Migrants everywhere. Maybe 20,000… maybe 25,000… who knows? Mostly from Venezuela, some from Colombia, some from Haiti, now some sneaking in here from China to spy on our wifi systems?
We at StreetSense are devoted to helping provide resources and information to the social workers, street helpers, case workers, and others who assist the homeless—including the migrants in Chicago. And in other cities, for that matter.
We try to keep the conversation going also…
There are many different opinions about what to do with the new migrants (the “momeless” as I have taken to calling them because they are migrants who are homeless, all of them) from sending them home on a bus to giving them a decent place to work and a job.
In my travels throughout Chicagoland, I have heard just about every kind of opinion about the migrants, what they deserve, and what they do not deserve.
Some people think the migrants should simply not be allowed to stay in Chicago. They were not invited, people remind me, so why not tell them the city is closed and we are busy doing other things? We are not taking care of “our own homeless,” people tell me. It is interesting, that the only way people accept homeless people as “our own” is when, at least, they seem to be better than migrants.
That is all very interesting, because in fact an awful lot of Chicagoans do not think the homeless belong here either. They do not work, they do not have an apartment, they must not vote… so why can’t we just get rid of them somehow? Well, that is the kind of thing you hear from a lot of people in the city.
Remember that the homeless are in fact “others” to a lot of Chicagoans with clout.
Remember that then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot said about getting people out of O’Hare where they were sleeping awhile back that “We cannot have them in our airports…” (https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/mayor-lightfoot-homeless-people-ohare/).
This maybe meant only Chicago residents may use O’Hare? Or that homeless people are not allowed to travel?
Or maybe it just meant that Mayor Lightfoot is part of a Chicago that does not include/allow/accept homeless people? Maybe it is a class thing?
So now we have all these migrants—of whatever class—arriving unabashedly by bus… some knowing they are coming to Chicago or similar city but acting like they do not… some having no idea where they are going… and most just knowing that they escaped the hell of the hometown they had no future in.
Our sanctions against their governments and help destroying their economies not being mentioned, many people are discussing this migrant topic to find out what sorts of opinions we should have about these people… now these darn people are sleeping right there! In this building and that!
Right at a time when our Supreme Court is considering whether homeless people should be fined, arrested, or worse??? for sleeping outdoors in places like Oregon. Can people relax at the beach? Fall asleep after a big lunch in the park? Doze off waiting for their flight in the airport owned by Lori Lightfoot and her friends?
Complicating the push to getting everybody in Chicago to be friendly and helpful to the migrants is the feeling in some communities that the mayors do NOTHING for the poor, the Blacks, the homeless, and other persons in our city who have been disenfranchised and dehumanized for generations… Many Blacks say they do not want to help the migrants, adding phrases like, “Why should we???!!!”
At a recent community dinner where I was at a table speaking to two young Venezuelan men about services and where to get help on various needs, I switched to Spanish because it was easier and, well, the two guys did not really understand what I was saying in English.
Suddenly, a Black man at the table screamed at me “That’s some racist sh*t right there!” and warned me to speak in English. I assured him using Spanish made more sense, but he insisted I was being racist because he does not speak Spanish, it was rude therefore for me to do so, and the migrants had to speak English because that is our national language.
I explained to him that this country does NOT have an official national language and that if he does not speak English there really is no need for him to listen. He continued in this way. (I told the guys this person was unhappy about high taxes and was asking directions to something.)
I guessed the “racist” notion was just shorthand for saying I was not worried about the guy who did not speak Spanish, did not seem to be helping him, and was switching out of English as a way to avoid having to help him. I am hearing out there on the street—a lot—that many Chicagoans feel there is not enough being done to help “our people” and nothing should be done to help those crazy migrants.
Then we are all hearing about the migrants using the park district buildings so Johnny and Tammy cannot go play volleyball on Saturdays so that mom can take a good long nap. Those families have made great sacrifices so that the migrants will not have to sleep outside (which might be illegal soon) and…
Complicating the job of trying to decide whose side to take and whether it is reasonable and just to be polite to the migrants and help them so they do not starve in the streets, we have some idiots making videos of the sort that anti-migrants love to see.
There is more than one character who is making videos (they are on Facebook and Youtube) about how stupid the Americans are (they call us “gringos” like in the Disney cartoons about South America) and how Venezuelans can get ANYTHING they want if they come here.
In sheer idiocy, there is one guy in particular who is sometimes blond and who holds us his little baby daughter, calling her a “gold mine” and telling how with her, he and his wife get free rent, food, coffee cards, and more.
As if things weren’t bad enough in the plea to get migrants food and shelter, this fool thinks it is terribly funny to ridicule the gringos for feeing him and his family, allowing them to stay here, finding him a job and a ride, plus paying for his Starbucks coffee.
Sign me up for some of that coffee!
He is not helping his case and should shut up. He could ruin it for others who are not such international grifters as he is. Some people deserve asylum and I feel for them. StreetSense has helped by positing information, helping to find people who speak Spanish to help at pantries and agencies, and pursuing a discussion about how to help not only the momeless (migrants who are homeless, all) but also the native Chicagoans who sleep on the train, on the sidewalk, in shelters, in dumpsters (safer that it sounds—bullets cannot go through them) and other locations…
…as people walk by. Maybe on their way to “their airports” or to other places where you would not expect to see those darn people who refuse to sleep at their own darn house…
What will happen? For awhile there, Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago was playing tough guy by saying the migrants had to get out of the hotels and armories and other facilities not meant for housing them and instead re-apply for shelters or go to some other facility or maybe just wander off and disappear? (https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/11/17/23965551/brandon-johnson-issues-migrant-crisis-60-day-shelter-rule-work-permits)
Christina Pacione-Zayas told us that the migrants must be pretty resilient—after all they crossed six countries to get here.
Yes, she actually said something so sickening in front of people.
She was quoted. She will be quoted. StreetSense does not forget.
Resilient. Just got to be more resilient, guys!
However, that approach did not work. Partly because there really is not anywhere for the 20,000 plus migrants to go. And partly because some migrants are not just magically resilient. Not that good at finding a job where they have no work permit, cannot speak hardly any English at all, and could damn near freeze to death in a cold and windy city.
Mayor Johnson has just gotten the okay to spend a lot of money to help the migrants. Millions. Will it be enough? (https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2024/04/19/chicago-migrant-funding-city-council-vote)
We have a Supreme Court that thinks Donald Trump is a great guy, just a little misunderstood. Even though most sane people cringe everytime members of the Supreme Court speak as though they are the only people on earth who understand the US Constitution, we listen to them. We have movies about civil wars and civil disturbance.
And we also have a windy city that does not allow people to demonstrate in the streets.
What a difficult and chilly city to land in!
Resilient. Just got to be more resilient, guys!
Well, the discussion goes on about how to help, how to pay for it, and who should help. There is also a discussion as to whether anyone should help—or not. In the meantime, the migrants I talk to—some of them on a regular basis—maintain they plan to keep trying. They dare not go home. They don’t want to starve. And they feel this is now their home.
I keep forgetting to ask them if they feel the airports belong to them.
So we at StreetSense will forge ahead, trying to provide resources and assistance to those who help the homeless in Chicago (and in other cities) and try to keep the channels open with the momeless also.
Resilient. You just got to be more resilient, guys!
Resiliente. ¡Ustedes deben ser más resilientes, chamos!