Changing our attitude toward the homeless: what college students can do to help

Miriam Himes | Opinion Editor

Raising the Roof, a Canadian group that works to end homelessness and provide aid to those in need, recently released a PSA video that demonstrates an unfortunate but popular perspective people often have toward the homeless.

The video is modeled after Jimmy Kimmel’s famous “Celebrities read mean tweets about themselves” section on his late night show.  Instead of comedic and lighthearted, however, this video powerfully exemplifies the hate and disregard the homeless receive and calls out for change.  The video features a variety of homeless people who somberly read tweets that have been written about them by passersby.  

Here are a few examples of the tweets if you didn’t get a chance to see the video:

“Maybe if homeless people took care of themselves, looked pretty, we would want to help them.  I don’t help yellow teeth.”

“I was enjoying a latte when I saw hobo-girl across the street.  I almost vomited.  Get back on your side of the bridge.  No one likes you.”

“Never understand why homeless people smell of piss when you can literally piss anywhere.”

These are only a few examples of tweets Twitter users have published in response to interacting with or seeing a homeless person but they illustrate the widely accepted attitude that we often have in concern the homeless.

This video, while dramatic and heartbreaking, gets its point across exceptionally: those who have don’t always respect those without and something needs to be done about it.  As college students, we are growing up in a world that requires work and change but we are capable of contributing to this change and working towards a better future.

Homelessness exists everywhere in the U.S. and while the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s campus conveniently sequesters us away from seeing it on a daily basis, venturing out into the Wilmington area immediately exposes us to poverty and hardship.

So, how can we as UNCW college students change our attitudes toward the homeless and interact with them more positively?  What can we do to initiate change?

Here are a few ideas that we can, as UNCW students, actively do to make a difference:

  1. Be respectful. If you’re approached by a someone who is asking for money, be approachable, kind, and empathetic.

  2. Don’t make assumptions.  It’s easy to look at someone asking for money on the streets and immediately draw assumptions about where they came from and how they got there but it is essential to be judgement free in order to empathize and reach out to them.  Instead of focusing on whether or not they are being honest in their attempt to gather donations and spectating their signs and questions as swindles to buy drugs or alcohol, realize they have a story and a past.  It is not our job to judge whether or not they are deserving of extra cash.

  3. Give! It doesn’t have to simply be the few dollars in your wallet.  Food and time are exceptional gifts that have the potential to make an impact.  By buying someone a hot meal or sitting down with them to hear their story, you recognize them as a person and can give them the respect they deserve.  And who knows – perhaps you can learn something new from them! Diversity and adversity together make for unique and valuable conversations.

These are only simple ideas as to how we can begin to change the way we think about and interact with the homeless.  These are individuals who are just as needing and worthy of love and respect as everyone else.  So let’s work together to develop new attitudes toward poverty and homeless and attempt to change our stubborn mentalities and begin to treat others with dignity.