FEBRUARY 23, 2024 ON MY CORNER MEET YOUR VENDOR Homeless Tre McAlister, vendor No. 519 In one sentence, who are you? Who am I not? I am a leader in the world and strive for all of our success. Where do you usually sell Groundcover News? I usually sell near the Blind Pig, People’s Food Co-op and Old Town. What’s the best way to start the day? Brush your teeth, facial cleanse and head to get coffee. What words do you live by? “Promise me you’ll be great” or “Bling Blow Wow.” What is something about you that someone on the street wouldn’t know? What my closet actually looks like and that I am vegetarian. What motivates you to work selling Groundcover News? I like getting feedback from our readers. That, plus when shoppers are just as excited for new papers as vendors are. What is the best and worst thing about selling Groundcover? Best: I get a break from the troubles of life. Worst: Just bad weather. What was your first job? McDonald’s and Hollister in high school. What are your hobbies? Photography, cooking, nature scene and gym. What’s the most impressive thing you know how to do? Rap or do 100+ reps on most exercises. What changes would you like to see in Washtenaw County? More work programs and college recruiting to go back to school. Being homeless, I’ve seen many new things, many people being there for one another, even treating each other as family. Those with money pretend like you don’t exist, like they are from another world completely – some act like they are simply better than us. I’ve seen churches helping but only to a certain extent. I’ve seen churches say on signs how they are open to all but aren’t. I've seen only men sleeping there get treated like kings and lez couples treated like they don’t count. My lez partener is my superman; stayed up past midnight a few nights just to protect us and keep from us getting robbed I’ve seen one guy in front of me SHAWN SWOFFER Groundcover vendor No. 574 OD. I’ve witnessed so many things — one guy got his throat slashed because of an opinion. I’ve seen a couple guys get caught trying to rob us while we slept. We’ve stayed with lots of people and they always had a hidden agenda. We stayed at one place to wake up to find my shoes gone but once my partner got involved they mysteriously showed up. My grandkid’s present for her birthday disappeared too. How could anybody do a thing like that to a three-year-old? We had to sleep with a pedophile unknown to us. Try to survive under zero degree weather overnight! It rained on us for four hours or more. We trusted some people and they took a bite out of us many times but we still survived because we had each other. We endured everything because together we could conquer all. We were badass because we survived by ourselves. GROUNDCOVER NEWS 3 I'm ashamed of this world I'm ashamed of this world. So many prejudiced people have torn this world apart; I feel that this is not a good thing for the upbringing of our kids. We need to love one another and stop hating our skin color — my heart cries out for the unspoken and people who can’t cry out loud. They act as if you don't even exist. They're mean and hateful, but late at night if we cut ourselves, we all bleed the same. Couldn't we straighten it out and make it a better world where we could raise our kids to love one another more? There's people that are starving, then go to jail for stealing when they simply need some help with food. Sometimes it’s bills, house payments or child support. It is hard to get a job these days, sometimes because of your skin color. Although it’s easier than at some previous times in history, it still may not always work. It can still be hard sometimes to just be yourself, but at the end of the day we're all human beings. I feel that it's God who created this world, he created humanity and just What song do you have completely memorized? Fast Car by Tracy Chapman. Lol! What do you wish you knew more about? Animal/pet health and karma. because of their skin color, tell them it shouldn’t matter. Tell them that it’s okay and it's not like it's going to be the end of the world. But if we don't do anything about it, humanity is going to go down the drain, then what do we do? I’m of mixed race — actually I’m JOCELIN BOYD Groundcover vendor No. 85 because our skin may differ it shouldn’t matter. It is awesome too that some of us are doing our best to help with hatred. We need to understand each other and have open communication and be responsible for what we do if we see somebody that's prejudiced. If you can help, it’s important especially for being human because we're entitled to make mistakes and we're also entitled to have a second chance at life. Please, when you see someone having a hard day, talk to them and let them know that they're special and let them know that they're human and if they’re suffering because someone has hurt them Creole — and when I was selling Groundcover all by myself, I had a couple of white people approach me and call me the N-word. This happened twice. Can this really be the kind of world we want everyone to survive in? Of course not, that should have never happened in Kerrytown or anywhere else. My story that I tell you is real. I was beaten up, put in the hospital and some of the people in my situation never make it. This is not fair, why are people hurting people? I'm ashamed of this world. We need to come together and tell each other that we love each other and that we want the whole world to do the same. This world will be a better place if we all come together and beat the skin color war. PEOPLE’S PEACE BANK an invitation from Ken Parks, Groundcover vendor No. 490 Study and working group on the work of Richard Werner and the Valhalla Network, a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization). Let’s meet on Earth Day, April 22, 2024 at 4 p.m. at the Groundcover office (in the basement of Bethlehem United Church of Christ at 423 S. 4th Ave) to view Werner's conversation at the Capital Club Dubai on Central Bank Digital Currencies.
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