The road to Tent City

[dcsmart]

John Green visits Tent City under a freeway in Fresno, Calif.--and finds a very different picture than the mainstream media paints.

THE LOCAL paper describes this place as "ground zero" for robbery, prostitution and intravenous drug abuse in Fresno, Calif., and that's enough to put outsiders on edge, walking alone into Tent City.
But spend an afternoon with the hundreds of homeless in this bleak, dusty strip of land under a freeway, and a different story emerges: Of winners and losers in the busted economy, and of the bonds of solidarity between everyday people.
One of the first people you'll likely to meet near the entrance is Arnold. He's a 40-year-old Latino who lives with his dog in a tattered navy blue tent.
In between cooking lunch over an open fire, he explained his journey to Tent City. "I was working at the Radisson Hotel, as a dishwasher," he says. "I became unemployed and homeless. When it started to rain, I saw people going here. I asked if I could come, too."
Text

At a press conference that same month, Ebony reporter Kevin Chappell asked President Obama a pointed question about a report that claims 1 in 50 children now live homeless. "I'm heartbroken that any child in America is homeless," responded Obama. "The most important thing I can do on their behalf is make sure their parents have a job."
Text

Fresno's Tent City is a compelling case for Barack Obama to make good on his commitment to end homelessness by putting people back to work. But as long as Wall Street gets the bailouts and ordinary people get the eviction notices, there's no end in sight for the conditions that gave rise to this place.
Text

FULL ARTICLE
http://socialistworker.org/2009/05/05/the-road-to-tent-city