Eccentric “urban reporter” and YouTube vlogger, Brian Noel has been living on and off the streets for the past 6 years, since he got out of jail. You will often see him in downtown Phoenix passionately talking about his projects, gesticulating while scrolling through videos on his YouTube channel. In the past year and a half Brian has produced over 700 videos showing a side of the city few people are used to. He has followers all over the globe, fascinated by his uncensored and radical approach to reporting. In Michael Moore’s style, Brian produces highly personal videos, not dispassionate academic treatments of complex social issues, ranging from homelessness to inner-city violence.
If you stop and talk to him, he will probably offer you a lesson in mobile reporting or some other tech-related field. Most of you, however, probably won’t stop. And here’s why.
The Stigmas of Homelessness
Paul Toro, a psychology professor at Wayne State University, found that compared to other countries, people who live in the United States with a capitalistic economy and fewer social services, are more likely to believe personal faults are the primary cause of homelessness and feel less compassion for homeless people.
Susan Fiske, a professor from Princeton, went as far as creating neuroimaging tests in order to study the reactions that people had towards the poor. She noticed that “when people were placed in neuroimaging machines and shown photos of the poor and homeless, their brains responded as though the photos depicted things, not humans - a sign of revulsion.”
Now, trust me that if you put the dehumanization of homeless people in the trash, you’ll find incredible people behind the label. They are not just takers, they are givers. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find creatives like Brian who are just waiting for an opportunity to contribute to society and develop their talents. I saw first-handedly how the homeless rolled up their sleeves and dig themselves out of despair, showing that another - a better - way of doing this is possible.
Changing mindsets with collaborative filmmaking
After sharing creative visions, Brian and I decided to work together on a short documentary, which places homeless people at the center, rather than the margin of the story. The project aims at changing perceptions on people struggling with homelessness, diverting the attention from their "lack" of something to what they can offer to individuals and society at large.
“I came up with the risky and dicey plan to speak my mind on camera and see if it had any impact on the world,” Brian explains. “The vast majority of us are just normal people that for whatever reason have become homeless and - believe me-there are millions of reasons why”. According to Brian, for every person that is homeless there is a different reason why homelessness is a problem that needs to be addressed.
“We are not all alcoholics and drug addicts –- we are people just like everybody else. People with hopes, dreams and wishes that can still come true,” Brian says, adding that he doesn’t want to be defined by one simple word: “homeless”.
A lot of people believe that the homeless deserve what they get as they are just waiting for help instead of being proactive. However, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, 44% of homeless people have jobs which is only 14 percentage points lower than the employment rate for the general population. The number of working homeless would be even higher if under the table work was included.
This is only one example that shows how perceptions differ from reality. As Brian interviewed random passersby and skeptics, we found that creative expressions often functioned as a bridge between communities, creating an open space for dialogue.
“The real problem isn’t who or what or why-- it’s how and when the problems are addressed that makes it or breaks it for homeless people,” Brian says. “If you get fed up with the system or just plain tired of dealing with the daily grind of trying to eat, sleep in a safe place, earn enough money to wash dirty clothes-- you start giving up. The cycle never ends.”
Solutions Journalism
Probably the most challenging aspect of this project, besides all the technical and emotional ups and downs related to working on a documentary, was including solutions rather than just focusing on the problem. Inspired by ‘solutions journalism’, we decided to go around towns across Arizona to interview citizens from different backgrounds on what could help the homeless breaking free from the struggle.
Micro-housing, vocational training, job integration, counseling and psychological support were just few of the ideas that people came up with to encourage the community to play a role in this all. More than money or pity, the homeless people interviewed for this documentary expressed that they want a meaningful connection, someone to acknowledge their “humanity” and opportunities to showcase their skills.
Brian believes that anyone who has ideas on how to solve some issues related to homelessness in the U.S. should share them with society at large.
“Talk to the TV next time your favorite news channel has a story on some homeless person that got run over by the bus because they couldn’t take it anymore,” Brian says. “Find a way to get these ideas into the mainstream political circles and maybe - just maybe - we can all work together to solve a major problem that everybody is susceptible to.”
Working on the documentary changed Brian in a number of ways. Over the months he became much more confident in terms of his own videography and he started approaching people about the project for interviews. In the future he will have the opportunity to participate to workshops to refine his cinematography and maybe one day find work in the media industry. This success story doesn't have to end with Brian, there are plenty of other homeless people that have some serious skills and enthusiasm to offer. Homeless “leaders” like Brian want to be change-makers and contributors. Making society inclusive is a collective responsibility and every single one of us can be part of the solution.
Got any ideas or know of a program that has been successfully helping people struggling with homelessness? Share your solutions and ideas in the comments section below or email bibbi.abruzzini@gmail.com
Brian Noel’s YouTube Channel
Bibbi Abruzzini is an Italian journalist and former foreign correspondent from Kathmandu, Nepal. You’ll find her in Brussels, Kathmandu or Arizona. http://bibbiabruzzini.com
Ash Ponders is a Panamanian photojournalist, poet and translator working in the Sonoran Desert. You may follow him on Instagram and Twitter @ashponders.http://ashponders.com
