Dan Rodricks: Squeegee workers conducted a survey of squeegee workers. Here’s what they said. | COMMENTARY

In all the grousing and near-hysteria about the young Baltimoreans who do the squeegee thing on the streets of our city, there’s been a woeful lack of listening.

谈论广播听到仇恨者。随着其持续的“危机城市”报道，FOX 45聆听了任何驾驶者，他们讲述了被Squeegee工人所忍受的驾驶者。

There has been some, but not much, listening to the boys and young men who wash windshields for money at busy intersections. I’ve done some, but not enough.

It was after July’s fatal shooting of Timothy Reynolds,the bat-wielding motorist who went after squeegee workersin downtown Baltimore, that someone thought it time to listen to the squeegee kids, and not just a few of them.

Kyla Liggett-Creel is an associate clinical professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. She’s been working with Baltimore kids who’ve been traumatized — and there are a lot of them — for more than two decades. They call her Dr. K.

Mayor Brandon Scott has convened a“squeegee collaborative”of government officials and business, nonprofit and youth leaders to come up with a strategy to deal with squeegee workers. For thatgroup’s workto have any credibility, its members would have to hear from those who squeegee.

Why are they out there?

What would get them to stop doing what apparently加重了许多驱动程序and keeps some away (so they say) from the city altogether?

So Dr. K, who’s been consulting the mayor’s staff, convened a meeting with three squeegee leaders — two young men and a young woman who enjoy the respect of others on the street — to design a survey. “I told them we wanted to make sure their voices were being heard,” says Dr. K., who invoked the slogan, “Don’t talk about me without me,” as a convincer.

The trio liked what they heard and got onboard.

“我想帮助人们追随我。”当我问他为什么同意设计调查时，他是22岁的前挤压工人戴维恩·霍奇斯（Davion Hodges）说。

霍奇斯（Hodges）和另外两名Squeegee领导人于7月在科平州立大学（Coppin State University）见面，而K博士在她的笔记本电脑上提出了当场的问题。然后，他们和其他人对31名Squeegee工人进行了调查，并在其他会议之后，将结果介绍给8月23日在Fayette Street的UA House的一场常设聚会。

Here are some of the questions, answers (including statements by squeegee workers) and general findings:

“Why did you start squeegeeing?”

The top answer to this was, as you might expect, “no money.” That was followed by “family reasons,” described as “family going through something, parents unable to help, siblings need help.” The third most-cited reason was “personal,” meaning a need of the squeegee worker for food or clothing.

“Why do youth squeegee?”

“Got a lot of kids in the house.”

“享受。玩得开心，赚钱。”

“Tax free money.”

“有兄弟姐妹（在200美元中，我花了约180美元）。我正在照顾我的家人。”

“Nobody is taking care of me. I have to do it for myself. Take care of myself. Give to my mother when I can.”

“我想让母亲感到骄傲。钱会不断到来。”

“You can work for two days in a job and make what you can do in two minutes on the street.”

“Mothers tell the youth they have to.”

“See older siblings squeegee and have lots of money.”

“挤压是什么感觉？”

This survey asked for the positive and negative aspects of the work. On the upside was money — with earnings reported at anywhere from $600 to $1,200 a week, flexible schedule, fun and hanging out with friends. The downside included these responses:

“People throw things at you.”

“人们说种族主义的话。”

“People recording you on their phones.”

“人们嘲笑我。”

“人们走到我身边，就像他们要对我有所作为。”

“Police will say something to us but they don’t say anything to those people coming at us.”

“有哪些可能的解决方案？”

有了这个问题，调查中的人被问到他们各自的未来。K博士告诉他们，在总统街上洗挡风玻璃是“不是您永远的工作”。那么，什么会使他们离开街头并变得更加可持续的生计呢？这是最高答案：

“良好的薪水（每小时30美元）。”

“Have my own business.”

“Trade school.”

“Someone come in to help the family.”

And there was this: “Pay our mothers more so we don’t have to squeegee.”

The squeegee workers were also asked for comments about their experiences in school. Here are some comments:

“Teachers fail you for half a point.”

“他们不教生活技能。”

“他们不教我们我们需要生存的东西。”

“They don’t teach us how to be Black men.”

“指导辅导员每年都会改变，他们不会试图与我们建立联系。”

Collaborative co-chair Joe Jones, the CEO and president of the Center for Urban Families, was hugely impressed with the presentation the squeegee workers made at UA House.

“They talked about the multiple siblings they have back home, that if they aren’t earning money to feed them, they don’t eat,” Jones said. “It’s heartbreaking to hear them describe that…”

但是，当然，您只有听到听。