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Hospitality to the Homeless ˜ 117
without regard for race or economic status We can all agree that nobody likes
to be assailed by an “aggressive panhandler.” But why do we like to be, or allow
ourselves to be, assailed by the pages of a respectable newspaper, which refers to
the poor in epithets laced with strong racist implications While the columnists
complain bitterly about their loathing for the poor and homeless, where is the
public outrage and protest that people in Atlanta do not have the food, medical
care, housing, and good work they need to sustain life Instead, we dismiss these
poor folk as mere trash to be moved around and pushed out of sight and mind.
The task for those of us who love the city is to transform Woodruff Park
into a beautiful, friendly space. Welcoming hospitality cannot be found through
another design firm, or with an army of bulldozers. We need to move in with
play equipment, music, chairs and benches, picnic tables and blankets, and then
all the people of the world can come to celebrate the true urban culture of Atlanta.
We need to put up bathrooms and drinking fountains right away.
Woodruff Park could yet become a welcoming space for the women and men
and boys and girls of the city. Can’t you see the rich and poor, the Black and
white, the homeless and well-housed, dancing and laughing and clapping their
hands to the music of Blind Willie McTell, while the smell of smoked ribs wafts
on the breeze, and children swing high enough to touch the sky, as the old folks
play a hand of dominoes Who knows Such a party could inspire us to build a
city with housing, justice, and care for all of its people.
Toilets, Justice, and Hospitality:
The Case for Public Toilets, by Murphy Davis
N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 0
I’d have to say that it has come as a surprise to realize how much time and
attention I have given to toilets in the past twenty years. I guess I never thought
it was something I would do when I grew up. But if you work with people who
are poor or oppressed, sooner or later you get to the subject of where bathrooms
are located and who has access to them.
Those of us who grew up in the Jim Crow South learned early that every
bathroom was not available to every body. The signage was complex: White/
Colored, White Ladies, White Gentlemen, Colored Only. There were bathrooms
where the signs cut to the chase: Whites Only. For bathrooms lacking
signs, the message went without saying: Black people did not have to ask. Water
fountains were similarly marked, although without the gender specificity. Any