James Williams grew up in New Orleans. When his family evacuated before Hurricane Katrina hit, James stayed behind, taking care of the house. As the water rose, he had to cut a hole in the roof to get out. “We have an overpass in our neighborhood. I saw maybe a thousand or more people on top of that bridge. The train tracks were covered. The train on the tracks, you couldn’t even see the train.” James jumped in the water and headed for the overpass. “That water was thick. It had mud and oil in it. I saw alligators, snakes, dogs. I saw a dog or a cat or a cow, and I saw something snatch it and go under.”
“We were still on that bridge for maybe a week before everybody got cleared. Then we went to the Superdome. The Superdome was unsanitary. There was no running water. There was no bathroom we could use. You could smell dead. They was shooting drugs, and the older elder people who really were sick, they died. It smelled horrible.”
“They shipped us out by bus, lined up by alphabetical order. I was supposed to be in Denver. I said, ‘I don’t want to be in that cold in Colorado.’” The bus was going on to Seattle. James just stayed on board.
He arrived with nothing but the clothes he was wearing. The Federal Emergency Management Agency put him up in a hotel; churches, the Red Cross and the Urban League gave him food and clothes. Eventually the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) took over and found James an apartment in the Central District.
In New Orleans, James had been a carpenter and contractor. In Seattle, he balked at having to do an apprenticeship program and then having to wait to be given work. James did carpentry for his landlord, but when SHA stopped paying the rent he was out on the street. He started selling Real Change. For a long time, he sold papers in front of Top Pot Doughnuts on Fifth Avenue.
The first day, “I said, [softly] ‘Real Change.’ A lady gave me $10. I said, ‘Ma’am, I don’t have no change.’ The lady said, ‘That’s for you!’ That was my first customer!”
She told him, “Don’t just stand there and offer a paper. Tell people about the paper!”
He started calling out the headlines. “I would have people say, ‘Go get a job! Get a life!’ But my heart and my spirit wouldn’t let me get discouraged.”
James built up a good clientele at Top Pot. He even met President Obama there when he came to town; Sen. Patty Murray made sure Obama got a copy of the paper.
But then James ended up leaving Top Pot and relocated to Fourth and Virginia.
He’s not doing as well there.
Still, he said, “Real Change [has] been very supportive to me and the people on the streets.” His suggestion to customers: Buy more papers!