I Vote For My Brother
By Brittney BeraultMy brother is the man who is asking you for change on the side of the road. He sleeps in the park at night. He is arrested for stealing food, runs from the police and uses drugs.
I was 22 when I walked into my grandmother’s house and saw my brother in the back room withdrawing from heroin. He’s now been in and out of 9 different rehabilitation centers and I only hear from him when he calls from a prepaid phone, jail, or a hotel room that only God knows how he paid for. In the last decade I have seen my brother more through visitations inside the county jail than I’ve seen him outside of it. I’ve witnessed the cruelty and lack of professionalism of the officers who handle inmates booked on drug, theft and loitering charges.
The past 8 years has been a struggle of me waiting between these calls at all hours of the night. I’ve frantically called the police screaming to help me find my brother after receiving a text message from an anonymous number stating he has overdosed and his body is on the side of a road. I’ve nearly blacked out from voicemails he’s left me saying he loves me and just wanted to say “goodbye.”
I’m not able to help my brother and the sickness I feel is everlasting. In America, we would rather jail those with addiction instead of funding treatment centers to help clean up their lives and get them off the street. If you are wealthy and you have a drug problem, you go to a facility off the coast in Malibu where you receive therapy and an ocean view. If you are poor, you go to jail.
One of the biggest misconceptions relating to the homeless community in America is that those who live on the street and abuse substances are criminals. The truth is, most just couldn’t get by or struggle with their mental health and then resort to drugs and/or alcohol to cope with their new reality. In Los Angeles county the minimum wage is $13 per hour and that’s before taxes. Most people move to this city with big dreams and small savings that are spent faster than expected. I moved here at 19 with $400. In part because of my work ethic and in part due to luck and circumstance, I now work in an industry where I am surrounded by wealth and influence, witnessing lavish trays piled with food left untouched while I knew my brother was probably searching through a trash can just 30 minutes away.
Since the summer of 2015 I’ve been a volunteer and mentor with the non profit organization Redeye, where I’ve had the privilege of getting to know the children and families in our government housing units also known as the projects. With Skid Row (the notorious downtown Los Angeles street known for its condensed homeless population of 4,200-8,000) just a few miles across town, Redeye feeds the men and women in shelters on holidays and on special occasions such as Mother’s Day, giving out homemade lunches, manicures and donations.
I’ve ran through the streets off Imperial highway and 114th playing tag, having BBQ’s on Saturday afternoon and coloring pictures of farm animals with the neighborhood kids. We’ve held hands while walking back to their front door and I’ve waved from the sidewalk as they blow kisses goodbye from their bedroom window. I’ve seen parents struggle between wanting to further themselves and their families financially, while not exceeding the income bracket that allows them to stay in affordable housing (Section 8 housing AMI is based on the amount of persons living in the household).
Once you are unhoused, government aid becomes even harder to come by. Our system has made it difficult for the homeless to receive free food via EBT (food stamps, WIC) without having a state issued I.D. In order to have an identification card issued, you must have a physical address it can be sent to. Local homeless shelters across the state do allow their daily intake to use their address for eligibility, but securing a bed consistently takes effort. The door is shut by 5PM and in order to get a bed the following night you must start lining up by 8AM without guaranteed stay.
The Biden-Harris campaign says they will focus on reforming the criminal justice system to stop incarceration for drug use and to ensure access to treatment and recovery for substance abuse. With this goal in place, the focus is on making sure people have access to high quality health care that also includes treatment and mental health services. Harris has introduced and continues to push forth a pro-housing bill to end homelessness in the United States (Ending Homelessness Act of 2019). This approach includes provisions to provide low income families and individuals with housing support, a proposal set to make poverty reduction a priority and providing Section 8 housing vouchers which entail a plan for a child allowance per year to help lower the poverty rate. The devotion Biden has to end this cycle and compassion for his sons’ addiction mirrors my hope and faith in his administration to see it through.
Why are people roaming the streets searching for a safe place to sleep and a trash can to eat out of when we can redirect our city funding into treatment centers, focusing on recovery and human resources. Arresting a person for substance abuse and homelessness to then release them back to the same exact situation is otiose and ineffective. I have witnessed firsthand the lack of decency and change our system has shown to those who suffer mentally and with addiction. This year, I am voting for them. I am voting for those who silently struggle. I am voting for the stranger sleeping on the side of the road at night. I am voting for those in need of treatment and financial assistance. I’m voting for those who feel overlooked and trapped in our broken system. I am voting for my brother.