RECLAIMING VICTORY

The economic downturn has taken many prisoners. It has been almost two years since the recession began in December 2007, and many people have become locked in a cycle of financial hardship due to job loss, foreclosure or eviction.

It seems that no city has escaped the economy’s reach unscathed. News stories carry images of tent cities that have sprung up around Los Angeles, Miami and Washington, D.C., and are allegedly filled with the newly homeless. Many people go to family and friends for help or seek refuge in shelters, churches or in some desperate cases, their cars.
The saying goes that when America gets a cold, Black America gets pneumonia. So how are African-Americans faring in the face of these circumstances? Black neighborhoods are continuing to face high foreclosure rates in cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Las Vegas. Of the 14.7 million Americans without jobs, the unemployment rate for Blacks was 14.7 percent as of June 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Still, there is hope. At the beginning of the year, Congress passed an almost-$800 billion economic recovery package that includes $1.5 billion for the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP). Columbus, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., are implementing models to curtail the problem of homelessness and paving the way for other cities to follow.

The six individuals who we have profiled in this story all have had a brush with homelessness. Most of them were gainfully employed at some time. All have children or families. In some cases, the new face of the homeless may look familiar.

The Single Father
Name: Joseph Harris, 46
Location: Washington, DC

‘I’m not a person who goes to church. I do know that throughout my struggles, as long as I stayed positive, God has been with me.’

I used to pour concrete by trade, but I was in a car accident and couldn’t work for a while.

I was evicted from my apartment last fall. I stayed with friends and at motels. Slept in my car for a while. I tapped into some social programs, but there are so many people in need that I kept getting doors closed.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Launch Gallery 

My main thing is that I don’t want brownie points. If you have a child, you’re supposed to take care of your child. This is what I’m supposed to do. I haven’t cured AIDS. I don’t have a cure for cancer. Somebody might say, “Oh, wow! Look at him.” I don’t want to come across like that at all. This is my responsibility. No matter how rough it gets, I have to stick with it [and] try to make the best decisions for my son (4-year-old Joseph III) and me.

The hardest part is when he can’t run around in his own place, and now he has to go with other people who are telling him, “Don’t do this. Don’t touch that.” We used to have our own place. He had his own toys. He could do what he wanted to do.

Taking care of my son is a lot easier now. When he was small, I had the little harness. But now he can walk. I still end up putting him on my shoulders anyway.

I want to set a foundation for us. We need stability. We can do a lot of things that normal families do. Once I obtain that, the sky is the limit. I don’t want to work all my life. So I have to think of other avenues. My main objective is to be the first generation to leave something for my son. Then he may have something to give to his son and it won’t be so hard [for him].

I visualize me having all of those things. One thing that I do know—and I’m not a person who goes to church—I do know that throughout my struggles, as long as I stayed positive, God has been with me. I pray.

At one time, I let my circumstances allow me to be around people who were shady [and] were involved in trying to get a quick buck. But God spoke directly to me and told me that my son needed me. I figured out that there was another way.

If I need some money, let me go cut some grass. Let me go to somebody’s house to see if they need their windows washed. I know that sounds crazy in today’s time, but I think God is all that. So I may go to a person, and they [might] need nothing done, but by me coming at them in [a certain] manner, they may just say, “You know anything about drywall? I got something that needs to be done in my garage.”

And that’s how God blesses us. I was blocking my blessing by jumping out there and trying to get my own, and ended up coming close to being incarcerated. If I love my son the way I say that I do, why would I put myself in a position where I can’t be around my son? God got me through that, and I made a promise to myself that I would never, ever do anything illegal.

I believe God put me in this situation. God works in mysterious ways to those who don’t know him. But there ain’t nothing mysterious about God. You have to be patient and quiet to hear what he’s saying. Being raised as a Christian when I was a little boy, I read the entire Bible.

One thing I do know is that you need two parents to raise a child, to get that balance. I have all of the testosterone for my son, but he needs that nurturing spirit, too. Hopefully, one day, I will be blessed with a beautiful young lady who will understand. A man needs a woman. A woman completes a man. A woman gives a man strong advice.

My son wants to be president when he grows up. But I just want him to reach his full potential in whatever he chooses to do. I just hope that God allows me be on this earth to help him work toward that.

When my son grows up, I hope he will look at me and say, “Even through all of the struggle, all of the frustration, all of the things that people said to you that you wouldn’t have taken but you took for me, I love you.”

The Married Couple