For decades, a creek bed in East San Jose has become a homeless encampment for hundreds of San Jose residents who’ve lost homes, jobs, families and have no place else to go. But today, “The Jungle,” what it’s mostly known as, has been shutdown by the City of San Jose. As police supervised, bulldozers wiped the area clean and the homes people made for themselves are now gone. Photographer Jean Melesaine went to meet with the people the night before forced removal, and photographer Charisse Domingo went to meet residents in the morning of its shutdown while people scrambled to see what to do next. At 6am, residents were woken with flashlights, police, and clean-up crews in hazmat suits. These are the photos of a community in Silicon Valley, one of the richest regions in the world, who are now searching for a new home. Please click on the photo below to see the whole slide show.
Robert, 61 years old, a former engineer and known as the Mayor of the Jungle shows us the creative ways that people have built homes in the encampment. He says, ‘This is perhaps the end of this particular land and this camp. But it’s not the end of the people, it’s not the end of the cause, its not the end of this system.’
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