Homeless. Hungry. God Bless

[pegkerr]

I have been noticing more and more people here in George Bush's America, standing at busy street corners and holding signs to panhandle money. What is so striking is how similar all the messages are that are scrawled on the cardboard signs. What, is there a rigid style sheet or something out there for homeless people that they all think they have to follow? The messages address the coded anxieties about class, even as they ask for help.

"Homeless."

[I'm not a slacker scrounging for change for a cup of coffee and a video game. I really need help.]

"Hungry."

[ditto. A definite appeal to pity. Meaning: This is a real, serious problem.]

"Will work for food."

[Message: I'm not lazy]

"Veteran."

[I'd guess that somewhere between 50-80% of the guys' signs say this. As brithistorian points out, many of them wear Army surplus jackets, to cement the impression. Probably many more claim to be veterans than are actually veterans. The underlying message is, "I'm a good, virtuous, civic-minded citizen who has served his country, who is just down on hard luck right now." The message works, too, because so many people have heard that many veterans are homeless]

"God bless."

[This one is ubiquitous. Just about EVERYONE has it. Translation: "I'm a moral person." (And probably: "I'm not going to use this money to get drunk.") This, I think, is an attempt to answer the common cultural anxious perception that those who are homeless are "homeless by choice" as Reagan put it, often because they are too lazy to work. It also appeals to morality in the passersby, subtly reminding them that their religion might require that they give money to beggers.

Edited to add: I would also like to hasten to assure my atheist friends reading this entry that I certainly don't assume that you have to be religious to be moral. But I think that many Americans do--and this message, "God bless," addresses that.

Edited to add, II: As nmsunbear points out, this last message can also simply be a way to say "thank you."]

What other messages have you seen, and how do you interpret them?

Comments

[ann-totusek.livejournal.com]

My favorite, (and I have actually seen this with a Des Moines regular) rather than just heard it in a joke) is "Why lie? I need a beer!"

[lizardlaugh.livejournal.com]

In my experience riding city buses in cities where no one rides the buses except for students and the homeless, the vast majority of homeless people are suffering from mental illness or drug addiction or a combination of the two. Truly, very, very few people are homeless because they just can't get a job. I feel sorry for them, but ulitmately these are people who can't be helped.

I don't think the language that use is anything having to do with who is in power -- that has ALWAYS been the case. OF COURSE they are going to seem like upright citizens so people will give them money. It's not a political statement, it's a sales pitch.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

There are some younger, quasi-hip street people here in Seattle on Broadway (sort of the local hip drag) who frequently have signs that say "Need Beer" or "Fishing for Beer" or something similar. (I've known people who give thme change because "At least they're being honest about what they want the money for." Altho presumably the person could be just asking for beer money, and then could use the change for something else....) Downtown, where there are more businesspeople and tourists, there are a few signs like that, but mostly the signs are like the ones you describe -- some of them get quite elaborate, including details about car broke down, ran out of gas, need bus ticket to Tuscon, &c. There are a fair number of homeless people with dogs, which sort of surprises me (what do the dogs eat? If the person gets into a shelter, can the dog go to?). A few even have cats. People sometimes seem more inclined to give money "for the animals" (one guy set up his dog with his own cardboard sign, sunglasses, water/food bowls, and coffee cup. He was around the corner).

[brithistorian.livejournal.com]

Also I've noted that most of them tend to be wearing an army surplus jacket, to lend credence ot the "Veteran" claim.

When Angel and I moved to Minneapolis last summer, we were forcibly struck by the relative lack of homeless people at intersections, compared to New Orleans. This summer I've noticed a tremendous increase - still not to pre-Katrina New Orleans levels (which sometimes featured four guys sharing one intersection), but still many multiples of what I saw last year.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

These might interest you:

Some college students tried rewriting signs so homeless people would get more money.

A collection of photographs of some signs.

A brief nonfiction piece illustrated with signs.

This is kind of neat: The Department of Labor (DOL) today launched a Web site to help America's homeless find jobs through mainstream as well as targeted training, education and placement services and to provide a vital link to government- wide resources.

[ironymaiden]

i had a long chat with one of the cat guys on the bus. she gets fed before he does, and he has a hard time getting work because most jobs won't let him bring the cat along. (a lot of the homeless folks in Seattle do day labor.) he seemed to consider his relationship with his cat to be the most important thing. nice guy, different set of priorities.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

Oh ghod yeah, a lot of people I think go through the Millionair's Club, or Manpower, or, ghod help us all, Labor Ready....there was a big expose of Labor Ready in one of the local weekly rags a good while ago. All this crap about "getting the homeless to work," and it's mostly dangerous, ill-paid, short-term, body-breaking manual labor with no future. And then the labor place charges outrageous "ATM" fees, because the workers don't have bank accounts and can't afford check-cashing places. -- Oh yeah, here it is: http://thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=2253

sigh. Pardon my vent.

OT

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

Say, nice Left Hand of Darkness icon! I have that paperback.

[nmsunbear.livejournal.com]

Huh. I'm sure you're right about the reason for the "God bless," but I always kind of thought it was an attempt to give you something for your money, or your kindness. Like, I don't have anything to give you in return, but at least I can try to give you this blessing.

