligarchs that finance him.

Hopefully, more experienced hands, not 20-something content providers, will follow the Constitution and prevent insanity from being injected into America.

Biden's tendency to lead from behind means abdicating our role as a great superpower and allowing our enemies like China and Iran to be dominant while remaining weak and defenseless.

As the media declares Joe Biden President-elect, their

arrogance will be their downfall. You can’t display something unless most people approve. When you try to force or instill something, people reject it. Then America is in uncharted waters. America is a country formed on the love of liberty, not social transformation. So as both forces try to use extremism rather than sit at the table and try to co-exist, nobody knows what the story ending will be. Anyone telling you they know the outcome, shame on them, because they lead lambs to the slaughterhouse.

Jeffrey McNeil is a writer and vendor for Street Sense.

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Still fighting a battle, but I haven’t won the war

BY VENIE HILL Artist/Vendor

The holidays reminds us of those we’ve lost

BY SYBIL TAYLOR Artist/Vendor

Merry Christmas and a happy birthday to me at 54 years old.

Christmas is a day of joy, peace, love, happiness, and giving and receiving. Love to and from one another!

I am always grateful to celebrate my birthday on Dec. 25, but this year was a sad Christmas for me and the rest of the family. My brother’s wife passed on Feb. 15, the day after Valentine's Day, due to blood loss during dialysis. The ambulance was too late to arrive at my brother’s house because it went to the wrong address.

Prayers are needed for us. Thank you.

The saddest day of his life was the day her life ended. She never made it to 50 years old; her birthday was Dec. 4. My brother is dealing with heartache, struggle, pain and sadness this first Christmas without her. I support him, as do many others that care. She was my favorite sister-in-law and I was her favorite also. We all miss her singing Christmas carols.

Every Christmas Eve we always got together. My best friend and her boyfriend, my brother and his wife, Tracey, and I all gathered to see my mom, dad and sister. This has been our tradition for giving and receiving gifts since the early ‘90s. Ever since my father passed back in February 2015, it has been very lonely and sad without him. And now, without Tracey too. We’re all still doing the same tradition, but the table is different without Tracey and Dad. Also, due to COVID-19, we all have to keep safe, wear our masks, and protect one another during this pandemic.

Christmas shopping was different this year, too, with everything online. It seemed like a struggle to even find a place for kids to meet Santa. Some malls didn’t have one.

I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We will get through this COVID-19 together, hopefully with a new vaccine and a better year to come.

I am still fighting with my addiction. I'm clean and sober today, but with how fast things can change, I'm holding on as hard as I can. At least I’m not somewhere far away, instead I am at home. I have support from family and friends that really pray for me. I also have a friend that's in my program doing very well. She's not fighting alone this time either, she has me and her grandchildren to support her. For me, I just thought after all the programs that I have been in, today I have the tools I need. All I have to do is use them to succeed with my goal, which is to stay sober and clean. I keep myself busy with things like television, cooking, cleaning and working for Street Sense Media.

Don't get me wrong, I still get thoughts of picking up and wonder how my friends are doing, what they’re doing, and if they miss me. The question is, do I miss it? No, I don't.

A drink and a drug is something that I never want to see again. It's not an easy trick. It's not even a good game to play. It's real, it's my life and I want to live it to the fullest. My partner and better half is in my corner now, thank God. I used to think he wanted me to be an alcoholic for the rest of my life because when I would say, “go get me some beer,” he would break his neck.

But today it's different. I can't even mention beer to him without him getting a little upset.

I think that he didn't take me very seriously at first but now he knows I'm not playing with this thing, I'm really fighting. It’s because I like living and I love living clean and sober.

It's something that I never had before. It's new to me and boy do it feel good. I love life and if you love yourself why would you keep hurting yourself?

