- [Mark] Cynthia, we're here in Manhattan.
- Right.
- [Mark] You've been out on the streets,
you're telling me you're living in a box.
- Yep.
- [Mark] What's life like on the streets?
- It's very difficult.
You're considered a bitch, especially 'cause I'm white.
A cracker, I've been raped out here,
I've been thrown down the stairs of St. Francis,
I've had put a plastic bag on my head to try to harm me,
continual beatings on a weekly basis by African men.
So, it's terrible.
This is not a life for any female,
it's not right for a male, but it's not right
for female either because it's not safe.
I can sit in this chair and anybody could come up
and just whack me and in the back of the head
and I'm out cold and they could rape me.
I wouldn't even know it.
- [Mark] And you said you were in and out
of the shelter system.
- Yeah.
- [Mark] So what's the shelter system like?
- The shelter system is horrifying.
You sleep in a cot, you have a cabinet, like a box thing,
and you put your clothes in there and you hope
to God nobody steals your clothes.
The guards come in, they can rape you.
Anything they feel like doing
because they're in charge of DHS.
And it's not good.
I've given birth certificate, social security card
for housing, a voucher, I haven't gotten anything.
I'm still here.
- [Mark] You're waiting to-
- I'm still on the street.
- [Mark] So it's gonna get cold.
I mean, it's cold now, but it's gonna get colder.
- Right, I'm working with a group called Breaking Ground
and they're supposed to be getting me a safe haven,
which is a single room, which you have a bed,
a shower, a TV, and you know, a place.
You know, you're inside, you're not outside anymore.
- [Mark] Well, that would be good.
- Yeah, so that's what I'm working on.
- [Mark] So you've been out here 12 years.
- Seven.
- [Mark] Seven years.
- Seven. - [Mark] Sorry.
- Seven. - [Mark] How do you survive?
- It's not easy.
I have a welfare account,
my welfare account has been hacked.
- [Mark] How much do you get here?
- I get 140, I'm supposed to be getting 145, cash.
- [Mark] How do you live on $145?
- I know right now I'm living on nothing.
Right now I'm living on, I was supposed
to get money again a day ago, I didn't get anything.
- [Mark] Wow.
- Right now I have 39 cents
on my food stamp card and cash.
- [Mark] Oh my God.
So you get 145 welfare, how much do you get food stamp?
- 205.
- [Mark] 205.
So basically $350.
- Yeah.
- [Mark] To live on.
You can't even eat on $350. - No, you can't.
- [Mark] Much less rent an apartment.
- No, you can't.
- [Mark] So, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?
- I'm 54.
- [Mark] Okay.
So you're getting into your senior years.
- Yes, I am, I am.
- [Mark] And you've been out here for a long, long time.
- Yeah.
- [Mark] Chances of getting a job or having a shower
to get a job or-
- Yeah. - [Mark] Just.
- See, this is what the-
- [Mark] Oh, don't.
I don't want your real name or anything up-
- Oh, okay.
- [Mark] But thank you.
We don't want any identifying information
by your first name. - Okay.
- [Mark] You might've given me whatever name you wanted
to give me.
- No, that's my name.
- [Mark] Yeah.
I mean, while we're here doing this,
there's all kinds of people walking by, people driving by,
what would you want them to know about homelessness?
- Homelessness is a very degrading, embarrassing
self-loathing for a woman.
People shout all kinds of names.
People look at you like you're dirty.
People look at you like you're a bum,
that you just out here, that you're an addict,
that you're a drunk, that you use all kinds of drugs.
For me, I used to have beautiful teeth,
they were knocked out by police.
- [Mark] Police knocked out your teeth?
- Yes.
- [Mark] So, hold on a second.
So we haven't talked about that.
How do police treat you out here?
- Horrible.
- [Mark] Well, obviously, they knocked out your teeth.
- I've been dragged by the police,
Amtrak PD has been wicked, I can't even go in there except
to go to the bathroom.
Out here, the police have been very unruly with me.
I was told I looked like somebody
and they literally took me off a bench
and wailed my head off, they almost killed me.
- [Mark] The police.
- The police, NYPD.
- [Mark] Oh my gosh.
Like homelessness isn't bad enough.
- No, see, the minute you become homeless,
you become flagged by the police.
It's either red, white or green flag.
Red means mental, white means something else,
I don't know what they all mean.
I don't know, I'm not a police officer.
But you're right away tagged as a person
with a mental issue, that every person
that's homeless has a mental issue.
It doesn't matter who you are, how educated you are.
It doesn't matter if you are dressing the best clothes,
that you are considered to have be completely mental.
I had a conversation with Senator Schumer,
no, Senator Molinari last year in front of Penn Station.
And he told me, I asked him, I said,
"Well, what are you gonna do about the homeless?
Are you gonna open more buildings,
are you gonna put more SROs?"
For what? They're all mental.
You know, that was the-
- [Mark] Well, that's the point of this work,
to show that homeless people are real human.
- Yeah.
- And you know, I have challenges, everybody has challenges
of some kind-
- Yes.
- [Mark] And we all go through different states of,
but most homeless people.
I mean, this is my next question.
Anyways, is you stay positive.
We talked for a bit before.
- Right.
- [Mark] I brought out the camera and I was amazed
because you're just talking about having a box
around the corner, living in a box.
How do you stay positive living in a box?
- Well, you know what?
First I have to say this, I've been a Christian all my life.
And the good Lord above has given me his grace
every single day, everyday he blesses me
whether I don't have to ask him.
All I do is trust in him.
And as a believer of Christ, as a born again Christian,
that you have to have faith.
You have to have joy, you have to have something.
He says, sorrow comes at night but joy comes in the morning,
and that he will give you his grace.
And I rely on him.
- [Mark] So, I'm a Christian too,
but what we need is Christians to come
and start answering your prayer.
- Yes.
- [Mark] Because you shouldn't be out here.
- No, I shouldn't be out here.
You know, every day, every night, I wake up, I go to sleep.
I ask the Lord to watch over me and do the best
that I can do.
- [Mark] So now, police don't let you sit here.
- Oh, sure they do.
- [Mark] Oh, they do?
- During the day?
- [Mark] Yeah, during the day.
- No, during the day I go all the way down
to the end of this building. - [Mark] Okay.
- And I sit there and you know,
I sit there and I get a dollar coffee
if someone gives me a dollar, and I just hang out.
- [Mark] Right, 'cause that's another thing
people don't talk about is how the isolation,
the loneliness.
- It is.
You are.
My family, tomorrow's my mother's 85th birthday,
I can't even go see her.
You know, it's a terrible thing
that's been my mom my whole life.
And my mom has gone through a lot of things.
My dad died, they were married for almost 50 years.
- [Mark] That's what you said, how you became homeless.
- Yes.
- [Mark] So we've been going for a while.
What's your future like?
Well, you said you're hopefully gonna get into-
- My goal for my future is to be returned back
to New Jersey, to have an apartment and back to doing.
Right now, I'm in the middle of doing research
for pancreatic cancer.
So I'm working with a woman who works
with some Sloan Kettering.
- [Mark] Well, you're here writing-
- Yes.
- [Mark] Down, 'cause you have a medical background.
- Yeah.
- [Mark] So if you had three wishes, what would they be?
- Three wishes would be,
I would be able to talk to my sons
without their hatred toward me.
The second wish would be housing and all that
for my mom and my sister.
And the third would be to be able to obtain a job
of something.
Those are my three wishes.
- [Mark] Great wishes.
Well, thank you very much for talking to me.
- You're very welcome.
(upbeat music)