Attacking homeless people

[bobbolink]

Attacking homeless people
by: Margo Pierce
Violence is shocking – and shockingly common
July 7, 2010
Vol: 17 No: 27


This roadside camp was the site of an early-morning attack April 10 in Cincinnati. Three of the four alleged assailants were U.S. Army personnel. Photo by Jon Hughes/Photopresse.

If 27 people had been killed in the United States in one year for being African-American, Asian or gay, there would be a national uproar. In 2008, 27 people were killed in the United States for being homeless, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Where is the uproar?

Homeless people all over North America are being set on fire, beaten, stabbed, shot, strangled, brutalized by police, harassed and raped. Many of these crimes go unreported, and the ones that do come to light might not necessarily be recorded as hate crimes.

That means there are few reliable statistics for tracking the violence in order to find ways to address it. “People are just being targeted because they are homeless. It’s a safe crime, it’s almost like vandalizing a street sign,” says John Joyce, co-executive director of the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project. “The victim doesn’t come and tell the police about it. They’re ashamed of where they’re at in their life right now.

“I can’t understand why, but it’s accepted that it’s OK to assault homeless individuals. It’s just bigotry at its best.”


~~more~~http://www.realchangenews.org/index.php/site/printer-friendly/4427/

[EFerrari]

1. K&R

[bobbolink]

3. Thank you. This is beyond words for me.

[EFerrari]

7. I didn't know why at the time it seemed important to me

to know the homeless people in our neighborhood by name and to make sure my neighbors did, too. But thinking back, subconsciously I was afraid of **THIS**.

[bobbolink]

11. Exactly. It is soooo easy to disappear us.

BTW, someone here mentioned a "dispicable", as he called it, sticker against homeless people. I am trying to come up with a program about this, so if you find anything like that from SF, (even though it makes one sick to the stomach), I would appreciate being notified of it.

Thanks.

[dotymed]

92. Thank You Bobbolink

This is such a huge problem in our current economy. It will continue to grow and people like us, everyday people who have been displaced through medical or economic conditions beyond our control, will increasingly suffer. The golden rule is a basic tenant to live by. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Instead, it has become, he with the most gold, rules....pitiful.

[virgogal]

2. Awful,just awful.

[bobbolink]

5. Thank you. Did you notice that 3 of the 4 assailants are thought to be "army personnel"?

This ties in with police harrassment, and says to me that the average citizen needs to protest and put a stop to this!

[maryf]

35. considering the number of vets that are homeless...

this adds more insult to injury...I'll have to press that to the vets I know to add this to their education roster...

[blindpig]

68. 'Counter-insurgency' warfare has a particularly brutalizing effect

on all involved. Many of our soldiers bring this home with them. They are eagerly recruited by local law enforcement. Habits born of perceived survival tend to stick, especially when encouraged, tolerated or excused away. I don't think it is accident that my county has been hiring Marine veterans of Falluja......

[Newest Reality]

4. This is a horrible sign of the times

and totally unacceptable.

Thanks for posting it and giving it some visibility. The priorities these days will tend to make important issues like these sink.

If this problem continues and grows, we are giving a license to a new kind of justified thug that reminds me of other times. Failure to stop this is like letting a fuse continue to burn when a bomb is not far away on the other end.

[Stargazer99]

6. Now you see why I want to get the hell out of this country

into civilized developed Europe. The grossness and curelty of this nation has drained my allegiance to it. In the Bible it says in the last days man will have no natural affection (read agape love)for one another. America's soul has become ugly, unchristian and unGodly.

[L0oniX]

8. Same here.

Better to be poor and with a caring society than to be rich in a sociopathic one.

[SunnySong]

46. Canada?

[L0oniX]

52. Costa Rica

[SunnySong]

59. Good cause Canada won't let me in... I'm not pretty,talented or rich enough,

[Billmelater]

89. police state canada

There are lots of homeless in Canada. It makes me laugh anytime a Murikan looks northward to see Canada as some sort of promised land; a refuge or antidote to the poisons that flow from Murika. The reality is this country has been stolen by the same group of people that stole yours.

Canada is now a fascist state, and with no tradition of individuality, independence or revolution, Canadians are most willing accomplices in the corporate police state.

[KamaAina]

9. Sad to say, it happens there, too

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/21/italy.race

Questions about the attitude of Italians to their Roma minority were again being asked yesterday after photographs were published of sunbathers continuing as normal with a day at the beach despite the bodies of two Gypsy girls who had drowned being laid out on the sand nearby.