I know some people can drink and handle it, but not me — I have the disease of alcoholism and I am an addict. I happen to get addicted to anything that I like. I overuse things, I can't stop like normal people. I have to have it all the time. I'm the same way with sodas. I didn’t ask for this disease of mine, I was born with

it. And this disease doesn’t discriminate. There are all kinds of addicts in this world. Some people won't accept that they are an addict or might not even know. There's the gambler, the thief, the sex addict, and many more. Anyone can be an addict no matter what color you are or where you are from. This disease doesn’t even care about your size.

The truth of the matter is we are sick individuals trying to get help in any way, form, or fashion. Some of us use because of our feelings. We hate to feel anything that doesn’t feel good to us. We use so that we don’t have to feel anything.

At first I was a follower and wanted in to hang with the “in” crowd. Then I noticed that when I got upset or hurt I could use and all my problems would go away, they would disappear. That’s what I thought, anyway.

Your worries and hurt don’t disappear, they are still waiting for you to come back to where you left. Alcohol and drugs don’t solve our problems, they make worse ones for us. So today I deal with my trials and tribulations and handle them head on. I don’t run.

This is not at all easy. It takes work, very hard work.

Because there’s not a day that goes by without me thinking of a nice cold beer.

Seems harmless, don’t it? I used to need eight 24-ounce beers a day, every day of the week, to be satisfied. Today, I drink nothing but water and sodas. Not bragging, but I am pretty darn proud of myself.

Believe me, addiction is not your friend. It wants nothing from you but your life. And if you give it a chance, it will take it. It wants to destroy you piece by piece, inch by inch, day by day, minute by minute. It wants you to fall down and hurt yourself in so many ways.

So take it from me, don’t let addiction ruin your life. Save yourself while you can. And as my mother would say, “Straighten up and fly right.” If you are in this fight with me, till next time, stay clean and think sober.

I like living and I love living clean and sober.

It's something that I never had before. It's new to me and boy do it feel good. I love life and if you love yourself why would you keep hurting yourself?

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

The Scarlet Woman

BY JENNIFER ORANGE // Artist/Vendor

As I walk the streets, I admire everyone’s life. I escape and ride the bus to the upper-class neighborhoods. And I dream.

I dream to be rich. I dream to be a queen of the earth because I know I was born into a royal family.

I know my worth. I know my value. But how can I enter into that destiny?

I was told so many times that my life would be full of success, but why has it not matched up to my present?

Is this my destiny, to suffer in this life?

If so, in my next life I shall be queen. I shall reign over the earth.

I put faith in myself. Once I found

out who I was, I said, “I got this.”

Everybody will have to follow my beat.

Beat after beat, I run around in the same circle. Repeat every obstacle over and over. Beat after beat.

I cry out, “Lord, why so much heartache, why so much pain? I know that I am the chosen one. Why won't my trial stop?”

Beat after beat, what am I doing wrong that these trials won’t cease?

When you look in the mirror, what do you see? An enemy of your own destiny.

Stop! Let it go.

Technology and our Future, Part 1

BY REGINALD SCOTT Artist/Vendor

Well, first and foremost, my name is Reginald Scott, a changed returning citizen who has been emancipated from a long hard bid of 20 years.

I’ve been progressing from the time upon my entry into this world of technology, which is applying a steep hindrance toward me progressing into the future, as technology is our future. Albeit, I am like a newborn babe needing such succor and nourishment to move toward that future.

I secretly ask myself, “Why would technology be of such corruption, seeking the advancement of the technology which is the stepping stone of our future?

I currently experience such corruption in reference to the current iteration of future technology. I went on a dating app, applying my all trying to find me a real dame with the inner nature of a goddess to become my wife. But I was hacked, which ruined it all: my friendships, family, finances, and progression. It had me feeling I was subjugated amongst failure all in one.

I’ve done all that I can for such advancement toward the future. I then recognized how far technology has really gone; Ergo, could it be that the technology is being captured throughout the hand down for the world as well as capturing the world with its corruption, all in one? To the point that human beings should not remain at the “life-living” level but should advance to the “living-life” level.

