“I’m not powerless or powerful”

Pedro standing in the former homeless encampment in the Guadalupe Gardens in San Jose.

Excerpt from Pedro, a resident of the former homeless encampment near the Hall of Justice in summer 2021.

Interviewer: And then, if you could change the country, what things would you change about the United States?  

Pedro: It's not in my hands, because I'm, you know, I'm regular people and the like. You've got to have the power. I don't know. Like, I know I don't have the power. 

Interviewer: You don't have the power. So, you feel like...?  

Pedro: A nobody. I’m like zero […Unclear]   

Interviewer: So, you feel powerless to change the country?  

Pedro: Uh … well, not on that level.  

Interviewer: Okay.  

Pedro: I’m not powerless or powerful...  

Interviewer: Uh huh.  

Pedro: Less is on my head, because the guys that made the law system are the ones that can do something about it.  

Interviewer: What would you want them to do—the people who make the laws?  

Pedro: Just pay more attention to the people in need. Let's say elderly people, handicapped, uhhh, the situation with the children in Children's Hospital where they really—they really need to be helped. Handicapped people, uh, elderly. Where the programs for those kinds of people? Institutions where they can support a lot of children—they, they need surgery, they...I mean, you probably see the point of what I'm trying to say. 

Interviewer: Oh, yeah. Totally.   

Pedro: With the problems in school. I mean, what is important for everyone? … And so, they will figure out when I … make this comment, they know what I'm trying to say. But a lot of people...well, the powerful, they want to go wasting the money here and there instead of really focusing on the community.