‘Women in Black’ stand in silence for homeless who died on the street
Nov 20, 2013, 5:26 AM | Updated: 3:06 pm
There’s no place to hide from the bite of freezing temperatures when you’re homeless. Wednesday morning, there were hundreds of people shivering in the dark corners of society, under overpasses and bridges, hidden in bushes and under trees in parks.
It’s easy to dismiss homelessness. You probably don’t know anyone living on the streets, but every person who is, has a story.
Ray Paul Junior loved casting a line. He was a passionate fisherman. He also enjoyed bike riding and spending time with his friends. Those friends say he had a knack for making them smile. The 23-year-old former Chief Sealth High School student had dropped out of school and supported himself by working odd jobs.
He was living on the streets because he didn’t have the money to find a place.
His uncle Ronald told KIRO TV that Ray Junior could have stayed with family, but he didn’t want to be a bother.
“In some ways I feel a little bit guilty maybe that I could have done something more, offered more,” he said.
Two weeks ago, Ray Junior was murdered in his tidy campsite at Duwamish Waterway Park, stabbed several times by an unknown attacker. “It’s a tragedy,” Ronald Paul said. “Another young life just gone to waste.”
Little Ray, as he was called by family, was honored Wednesday by Seattle’s Women in Black, the group that stands silently in vigil for any homeless person who dies in our area.
He is the 500th person to be recognized in the group’s 14-year stand against homelessness.
“We stand whether we know somebody or not because every person matters,” the group’s Anitra Freeman said.
Freeman said most people think the homeless problem is too big or too confusing to do anything about so they just look away. She is asking you to look again at the next homeless person you see and put yourself in their shoes.
“Just doing a little bit to get one person out of homelessness,” she said. “You don’t have to know who it is. You just have to do your little bit for the community.”
The Women in Black stood in silence at noon Wednesday outside the Seattle Justice Center for Little Ray and four other men who died recently on the streets. They are pushing for more beds and shelters and more money to combat homelessness in our community.
Homeless advocates camped out in Westlake Park overnight to bring attention to the problem.
