'Understanding The Misunderstood', A new documentary about squeegee workers

The squeegeeing phenomenon is not new. In fact, squeegeeing first hit the streets of Baltimore in the 80s.

But in recent years, there has been a shift in how people view the workers, from young people trying to make a living to criminals.

“It was difficult at first. I started in 2022, and that was a time where he knows the squeegeeing topic was heightened because of the incident that occurred between a motorist and a squeegee worker. So it was difficult when I first came out with the camera a lot of the guys didn’t want to be filmed," says Matthew Cooper, filmmaker.

It's one of the reasons why Matthew Cooper took on the task of directing the documentary.

He wanted to show a side to squeegee workers that most people don’t see.

Victoria Thompson used to be a squeegee worker; she says she is glad someone is trying to share another side of the story.

“Everybody narrated us the way they want it to like and then it’s like most people just took us by our skin color and judged us people didn’t listen to us," she says.

She says most of the other workers she knows have bigger goals for themselves and are just trying to find a way to accomplish them.

“The best part out come out of it, is that everybody’s on the right path right now," says Victoria Thompson.

Thompson says it's thanks to new mentoring programs for the youth.

She says it has opened more doors of opportunity for those who didn’t have support before.

“I think from a systemic perspective, as well too we know that folks were involved in squeegeeing already have the lack of access to resources, etc. They are profile by police, etc., and by understanding those antecedents and those more structural indeterminates of health, we can better advocate for folks who are involved in squeegeeing," says Jordan-Moses Williams.

Williams is a student at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

He says he came to watch the documentary to find ways he can support the communities where he’ll be working in the future.