If so, may we all as human beings awake and rise to succoring others, not just for their advancement but for the world’s advancement, so that there comes a point in time where no human being is left behind at the life-living level and every human being will be at the level of living life amongst our future technology.

All to say, ”Each one, teach one” is a must, as all human beings must face the technology for our future and its influence on our levels of living life rather than only life-living. Ergo, question yourself as I do. Ask yourself, “Why would technology be created for human beings to advance to the future levels of living life but also apply such hindrances to keep human beings at the life-living level in the future?”

To be continued. This is the first part of a trilogy.

// 13

Making it through the holidays safely

BY MARCUS GREEN // Vendor program associate

This year, because of COVID-19, I'm not going anywhere out of D.C. My prayers go out to the living and the passed on homeless, whose only issue was being homeless and lack of medical access.

Being safe is the most important thing for a senior like me. I don't take anything for granted when it comes to making it another year. To survive this is a special thing because I could have passed on.

I'm grateful for my testimony, it helps me to identify with others’ pain that I was once in.

Being able to remember the lesson in the pain of your life can propel you to higher heights. You can go on and do great things with your life, and in the

process help someone else move to the next level of their own life. What I would call the “circle of blessings.” If you don't put nothing in the circle, you can't get nothing out.

In remembrance of my beloved wife, Roberta Bear, I’m always praying for her soul. May God keep her. This is the fifth anniversary of her passing. She died on the 24th of November, 2015, and life has not been the same. Never take the time you have with family for granted. Always say “I love you,” because that could mean the world to someone else.

I wish the best to the Street Sense Media family, friends and customers.

God bless and happy holidays.

My perfect day

BY DARLESHA JOYNER // Artist/Vendor

On my wedding day I’ll have a peach lace dress on. I’ll be on the beach in Miami, spiraling down from a helicopter to my husband.

I think it would be beautiful to look up and see your beautiful wife coming down to you like that.

My children will be there to witness the moment. The girls could be flower girls and the boys ring bearers.

Power and Choice

BY KAYODE MOSLEY Artist/Vendor

Power is the question! Where do I find power or strength in my life? Let’s look at facts and not fiction or make-believe.

Where does power come from? Inside you or outside? When I wake up in the morning, what power woke me up? What power feeds me? What power allows me to breathe? What power allows me new thoughts day by day?

Does power mean: I have a lot of money? “I have enough money to oppress people, start wars, destroy families, kill animals” — Is that power? It’s not! That’s not power. That’s called insanity!

In physics, power is the amount of

energy transferred or converted per unit of time. Wait one second! Power is transferred/converted energy?

That being true, how can people have power? Or is it that people are stealing power and calling it theirs? What do I mean? The energy of good and evil was already here before man and woman. So a person doing good or evil is actually stealing the power/energy to “choose” to do so. Which does not give people power, but only choices.

The choice to oppress people or not, kill people or not, help people or not: These are choices, not power.

1 4 // ST REET SEN S E ME DI A / / DE C. 3 0 , 2 0 2 0 - JAN. 12, 2021

FUN & GAMES Sudoku #3

2 3 6 1 7 5 2

Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each 3-by-3 block contain all of the Sudoku digits 1 thru 9. #2

SUDOKU: Fill in

you use logic you can solve the 2 If the 9 puzzle 4 2without 6 guesswork.

1 7 5 8 3 blank squares so that a littleeach help? row, The hints page shows a logical order2 to solve the puzzle.

1 Need 6 8 7 5 3 4 9 1 Use it to identify next square you should solve. Or use the answers page each columntheand if you really get stuck.

5 each 3-by-3 block 3 1 5 8 9 4 6 2 7

4 3

7 9

6 8

2

4

7

6

5 3 9

9

7 9 1

8

3 2

8 7 2 5 6 4

6 2 8 3 2 6 7 8 9 4 3 9 5 7 4 1 1 5

8

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7

8

4

1

9 5 5 3 2 7 1 6 3 2 8 9 6 4

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8

contain all of the digits 1-9.

