Seniors at Gonzaga College High School were given an assignment to take a “pilgrimage” walk in the area surrounding the campus. Here are their reflections.
Power and poverty are juxtaposed at Union Station
By Chris Lafrankie
At Union Station, the Capitol stood out most to me, looming over the tents in front of the transportation center. What really struck me was the juxtaposition of the two. The Capitol is a symbol of the power, wealth, and strength of the United States, yet it’s merely blocks away from people who live in tents.
How can the center of our great nation be so close to people who are forced to live in tents? I’m sure countless numbers of politicians and lawmakers pass by these tents every day on the way to the Capitol. They all have the power and ability to change these people’s lives via direct advocacy and policy, yet they do not.
It’s just sad that the building where change is enacted is so close to these people experiencing homelessness. I’m sure they feel upset and probably a little betrayed by a government that is supposed to work for its people. This fact makes me mad. Every day, I see government dollars in action repairing potholes and unnecessarily redoing sidewalks. Why don’t we house those who are suffering day in and day out and do the sidewalks second?
Another thing that stood out to me was the bitter cold. After just 5 minutes, I was ready to go inside, and I was wearing a puffy jacket. While I will never know what it’s like to be out in the cold like that for days on end, I just have a glimpse of the awful conditions that people experiencing homelessness go through. Winter in our area can get really cold, yet I often overlook the weather when thinking about those on the streets. Cold air, rain, snow, and even really hot days present miserable conditions for those outside, and this area always seems to involve one of those conditions in the forecast. I have a newfound respect and empathy for those without homes, as they brave these conditions with strength, while I complain after a mere 5 minutes.
Does the city care about people, or just optics?
By James Miller
I used to feel pity and sadness when I saw people experiencing homelessness in D.C., but now I feel angry. Angry at the city, the nation, and myself for my blindness to the issue on my doorstep.
The most striking things I notice are not the areas with encampments, but the areas devoid of them. Obviously, the spectacle of seeing a tent with a sign reading “civil rights lawyer needed” not 40 feet from a statue of Christopher Columbus and a scorched circle from a book-burning pile is enough to put anyone on edge. But what I find more unsettling are the thousands of benches in D.C. that are sloped, segmented, or “artistically” made to not allow people to sleep or rest on them. What I found also unsettling was the bridge where the city had placed cement K-rail barriers to block people from sleeping in shelter from the rain. How backwards does a city government have to be to spend no doubt thousands of dollars to put tons of concrete under a bridge only for that area’s inhabitants to move to an area that is less protected from the elements.
For a moment on my walk I tried to justify it, as a thought experiment, from the point of view of someone who cared nothing for human life and only about the city budget, profit, and tourism. Even then, it was impossible to make sense of the decision. From where I stand, forcing encampments out of a safer area through expensive removal procedures into the lawn of the largest train station in the city is a downright idiotic idea from every perspective. This is part of the reason why I get frustrated when people praise D.C. for being a safehaven of equality because of its decisions to decriminalize drugs, support Black Lives Matter, and do community outreach from police departments. As good as such policies are, D.C. can be hypocritical in its actions. I would go so far as to say the D.C. legislature does not actually care about the people of the city, and instead only cares about optics and making D.C. richer.
Urban design is hostile to people experiencing homelessness
By Sebastian Larsen
The experience of observing homelessness near my high school was profound, revealing and insightful. It was really nice to just practice “being” in the areas that I had previously only walked through to get to somewhere else.
I saw many things that I normally don’t notice because I just completely pass by them, such as the barriers and structures that are put in place on ledges and railings to prevent people from resting there. Especially enraging was a simple railing surrounding a small patch of trees, where someone installed another narrow piece of metal so it would be extremely uncomfortable to sit on, thus preventing any people experiencing homelessness from sitting on it. I was really taken aback by how intentional, and threatening, features like this were. They weren’t just stopping people from sitting; they had spikes and sharp edges, and it seemed as if they were actively threatening people experiencing homelessness.
Another thing that I was really struck by was that I had never even seen some of the areas that I walked to, especially the tent encampments by the Columbus statue in front of Union Station. Whenever I go to the train station, I cut through the side entrance, and I am ashamed that I never knew about my brothers and sisters who were experiencing homelessness who were living just a couple steps away from where I used to walk every single day.
One more thing that really shocked me was the gentrification and the new developments that were going on in NoMa. Of course, nice new buildings are not inherently a bad thing, but for the first time, I thought about who or what had to be moved or cleared in order to make space for that kind of building. Someone’s home, or maybe even a tent encampment, had to be cleared, and it taints the image of any new development in the area.
In the future, I hope to practice being more observant and present in my surroundings, and thus be in more solidarity with my brothers and sisters experiencing homelessness.
