Alonzo Fortune, a life-long resident of Nashville, Tennessee, is a staff intern at the Nashville Homeless Power Project, an organization made up of homeless or formerly homeless people. "We confront the root causes of poverty and oppression. We believe that housing and health care is a basic human right," he said. "Homelessness is growing in Nashville to an estimated at 3,000 to 4000 people, not counting those who may live with friends or sleep on couches," he said. During the mayoral campaign, a candidate said they had seen more white homeless than Blacks. "The numbers are high whichever ethnic group you look at," said Alonzo. There's a great number of Black, as well as white and Hispanic. There are many reasons for homelessness here. One is the low living wage in comparison to the cost of housing. A person needs to work 40 hours a week at $10.54 an hour to afford a one-bedroom apartment. That would be around $524 a month. If you are making minimum wage, you can't afford rent given the cost of transportation, food, and utilities."
The Nashville Project focuses on the city's responsibility. "We get in the political arena and try to get political figures to address homelessness and appropriate funding for housing. Here in Nashville, we did an 'Urban Plunge' where the mayoral candidates were asked to spend a night on the street in the hope that as mayor he will do something." One of the candidates who took up the offer was struck by the sheer numbers of homeless people sleeping on benches. Another was kicked out of a bar after asking for a bag of potato chips.
Alonzo was in Philadelphia recently and was staggered at how many businesses have left and the numbers of abandoned buildings while the homeless are in the street. "I believe as human beings we need housing. If you don't have a home, you can't sustain a happy life," he said. "I'm sure there will be collaboration of different organizations around the country to come together and organize a campaign around ending homelessness. It is one thing to point fingers at a city council or a federal government. But, there comes a time when the citizens of this country have a responsibility to force the local or federal government to act. As a society, we have to insist that these issues be addressed.
Alonzo's vision is for a new society is where racial issues or class will not be common -- a society in which all people are equal and have the same opportunities. "In this city, even though there are a lot of white homeless, as well as Black, there is still a lot of oppression based on race. It needs to be addressed nationally, not just here or in the South."
"I went to Tent City, the largest homeless community in Nashville, and Blacks and whites were separated. The Black homeless were in this corner and all the whites on other side. I thought this is really crazy. Even when you are so poor you make a home out of vinyl tarp found in the street, you still separate yourself by race. We live in a capitalistic society. It has its good and bad points. But as long as there are haves and have nots, there will also be people who are homeless and deprived of necessities because that is the system. What people are afraid to admit is that the whole system will have to be revamped, and that it is a little scary."