LAST EDITION’S PUZZLE SOLUTION >>

2 5 8 7 6 4 3 6 9 2 7 9 1 3 4 8 2 3 1 7 5 7 4 2 8 1 6 9 4 5

1 3 4 9 8 7 1 5 5 2 6 8 6 9 5 4 9 1 3 6 3 8 7 2

No. 6 Shantí Sena

BY SAUL TEA Artist/Vendor

This is page six of a 13-part song book accompanying the “Hell’s Bottom Congress Of Puppets” folk opera, created by Saul Aroha Nui Tea. The song is loosely inspired by “When Tomorrow Comes” from the musical “Les Miserables” and by “You Can’t Win” from the musical “The Wiz.” Look for the rest of the opera in future editions of Street Sense and find music videos made with puppets of the characters, along with more information about the project, at congressofpuppets.blogspot.com.

Sudoku #4

5 1

4

© 2013 KrazyDad.com

Novice Sudoku Puzzles, Volume 1, Book 1

2

1

8 2 2 4 6 7 8 3 7 8 9 1 1 7 4 9

6 4 3 8 5

8

7 6

9 3 4

Que es mas macho: `lightbulb' o `schoolbus'?

1

6 9 3 9 8 4 2 6 7 3 2 9 8 1 6 4 5 8 5 3 2 1 7 5 7 4 1

3

Novice Sudoku Puzzles, Volume 1, Book 1

5

2

7

6 8 4 1 9 3 9 1 6 8 7 5 4 3 2 3 6 9 2 5 8 7 4 1

6 8 4 9 3 3 9 2 5 1 2 5 4 6 8 7 3 8 5 7 4 2 6 4 2 1 3 9 9 1 7 8 6 5 8 2 1 5 7 4 4 7 3 9 1 6 5 9 6 3 2 8 1 7

Sudoku #6 6 9 4 7 8 7 3 5 5 2 1 3 1 4 8 6 3 5 9 1 7 6 2 4 4 8 7 9 2 3 5 8 9 1 6 2

8 1 5 6 2 9 9 4 8 7 9 3 2 8 4 3 5 1 1 6 2 4

7

6

5 3 7

2 4 6

5 7

9 3 1

3 1

7 2

6 8 5 9

8

4

Sudoku #8 2 5 9 3 1 7 6 8 3 4 6 5 8 2 9 7

4 1

Author Gene Weingarten is a college dropout and a nationally syndicated humor columnist for The Washington Post. Author Dan Weingarten is a former college dropout and a current college student majoring in information technology. Many thanks to Gene Weingarten and The Washington Post Writers Group for allowing Street Sense to run Barney & Clyde.

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COMMUNITY SERVICES

SHELTER HOTLINE Línea directa de alojamiento

(202) 399-7093

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(202) 547-7777

Education Educación

Health Care Seguro

Clothing Ropa

Legal Assistance Assistencia Legal

Case Management Coordinación de Servicios

Food Comida

Employment Assistance Assitencia con Empleo

Transportation Transportación

Showers Duchas

All services listed are referral-free Academy of Hope Public Charter School 202-269-6623 // 2315 18th Place NE aohdc.org

Bread for the City - 1525 7th St., NW // 202-265-2400 - 1640 Good Hope Rd., SE // 202-561-8587 breadforthecity.org

Calvary Women’s Services // 202-678-2341 1217 Good Hope Rd., SE calvaryservices.org

Food and Friends // 202-269-2277 (home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc) 219 Riggs Rd., NE foodandfriends.org

Foundry Methodist Church // 202-332-4010 1500 16th St., NW ID (Friday 9am–12pm only) foundryumc.org/ministry-opportunities

Friendship Place // 202-364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave., NW friendshipplace.org

Catholic Charities // 202-772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

