Hello readers.
You will appreciate the numerous reports that are logged that cannot be presented via a post by post method and are subject to permissions granted or not in some instances.
Sorry for the late posts but holiday scheduling and DJ duties took up some of my time and a family reunion was also in the mix which had me busy as a bee.
Hope you all enjoyed the season but even in the midst of it crap can happen as this latest entry will reveal.
There is a clear spike in my view in recent times especially when there is a heightened public advocacy campaign as seen in years gone by. It is so heartbreaking to get reports such as this one and such reports tend to spike at this time of year for some strange reason. It would seem developing tense relationships over the year(s) are brought to an end at year end so as to turn over the upcoming year without targeted persons around. In a previous post in Homeless Awareness Month in November I had mentioned I was housing a young man who ran into some difficulty; since then he was to have ended his stint this month in fact but he has not been able to transition and as he does not give any trouble or is imposing so some more time has been extended to him until the end of the year as no financial help is forthcoming in any strong numbers to sustain prolonged sheltering nor has other options become available just yet.
Imagine when one of his colleagues was referred to me by him via phone as he had called and I was asked to speak to the impacted man in this post where he related his ordeal. The man had been having some challenges from earlier this year after a series of exchanges with family members and others after what he said was someone prying on his Facebook profile and noting his numerous male friends on his list and those who like his photos and status messages. I don’t know how many times I have had reports such as this one and it disturbing that people can be so daft to premise their hate via someone’s private or personal profile on social media; I thought persons were free to select who their friends online are or such. The fault here is again as seen before in other cases management of one’s profile and filtering via the privacy settings so as to avoid such crap as this case presents yet again.
Since the revelation of the all male affair coupled with noticed and repeatedly mentioned of him not having a girlfriend, another marker used by some to justify homophobia and abuse the twenty four year old man has been having a rough ride since with repeated talking to by his mother in particular and he tries to walk her out she gets even more enraged. Other family members have simply maliced him in some sense, reminds me of my own black sheep moments some twenty years ago, to date I have cousins who do not speak to me but I do not care about them, if they cannot get over my outing via media and short imprisonment for buggery (when no strong evidence existed) and my subsequent recovery then that is their problem.
Things came to a head for the young man however in September of this year when a visit to the home to retrieve clothing and other personal effects as he was jamming with a friend in Portmore led into yet another one of those arguments and inquisition courses with his mother leading the charge. She complained that he did not tell her where he was staying and asked if he found a man and that is why in not so very nice language; she lambasted him for not heeding her advice and attending church or seeking prayer or giving his life to God and that she would no longer tolerate his sporadic visits to the home although according to her he is a grown man. To which he responded to her to end the verbal assault and let him be; it was then the words in the post’s title came to the man’s dismay as she would not normally swear except for the rare occasion but her voice would be raised and piercing.
“Tek yuh bomboclaat out a mi house battyman...”
she responded among other things as if to suggest he should not instruct her in her home as to how or who she wants to be there. The drop in his voice as we spoke over the phone was clear as he is hurt and I understand all too well. One wants to have that family connection remain but when things get strenuous steps need to be taken and separation might be the only option. If one could make it disappear with a finger snap I have no doubt that snap would have come quickly to make it so. And so he packed whatever he could take and told her in a huff he would return for the other clothing, he said he did not care much for the furniture at this time as he had no means of removing them or storing them at another location, a feature in many previous cases including my very own so can identify all too well.
The clashes with my father in the late nineties came fresh in my mind as the conversation between us continued and his own demand that I leave the house for a while and away from him which led to my sojourn to friends who helped greatly such as the late great drag diva Donald Johnson aka Fay Donaway; good friends are better than pocket money but my brother was not so dismissive thankfully and he accompanied me to my due court dates which lasted some three plus years until my buggery charge was adjourned sine die meaning if the arresting officer found new evidence in seven years then the matter could be returned for trial. Well they did not find such and here 19 years later I have moved on but the memories are fresh with every similar case that comes before me and I empathize if not sympathize with the present generations of persons impacted by homophobic madness. With the shoddy treatment of displaced persons by NGOs still an unsolved issue and a lack of serious interventions except the tokenism passing off as legitimate from resourced entities it is no wonder stories such as this one comes flying out from more and more persons.
