The coronavirus and the homeless

The coronavirus and the homeless: an interview with the documentary filmmaker, Eric Protein Moseley.

Humanities Watch: What have you discovered through your work with the homeless about their awareness of the coronavirus?

Eric Protein Moseley: I have discovered that 5 out of 10 homeless people were aware of the Coronavirus when we first went out on the streets of San Francisco. Out of the other 5, around three of them knew of the steps that need to be taken for precaution such as wash your hands, stay at home if sick (which they had no home) cover your cough and the 6-foot distance.

HW: What have you learned about the best way to reach out to homeless people to keep them informed?

EPM: The best way to reach out to the homeless in any situation is to first humble oneself and to treat them as if they were human beings. Second, is to lower your standards (a sort of sense) and leave the conversations about your education, your Associates and Masters degrees at home.

HW: How long have you been working as a homeless activist?

EPM: I have been an advocate ever since 2004. I found myself in a family shelter in New York along with my daughter after I had gotten back from LA with a bunch of footage that I had shot on skid row thinking it would become a pilot for a reality show during the beginning of the reality show boom.

A young guy at the access shelter saw my footage and he liked it. He had a problem with how a pregnant woman at the center had been treated among other things. He told me that I had waisted my time shooting footage in LA if I wouldn’t stand by his side in raising awareness about how bad homeless families were being treated in the system. At first, I rejected his conversation but later took responsibility. We got so involved that several changes took place. They even tore down the entire building and built a brand new one a couple of years later.

HW: How did you develop your talents as a filmmaker?

EPM: I stumbled into filmmaking. I was trying to shoot a reality show pilot but didn’t know that a pilot was only a couple of minutes long. I had captured 2 1/2 hours of footage in LA, NY, and South Carolina after I found out that I had enough footage to produce a documentary.

HW: How important, in your view, are the visual arts and music in keeping people healthy?

EPM: I think art and music will always be a part of healthiness if a person decided to choose the positive ones over the negative ones. I used to listen to Fire & Rain by James Taylor when I was homeless, it is a sad sing but has a positive message in it as well.

HW: What is the most critical thing that homeless people need right now, during the coronavirus crisis?

EPM: The most important thing that a homeless person needs during the Coronavirus is LOVE. In the documentary for which I have sent you footage, one homeless man states just that. He really meant it.

HW: What can people in San Francisco and other cities learn from this crisis about ways to help the homeless?

EPM: They can learn that the homeless should be informed about a major tragedy such as the Coronavirus as soon as the general public does. 9 out of 10 homeless that live in the streets do not watch or read the news, so they are sometimes in a completely different world.

See the documentary film here, with Eric’s daughter Erica Moseley.