"So I used to know this junkie named Raymond." (A story of compassion in DC told on Twitter)
@dcbigjohn: So I used to know this junkie named Raymond. Old ass Chicago bama who ended up in the Heroin Triangle in DC's Shaw hood ...
@dcbigjohn: Raymond was one of them sweetheart junkies: never robbed nobody, always polite, husslin some shit he found in the trash or something
@dcbigjohn: And Raymond was normally polite. Even when he was fiendin for a drink
@dcbigjohn: Met Raymond working the door at Kingpin back in the day. He was annoying - always beggin change or a drink - but in a good way
@dcbigjohn: Anyway, one thanksgiving Raymond was making his sorry ass way back to whatever alley he was calling home at the time. It was late and cold
@dcbigjohn: Florida ave back then was a lonely stretch if road at night, like a black and white urban landscape nightmare. Even more so on a holiday
@dcbigjohn: Raymond, alone in the world high on who knows what, stumbles along. Gets to 6 and Florida, which then was as nondescript as the next block
@dcbigjohn: out of nowhere gets run over right here. By all accounts (his and the cops at any rate) Raymond was on the sidewalk http://t.co/yKsPjXR0SF
@dcbigjohn: Car of course didn't stop, and Raymond, old, junked out and frail, was left to lay there, broken and bleeding in the cold
@dcbigjohn: in the morning, someone found him. hip busted, arms and legs tore up, barely alive. Back then, this block was considered terrible
@dcbigjohn: but the person who found him called 911, sat with him till they came. Raymond was taken to Howard, a few blocks away for treatment
@dcbigjohn: Obviously being a junkie and all, Raymond didn't have no insurance. and being a hobo on these streets, he'd been in and out of howard a bit
@dcbigjohn: so they kept him a few days till he was well enough to shuffle with a walker. his clothes had been destroyed and were gone by then though
@dcbigjohn: that didn't mean much to Howard, who discharged him in a hospital gown. though they gave him a nice walker, which was something i suppose
@dcbigjohn: the thing is. this neighborhood, which was full of crackheads and pimps and hookers and all sorts of terrible, it didn't turn a blind eye
@dcbigjohn: one lady found him, ass hangin out his gown, barely workin his way down florida. she'd known Raymond for years. like we all did
@dcbigjohn: She took Raymond in for a spell. not because anyone told her, and frankly not because his junkie ass deserved it. but because it was obvious
@dcbigjohn: course, Raymond was in mad pain. gettin run over will do that to a bama, even a hardened street hobo like him. but he couldn't buy meds
@dcbigjohn: sarg and his wife, a couple crackheads who lived across from the lady who'd taken Raymond in, well they had some pills. strong ones
@dcbigjohn: the smart play for them was to sell em for rock. they didn't. they gave em to her. for Raymond. who they loudly hated most damn days
@dcbigjohn: Gettin hit by a damn car is tough, especially when you're a junkie who lives on the street. and Raymond got sick, as a body is want to do
@dcbigjohn: but instead of going about their business, shady or otherwise, folks helped out. whatever they could, which wasn't generally much.
@dcbigjohn: eventually, raymond moved in with his brother, an ex hooker who was in a rundown flop house for gay tricks with aids. A dying spot really
@dcbigjohn: this was down on 6th, across from the eritrean cultural spot by new york ave. not much of a spot to try and rehab from gettin run over
@dcbigjohn: folks on the block got to talkin, and i went down to see Raymond to see how he was doing.
@dcbigjohn: his brother'd once been beautiful. now, he was scabby skin and bones and stained bathrobe. like the thing death worries about.
@dcbigjohn: ya gotta understand, raymond is a simple. right and wrong are big bright objects to him. and about all he really understands in the end
@dcbigjohn: "i followed a boy here who taught at howard," his brother coughed, the disco days still in his eyes. "Ray followed me. to protect me"
@dcbigjohn: "I'm going to be dead soon. and aint' nobody gonna look after his simple ass. get him out of here." it wasn't a command so much as a plea
@dcbigjohn: Raymond was watching Mighty Mouse in the other room. who the hell had a tape of that I don't know. But he was lovin it
@dcbigjohn: I considered my options. Say "hell no" didn't seem like much of one. and you can't really like to a dead man with mighty mouse blaring
@dcbigjohn: not really wanting to get that involved but seeing no way out. i mumbled some stupid shit. like i had any idea what to do
@dcbigjohn: but for all his aggravation, raymond was my friend. and he deserved more. more than the hell his brother was living and dying in.
@dcbigjohn: the next day, we came around raymond's brother's place to scoop him up, figuring the old Mitch Schneider shelter on D st could take him
@dcbigjohn: here's the thing. checking a dude into a homeless shelter in the middle of the winter isn't exactly the easiest thing. not by a damn mile
@dcbigjohn: this is one of those moments when being a giant ass white dude in a suit comes in real real handy though. and luckily, that was me
@dcbigjohn: eventually, we got them to take raymond in. we got him someone who'd explain how to get public housing and assistance. to keep him alive
@dcbigjohn: not that raymond would use it, at least at first. life isn't a movie. over the next few years, he bounced in and out of homes and shelters
@dcbigjohn: anyway, raymond eventually got clean and moved home to chicago, to live with his daughter. he hadn't seen her since she was a baby
@dcbigjohn: last time i saw him, he was with his nephew, visiting. he was all suited up, sharp as hell like a grandpa comin straight from church
@dcbigjohn: this neighborhood has changed a lot since those days. lots of better off folks like me here now, not so many old school bamas.
@dcbigjohn: and i worry sometimes, that the next raymond isn't going to have a community to catch him, no matter how dirty and grimy he is
@dcbigjohn: we could all learn a lot about compassion and love and understand from the very least amongst us, if we only take the time to see it.
@dcbigjohn: anyway, that's my story of the corner of florida and 6th nw, washington dc that i tell myself every time i walk past
@dcbigjohn: Btw thanks to everyone for reading my crazy rant tonight about Raymond. I hope your patience with my bama shit was worth it. Night y'all
Props to @dcbigjohn and those who helped Raymond. More caring there than on all of Wall Stret.
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