POOR Magazine

(photo by PNNWashington Correspondent & poverty skola Lisa Ganser

On February 25th, the year 2006, I lost my 16-year-old son due to gunfire. After that it spiraled downhill. I went rom alcohol to perscription drugs. From there, I had an A1 dissection heart surgery. I lost my husband five months ago. Thirty-five years I was with him. His sister sold the house out from underneath me, and I was one the streets. And as of tomorrow, BART is putting us out. So I have no place to go and no money. 

They call it the It City. May have left off two letters in front. But it's Nashville, Tennessee. I'm one of the faces that's houseless, in what society calls homelessness. The system is not a fair system for people in poverty.

Hi, I'm Susan, and I'm from Nashville. I've been in housing for almost two years now. I had let some houseless people stay with me, that were living in their car. And it was 100 degrees plus outside.

Q: So tell us, how does the po'lice interact with us folks on the street here?

My name is Brian Jones. I'm with Open Table. Supporting this event today, and I'm glad to share back. Homeless was hard for me. I didn't have nowhere to go, no feelings. I was going place to place to lay my head. Cried many nights, praying to God for a way out.

I want to make known some of the work that we're doing here to fight poverty. My name is Denzel Caldwell, I'm one of the co-founders of Nashville Economic Justice Alliance, along with Howard Allen. We're here to reclaim this land.

A day they will mark my life.

When people, when they come to hte United States, they right away identify as Americans. They forget about their own culture, they forget about their own families. And some of our family members need support from the family.

And some can actually fit in these USA society. They happen to be people who humiliate anyone. Without knowing that they themselves can also be facing difficult times.