Mitch Snyder was one of the most influential advocates for the rights of the homeless in the American history. The methods he used to achieve financial support for the homeless were extraordinary and outrageous; however, those could be justified by good intention to take care of the helpless. During the years of his campaign for social justice, Mitch Snyder shocked the Americans with demonstrative, long-lasting hunger strikes and other meaningful protests ("National Coalition for the Homeless").
He aimed to draw the attention of people, as a way to force the government to fulfill their commitments towards the America's poorest ("National Coalition for the Homeless"). In order to understand why and how a common man literally dedicated his life to helping others, it is essential to overview the challenges that effected the development of Mitch Snyder's personality.
Mitch Snyder was born in 1943 and grew up in New York, Brooklyn, in a middle-class family of atheistic Jews. His father left the family for another woman when Snyder was only nine. Snyder's mother, Beatrice, was left alone to feed the family and raise her son. His teenage years were marked with dozens of arrests. At the age of sixteen, Snyder was sent to a reformatory school where he stayed for a year. After that, Mitch Snyder came back to Brooklyn to get a job and continue his education at night school ("National Coalition for the Homeless").
In the interviews, Snyder confessed that father's leaving the family influenced him much. He blamed his father for throwing the family into semi-poverty and abandoning a little kid without a positive male role model. Being a teenager, Snyder promised himself he would never do that to his own children. Nonetheless, the life ordered otherwise (DeParle).
In a relatively young age, in the year 1963, he got married to Ellen Kleiman. They gave birth to two kids, Dean and Ricky (DeParle). Snyder seemed to settle down, found a job of door-to-door vacuum cleaner seller. On one hand, he enjoyed the opportunity to communicate with people for a living, but on the other hand, he realized that something was wrong about his life. Mitch Snyder was a vocal opponent of capitalism, a kind of person who dared to associate any work for money with prostitution. In 1969, Snyder decided to leave his wife and sons and started hitchhiking ("National Coalition for the Homeless").
In 1970, he was accused of car theft, and sentenced to a three-year jail term in Connecticut, Danbury. The prison system became background for the establishment and development of his protest-by-fasting tactics, which he would use in the future to gain publicity. Mitch organized a ‘Danbury 11’ group, so that together with ten prison inmates, he went on a hunger strike against prison discipline. That was his first appearance as a social revolutionary ("Striking from Prison: Mitch Snyder and the Origins of His Activism").
In Danbury, Snyder also befriended and learned much from two progressive Catholic priests, Daniel and Philip Berrigan, anti-war activists, who fought for the idea of social justice. Close cooperation with the Berrigans caused a great influence on Snyder, since that time he already defined resistance as a lifestyle ("Striking from Prison: Mitch Snyder and the Origins of His Activism").
In 1972, Mitch Snyder was released from jail, he came back home attempting to get back together with his wife Ellen; however, that attempt failed. He did not maintain any contact with his family, and only in 1985, was the first time his ex-wife and sons saw Snyder, in a CBS news program (DeParle).
Mitch moved to Washington D.C. and joined the Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV), the organization created to support and defend the rights of the homeless and poor ("National Coalition for the Homeless").
While staying in Danbury, Mitch Snyder was an active protester of the war in Vietnam. When he came to Washington D.C., in 1973, the war was about to end. That time, the number of homeless in America kept increasing, and one of the reasons was the lack of transitional programs for veterans. Together with other members of CCNV, Mitch focused his attention on supporting veterans ("National Coalition for the Homeless").
Cooperation with CCNV was a great time for Mitch Snyder, since it gave an opportunity to apply all his political energies on something he considered to be very important. Mitch enjoyed the hours he spent talking with the homeless. He was vibrant, influential and determined to effectively perform all the tasks within the organization. Snyder successfully organized and managed shelters, dealt with legal work ("National Coalition for the Homeless").
In 1981, Ronald Reagan became the 40th President of the US. The economic policies of the Reagan Administration, also known as Reaganomics, implied the increase of military spending, decrease of taxes, and reduction of government spending on social programs and services ("Reaganomics [Ushistory.Org]"). While discussing the increasing problem of the homeless, Mitch Snyder stated that Reagan and Congress's policies were the obvious reason for the state of things ("National Coalition for the Homeless").
That year, on Thanksgiving Day, Snyder organized a tent city with a 'Reaganomics at Work' sign in Lafayette Park, near the White House. For the next four months, homeless people and activists spent nights in the tents. The performance aimed to show the difference between the reality and the illusion created by the government ("National Coalition for the Homeless").
Mitch was also a good actor and a spectacular public figure. He loved to gain the attention of the audience through dramatic shows. His most remarkable protests included blood splashing on the Capitol steps, picketing outside the White House, jumping the White House fence and, of course, the most hazardous were three, long-lasting, hunger-strikes ("National Coalition for the Homeless").
In 1984, before Reagan’s second presidential election, CBS television broadcasting company aired a 60-minutes episode featuring Snyder's struggles caused by fasting, which was a protest against social cutbacks policies. Mitch, together with ten other members of CCNV, demanded to restore the Federal City Shelter. He eventually won that battle, as the government agreed to renovate the shelter. In July 1986, the Federal City Shelter finally opened its doors to the homeless ("The CCNV and the Fight to Create the Federal City Shelter").
During the lifetime and even after, Mitch received a lot of criticism in regards to his manipulative methods of protest and extravagant behavior. The founder of the National Coalition for the Homeless, Robert Hayes, characterized Snyder, as a pushy, irritating and a lively individual. He possessed all the necessary qualities to persuade others, to make people do what they were supposed to (DeParle).
The year 1990 was a quite depressive period for Snyder due to a variety of problems he experienced in both professional and personal life. Mitch faced a storm of protest and anger from a number of advocates of the homeless, because of encouraging the homeless to avoid the 1990 census. Moreover, some members of his movement confronted Snyder stating he became too authoritative. His relationship with Carol Fennelly was uncertain, as Carol later stated, she should have been more supportive and caring towards Mitch those times. On July 6th, 1990, Mitch committed a suicide (DeParle).
Although, in many cases, the tactics of Mitch Snyder was way aggressive, outrageous and impulsive, Mitch gave him all to those who could not stand their ground. The legacy he left behind is thousands of saved lives. Snyder is a bright example of a case when even one person makes a difference.
Works cited
DeParle, Jason. "Mitch Snyder, 46, Advocate Of Homeless". Nytimes.com. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
"National Coalition For The Homeless". Nationalhomeless.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
"Reaganomics [Ushistory.Org]". Ushistory.org. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
"Striking From Prison: Mitch Snyder And The Origins Of His Activism". Whose Downtown? N.p., 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
"The CCNV And The Fight To Create The Federal City Shelter". Whose Downtown? N.p., 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
