The Man In The Maroon Jacket

It’s 6:24pm and I am definitely going to be late to class tonight. Not only am I going to arrive late, but, in the Washington spring humidity, I am also assuredly going to arrive sweaty.

On my walk — or, if my professor is reading this, my light jog — down Connecticut Avenue, I pass the homeless man that has become a staple on my nightly two-step to class. He’s dressed in a worn maroon parka and meticulously piled next to him are duffel bags filled with what I imagine are prized possessions. He’s draped forlornly on an overturned, old bucket that may have even once been white. In his hands, he clutches a cardboard sign:

“Seeking human kindness.”

The gap between the rich and the poor is prevalent throughout the United States (and a topic that has gotten much lip service during this election cycle) — but it is glaringly obvious in the District of Columbia. The Man In The Maroon Jacket sits almost comically juxtaposed against the spotless red brick, marbled columns, and expansive arches of Embassy Row behind him. A sign in Union Station, just blocks away from the White House, implores tourists to ‘look up!’ at their newly renovated ceiling, which now is decorated with over 120,000 sheets of 23-karat gold sheets. Just outside, homeless men and women are forced to ask strangers for enough money to buy dinner.

According to a 2012 report by the Fiscal Policy Institute, the District of Columbia has the third-widest wealth gap among the largest cities in the United States. Increasingly, gentrification of neighborhoods that have traditionally offered low-cost housing are driving the poorest residents out of their homes to fend for themselves elsewhere. The cross-section of U Street and 14th Street saw the exodus of the affluent from the area after Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968 and the subsequent riots — by the middle of the 1970s, it had become one of the most dangerous areas in Washington. This Saturday, college students will descend upon the neighborhood’s overpriced bars; this Sunday, chic bottomless brunches will be served on outdoor patios to those hiding their hangovers behind designer sunglasses.

A stark contrast, indeed.

Throughout DC, tower cranes puncture the sky every few feet — it is clearly a city on the cusp of massive economic expansion. But we must ask ourselves what we should always ask ourselves when our society is growing: who gets left in the dust?