In
Memory of Anthony Waters
By Brian Davis
Editor
We often look past the guys sitting at the bus stops or we fail to see the humanity in those trying to stay out of the heat downtown because they have become part of the landscape. These are men and women with families and children and Moms and nieces and nephews. It is not obvious that those individual’s walking down the streets carrying their bags containing all their belongings have hidden talents and skills. We have ignored the Neil Youngs or Langston Hughes or Chuck Closes, Flannery O’Conners or Albert Aylers walking around the streets of Cleveland, and their talents are being wasted while they wait for stable housing. Even for those who work in the homeless community, it is difficult to see the families, artists, or skilled craftspeople in the shelters. Case workers see the faces as more work and feel more exhaustion with every new face they see. Even those working with homeless people every day do not see the wealth of their talents until attending their memorial services.
I attended Anthony Waters memorial service in the first week of July 2008 to learn more about the talents lost with his beating death. No one brought up the circumstances of his death at the service so we will not dwell on it except to give the briefest of details. On June 25, Waters was walking on East 55th near the exit ramp from I-490 when he was jumped and beaten by three juveniles who robbed and beat him to death.
Waters was a musician and loved all kinds of music. “He was a hellraiser,” according to his younger sister, Marlo Massey, at the service, but he had a big heart. He loved his family and his two nieces spoke about his help with their upbringing during their youth. It was suggested a number of times that Waters had a hard time finding his place in the community. Ann Hill, a friend and neighbor who presided over the service, felt that Waters was similar to the Good Samaritan. He minded his own business. He was often misunderstood, but always willing to help. A number of people at the service mentioned Anthony Waters’ gruff exterior, but he always wanted to do the right thing.
There was very little discussion of his homelessness, but we know that Waters frequented the shelters, and even stayed on the streets. His sister mentioned his struggles with alcohol, but no one talked about homelessness. We know that Waters fell through the troubled addiction service’s safety net. A couple of the people remembering Waters at the memorial mentioned that he was always talking about music and trying to find a place to play music or listen to music.
He was buried with his sunglasses, which were a part of his image in life. He found some help from the shelters, but was adamant about his independence. In a more enlightened society, we would have recognized his talents and found a place for Anthony Waters. In the rough and tumble world of capitalism and survival of the fittest, Waters came up short and died on the streets.
The City of Cleveland responded admirably to Waters’ death with a full scale manhunt, tough talk by the Councilperson, and the Mayor, and resources dedicated to tracking down the murderers. Fifteen years ago, this incident would have passed with little attention and only a cursory police investigation. The Homeless Congress voted to urge City and County officials to ask state legislators to pass Representative Foley’s sponsored bill to add homeless people to the state hate crimes statute.
Copyright
Homeless Grapevine Issue #85 in
July-August 2008 Cleveland Ohio.