Remember the tech bro who wrote an open letter imploring San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee to make the homeless go away? His name is Justin Keller and that has caused quite a few social problems for another guy in SF with the same name.
Many have deemed what the Keller known as tech bro wrote to be a callous attitude toward the city’s homelessness problem, “…I know people are frustrated about gentrification happening in the city, but the reality is, we live in a free market society. The wealthy working people have earned their right to live in the city. They went out, got an education, work hard, and earned it. I shouldn’t have to worry about being accosted. I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, and despair of homeless people to and from my way to work every day. I want my parents when they come visit to have a great experience, and enjoy this special place.”
The other Keller, who also happens to volunteer with SF homelessness organization Harrison House, says he’s been flooded with “vitriol” on social media from folks who mistook him for the other guy. Not tech bro Keller shot back a response, schooling tech bro Keller on the history of homelessness in SF, what’s being done to help them, and what he believed to be a better reply to the issue.
“When I first moved here I had a difficult time with the homeless situation too. Your perspective seems to be, ‘I don’t deserve to deal with this.’ A more compassionate and broadened perspective would be, ‘no one deserves to deal with this,’ not tech bro wrote. “Especially the poor souls that sleep in the dirt and cold every night– I promise you they don’t want to be there even more than you don’t want them to be there.”
Not tech bro then extended an olive branch, asking “other Justin” to hit him up. “I’m sure you can find my Twitter handle– and let’s go do something about it, rather than just complaining about it,” he said.
So far, tech bro Keller has declined to give comment to TechCrunch about why he wrote what he wrote – though he did tell me he would be publishing a response “shortly.” As far as we know he has also not responded to the other Keller on social media, though his tweets are currently set to private.