Max Rameau And Advocate For The Homeless - 1119 Words

The focus of this PBS documentary is on, Max Rameau and advocate for the homeless in Miami, Florida. Rameau is helping the homeless get into homes albeit in an unlawful manner as he encourages civil disobedience. Rameau describes his movement, â€Å"Take Back the Land† as a humane approach to put a â€Å"bunch of people with no place to sleep, into a bunch of empty houses.† Rameau provides homes to families by identifying the empty homes that have longest time available before legal repercussions. Rameau essentially creates time for the family to obtain financial stability to move on to a stable (and lawful) living situation. Rameau’s approach is secretive as he calculates the response of the lending agencies and property managers against the benefits to the family and community. If a mediator were to address the conflict in Miami the first step would be to identify the various cultures involved in the conflict. There four cultures present in the documentary; the homeless, the activists, the police and financial institutions. The â€Å"homeless culture† is a mix of the people from a variety of backgrounds. They share a culture in that they lost their homes when they were disenfranchised due the US subprime mortgage crisis. The â€Å"activist culture† is comprised of multiple groups in numerous cities that share the same interest, helping the homeless culture. The activists address the futility of people living on the streets when perfectly viable properties remain empty. The