Homelessness indeed displacements have not risen to the level of importance in the eyes of established advocacies such as JFLAG who still prefer not to get their hands dirty so they pass it off the hastily put together outfits such as Colour Pink who are nowhere near addressing this seriously and are also more about image building via social media than real work on the streets. Where oh why has other so called homeless outfits gone silent such as Dwayne’s House or the Larry Chang Centre both on Facebook and the latter named after a JFLAG co-founder in whom I am so disappointed. Case in point a so called couch surfing homelessness museum event at a hotel knowing full well the real homeless folks could not attend of any such attempt was made to bus them in and selecting a more sanguine venue so as to avoid the intimidation of the hotel space; knowing they’ll have to return to the streets after such. The event turned out to be more about HIV responses in MSM more so than homelessness but we have seen such omissions before and are used to the foolishness parading itself as an answer.
Sadly today’s Jamaican LGBT advocate is a reflection of an American problem as well where homelessness and African descended groups such as trans persons gets overlooked for interventions and media campaigns as the push is still a Caucasian driven one (in our case the lower socio economic classes) save and except for gruesome incidents which are used ever so effectively for crisis communication which in itself is also woefully flawed as it lacks serious creditability. Professionals spend more time being intimate with a hand held device as preppy Twitterati on an image building quest more than engaging in person in the real world and walking/talking WITH the actual populations they have spokes-personship duties for; and by that I mean the ones who are on the streets and in old buildings and cemeteries not just the displaced sub group who are easier to assist. Then it is no wonder the badly needed responses cannot be seen to be written yet alone operationalized to give effect to the improvements of the quality of life for impacted persons.
Finally the young man is staying at a friend as aforementioned in Portmore and is temporarily employed so he has some stability for now, hope remains while company is true.
Peace & tolerance
H
The clashes with my father in the late nineties came fresh in my mind as the conversation between us continued and his own demand that I leave the house for a while and away from him which led to my sojourn to friends who helped greatly such as the late great drag diva Donald Johnson aka Fay Donaway; good friends are better than pocket money but my brother was not so dismissive thankfully and he accompanied me to my due court dates which lasted some three plus years until my buggery charge was adjourned sine die meaning if the arresting officer found new evidence in seven years then the matter could be returned for trial. Well they did not find such and here 19 years later I have moved on but the memories are fresh with every similar case that comes before me and I empathize if not sympathize with the present generations of persons impacted by homophobic madness. With the shoddy treatment of displaced persons by NGOs still an unsolved issue and a lack of serious interventions except the tokenism passing off as legitimate from resourced entities it is no wonder stories such as this one comes flying out from more and more persons.
Homelessness indeed displacements have not risen to the level of importance in the eyes of established advocacies such as JFLAG who still prefer not to get their hands dirty so they pass it off the hastily put together outfits such as Colour Pink who are nowhere near addressing this seriously and are also more about image building via social media than real work on the streets. Where oh why has other so called homeless outfits gone silent such as Dwayne’s House or the Larry Chang Centre both on Facebook and the latter named after a JFLAG co-founder in whom I am so disappointed. Case in point a so called couch surfing homelessness museum event at a hotel knowing full well the real homeless folks could not attend of any such attempt was made to bus them in and selecting a more sanguine venue so as to avoid the intimidation of the hotel space; knowing they’ll have to return to the streets after such. The event turned out to be more about HIV responses in MSM more so than homelessness but we have seen such omissions before and are used to the foolishness parading itself as an answer.
Sadly today’s Jamaican LGBT advocate is a reflection of an American problem as well where homelessness and African descended groups such as trans persons gets overlooked for interventions and media campaigns as the push is still a Caucasian driven one (in our case the lower socio economic classes) save and except for gruesome incidents which are used ever so effectively for crisis communication which in itself is also woefully flawed as it lacks serious creditability. Professionals spend more time being intimate with a hand held device as preppy Twitterati on an image building quest more than engaging in person in the real world and walking/talking WITH the actual populations they have spokes-personship duties for; and by that I mean the ones who are on the streets and in old buildings and cemeteries not just the displaced sub group who are easier to assist. Then it is no wonder the badly needed responses cannot be seen to be written yet alone operationalized to give effect to the improvements of the quality of life for impacted persons.
Finally the young man is staying at a friend as aforementioned in Portmore and is temporarily employed so he has some stability for now, hope remains while company is true.
Peace & tolerance
H
also see:
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