Homelessness: Does America Really Care?

Americas attitude and the de facto criminalization of homelessness is unacceptable Republicans and the like-minded consider homeless people as something that can be discarded. They say poor people dont create jobs, rich people do, and so they uncompassionatly judge homeless people as worthless. Its Americas black mark. Americas homeless are worthless. Thats the attitude of people like those in the Republican Party who view anyone other than the upper crust in society are of less worth than others, or less necessary to the common good. Homelessness is stereotypically associated with alcoholism, laziness, and drug abuse. It invokes an image of an American that waits for the government to bail them out. The people with this republican mindset demand that before welfare recipients receive food stamps they should be required to take a drug test. America became great, they exclaim, because its citizens possessed selfreliance, accepted personal responsibility, were industriousness and had a passion for freedom. Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain says " if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself!" These types believe that everyone can achieve success through hard work. But this is working off the assumption that America is a classless society. That we are all equally free and have the same abilities. However, human ability is genetically determined, and the extent to which one has freedom is governed by ones income. We are obviously not a classless society, and obviously, we are not equally free. Success in life, the wherewithal to be self-reliant and to accept personal responsibility as well as the capability for hard work whether it is mental or physical is a gift acquired in the womb. These factors contribute to ones financial success while for some wealth is simply a matter of inheritance. To add insult to injury, the greed and malfeasance on Wall Street were significantly the cause for people already struggling to lose their homes. They created an even greater hardship on them, forcing many individuals and families into homelessness to live on the street or in a shelter. Republicans say poor people dont create jobs, rich people do. In other words, if you are not rich you are worthless. But without rank and file Americans, who would work in their enterprises and purchase their products and services.

Be that as it may, how can anyone be so uncompassionate toward the life-and-death struggle of another human being to discard his or her existence as worthless? Homeless people have to forage, beg, or find a shelter that offers free meals, keep warm at night by finding someplace where they wont get kicked out or else cover themselves with cardboard or tarp. They must find a place to relieve themselves without committing a crime, which cities and towns make illegal when performed in American streets -- not just peeing, but sitting, lying down, and sleeping. Americas cities and towns would just as soon Throw Them Out With the Trash. Homeless people are humiliated constantly by looks of disapproval, disgust, as well as constant harassment be police. Michael Sullivan recalls, I remember vividly when I got the look. My hair was grimy and my clothes smelled from having been worn for three straight weeks. I buried my unshaven face into my jacket as I stepped onto the E train in New York, clinging to my green garbage bag of belongings. I was homeless; 'the look' judged me worthless. Individuals may uncompassionatly judge homeless people, however for local or federal government to ignore, criminalize, and to be complacent with homelessness is unacceptable in America. Accommodations should be made for Americas down-and-out. A measure of a great society is not its wealth, but how it cares for its weakest and most vulnerable citizens, its indigent and down-and-out. Human Rights proclamations and Civil Rights laws have not addressed the issue, and even though there are many non-profit agencies and HUD, who offer assistance to the homeless, overall Americas conduct and actions by federal, State, city and town government have not stepped up to the challenge. In this respect, America has been a failure.

Source: Barbara Ehrenreich, Throw Them Out With the Trash, TomDispatch.com Michael Sullivan, I was homeless; 'the look' judged me worthless, CNN