Name: Sebastian Harding

Social Justice Group: Homelessness—Communities of Color and Children

Date of Fieldwork: February 10, 2022

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Judith Mack from Open Hearts

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :

On February 10th, our group interviewed Judith Mack about her work with Open Hearts. Judith works at LREI as a learning specialist and we conducted the interview in person, and not on zoom! Judith talked about how she met Shams Dabaron, who is also known as Da Homeless Hero, and how she thought he was an outstanding person because of his view on homelessness and his experience as a houseless person.

Something that I remember specifically from the interview is when Judith said that the reason she got involved with fighting homelessness is because she believes in the phrase: “treat people how you would like to be treated,” also known as the golden rule. She noticed that homeless people were being treated as criminals and at that moment decided to make a change for good.

Our group is glad that we met her, especially in person. This interview made me realize that if everyone treats homeless people how they want to be treated then experiencing homelessness would not be looked down on and people would actually take the steps to alleviate the issue. Even if everyone followed the golden rule, the whole world would be a better place .