On streets of D.C., students gain perspective on privilege

Mark Robinson

Managing Editor

Washington D.C. – Five young people loiter by the McPherson Square Metro Rail station entrance in downtown Washington D.C., across the street from the Hilton Garden Inn, where the man behind the desk let some of them use the bathroom.

It’s a prime spot: covered, well-lit, frequent police patrols. They stake their claim.

As the daytime traffic dies down, they piece together flattened out cardboard boxes retrieved from a nearby dumpster, careful to make sure they completely cover the cold brick ground. They place a layer of moving blankets on top of the cardboard and lie down, one by one.

Huddled together, they pull more blankets from the trash bags they’ve lugged around the city all day. As they cover themselves, some take off their shoes and hide them behind their head — a makeshift pillow, but more importantly, assurance they won’t be stolen in the night.

At 10 p.m., the sounds of the city are not yet silent. A diesel truck idles nearby. The occasional car horn blares. Passersby talk on their cell phones. It’s noisy and cold — about 35 degrees with a chilling wind. Temperatures are expected to fall below freezing after midnight.

It will be a difficult night’s sleep, but they signed up for it.

Through the Alternative Spring Break program, five VCU students spent two days of their Spring Break living on the streets of the nation’s capital. The experience — called the Homeless Challenge — is sponsored by the National Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy organization that works to combat ignorance about homelessness and reduce homelessness in the U.S.

Since the challenge was established in 1989, more than 2,000 students have completed it. Arthik Adla, Amy Irving, Antoine Weldon, Paul Moye and Aman Bhogal are the first VCU students to do it.

For Bhogal, the experience challenged her ideas about poverty and privilege.

“I felt like an animal,” the junior biology major said. “With panhandling, people just stare at you like you’re a dog. They don’t give a crap about what happened to you or why you’re on the streets. It’s the worst feeling ever.”

She continued: “It really lowers your self-esteem. The streets really break you down.”

The Homeless Challenge calls for participants to panhandle, dumpster dive, go to mobile feeding programs, sleep outside and interact with the homeless population. To better blend in with the homeless population, the students were advised to dress in their worst clothes and not bathe or wear deodorant.

On the first day of the challenge, Paul Moye came prepared. His greasy, disheveled hair spilled out of the grey beanie pulled over his ears. In a shabby blue jacket and olive corduroy pants, he panhandled outside of the World Bank Group building. The torn cardboard sign he held read “GOD BLESS” in permanent marker.

He sat for an hour while people paced by on the busy street. Some would look down at him, then back at their cell phones. Others hailed a cab in front of him. No one gave him any money.

“When you asked people for money, many just responded negatively,” said Moye, a senior biomedical engineering major. “The goal wasn’t to put change in our pockets, but more so to see those negative reactions.”

Those negative reactions are exactly what make the experience meaningful for those who choose to have it, said Neil Donovan, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

“People have a hard time wrapping their head around the whole notion of what it means to be homeless on the streets of a city,” Donovan said.

The challenge can be dangerous, but the coalition takes precautions to limit the risks. Students are told to stay within Northwest D.C. — the downtown area — because of the police presence. Participants use the buddy system during the day, and at night, a homeless or formerly homeless person helps guides them after dark and helps find them a safe place to sleep.

Students are advised to carry their student IDs in case they are questioned by police for panhandling or trespassing.

Donovan is adamant that the challenge is not meant to replicate what it’s truly like to be homeless. Rather, it’s intended to humanize the homeless population and give students a basic sense of the day-to-day struggles they face, he said.

“That sense of insecurity, that sense of truly being hidden in plain view can only be achieved through actually being in that circumstance,” Donovan said.

According to a 2012 report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, more than 13,000 people are homeless in the D.C. metro area, the fifth most of any metro area in the country.

In Richmond, homelessness is less prevalent, but still visible to VCU students who walk through Monroe Park. For this reason, Paul Moye believes a conversation should happen about how the larger VCU community can address homelessness in the city. Student organizations can take the lead on the issue, he said.

“We need something that bridges the gap between VCU and the homeless community,” Moye said.