Beneath the Belly of the Beast

Voices drop to a whisper or fade away in a sudden quiet, and eyes divert elsewhere when passing by the hush-hush otherness of overt human misery known as #homelessness. We are spoken about sans the context of our own stories or experiences, if spoken of at all, and usually with some fearful form of disdain. We are treated as a "problem2solve", not as thinking, feeling, equal human beings with inherent worth and value as such. —but, what if those who sneer down at us suddenly became us? ...would they then gain enough empathy to understand the indignities forced upon us? (...enough to want to make it stop 4every1?)

Since homelessness is so rarely spoken of from a humanized perspective, it seems that too many people do not realize just how instantly we each fell from the dignity and grace of social perception simply by losing a stable place to call home (or even in leaving a housing situation too traumatic and filled with pain to call it a home, without a ready replacement or means to acquire one). Whatever the initial cause, becoming homeless comes with an immediately issued deck of cards forced into the hands of our ongoing attempts to survive.

• aside all the things to follow, the first felt is the loss of visibility, status, and dignity as a human being. we become invisible at best...a target at worst. note that you will not only be targeted by uniformed enforcers, rangers, and "private property" or grocery* store "security" thugs, but also by ordinary civilians and fellow fallen folks who care only for themselves...or arent quite existing on this plane any longer. *(btw, whyTF do grocery stores now require armed thugs in the first place?! ...stealing food means people are hungry. simple. no violence required...just feed them! yes. i get its about protecting profit margins, not people. ugh.)*
• no matter what has or is going on with you, you will no longer be listened to or considered capable of making your own choices and expressing yourself...plus it is highly likely to be further assumed that you are a drug addict, alcoholic, or having a "mental health episode"...even if none of that is true. so essentially, you are treated as though you have lost the rights to your own voice, to speak up for yourself and others, or to protest any treatment or maltreatment you and others are dealt...AND, as if you are now automatically a criminal threat, no matter what the circumstances...even if you arent or never were before.
• you are no longer considered worthy of the rights to possess anything remotely close to belongings and can expect "raids" and "sweeps" to come by at random hours (often late at night and still dark early mornings) to unload squads of officers and trucks of "civil servants" who "collect" everything you own into massive trash bags and haul them away to warehouses and dump sites...even if you are standing right there claiming your stuff and pleading with them not to steal your things. *yes. this is nothing other than outright public theft and no one protects us from it. in fact, sometimes folks gather to watch it happen and do nothing.* additionally, those performing the theft will and do use any and every excuse to simply trash these belongings as a "health hazard" or "public danger" instead of "storing them for retrieval upon claims by the owner", like the npc script they quote. i.e: there was food, medicine, or liquids in your bag...so the bag is tossed in the garbage. tent had a tear in it, because they violently tore it down? ...yup, garbage.
• even if you have legitimate "business", reasons, or access to be in a certain place, you must now prove you "should be here", multiple times, with multiple people, and you will most likely be followed around until your purpose is completed or someone decides to deny you services and access. at which point you will be expected to leave immediately and without complaint or "making a scene"...which is code for showing an inch of spine and sticking up for yourself. if you are super tired and decide to show spine to an enforcer, just know that this becomes an instant reason for them to escalate the thuggery of their tactics from cursing and screaming at you to beating, macing, and detaining you without just cause (other than "we told him he cant sleep here and he gave us lip").
• now that your entire existence happens largely out in the open, you must also endure the total loss of privacy. your "good days", worse days, sleeping positions, lack of sleep-ness, dirty clothes, human waste elimination processes, and unwashed sun-burnt face (plus much more) are all now on display like a twisted dystopian theatre and up for judgement and critique by all who walk by. yet the invasion does not end there. you are also expected to give out whatever information, personal or otherwise, that is asked of you by anyone wearing a badge, uniform, or nameplate of any kind...and whenever it is demanded of you, even if you arent asking for anything in return. "what are you doing here?", "do you have a reason to be here?", "show me your id". —you DO still have the rights to deny answer or info to anyone...but you will NOT be treated as such...and walking away from these solicitors is more difficult without a door to close in front of you. speaking of doors, one of the least private forms of homelessness is residing in a shelter...thats 200-500 cots or mats on the floor mere inches away from one another, open bay showers, and toilets with the doors removed "because these two guys were doing drugs in the bathrooms". imagine sleeping in a mass warehouse filled with the rage, pain, tears, and perpetual "demons of the mind" of hundreds of other people, or having "shy guy" bathroom trauma issues like i do, and then please realize shelters are not "healthy solutions" by a long shot.
