Effective July 31, 2020, millions of unemployed Americans will no longer receive the extra $600 per week in Federal COVID 19 unemployment benefits. In Oklahoma, the average payment will drop to $49 a week. The CARES Act moratorium on evictions ended July 24, 2020. While U.S. Senators return to upscale homes, their constituents stay awake worrying about joining the homeless sleeping in cars, shelters, and on the streets.
When I wrote, sang, and produced my “No Homelessness” video in 2019, the official count of people without homes in Los Angeles was 58,936. That number was up 12% from 2018. They haven’t released figures for 2020 yet, but it’s logical to assume an even higher number than 2019. Seems like I saw 50,000 just in downtown Los Angeles. My friend, SAG/AFTRA actor Darrin Wilkerson volunteers on skid row, downtown Los Angeles and starred in “No Homelessness” which was shot on skid row. We witnessed misery, but also the magic of hope. Pastor Tony Stallworth and members of the Church of Nazarene, located at 6th and San Pedro streets, host a free karaoke on Wednesdays where “down on their luck” folks sing and have fun in a safe environment. Free dinner and hot coffee are served. Pastor Tony graciously let us shoot a scene for “No Homelessness” in the church.
Outside on the “Streets of Shame,” people who hit “rock bottom” slept on cold sidewalks in the middle of winter (January) curled up in fetal positions. American society places the blame on individuals, rather than on systemic racism (the vast majority of homeless on skid row are Black) and political-economic policies designed to favor the rich.
Some of you are survivors. You’ll get your hustle on and do what you have to do to keep a roof over your family’s heads. Many others who were already living on the brink of poverty from one paycheck to the next, will fall victim to depression, anxiety and homelessness unless we get into what Ancestor John Lewis called “good trouble.” We must write, call, protest and petition senators and members of Congress; keep agitating until they pass a law extending benefits to the jobless so they do not become homeless.
Peace and One Love…
Aria