A civil liberties group said it had asked for talks with the authorities to shed light on the circumstances of the girls' death. The incident took place outside Naples, where a Roma encampment was burned to the ground this year after its inhabitants had been evacuated for their own safety....

"But the knot of curious onlookers that formed around the girls' bodies dissolved as as it had formed," the newspaper Corriere della Sera reported. "Few left the beach or abandoned their sunbathing. When the police from the mortuary arrived an hour later with coffins, the two girls were carried away on the shoulders between bathers stretched out in the sun."

La Repubblica also expressed astonishment at the behaviour of those present. "While the lifeless bodies of the girls were still on the sand, there were those who carried on sunbathing or having lunch just a few metres away," it reported.

:wtf:

[SunnySong]

41. I think you may find much of Europe even more backwards than America

when it comes to setting people on fire ect...

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

When Neo Nazis are allowed to have full sections.....

....at sporting events where they make racist chants and spit on black players, don't tell me that Europe is uber-civilized.

[SunnySong]

45. I think you responded to the wrong person...

I agree and it isn't just neo-nazies try being a Roma in Italy...

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

50. I was seconding your point (n/m)

[SunnySong]

51. I hope this makes up for my being assumptive

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

54. Oh, it does.....

No, wait....I'm offended!!!!....keep trying to make it up though!!!!! :toast:

[SunnySong]

42. I think you may find much of Europe even more backwards than America

when it comes to setting people on fire ect...

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

43. Of course, because this only happens in the US

Good luck finding Eden.

[Kievan Rus]

56. I'm saving every penny for my move to Europe

I can't get out of this country fast enough.

I laughed hearing about how America was "the greatest country on Earth" during the Fourth of July. I'm so sick of this country's selfishness, greed and heartlessness that the Fourth has lost all meaning for me; it's just an event to eat, drink and meet with friends.

[snooper2]

74. I hear they have pink bunnies, no dead grass and 100% clean air in Europe

It's a wonderful land of oz, just watch out for the mad hatter :rofl:



Just the first couple stories from today-

Eastern European street kids facing 'HIV epidemic'
(CNN) -- Growing numbers of vulnerable children across Eastern Europe and Central Asia are at risk of dying from AIDS, with widespread drug use and the sex trade contributing to an "underground HIV epidemic," UNICEF warned on Monday
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/07/19/unicef.hiv.eastern.europe/index.html#fbid=PAK5xwxusqM


Russian pianist appears in child sexual abuse case
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/19/thailand.pianist.arrest/index.html#fbid=PAK5xwxusqM


Greek journalist fatally shot outside his home
(CNN) -- A Greek journalist was shot and killed Monday outside his apartment in a residential part of Athens and police say the killing may be linked to a far-left extremist terrorist group.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/07/19/greece.journalist.killed/index.html#fbid=PAK5xwxusqM


Grenoble riots calm as weekend winds down
Paris, France (CNN) -- Police expect on Monday to release the final two people still detained after arrests during riots in Grenoble, France, over the weekend, said Brigitte Julien, police spokeswoman for the Isere regional security department.
"Last night was much calmer," Julien said Monday, after a weekend over which rioters set about 60 cars on fire and injured three policemen.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/07/19/france.grenoble.riots/index.html#fbid=PAK5xwxusqM

[SunnySong]

91. What makes you think they will let you in...

They enforce their immigration laws.

[Capitalocracy]

98. The problem appears to be global.

There's a global rise of fascism. Or at least a global rise of fascist ideology which has the potential to lead us into fascism.

Too much to say? I don't think so, we're really standing on the edge right now.

[readmoreoften]

102. The right is rising in Europe faster than in the US.

http://wearemany.org/a/2010/06/rise-of-right-in-europe

[laughingliberal]

10. This is such a horror as to leave me speechless.

Jesus wept.

[bobbolink]

12. and more....

(not *you*..... but the ones who are perpetrating the hate, AND the ones who pretend not to see...)

[laughingliberal]

13. Sad. The concerted effort to make homeless people invisible allows this to happen.

What have we become?

[bobbolink]

38. And, what can homeless people do about it?

When we try to bring it up, what we get is "It isn't always about *YOU*".

We are supposed to just STFU and vote for the same clowns who keep this going.

[racaulk]

14. Shameful.

I really cannot begin to understand the mindset of those that would abuse and further victimize the most vulnerable members of our society. They certainly do not represent me or what I stand for in any way. Disgusting, sadistic cretins. :mad:

Thank you for posting this, bobbolink, and for constantly striving to keep this online community better informed about the plight of the poor and homeless in our country. Please be safe.

