This is heartbreaking.
It's hard to imagine someone saying mean comments to a homeless person. It's even harder to imagine them putting it in writing.
A stunning PSA campaign shows homeless people reading mean tweets about the homeless, and it's utterly heartbreaking.
Paul reads a tweet that said, "I hate seeing homeless people standing in the cold, shivering. I'll be glad when this light turns green."
Kubby reads one tweet that said, "Maybe if homeless people took care of themselves and looked pretty, we would want to help them. I don't help yellow teeth."
Melissa read a mean tweet that said, "I was enjoying a latte when I saw a hobo girl across the street. I almost vomited. Get back on your side of the bridge. No one likes you."
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Cheryl read, "If home is where the heart is, then are homeless people heartless?"
A man named Kim read, "In all honesty, I kinda don’t feel bad for homeless people. Each individual is in control of their life and future so its all their fault."
The ad was created by Leo Burnett in Toronto for Raising the Roof, an organization helping the homeless in Canada. It's put a face to the issue of homelessness and given some of the people struggling with it a platform to share what it's like from their perspective, and respond to the tweets.
Kim responded to the tweet blaming the homeless for their situation, saying, "Sometimes, people aren't in control of the situation for various reasons and conditions and problems that people become homeless."
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Melissa responded to the tweet about homeless people being heartless, saying, "Maybe it's because you stopped caring about them....they read tweets like this and understand what people think about them."
The campaign hopes to change the conversation about homelessness and seek long term solutions. To see more of the campaign and if you'd like to help, go to raisetheroof.org.
