I was driving a friend to Union station in downtown LA. We had left Groundwork Coffee Co. in North Hollywood. Faraz was on his way to continue his journey across the United States back to Chicago. I’m driving. Michael’s in the front and Faraz is in the back. I’m about to make a left right next to Union Station. The light is red. I see something approaching quickly out of the corner of my eye. A disheveled man glaring at my me inside my car appeared in my vision. He slammed his fist over and over on the car. My friends looked at me and stated with urgency and confusion, “Uhh, I think we should go”. I blew the red light and we headed on to Union Station.

When I first moved to Los Angeles, I walked down the entirety of Skid Row. In Chicago, we walk places. In LA, people complain about walking a block to their cars. Skid Row is the most active section of the city. People are up 24/7 and the action is always moving. Coming from Chicago, I didn’t recognize the crisis we were facing. Chicago’s neighborhoods are ‘block by block’. Barack Obama lived on the nicest block in Hyde Park with the most destitute and dangerous intersection a few blocks away. I walked the full mile down Skid Row. Those sights of tents, garbage, and shit were concepts I’d never considered. One guy asked if I was looking for drugs. Another stared me down with a threatening grin. There were people living there who were obviously psychotic and in desperate need of psychiatric medication.

The homeless, on the other hand, are a byproduct of late stage capitalism’s ever increasing rents. It is not their fault that they don’t have housing. They experience significant disabilities and impenetrable barriers due to stigma. It’s the government’s responsibility to provide for all of its inhabitants. I hear “rags to riches” stories of people escaping extreme destitution. That’s great, but the ‘bootstraps’ mentality is the most ignorant shit you’ll hear. I’ve heard some great stories and I’m glad there’s a select few who can motivate themselves to make the change. Still, I wish these individuals understood statistics. You can’t just ‘escape’ poverty. It takes a ton of luck and your average Joe doesn’t have that luck. For nearly all of us, going from homelessness to entrepreneurship or even holding gainful employment is impossible. I say this as a counselor who can easily navigate his way around social services.

The homelessness crisis in LA is untenable. We’re living in a world class city and not the slums of fucking Karachi. LA inhabitants regularly deal with trash and hoards of shopping carts left on the curb and the street. I step over human feces, dodge their tents, and dart my eyes from having to deal with another soul asking me for money. Police do little to clean up the mess and most of their belongings leftover are cleaned up through church groups and other private volunteers. The politicians and Mayor ‘Garbageciti’ do little to stop it. We’ve got the money, but I’m often left wondering if anyone really cares.