What do segregation and ostracism have to do with homelessness?
Everything.
I was recently turned away at the door of a coffee shop at the corner of 14th and P Sts NW.
The employee told me his manager said that I couldn’t come in.
The words felt like an assault. They felt like segregation.
I am the same person who visited that coffee shop before I became homeless. Now, due to my attire, my pushcart, my extra bags, I have been turned away.
I ask this: what right does a business have in denying a paying customer based on attire or appearance in receiving services? It was a day when the temperatures were down in the 40s and I simply wanted something hot to drink.
To you business people out there: homeless people are just like you. We have feelings just like you. Yet I am almost sure that you have no idea just how much homeless people have to endure because of cruelty and mean-spiritedness.
It was this same kind of ostracism which thankfully was ended with segregation.
Thank God not every coffee shop out there encourages that kind of cruelty.
I recently visited another shop on L and Vermont Sts NW where the members of the staff were very professional and treated me with respect and dignity and even offered to pay for my coffee.
There was another nearby place where a member of the staff said “there’s no more hot coffee but there plenty of hot food left” and even gave me a free soda after I had explained how I was mistreated at another store.
Regardless of what you think; homeless people are women and men but we are also customers and human beings. The question shouldn’t be whether or not homeless people are welcome into a store but the question should be how can we help you? Learn how to be kind and not nasty; it’s not a good look for your business or for the world. Kindness is key for all who live on this planet! Good Luck!!!!!
