Down and Out in Jacksonville, Florida
By: Greg Steven
Tags: Jacksonville Florida, Writing, First Post, Unemployment, Homelessness

Down and Out in Jacksonville, Florida

First, what is the difference between a bum and a tramp? George Orwell (Eric Blair) once wrote a “tramp” is a “native English species”, I suppose a bum is more universal in nations built on the model of capitalism (usually disguised with-in rhetoric of free-market enterprise). Here in this little essay one hopes to draw distinctions which make all the difference between the “tramp” and its American cousin (or at least) the Jacksonville, Florida, “Bum”.

Here is how Orwell describes the characteristics of the tramp: “they have no money, they are clothed in rags, they walk 20 kilometers a day and never sleeps two nights together in the same place.”

The caricature of the bum (at least here in Jacksonville, Florida): Travels from here to there with bags full of choice clothing from places like “The Church With the Red Door;” they walk from the city rescue mission to the Trinity Rescue building then to the Sulzbacher Center — usually following the meal schedules of each facility. And finally, they find a resting place — usually some abandoned parking lot of some condemned building — due to the vigilant citizenry and manic postings of “no vagrancy” almost everywhere.

Taking into account Orwell was writing during (and after) the period of history known simply as “The Great Depression” one can not miss the obvious fact: the English “tramp” and the American “bum” are the same class of people.

In this current century and Jacksonville, Florida, the bum may not travel the entire distance of the United States during the year but they will migrate from one end of the city to the other. In short, the bum, like the tramp, is a wanderer.

In today’s society, walking is the lowest form of movement; however, for the vagabond walking is the highest form of solidarity. Having no job, family, friends and no possessions — other than what they carry — finding companionship in this prison-like culture has one law: get there (wherever you’re going) however you can and don’t touch anyones “stuff.”

Like England during Orwell’s time, the United States is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. And also, like yesterday’s England, in today’s America the total number of bums is also an unknown number. (I am sure this is due to the amount of individuals which discard their government ID’s in pseudo-protest against the authority of American government.)

There is no rest for the bum in public spaces. Due to interrogation by local law enforcement — usually at the bidding of “concerned” citizens asking for “wellness checks,” — the bum is harassed anytime they decide to “camp” anyplace for a bit of rest between destinations.

For example, here in Jacksonville, Florida, there is a park named after the fallen traitors during the American Civil War.

Confederate Park allows no “lying down.”

This park is located across the street from Bethel Baptist Church, the oldest Black American congregation in Jacksonville, Florida originating in 1838. A coincidence — I think not!

Without making the vagrancy issue one of race, there seems to be an intersection here between race, class and gender (which I will return to later on).

Something like 2 out of every 10 homeless (my friend Davi-Jinda refers to them as “homefree”) is female.

8 out of 10 are Black or a “colored person”. (The euphemism “Person of color” is reverse racism, literally. Like antisemitism, racism, is caught on the tip of the tongue.)

And as stated above, all those who exist in this community is by definition of the same class.

This social observation is no Marxist critique of capitalism. However, one does notice in a post-Covid society, the internal contradiction between “forces” and “means” of production. One can not staff labor shortages with members of the unemployed for three reasons: First, they have no I-9 paperwork because it has been discarded to avoid harassment by the population and its constable; secondly, each “job” requires the applicant to complete an online survey after submitting an electronic resume; and last but not least, since walking is the universal mode of transportation, getting to and from a “job” here in Jacksonville, Florida, in a timely fashion, consistently, is damn near impossible. So it is not difficult to see why the “homeless” population exist. It is a consequence of the unnatural marriage between blockchain technology and automation. If one's identity can not be authenticated they have no right to work. This is irony of the misfortune of living and being unemployed in a “right-to-work” state is that such states exist in the Bible Belt and the Bible says “if you don’t work you should not eat.”

So it is not difficult to understand why the unemployed “bum” exist. It is not because of the nomadic heritage of ancestors but the economic system with-which we exist.

There are resources available to the unemployed, but once again to qualify, ones papers must be in order.

See, it is a vicious circle: Unemployed and living on the streets; then apprehended by police for sleeping outdoors; discarding legal identity papers to avoid being arrested; and finally unable to receive aid due to lack of I-9 paperwork.

The bum is now condemned to an existence worse than prison. At least in prison one is given work, provided consistent meals, and shelter from the elements. The freedom one finds as a bum is the liberty to wander — wander til you die.

(Permit me a small digression, Slavoj Zizek mentioned Wagner’s figure of the wandering Jew. I couldn’t help but notice the caricatures of Jews during the I and II World Wars could be drawn today to illustrate hobos, vagabonds, and tramps. Admittedly, unlike Jewishness, being a tramp or bum, doesn’t automatically make people think you can be blamed for capitalism and communism simultaneously.)

In conclusion, let's consider how much is spent on social services for the homeless and unemployed. The average cost to feed a person in America is somewhere around 11.00. Monthly this comes up to almost 350.00. However the homeless population (as mentioned above) does not have access to these benefits. Therefore, they must rely on the charity of churches (remember dear reader, unlike England, America does not have an official church) and of citizens. I do not know the exact figures of daily meal cost but observation tells me it is somewhere around 2.50 dollars. Listed below is a link to an article advocating healthy meals for the economically disenfranchised.

I have not done justice to the experience of homelessness since I have been on the streets only a week (and I have friends which have helped to feed me). But one can not deny the life of a bum is demoralizing. It is degrading. And the temptation to become a sponger is almost impossible to resist.

Mostly, the life is monotonous.

If one camps in public you will be arrested, and if you are arrested you will not find work; and if you don’t work you will be forced to camp in public. It is a vicious circle.

Returning to gender. As society changes and homosexuality is more readily accepted, the lack of communication with women is substituted for male companionship because unemployed men living on the street are cut off from desirable women. The females which have found themselves in our company are usually mothers, prostitutes, or drug addicts (mostly a combination of all three); and if both the male and female are suffering from the same afflictions it is contrary to good sense to act in ways which could result in the procreation of misery. So most bums are men which keep to themselves.

Finally, for a bum who has not offended the law, and when it is all said and done, one who is simply a victim of unemployment, is damned to live a life more wretched that the worst criminal. Freedom becomes slavery. This mentality prompts those which experience it to wish for imprisonment because at least in prison one can enjoy some semblance of comfort.

But hey, what are a few words but poor receipts for what time has stolen away.

Thanks softly,

Night-night.