:pals:

[bobbolink]

17. Thank you for voicing concern for me... that means more than you know.

When *any* group is targeted like this, it is an act of terror for the others of the group. Of course stories like this give me nightmares... I cannot imagine my life ending that way, and yet I know that I am no less vulnerable than others who have been killed.

And thank you for appreciating these posts. I am being targetted here by a gang who keeps posting with disdain, saying, "Its not all about you." THAT is the kind of mindset that is allowing all of this targeting to happen.

:yourock: and :pals:

[cordelia]

15. K&R

[scarletwoman]

16. K&R. As our society literally "dis-integrates" we project the shadow aspect of our collective psyche

ever outward. Rather than acknowledge and take ownership of the shadow aspects of our own inner selves, we externalize it and objectify it as belonging to some "other". The "other" then becomes an object of fear and loathing, and we aim all our hatred their way.

The homeless have become the symbol of our externalized and projected fears of our own powerlessness -- and therefore the victims of our determination to attack and destroy this feeling of powerlessness that we are so invested in NOT accepting as arising from within our own selves.

The homeless are paying the price of our collective sickness. :cry:

sw

[bobbolink]

18. oh, goddess... you have expressed it exactly right!

That is what I have been saying, and of course, it is met with rolling eyes.

I truly believe that because Martin did not live to push the Poor Peoples' Campaign, that we poor folk have become the only unprotected group, and therefore the group that all the hatred gets dumped on. Its not acceptable to dump it on blacks or Asians or gays.... so we get the collective suppressed rage. And, of course, the fear.

We are the identified dumpees.

Thank you.... you have really hit it on target! :pals:

[scarletwoman]

19. I'm so glad you're okay with what I said! I was worried I wouldn't get it right.

Your point about MLK's unfinished work is truly profound.

The horrible thing is, as the collective circumstance of all of us in this country continues to deteriorate, the lashing out at our externalized and projected shadow may only get worse.

The delusions and denial run very deep.

:hug:
sw

[bobbolink]

20. You were worried??? Oh geez! I am in tears! Could I please quote you on this?

SHIT..I lost my whole post.....

:cry:

[scarletwoman]

21. Anything I can give you that you find useful is yours to do with as you please.

I would be proud to be quoted by you!

Peace,
sw

[bobbolink]

27. I am working on a program about homelessness, and a big chunk will be about the abuse.

Every single homeless person I has talked with has voiced the same thing... the verbal abuse of "helpers"!

I recently found an article about bullies who are attracted to social work, and it spoke directly to the experience of me and so many others. Of course, the article was from the UK! I can't find *anything* about it here in the US. Everyone wants to pretend it doesn't exist, and that we are just all crazy to be seeing it.

A friend of mine, when I showed her the article, said she wants to research it because she believes, in her words, "Some sociology student has most probably done a thesis on this, and it has been hushed up." She may be right, and if she finds anything on this, it will be helpful. We talked about putting our heads together to come up with a class on how to handle this kind of bullying abuse, because it is something that *everyone* who is homeless experiences! And I really believe it is for the reasons that you so eloquently stated.

If you happen across anything like this, please alert me. There are no books or articles or anything that I can find, and this is a HUGE need for people who are getting verbally battered.

Thanks so much!

I am having a horrible week,, and your kind and understanding words have me in tears!

:hugs:

[wildflower]

39. Could it have been this article?

Bullying Within Social Work
http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/social.htm

There's also this one:

Why Are There Bullies in Social Work?
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/social-care-the-big-picture/2009/11/why-are-there-bullies-in-social-work.html

[bobbolink]

44. Yes, those were the two I found.

Bullying Within Social Work
http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/social.htm

Yes, that is the one I found. "At least 50% of bullies in the caring professions are female, demonstrating that bullying is not a gender issue."
How sad is that??

Why Are There Bullies in Social Work?
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/social-care-the-bi...
"identified a culture of "blame and bullying" just ahead of the crisis in its social services department. Similarly, in Doncaster, the council was accused by staff of creating a bullying environment in which staff were afraid to highlight concerns.

Such behaviour does not just damage the individual victims of bullying. It damages those who receive services. Those who are bullied are hardly likely to work at their best, never mind inspire and be role models for others."

Yes, these are the two I found. If you come across any others, I would be DELIGHTED for you to pass them on to me!

[Mimosa]

62. The snarky abuse happened to me after Katrina

A few days after Katrina my partner and I went to the Red Cross center for administering help in ATL area, to which we had evacuated. We look very middle class and are white. A white girl who was half our age (must have been 21 or so) gave us a pert little speech telling us that the 650 check we were being handed was made possible by the generosity of American Red Cross donors, so 'don't go out and spend it on any fancy handbag or anything like that'. I could have choked. I was so offended. But I was feeling beaten down and was frightened and said nothing.