Of course, I've always been a touch naive... :)

[jbru.livejournal.com]

The other message I see often is some reference to the family of the homeless person. That they are trying to support a son/daughter. Also a message that makes the person with the sign out to be someone in real trouble that isn't trying to get some beer.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

It's strange to be living in a country beset with beggars. That used to be something from the Third World. I also have quite a lot of people approaching me on the street or in parking lots.

Researchers managed to find at least one family that does it "professionally" -- and nets enough to live in hotels and eat regularly. Probably not the norm, but like most people I wonder how often I'm being scammed. The people who approach me on the street for money are often dressed more expensively than I am. I still sometimes give them money.

I've seen the "Why lie? I need a beer!" version in Minneapolis.

I don't give to the ones with religious references on their signs. That's probably unfair; they're probably just playing to their perceived audience without regard to their own beliefs.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

It's not so much the messages I respond to, but just the very presence of homeless people asking for money. I try to have "good Christian understanding", but at the same time they scare me because of how close I thought I came to being homeless a year ago when I had my depressive smackdown. While I shy away from giving money a few weeks ago I saw a young woman playing violin (excellently, I might add) and dropped $5 into her case. I guess 'cuz I found her a bit of real life humanity in a sterile, urban setting.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Much as I approve of the idea of direct giving to the neediest of people, I have seen too much "shift change" sign hand-offs where the rest of the group are sitting on a bus bench near by, or hanging out (at my favorite local spot for seeing this sort of action) under the trees on the northeast corner of the intersection of the westbound I-94 off-ramp at Cedar Ave.

I'm not buying beer for people on the street.

K.

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

"Will work for food". I thought that was the classic. There used to be someone who stood at one of the ramps from Cedar Ave to I94 with that sign every day. I think the implication is that they have very little.

But aren't we all "working for food"?

I've heard various things on the economics of panhandling. The idea of begging as a profession, and possibly one that pays rather well, is not a new idea. See "The Man with the Twisted Lip" by Arthus Conan Doyle. It's in any complete Sherlock Holmes, but I don't remember the precise collection.

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

That is busking, not panhandling. I will not give money to beggars, no matter how pathetic.I will give money to buskers if they are any good.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Available from Project Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1661

There's also, of course, Heinlein's Citizen of the Galaxy.

[jbru.livejournal.com]

"Wishing Well" is just downright clever.

(My personal favorite is "butler's got thrush.")

[jbru.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've seen the team at Cedar and I-94. Their latest prop addition is a wheelchair. Thing is, I could tell by the way the guy sat it in that a) it wasn't his chair and b) he didn't need it due to non-functioning legs. It made me wonder where they got it.

[mizzlaurajean.livejournal.com]

I saw a guy with one last week on the corner of Lake and 31st holding his sign down while he talked on his cell phone.

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

The most disturbing one I ever saw:

SPIT ON ME FOR A DOLLAR

this is a subject I feel deeply about; pardon the long reply.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I have seen signs that says "Single mom" or "Homeless with kids".

My policy is--I make a good salary. If I have a dollar in my pocket, or purse, I will spare it. Sometimes I'll even spare two at the same intersection if I can. I've decided it is one small way I can throw goodwill into the world--giving the gift of a little trust, whether or not it is deserved. One of the saddest nights I ever spent was after seeing a show (tickets over $100 each) and having a $50/person dessert with drinks was seeing a man sleeping on the street two blocks over with one leg. The sad part was that my companion said "Don't give him money, he's there all the time." But I did anyway.

I give to organizations that help too, when I can. My main charity is breast cancer-related and I have also given money to the red cross, habitat for humanity, the march of dimes, and a local food bank, plus my home donations go to a local AIDS research charity. But mostly I like to think that maybe I've made a little difference, somewhere.

I did not like the earlier comment someone had about how mentally ill and alcoholics or addicts can't be helped. I think everyone can be helped. I just don't think most of us care enough to help. It's too hard to care.

One time I gave this woman--do not remember what her sign said but it made me cry--a $5 at a red light. She started to cry too. I honestly can't believe in my head that she bought a drink with that money. But if that's the thing she needed most that afternoon, I hope I helped her get that.

there, but for the grace of god, you know.

Re: this is a subject I feel deeply about; pardon the long reply.

[em-h.livejournal.com]

Thank you!! These are exactly the things I wanted to say, but couldn't summon the words to say properly.

Also, the persona who commented above about the cell phone? A cheap phone and a cheap plan, not much money. A lot less than having a land line and an apartment to have it in. If you're trying to find work, you're going to have a bloody hard time of it without a phone number, and scraping together a few bucks for a cell makes a lot of sense. Similarly, the people who look clean and well-dressed -- you don't know how hard they may be working to look that way, the church basement they may be using to wash, the time they spend searching the Goodwill for clothes they could wear to a job interview. Making judgements about things like that is almost like punishing people for trying to get off the streets.

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

The guy near our house has a sign reading simply, "DUH!"

Re: this is a subject I feel deeply about; pardon the long reply.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree with you. a pre-paid cell phone is very easy to get these days. So is a PO Box. They are real necessities if you are trying to get steady work.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Not sure what you're trying to say here. Is it, "How strange that a person with no job, and probably no place to live, can afford a cell phone. The prices of things sure have changed a lot!" Or are you trying to say something more like, "How dare he presume to use a phone! Phones are like clean clothes and job interviews -- they mark class, and a person who slips too far down should never be allowed to come back?"