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"I might not be coming home tonight," Black college student and DoorDash driver Jo Ortega thought to herself. All she'd done was try to buy food for an unhoused man named Jazz Reese at a Georgia Popeyes. But employees were so strongly against it, they called 911!
In now-viral TikTok videos, Ortega had documented the Popeyes employees closing the drive-thru window and refusing service. And when flashing police car lights came into view, terror sank in.
Fortunately, the officer who arrived didn't arrest Ortega - and commended her for trying to buy Reese a meal. A general manager offered Reese free food, and Ortega began crowdfunding to get him and other Atlantans permanent housing and resources.
Unfortunately, policing as an institution still criminalizes poverty and encourages us to dehumanize unhoused people. Why else was 911 called? It wasn't until 2018 that sharing food with unhoused people was even protected under the First Amendment.
And of course, Black people have the highest rates of houselessness nationwide.
Even though the Popeyes employees weren't cops, any of us can imitate the acts of criminalization, surveillance, and dehumanization police are known for. Together, we need to divest from that mindset, and look after each other.
After all, in Reese's own words, "Everybody's one paycheck short from being homeless themselves. They just don't realize it."