In previous disasters I had always been a Red Cross donor (and have again been.)

The 650 dollars went for gas, food and towards the fund to pay a deposit on the apt we needed to rent.

I don't know if the race of the people in this matters, but at the time it seemed black 'helpers' (who were at lower levels in the post-Kat aid) were more compassionate.

The FEMA guy who arranges a $1,700 check didn't inform us the aid was not a grant. They collected repayment about 9 months later.

[bobbolink]

76. I'm sorry, Mimosa. You didn't deserve that, and neither did all the other people who received

the same treatment. There is no excuse for it, and it is so common that we *know* it is purposeful.

And, yet, if you complain about the rudeness and abuse, you are accused of being "ungrateful".

Would you be willing to let me quote you in the program I am putting together?

I don't know how to get it across to the citizenry that this is how people are routinely treated.

Granted, it isn't like being threatened by the KKK, but it is ugly, it is damaging, and it affects peoples' health.

[Mimosa]

104. Bobbolink, thanks

That was one of a few things which happened during those scary couple of months after Katrina, but I didn't feel like a victim. Back then, just 4.8 years ago we were energised by having to make a path to survive. Despite our fears, we managed.

I'm going to PM you with my name, address, and email so anybody can see you've verified it. My life partner was with me and will corroborate. This wasn't a biggie compared to what people in need of help on a continuing basis must experience frequently. Your posts made me realise it this must have stuck in my mind because the unnecessary admonition made us feel like vermin. Or idiots. :7

During that period at Red Cross -where we went 2 times- I observed many refugees (that's the only word which feels right) whose situation broke my heart. Especially older Vietnamese people who'd lived in low-lying East New Orleans. They had the saddest faces because they had fled Vietnam during a horrible war and slowly built a community in Louisiana. (They are once again victimised by the BP spill in the Gulf as many made their livings in the fishing industry.)

[bobbolink]

81. What you have written is so accurate and very helpful, especially

combined with the other psychological process...people being fearful of having the same thing happen to them, so they find reasons why the target of this abuse "deserved it" so then they can feel safe.

Those two things, coupled with so many personal experiences, is what I want to get across, but I am at a loss how to do it so people will HEAR. The resistance is tremendous, and the walls that have been built are like a fortress.

Any ideas you have would be most welcome!

:hug:

[scarletwoman]

113. Just off the top of my head...

Mind you, this is strictly what just popped into mind.

Telling stories is one of the most ancient, profound, and deeply ingrained human behaviors there is.

I would guess that the most effective way of reaching people is by putting what you want to say into the form of a story -- a narrative that pulls them in and gets them to identify with the protagonist in the story.

Maybe something like this:

On a sunny July day in 1948 a baby boy was born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith. He had 10 fingers and 10 toes and bright eyes that looked intently out into the world. He smiled and cooed and his parents were delighted. They named him Joseph after his grandfather.

Little Joey grew as all kids grow -- learning to walk after countless falls, learning to ride a bike after many scraped knees, going to school and making some friends and finding out that some kids were not going to be his friends.

When he got to high school he did okay, he loved track and his coach encouraged him to keep up his grades and sometimes spent time with Joey after school to help him with his homework.

By his senior year Joey fell head over heels in love with Suzy Jones and he and Suzy became inseparable. On Prom night, that magical night when all the stars seemed aligned, he and Suzy, overcome by the romanticism of it all, went all the way for the first time.

By graduation day, Suzy had come to the unmistakable realization that she was pregnant. Joey of course had no other thought but to marry her. He had gotten an entry level job at his dad's company, working in shipping and receiving, and he and Suzy found a tiny studio apartment to rent.

On a snowy day in early February, Joey Jr. was born...

Anyway, the story travels along, with all the various twists of fate that carry Joseph bit by bit from his completely ordinary life into his present life on the streets. By telling Joey's story you are bringing the audience along into his experiences. They will FEEL the message, directly and emotionally, that this could be any one of them.

Like I said, this is just the first thought I had in response to your question. I'll keep thinking about it.

sw

[bobbolink]

115. Very good example, and I agree that personal stories are important.

Here are a couple of problems.... newspapers have been printing personal stories about homelessness for over 30 years now, but they don't move people to take action. Some charity directed to the one person or one family illustrated, yes.... but seeing the need for larger JUSTICE just isn't happening.

