Lessons in Justice

[from 11/4/09]

One of the things I do with Real Change is participate in the Homeless Speakers Bureau as one of the speakers.There are currently about 7 of us homeless or formerly homeless representatives of the homeless condition signed up to do this. We go out to speak anywhere we're asked in return for some, uh, scratch. Anitra "Never Met An Audience She Didn't Like" Freeman is another participant. The setup is ideal for me, because it gives me another excuse to talk, which is one of the the little things in life that keeps me going, along with being cranky in the mornings, and annoying the deserving. I can also end up learning more from the people I speak to than they learn from me, if I keep awake for the whole thing.

Last month we had a good illustration of that. The Jewish Federation of Seattle called us up to do a total of I think it was six talks, which we tried to share among us. Because I had to substitute for someone, I got to do two, and if you count an assist, I got to do two and a fraction. The talks were held at various places. A couple of Jewish community centers. A couple of Hebrew schools. We were called on account of Sukkot, AKA the Feast of Booths, marking the Jews 40 years of wandering in the desert following the Exodus from Egypt, as part of a larger educational program about justice. Ha! The Jewish Federation asked me to teach about justice.

Well, it was a little more specific than that. We were to talk about what it's like to be homeless and how it came about, for us, which is exactly what we usually do, and the stories can be instructive. Myself, I've been homeless during 4 different periods of my life. Twice it was poverty combined with the actions of real estate developers. Once it was a bout of severe mental illness. Another time it was being laid off, and deciding to go with the flow. The details of such things can clarify the imbalances in the world we call injustice.

Meanwhile, as I say, we learn, too. We know our hosts have good reason to know about imbalances all on their own. Anyway, questions teach as much as answers.

Our contact at the Jewish Federation during the three days of talks was Kim Greenhall. She provided our transportation on the last day. She had just before been injured in a fall, so she was on crutches. She provided a delightful story of her own concerning injustice, that simply has to be shared.

Being at least temporarily disabled, she figured it would be a good idea to get a disabled parking permit from the state's Department Of Licensing, because she shouldn't have to hobble any further on crutches than necessary from parking spaces. Let the able-bodied do most of the hobbling, they do it better. This argument makes good sense, and is supported by passages from Leviticus, I'll bet.

It turns out that to get a disabled permit from the State of Washington, she had to drive to the Renton office of the DOL. There was no parking closer than two and a half blocks from the office on the other side of railroad tracks. When she limped the distance, across the tracks, and into the office, she found out that they didn't have a take-a-number routine like almost every other government agency in America, so that you could sit and wait till you were called. Instead, at the Renton DOL, all cripples are expected to stand in line for their disabled passes, for however long it takes. In her case the wait was only 25 minutes. Lucky her.

In fairness, I'm sure if Kim had shown up in a wheelchair she would have been allowed to wait in line seated. If she'd shown up in a stretcher, they would have even let her wait in line lying down.