• should you actually have a mental, emotional, or medical breakdown...good luck. you are more likely to be treated as a threat than a person in need of loving support, care, or urgent medical assistance. most often the first ones "called to the scene" are the ill-trained for delicate matters enforcers who will more often than not treat the situation as a crime in progress and immediately escalate the situation with their excessive behaviours, manner, or use of force to "control the disorderly vagrant" —too many times resulting in the serious injury or death of the person in crisis. alternatively, you may be encountered by the overworked emts who seem to have been trained that all calls pertaining to #homeless folks is "drug, alcohol, violent nature, or mentally incompetent" related and refuses to listen to a single word from your mouth...including "i do not consent to be given any drugs or taken into any facilities". heaven help you if you end up in a "behavioural health unit"...cautionary tale for another time...
• perhaps the most overlooked cards dealt in this hand of misery is the total loss of ready access to the most basic biological needs. i could write an entire article on this section and the denial of sleep that we experience alone, but also note that these basics become a rarity NOT due to an overall communal lack of resources, but because of intentional hostile "city planning" and political policies that are enforced to "discourage" existing in public as a homeless person. with so many of these spiteful enforcements in place, suddenly the very simple things that ALL humans need, or rely on, to exist become a rare luxury treat...or something to travel miles to obtain when possible, on certain days, at certain hours, and micro-monitored by an unsympathetic team of enforcers throughout the entire "giving of care" process, who will most likely treat you less than a 2 inch being and unworthy of basic respect; hot meals, facilities to eliminate waste, warmth, cooling, access to water, access to a place to bathe (even rarer for private bathing), a place to eat or sleep or rest that doesnt come with a horde of officers to chase you off.....so so so much more, that maybe will become its own article...
• on top of all other burdens and bosh you must endure every day, remember also that everything you do own will have to be carried on your back, or carted behind you...every-single-where you go...while mostly walking extremely long distances to take care of the most basic of needs...because you have nowhere to stash them, very few places offer free day storage or lockers, and being in the open means your stuff is a much easier target for thieves and mean thugs who just like taking what little you do have away. this also means that movement further wears down your body and health (depending on how much you have, the weather, and the season), quickly becomes a load more difficult to "blend in" to most "civilized" environments, and can create a restriction of access to certain places, especially without a trusted buddy to watch your things while you: use a public restroom, shop for food, pick up medications or visit with a doctor, consult with a case worker for services in a gov building...etc, ad nauseam. (and yes, this situation is a little different for those with camps, squats, or cars...but i am only highlighting the lowest rung of the fallen ladder in this section.)

i could carry on for ages on this topic as there are 2many more examples of the sheer horrors, abuses, humiliations, disrespect, and pains that we all experience in this enforced loss of social contract and basic human dignity, but if you dont believe how differently #thehomeless are treated than other folks...you dont have to become homeless to find out. you can literally just go about your ordinary day with your oldest pre-laundry day clothing, a backpack of survival for a week, and see how differently you are treated than usual.

...and no. you dont have to be dirty or smelly to activate the "ewww a homeless" treatment.

yes. we do bath, do laundry, change clothes, and try to maintain basic dignity of self as much as we can and at any facility we are "granted access" to do so...or we wash up in the river cos its all we have to help us "feel human".

...and no matter how we are spoken of or mistreated...we ARE still just HUMANS, who are being systematically crushed and eliminated by the insatiable beast of #capitalism and the methodically oppressive "directives and regulations" of its perpetual enforcers.