There's something I've been wanting to talk about for a little while that's even more apparent in light of the hurricane: homelessness. As some of you may know, I've been a volunteer with
Food Not Bombs for over 4 years. There are over 175 autonomous Food Not Bombs groups around the world. Each Food Not Bombs group serves free food both to hungry people, and in support of political organizing efforts. Food Not Bombs is, at it's roots, an idea. Each Food Not Bombs group is it's own autonomous organization and anyone, anywhere can start their own group. The group I've been with for the past 4 years cooks and serves food every sunday at 5pm in a downtown park. We've never missed a serving no matter what holiday it is or not. In fact, I've been looking at a calendar and it looks like we'll be cooking on Christmas this year. And we've done this with a core group of about 5 people. My experiences with FNB have given me a lot of perspective on the world and on homelessness.
I think there's a certain amount of shame that goes on when you pass a homeless person on the street panhandling for change. You know that your six quarters aren't going to do anything about getting that person a house or a job so instead you avert your eyes and maybe, if you're a little bit brave, you mumble something about not having any change. Hey! I do that too sometimes! I also think that in a country with over 40 million people on the brink of starvation and possible homelessness, a lot of us recognize that if given the
right wrong circumstances
we could just as easily be that person begging for money. I think that idea comes into even greater relief when things like this hurricane happen. One natural disaster and
boom half a million people homeless, even more without jobs, and some without any resources to get back on their feet. These are people who have no access to running water, no food, and no clothes but the ones on their backs. And these are the survivors.
Yet we at home have survivors as well. We have our own refugees, right here in our communities. They are forced to seek refuge in their cars, under bridges, along rivers and creek beds, and in overcrowded, temporary shelters. Each morning, they must awake to the prospect of another day of neglect and poverty. These are our own refugees. Our own homeless.
A report released earlier this year by my county's Task Force on Homelessness stated that we have at least 2232 homeless persons, comprising 436 families, and at least 464 children under age 18. Yet the report also professes that these numbers are likely much higher. This, in one of the wealthiest counties in the country. I can only imagine that these numbers are not terribly different to reports from most places around the country.
Unfortunately, our refugees are not that dissimilar from those in Louisiana. By and large they are those who, because of their backgrounds, education, and housing status, have been relegated to second class citizenship. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina we have seen dozens of reports of upper and middle class families having the resources to escape to safety, while the poor were left to fend for themselves. Similarly, the homeless have very much been left on their own, with inadequate services, and a government seemingly more interested in criminalizing them than assisting them.
In the aftermath of this hurricane when so many people are banding together to help and so generously opening their pocketbooks, I'd like to urge you all to remember the people in your hometowns, the ones with no place to live and no food and no clothes who most likely will not have the benefit of falling back on insurance claims and the aid money going to the Gulf region.
I know it's easier to feel sorry for the people whose lives have been affected by the storm, and I know a lot of people like to "blame" homeless people for their circumstances but I'm telling you from my personal experiences that the people I've met on the streets don't want to be there. They're hard working and desperate and they've all had really hard lives. A lot of them have mental health issues and even more of them are Unites States Military Veterans. It is absolutely unconscionable that in a country this rich we still have so many people who are so poor.
pacific_gravity
