DJ Husar is a writer and activist. But in the Street Roots offices, he’s best known as a comedian. He will never fail to put a smile on your face, whether it be with his jokes or his contagious, kind spirit.
DJ was born and raised in New Jersey, where he attended Montclair State University and wrote for The Observer, a local newspaper. He then moved to Florida for a woman, graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa, but ended up back north and fell into homelessness, right as Occupy Wall Street was beginning to gain traction.
Occupy Wall Street was a mass protest movement beginning in New York City's Wall Street financial district September 2011. Members used demonstrations to protest wealth inequality, political corruption and corporate influence on the government.
DJ decided to join in because he supported the movement. He himself was thrust into poverty after his middle-class upbringing, which gave him a sense of class consciousness and an understanding of disparity through his life experience.
“We are all brothers and sisters, we should be helping each other,” DJ said.
He also joined for more personal reasons, to use his voice and fight being homeless.
“I didn't do anything to deserve it, I didn’t do anything illegal, I was just a person who fell through the cracks, I guess,” he said.
He would camp with others in different churches at night, and protest during the day.
His attendance at Occupy led him to meet one of his favorite actors, Wallace Shawn, and Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry’s.
DJ was getting ice cream, looked up at the man handing him his bowl, and exclaimed “Oh my God, are you Ben?”
When asked how he knew that it was Ben, he responded, “I just knew. It was amazing. Ben and Jerry’s is my favorite ice cream. It's great.”
Occupy Wall Street is also what led DJ to Portland. He hopped on a bus and joined a big group in Chicago to protest the 2012 NATO summit. DJ found it fascinating to be part of something so large.
“It was very cool and interesting to be protesting with so many people who were also fighting the system,” DJ said.
After protesting in Chicago, he decided to trade his ticket back to New York with someone who lived in Portland, despite having no friends and family here, and knowing nothing about the city other than “it rained a bunch.” He was looking for adventure, and that is what he got.
A few years into living on the street in Portland, he heard about Street Roots.
“I made friends here,” DJ said. “I love the articles, it's an amazing feeling to be quoted in articles."
With Street Roots, as with Occupy, DJ feels like he is being heard.
“My first vendor profile, I felt like I had a voice,” he said. “I was like, ‘that's me in the paper!’”
After feeling like society was throwing him away, he said Street Roots brought him community and grounded him.
DJ dreams of going to school for social work or being a writer. He admires children and would love to be a parent. He also wants to help fix systemic problems that plague our country, like racism and classism.
“I believe it can all be solved,” he said. “I don’t have all the answers but I know there are people who have the answers — they just don’t get in office. It’s all about making money.”
He often reflects on his life path.
“In Occupy, I was so shy, I never would have done a vendor profile like this,” DJ said. “I would've missed out on so much of life … but now I don’t think of myself as less than anyone else anymore, not better either. Rather, we are all the same, upper-class, lower-class, rich or poor.”
You can support DJ Husar via @StreetRoots Venmo by entering his name and badge number (200) in the notes.
Street Roots is an award-winning weekly investigative publication covering economic, environmental and social inequity. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
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