The Seven Michaels: The Pattern of Racism Continues

"In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant." "Then they came for me --- and by that time no one was left to speak up."

German Pastor Martin Niemoller

Wow. I’ve been here in this homeless veterans’ shelter 6 months now. Anniversaries like that sneak up on you. I sure have seen a lot of veterans run through this shelter. Some of them here today, gone tommorow. Some of them stay a few hours and opt out, some of them get kicked out after a few weeks or months.

One thing that remains constant here is the pattern of institutional racism. See it or don't see it. I don't care. I've got no dogs in this race.

This shelter reminds me of my time in the army. Just when I finally start getting comfortable looking at some of the butt-ugly pooch faces around here, those faces are gone and the new dogfaces come in.

I’ve met a lot of Michaels here. I’m sure there have been more than thirty, but here’s the seven I can remember at the moment:

Michael One (native American):
my last V.I.P. roommate. Looked like a skinny Mr. Clean, earrings and all. In his mid-thirties. Killed his liver with I.V. drugs. They couldn’t do anything for him here; couldn’t find him a job that paid enough to live on and continue his child support payments, couldn’t get him some teeth, couldn’t get his misdemeanor arrests for homelessness expunged, nothing, so he opted out of here after 4 months and moved back to his crazy wife in New Mexico.

Michael Two (black):
another bald-headed, earring-wearing, drug recovering futhermucker. This one wore little round Hirohito glasses and walked around everywhere with his head cocked to one side as if he was trying to hear something like the old RCA logo dog. He was in his early forties. Michael Two went around telling anyone who would listen that if people were honest with themselves, they’d have to agree that anybody famous, especially anybody in politics, was actually just a pimp. Michael Two’s whole world view centered on this belief in “pimpology.” In less than two months, L.A. Vets helped Michael Two get a drug felony expunged, found him a nice paying job and got him qualified AND moved in to a section eight apartment in Pasadena.

Michael Three (asian):
a tall, soft-spoken, gray-haired veteran in his mid-fifties who looks like a college professor or a Trotsky-ite. They can’t do anything for him here because he spent the last twenty years working in highly technical computer fields that the staff here can’t even spell. He has no felonies or drug history and is therefore not very interesting to the staff. He’ll be kicked out in a few weeks for not accepting the minimum wage security guard job (on which somebody here must be getting kickbacks) within the required 90 day time limit.

Michael Four (hispanic):
a pudgy ex-marine in his early forties with bulbous eyes and a Mario mustache who looks like a traveling carnie, probably because he was one. More recently, he has been an adult entertainer promoter and agent, and he still dabbles. He told his Command Sergeant Major daddy about this place and his daddy is driving down from Minnesota or some such place to spring him. He’ll be gone in a week.

Michael Five (black):
A young veteran in his late twenties. He was one of the quietest roommates I ever had down in V.I.P., mostly because he was never there. He’d be gone all day and sneak back into our room just inside the 10:30 curfew . He tested dirty and was sent to The Salvation Army's Haven program where they gave him free new teeth and a place to stay rent free.

Michael Six (black):
an early fifties veteran just out of prison with a lot of prison habits hanging on. He looked like an old gangbanger felon but he and I had a lot of interesting conversations about art. Mike had picked up oil painting in his last stint in the pen. L.A. Vets got him a cushy government job on Catalina Island, a job that included room and board.

Michael Seven (white):
also just got out of the penitentiary for a guns charge, but his main love was owning escort agencies and running illegal taxicabs. In his mid forties, Mike was a helmet head. He wore his hair in a pompador which required much hair spray. Even though he was broke and in a homeless shelter, Michael aways seemed to scrape up enough money for hairspray. Michael personally knew all the Los Angeles escort agency owners and madams, including Heidi Fleise and the Dragon Lady I worked for. L.A. Vets couldn’t / wouldn't do anything for him, so after hanging out here 90 days, Michael got a truck driving job to get enough seed money to start his next escort agency, one that will specialize in sadomasachism.

And don't even bother showing up here if you're a Jewish veteran. They definately have nothing for YOU here.

Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans shelter, homeless veterans, military, homeless, institutional racism, L.A. Vets, dogfaces, native American, Mr. Clean, Hep-C, pimpology, Pasadena, Mario, Salvation Army, The Haven, drug rehab program, penitentiary, helmet head, escort agency, Heidi Fleise, The Dragon Lady, sadomasochism, jarvis, marquisdejolie, V.A., per deim