Dani is only 25, but she walks with a cane and speaks with the wisdom of an elder. In their last five years as an organizer, they’ve learned no matter what they do, someone will have a problem with it; whether it’s giving out Claritin, tents, or Newports.
“A lot of [unhoused neighbors] smoke, whatever they can afford,” Dani, founder/organizer of Say It With Your Chest says. “They’ve told me Newports are nice cigarettes and I think they should be treated to a nice thing every once in a while.”
Dani started protesting in the summer of 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. By the end of August, they were in mutual aid spaces.
“When I learned what mutual aid was I was like, ‘oh, this is what everybody should be doing,’” Dani says. “This is what humans have done for eons. If someone needs some, you give them some. It’s such a hard concept for people to grasp because I feel like capitalism has brainwashed the fuck out of everybody, so it was really nice to find a community of people who were imagining another way.”
After getting tapped in with Oak Cliff Veggie Project, Dani was invited to join a Zoom call with some other organizers. In the call, she learned about Camp Ronda, a group of self-sustaining houseless individuals. Dani met the people and tried to figure out how she could help with what they had. At the time, she was a pharmacy technician and could supply medication. Eventually, Dani started leading her own organization.
What is SIWYC?
Say It With Your Chest is a grassroots organization that provides aid for unhoused folk in the DFW metroplex. They’ve distributed free meals, held water drives, raised money for tents, and provided laundry service to those in need. The organization now holds care package parties that are scheduled two Sundays every month at Apprentice Creative Space in Oak Cliff. SIWYC’s care packages are gallon sized ziplock bags full of essential items like hygiene products, first aid supplies, snacks, and water. The organization provides a consistent and time-tested framework for mutual aid, offering an easy and well-coordinated method to lend a helping hand in your community.
“Having a lot of people [distribute] care packages helps us reach a whole lot of people a lot more effectively than just our South Dallas neighbors,” Dani says. ”It’s important that everybody pitches in.”
Dani started the laundry program because houseless people told her when their clothes got too dirty they’d have to burn them. They hated imagining someone burning their favorite jeans because they got dirty, or had an accident due to lack of access to public restrooms. In the Trust for Public Land’s 2023 City Parks Facts, Dallas was listed 104th out of 105 cities in the provision of restrooms in public parks. According to the study, there’s a total of 1.2 restrooms per 10,000 people.
“If the city doesn’t want people pissing on the sidewalks, then make more public restrooms and stop locking the damn park restrooms,” Dani says.
One man said he was reluctant to give Dani his clothes. She understood, assuring him he did not have to. After some time of watching her wash and give back other people clothes, he gave his too. “You’re asking for our DNA,” he said. Dani was grateful for his faith.
SIWYC is ultimately just friends helping friends. Being fully crowdfunded means no one can tell them what to do with their money. But if the friends stop helping friends, the friends don’t get help.
“I’m not applying for grants,” Dani says. “I’m not gonna beg people for money and then have them tell me how to use it. At the end of the day, who are you to decide what a houseless person needs? If this person needs a pack of Newports, they’re gonna get a pack of Newports, and y‘all not gonna tell me nothing about it.”
Being independent from government funding also allows SIWYC to mobilize more effectively.
“People move faster than the government,” Dani says. “You can’t stop people. I’m able to say ‘hey, I need people here,’ and people show up. Or ‘hey, we need money for tents,’ and people send it. We raised enough money for 20 tents within hours of posting.”
Dani says SIWYC is also about waking people up. She wants people to see what the community is capable of. Mutual aid has taught them that there are so many different spaces for people within the revolution.
“People are always asking ‘when’s the revolution gonna come?’ Dani says. ‘It’s here, it’s been here, and y’all need to catch up.”
Dani says it’s also important to establish clear intentions and unlearn any complexes that prioritize the giver, rather than the receiver.
“People are always donating hard granola, but houseless people can’t chew that because half of them have messed up teeth, ” Dani says. “It’s just little things like that. Y’all can just ask, it takes nothing to talk to a houseless person.”
Inadequate “Solutions”
Few instances have radicalized Dani more than witnessing a stop & sweep. Of course that’s not what the city calls them. Code Compliance prefers to call it “a debris cleanup.” Dani says they can call it whatever they want to, they’re still taking people things.
The City of Dallas’s Code Compliance Department consists of three branches, second of which is “Nuisance Abatement.” According to Dallas City Hall, this division “conducts abatement action on unresolved code violations to promote clean, healthy, and safe neighborhoods.” The city’s performance measures state they’ve cleaned 14 homeless encampments and removed 28.6 tons of litter. Dani says they’ve witnessed Code Compliance come with big dumpster-like trucks and collect people’s personal effects like tents, government documents, and photographs.
According to Dani, even when the city provides vouchers for access to city housing, some people choose to go back outside. Houseless people are usually relegated to dilapidated buildings infested with roaches and rats where they have very little privacy. In addition to the inhospitable living conditions, a lot of houseless people are ill-equipped to adapt to the demands of modern technology.
There’s also a common misconception that homeless shelters are safe spaces. Dani says physical and sexual assault are not uncommon in shelters. She adds that many houseless people are still treated as if they’re subhuman. Many struggle to stay in shelters because they aren’t given the proper tools and medical attention to cope with things like drug withdrawal symptoms. Some are also forced to interact with people that pose a threat to their safety.
“Some people might have been abused outside and see their abusers or their abusers circle in a shelter,” Dani says. “People don’t like being surveilled 24/7. A lot of them have told me shelters are like jail and a lot of them have been to jail multiple times.”
It’s About Remembering
Despite some of the challenges, Dani says mutual aid is a lot simpler than people are led to believe. She says the problem lies in our societal structures; America is a business, and “we the people” are just low-level employees. It’s beneficial to have employees who don’t think too much, and don’t band together, or they might threaten the system.
“Mutual aid is the way and the light,” Dani says. “It’s just a name for what humans have been doing for centuries. We are community dependent beings. We were raised and built to rely on each other. Unfortunately, we had that stripped from us. The idea of caring for other people besides yourself is so foreign.”
Dani insists it’s all about remembering our ancestral practices and finding our people. Sometimes all it takes is showing up, whether that means remembering to respond to a text, or hanging at your friends house to help them clean. It’s also remembering those who’ve been rejected by society, recognizing their humanity, and advocating for their rights. Dani says if you can’t see yourself in a houseless person, you’ll never create tangible change.
“I feel that SIWYC is more of a call to action than a concrete organization,” Dani says. “It used to be an organization, but now it’s mainly me doing the organizing. I want people to find the power of mutual aid within themselves rather than subscribe to an organization to be a ‘part’ of. I’m just a facilitator, or liaison, if you will. The power is, and always should be, with the people.”
SIWYC is holding their next care package parties on March 9 and 23 at 7 pm at Apprentice Creative Space.
