I do not know when we started calling an encampment in Olympia “The Jungle,” but I have publicly declared that I will stop. While I cannot tell other people what to say, I realized how much that one term shapes how we see people who live there and distances us from their humanity.
The term did not begin in Thurston County. Each time it has been used throughout history, it was applied to circumstances where people were displaced, marginalized, dehumanized, and “othered.”
And when we hear it today, we do not picture neighbors. We forget that each person living there has a name and a story and each person and family experienced a set of circumstances that led them to find shelter outdoors. Instead, the term reinforces negative stereotypes, conjures up images of people who are uncivilized and shifts the blame onto people living outside instead of looking at the systems that failed them — housing shortages, gaps in behavioral health and persistent poverty.
When we call a place “The Jungle,” we subtly declare the people living there are less deserving of dignity and less worthy of housing. Once that framework is in place, harsh policies and practices start to feel more acceptable.
But people are not human because they own a home or have keys to an apartment. People are human whether housed or unhoused.
Policymakers, service providers, law enforcement and outreach teams across our region are committed to providing support, expanding services and creating pathways to housing. None of us want to see anyone become unhoused. But language still shapes our environment and how those policies and services land.
Regardless of how we view the future of that encampment, we owe the people that live there — for any period of time — the respect of using accurate and humanizing language. “The Jungle” is not a nickname. It shapes how we think, how we feel and it impacts how we act.
The people living in that encampment are not somehow subhuman because they are unhoused. Some are friends, family or coworkers, and all are our neighbors. And if we want the best outcomes we must start by talking about people in ways that keep their humanity intact.
Maren Turner
Thurston County
