An Army Military Veteran Encountered Prejudice in a County Facility and Prefers to Live on the Streets in the Elements Risking Death.

My name is Reinaldo Olavarria. I am a Wake County Resident.

He served since he was 17 years of age. He is a Wake County Resident. He is now in his late 50s. He lost his home in October 2025 due to foreclosure stemming from mental health issues causing him not to be able to attend to his personal affairs.

He slept many nights in front of Wendell United Methodist Church. I took him to the South Wilmington Center for Men to show him where it was. Church members took him there to get him out of the dangerous elements and to “get help”.

Upon information and belief, he entered the shelter and took a shower. Then he left.

This now retired Army Veteran of over 16 years of service, decided to leave the protective environment of the center for men. Why? The racism he encountered at the hands of Black Persons in the Army was again being encountered, this time at the shelter. “They screamed at me ………. They were all Black [at the center for men]” he stated. It is reported he stated “I will never go back over there”.

For years, this writer complained of the racial prejudices that were the product of the lack of open and competitive hiring. In July, a disabled man was shot outside the doors of the center. Here, an honorable veteran chooses to risk dying from hypothermia rather than be subject to renewed racism and prejudice at the center. That is the by-product of the lack of open and competitive hiring.

The center for men used to be welcoming to Hispanics. Imagine if you will, the last time I saw him he had jaundice eyes and could barely move, get up, while sleeping on the cement side walk in front of Wendell United Methodist Church. Again, in 2001, I was one of the few bilingual intake workers at the shelter.

Welcoming and open arms needs to be the pattern. Get them off the streets I say. Two nights ago, I struggled against a homeless person whom tried to “help me” by taking my cart to the car. I refused and struggled to retain control of my cart at the local Food Lion.

I ask once again, that emergency efforts be made to get the homeless off the streets. I ask again, given he, the veteran, chooses death over a warm place with social services and food.

Open and competitive hiring is needed to diversify the work place environments. The center should have “round the clock” services to both English Speaker and the bilingual population.

He faces death on the streets. “They are all Black ………. They were screaming at me” is not the recompense for a man that saved lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. “They called for me to carry them” as he was an army Medic. Www.wakecountyfails.com ,