People without homes often look just like you
Staten Island: Overnight TikTok megastar Reesa Teesa has been on “Good Morning America,” “Tamron Hall” and ABC News. She’s getting the full Warholian allotment of fame and then some due to her viral 50-part video series, “Who TF Did I Marry?!” However, in the midst of all this exposure, there’s been zero mention of the offensive and harmful comment that Reesa makes in Part 37. She turns the condition of being unhoused into a degradation by using the description, “He looked homeless ... smelled homeless.” Excuse me?! There is no monolithic look or smell to homelessness. A legion of people believe the threadbare trope of an unkempt, malodorous person (with a cliché cardboard sign), and Reesa’s unkind comment further perpetuates that primarily false narrative.
Granted, there are street-homeless human beings who do have an appearance and scent that is undesirable according to societal norms. Perhaps the lack of focus on clothing and hygiene is due to an overwhelming concern for basic survival and safety. Reesa never replied to what I left in her comments section: [Sad emoji] As a formerly unhoused person, the “looked/smelled homeless” is hurtful, inaccurate stereotype, lotta ‘homeless’ folk work & look/smell just like you.”
There’s a lot of ways to define “homeless”: couch surfing, doubling up, struggling all day to get enough funds for an overnight motel, children getting ready for bed in their mother’s car. Someone who’s forced to sleep on her sister’s sofa could walk by in professional attire on her way to community college and you’d never know she’s experiencing homelessness. Reesa should issue an apology for disseminating a dangerous misconception. M.A. Dennis