War Back Home
A look into the post-war treatment of United States Veterans living on the streets of Ann Arbor, Michigan
Walking through the streets of Ann Arbor there are many familiar faces. We see the faces of classmates, teachers, friends, but we also see another community. A culture of people that only cross our path for a few moments and shares with an outstretched hand a variation of these 5 words: Can you spare some change? During this photoethnographic project, I aimed to become more familiar with those people who many see as an object on the streets and specifically get to know the person they were before they moved to the streets. The transformation of these people from a human to an object on the street drove my interest into this sub-culture of Ann Arbor. I wanted to know how people interacted with them differently from everyone else, how they reached the situation they were in, what their hopes and dreams were, and basically everything about them that was taken when they were stripped of their humanity.
Observing every day for two weeks in early may, it was easily seen that the majority of the homeless population was male although there are a few females that call the streets of Ann Arbor home. Pictured to the left is a man by the name of Richard, he is an Ypsilanti native and, like every homeless man I encountered, used to be a war veteran stationed in the DMZ, or demilitarized zone, of Korea. In photograph one, DJ Lee, stood shaking Richards hand. Through a short conversation it was discovered that Richard and DJ Lee, both homeless men of Ann Arbor, were stationed in Korea on a schedule that overlapped by one night. I shifted my focus at this point.
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While venturing deeper and deeper into the minds of the Ann Arbor I discovered that it was the result of fighting for our country that caused many people to the streets. These men, found with a cigarette in one hand, their heart in the other, and a sign and a cup in front of them were suffering because they put their life out on the line for their country and their country turned a blind eye to them.
Although many people rejoiced at the summer heat, these men suffered, sitting in the unforgiving suns rays for hours on hours. I sat with them every so often, bringing them water and lunch and in return I picked their brain. Through this I developed a rapport with a few of the men. DJ lee begged to let him repay me for my time by, on one of his “lucky days,” letting him buy me lunch. On my most recent parting with Richard, he stood up hugged me goodbye and told me he loved me.
I knew walking into this project I would need to develop a strong rapport with a few members of this community and I tossed a few ideas around about how to do just that. I decided that most straightforward approach would be to shake Richard’s hand, introduce myself and offer to buy him a meal. I used the information I gathered from his personality to compose the images. Richard was both engaging but had a tendency to space out at times, zoning out into his own world. To draw from these, using a Nikon D3300 camera with a short focus lens, I shot a variety of images. Framing the image from his eye level (which caused me to sit across from him on the sidewalk) I look a few blind shots as he spoke and a few where he was conscious of the images, paralleling his zoned in and out nature.
DJ Lee, is outgoing and social. He has business cards on hand and is not shy to tell you his opinions. Drawing from the fact that he is constantly talking, smiling, and engaged, I reflected this by shooting him straight on, engaging with the viewer and conscious that he was being photographed.
Jesse, the last man I met was a retired navy captain. While shy, he was at the same time very willing to share his inspirational story. When the camera was on him he froze so I decided to take images of him when he was speaking or interacting with DJ Lee.
While engaging with this sub-community of Ann Arbor I documented a vast amount about the people who composed it. Every man I spoke with was a war veteran with a long back-story. While they all shared this common occupation for a portion of their life, they were all vastly different people. Jesse, whose signs are shown, was inspired to pay back everyone who helped him.
On top of all three of these men having different personalities, they are share different mental disorders that stemmed from fighting in the war. Jesse explained in a few variations of his sign that he suffers from PTSD and depression. The VA hospital has turned a blind eye to him refusing his insurance and forcing him to pay out of pocket the thousands in dollars of medication. Unfortunately this is not an uncommon story. DJ lee suffers from PTSD and insomnia after fighting in the war. After seeking outside help a doctor outside of the VA prescribed him a medical marijuana card, to which the VA labeled him as a “drug addict” now allowing him any benefits and thus causing his insurance to not back him. Richard suffers from PTSD and a dopamine imbalance that causes him to rock back in forth in his seat and his speech to be muddled. These men, who put their lives on the line for their country, were literally kicked to the curb by the Veteran’s Hospital, forcing them onto the streets.
What’s more is the treatment of these men when they are on the street by everyday people. Richard explained to me some of the rudest things that have happened to him. People have flashed him, passed gas on him and given him fake money, but he says the worst of all of it is when he is treated as if he in invisible. He told me that it was a horrible feeling that he spent so much of his life to help these people remain free and he is treated no better than a traffic cone, simply a nuisance, something that people have to walk around on the sidewalk. I felt this objectification first hand. Sitting next to and talking with these men, people treated me as if I was less than them. I have been hollered at and approached many times in my life however the vulgarity of the things men would say to me as they walked by made my stomach churn. People would step on me, act as if I was invisible, or an object for their eyes to consume for as long as they wanted.
I chose this activity because I saw a community of people that was being forgotten in many people’s lives. I saw situations that could happen to anyone and good people suffering. There was a sense of culture within a culture in this community. There was a break between the culture that they grew up with that was taught to them since birth, and a different way of acting once they were on the street. There was a vast amount of defamiliarizing myself with their lives and their world to be able to see things from their points of view. This small local culture was vastly contrasted with the homed population of Ann Arbor. The characteristics of these two cultures were very obvious when looked juxtaposed with one another, and easily done because they live right along side one another.
There was an interesting form of exchange that I noticed completing this project. While I have been a photographer for years I was torn about how to approach photographing those who are at a low point in their life. Even when looking at the terminology for photography such as “take a picture” or “shoot an image”, it is aggressive and it feels as if the photographer is striping the subject of something. As I took their image I listened to their story hoping that instead of just taking I would be giving my companionship as well. This exchange was the most obvious, however there were many more that occurred during my time with these men. The random passers by stripped me of my humanity as well as these men when they cat called me, forcing a one sided exchange and taking my dignity. On a lighter note, there was an equal exchange of our time between the men and myself, and an exchange of compassion when on my departure Richard stood up and hugged me goodbye. Lastly, there was an exchange of knowledge that was shared to me by these men, knowledge of the world I lived in from a different perspective. There is a massive coexistence between this group of people and the group I associate myself with, and many of these times they go unnoticed or only last for a brief time.
Visiting with these three men more and more I was able to create a relationship with them and allow for a freer dialog. I discovered that their daily routines are for the most part consistent. All of these men have specific spots and time schedules for their day, for example Richard arrives on “his spot” at noon and is there until seven where he goes to hang out with friends. The only change in schedule was caused by weather, however it had to be pretty extreme for these men to not be at their post. These interactions complimented what I learned in class. There was a sense of ethnocentricity between the homeless and the homed. The homeless, while not happy with their situation, do believe that they live a simpler life, have more happiness to share, and are not distracted by the trivial things in life. Richard expressed to me that when people walk by and he asks for money he intends to brighten their day. Whether these passers by give him whatever spare change they have or not, he always wishes them to “have a good day” or for “god to bless them”. He understands that not everyone has been having a good day or maybe they are not as well off as they appear and explained to me that with those few simple words their day might be a little better.
These men and their stories made me question our every day lives. Richard, DJ Lee and Jesse all have nothing but they give whatever they have more readily than anyone else. Their lives are simpler yet harder on an every day basis. The juxtaposition between what these men have done for our country and how we treat them is absurd. Men that fight for our freedom should not be begging for whatever spare change we have to offer or treated like trash, they should be honored for the service they performed for our nation. These three case studies into the culture of the homeless population opened up a new perspective into their lives, one that is easily overlooked. I began this project with the intent to learn about an unfamiliar culture, a culture so often forgotten by so many, but instead I learned so much more than I intended about a culture I believed I knew.