Georgetown Ministry Center // 202-338-8301 1041 Wisconsin Ave., NW georgetownministrycenter.org

Central Union Mission // 202-745-7118 65 Massachusetts Ave., NW missiondc.org

Jobs Have Priority // 202-544-9128 425 2nd St., NW jobshavepriority.org

Charlie’s Place // 202-232-3066 1830 Connecticut Ave., NW charliesplacedc.org

Loaves & Fishes // 202-232-0900 1525 Newton St., NW loavesandfishesdc.org

Christ House // 202-328-1100 1717 Columbia Rd., NW christhouse.org

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 marthastable.org

Church of the Pilgrims // 202-387-6612 2201 P St., NW food (1-1:30 on Sundays only) churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach

Community Family Life Services 202-347-0511 // 305 E St., NW cflsdc.org

2375 Elvans Road SE 2204 Martin Luther King Ave. SE

Miriam’s Kitchen // 202-452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave., NW miriamskitchen.org

My Sister’s Place // 202-529-5991 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org Community of Hope // 202-232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

Covenant House Washington 202-610-9600 // 2001 Mississippi Ave., SE covenanthousedc.org

N Street Village // 202-939-2060 1333 N St., NW nstreetvillage.org

New York Avenue Shelter // 202-832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave., NE D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 202-347-8870 // 1234 Massachusetts Ave., NW dccfh.org

Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 19 Eye St., NW fathermckennacenter.org

Patricia Handy Place for Women 202-733-5378 // 810 5th St., NW

Samaritan Inns // 202-667-8831 2523 14th St., NW samaritaninns.org

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

1-800-799-7233

Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento

// 15

1-888-793-4357 Laundry Lavandería

Samaritan Ministry 202-722-2280 // 1516 Hamilton St., NW 202-889-7702 // 1345 U St., SE samaritanministry.org

Sasha Bruce Youthwork // 202-675-9340 741 8th St., SE sashabruce.org

JOB BOARD Medical receptionist Community of Hope // Bellevue Part-time The medical receptionist will answer phone calls and set up appointments for patients.

They will also verify patients’ insurance and collect and log payments.

REQUIRED: High school diploma APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/coh-medicalreceptionist

So Others Might Eat (SOME) // 202-797-8806 71 O St., NW some.org

Harm reduction specialist HIPS // H Street Corridor

St. Luke’s Mission Center // 202-333-4949 3655 Calvert St., NW stlukesmissioncenter.org

Thrive DC // 202-737-9311 1525 Newton St., NW thrivedc.org

Unity Health Care 3020 14th St., NW // unityhealthcare.org - Healthcare for the Homeless Health Center: 202-508-0500 - Community Health Centers: 202-469-4699 1500 Galen Street SE, 1500 Galen Street SE, 1251-B Saratoga Ave NE, 1660 Columbia Road NW, 4414 Benning Road NE, 3924 Minnesota Avenue NE, 765 Kenilworth Terrace NE, 555 L Street SE, 3240 Stanton Road SE, 3020 14th Street NW, 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, 1717 Columbia Road NW, 1313 New York Avenue, NW BSMT Suite, 425 2nd Street NW, 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 1333 N Street NW, 1355 New York Avenue NE, 828 Evarts Place, NE, 810 5th Street NW

Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U St., NW // 202-328-5500 legalclinic.org

Part-time // Temporary // Some weekend and evening shifts The harm reduction specialist will provide health education — including safer injection, wound care, overdose prevention, and naloxone training — to community members.

They will conduct mobile outreach 2-3 times per week and will supervise two peer educators.

REQUIRED: Must have a valid driver’s license. Experience with homelessness is a plus.

APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/hips-harm-reduction

Testing site specialist Curative Full-time // Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. - 2 p.m.

The testing site specialist will help set up and prepare mobile testing, check people in for appointments, and track and report data.

REQUIRED: No known exposure to people with COVID-19 symptoms. Willing to be tested for COVID-19 if needed.

APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/testing-sitespecialist

Weekend mid-day house monitor Wanda Alston Foundation

The Welcome Table // 202-347-2635 1317 G St., NW. epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable

Whitman-Walker Health 1701 14th St., NW // 202-745-7000 2301 MLK Jr. Ave., SE // 202-797-3567 whitman-walker.org

For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide

Friday - Sunday, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.

The housing monitor will be responsible for ensuring all LGBTQ+ youth residents of the Wanda Alston House are safe, supported, monitored and respectfully cared for in accordance with WAF policies and procedures. They will organize chore assingments, monitor the building, and work together with case managers as needed.

REQUIRED: High school diploma or equivalent. Experience in group home living and facilitation preferred.

APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/wanda-alstonmonitor-job Hiring? Send your job postings to editor@StreetSenseMedia.org

My wish for the New Year

BY ANTHONY CARNEY Artist/Vendor

2021 is right around the corner. My wish for the New Year is for the coronavirus to be gone so we as a country can be free of this dangerous virus. My mentor told me his 9-year-old grandson passed away because of the virus. My Aunt Ruby passed away from the virus. So I hope that the COVID-19 vaccine works.

Happy Holidays

BY GERALD ANDERSON Artist/Vendor

The Dream

I'm sending this holiday greeting to everyone in this world, all across the country, and everywhere else.

Especially to all my supporters and readers. I wish everyone a safe, happy Christmas and a happy New Year! I hope the New Year brings better things for me and everyone else.

2020 was a rough year. So let ‘21 be a better year.

Hope all this corona and stuff get over with and everybody back to work, hope the kids get back to school, and hope everything come back like it normally used to be. Because I really miss all my customers. I miss everybody.

Honestly, I tell you, I know with me being homeless, being in the street right now, it's really rough for me.

But I can imagine some people that might be in an even worse situation than me.

I hope God watch them as well as he watchin’ me. And, again, hope everyone have a safe and blessed holiday.

BY KYM PARKER // Artist/Vendor

To some it’s about wisdom To some it’s about hope Others look at God to understand what it is But in all, it is wise Within all of us, some dreams cleanse us all The feeling to wake up To light a new day

PHOTO COURTESY OF RANDALL PHOENIX / PIXY.ORG

All grown up by the New Year

Thank you for reading Street Sense!

From your vendor

BY ANGIE WHITEHURST Artist/Vendor

Young and still too young to be mature Do you know your history, their history and what it has to do with you?

Do you know?

You think it is okay?

You say, “That’s just the way it is.”

Well, that’s your acceptance and no one else’s!

‘Tis a shame. Just get over it.

Just, jump, release, crash and expire.

Please do not reincarnate into someone dead and come back to repeat mistakes unforgivably over and over again.

I believe that gas is to just get away.

That’s what’s meant to be done with energy in all forms: to be spent.

It has always been that way.

I am all tight without a treaded tire to hold on to what once was and still is in my head.

Too stubborn a brat to let go.

It is not me. I must still be abysmally asleep.

Wake me up when the era of the foolhardy youth within the soul is done and wisdom has arrived to save the fearlessly unthinking one’s day, along with the rest of the world.

That is, if any of us grows up to be well adjusted, rationally thinking adults.

One nation, indivisible, with social justice and economic compassion for all.

We can do it, if we just grow up.

Folly aside, we can end homelessness and build accessibly affordable housing that is not a puffed-up, irrational, desired, developer-banker-Wall Street-government median statistic, wrapped in the paper of biased, discriminatory, racist and sexist anti-poverty blockades.

Wake me up now, politics aside, to PPE mask up, gargle, nose-spray, wash the hands, and go to work.

Let the COVID-19 end the 2020 nightmare and bring in the maturity, light, and living life of 2021.

DEC. 30, 2020 - JAN. 12, 2021 | VOL. 18 ISSUE 5

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