Second... in the book "The Empathy Gap", he talks about this. I wish there were people here at DU who would be willing to engage in a larger book study on something like this.... we are missing the ACTION boat, and we need to go in a different direction.

But, I know that I am also using the stories. I really wish that some of us couldn/would discuss this more in depth. It is necessary!

:yourock:

[Jackpine Radical]

94. Yes, I think you got it right.

It's very similar to the dynamic by which victims of abuse sometimes become abusers.

And I think it's akin to the process by which Israel was able to justify, at least to themselves, their attacks on ships carrying humanitarian aid.

[Jackpine Radical]

101. I meant to add--"Nice analysis, Jung lady."

[scarletwoman]

111. Hee hee

I'm not really a psychologist, I just play one on the internets. :blush:

[scarletwoman]

112. Thank you.

What I see in the general mindset of our country is the persistance of the assumption of our essential and exceptional "goodness", which basically precludes anything in the way of self-examination -- and in fact vehemently denies that any self-examination could possibly be necessary.

sw

[MadHound]

22. This has been going on for years and decades.

That's why when I spent a couple of years homeless I always carried the walking stick my parents gave me (still have it as a matter of fact). Made of hickory, filled with a lead core, topped with a brass knob, one blow could brain a person. I was never hassled much out on the streets because I'm a big guy, but had a couple of times when that cane got me out of a tight spot.

The homeless are considered subhuman in this country, expendable. Until we start seeing homelessness as a failure of society rather than the failure of an individual we will continue to see the abuse and death of the homeless. A sad reflection on our society indeed.

[laughingliberal]

24. "...a failure of society rather than a failure of an individual..." Exactly! nt

[bobbolink]

25. "Until we start seeing homelessness as a failure of society rather than the failure of an individual

we will continue to see the abuse and death of the homeless."

:applause:

That is quotable!

May I?

[MadHound]

26. Certainly, be my guest.

After all, out on the street we've all got to share. I learned that one long ago as well.

Peace:hi:

[Mimosa]

37. I'd heard stories that attacks on homeless happened in 1930s depression.

Bobbolink, thanks for posting the report. *hug*

[Foo Fighter]

61. "Until we start seeing homelessness as a failure of society rather than

the failure of an individual..."

Exactly!

Now, how do we go about getting that message across to those that would blame the individual rather than society? What particular failings of society can we point out to them to shoot down the "they need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps" mentality out there? Billions/trillions for Wall Street: no problem. A few mil to help out the homeless: absolutely unthinkable.

Yes, our society truly sucks.

[bobbolink]

79. How do we? I have been working on some ideas on that.

Please PM me.

thanks!

[me b zola]

23. K&R

[bobbolink]

28. Thank you. Much appreciated.

[PJPhreak]

29. People always wondered why We (The Homeless) had or have a Dog,

When Munchkin and I were homeless we Always had a dog,Labs were our first choice because of their Loyalty,Brains and Protective nature. They are also very social critters so they did'nt create a scene on the street.

People always said that having a dog was/is gonna make it harder to get off the street,that landlords were not inclined to take people with pets.they were right...we delt with it,we needed to as there was no one else gonna watch over us,not the Police,Not DHS,Not most of the Public. We had to do for ourselves any way we could.

We got cursed constantly for Mistreating/Abusing or Critters by being homeless,Slammed with questions like 'Wadda Feed 'Em" or "How do you pay the Vet Bills" or "That Dog must hate living outdoors" but we managed,sometimes giving our dinner we got from the local "Soup Kitchen" to the Critters or trading work for Vet Bills and belive me that ole hound was better Fed, Doctored and WAY more Comfortable being Homeless then we ever were...We made sure of it!

Quite worth it to have someone watch yer back while you get a good nights sleep knowing that there is a set of Loyal Eyes watching over you!

Thanks DeeDee The Lab,You Are Missed.

[bobbolink]

30. Excellent point! Dogs give so much love, and when you are surrounded by

the hatred given homeless people, I can see how having a dog is a necessity.

I am so glad you had DeeDee!

I wish I could have a Bouvier.... very gentle, but huge, and excellent protectors.

[smalll]

31. Oh, that's just today's "youth culture" -- don't be such a stick in the mud!

That's just something kids do these days -- assault homeless people so they can record video of if on their cellphones and upload it onto their Facebook pages! So "edgy!"

:grr: :sarcasm: :grr:

[niyad]

32. k and r for this heartbreaking reality. thank you for reminding us what life is like for those who,

according to the repukes, LIKE being homeless, LIKE their conditions. my heart breaks for the ugly, souldead people who can commit such atrocities against a group so without defenses. "bigotry at its "best"???? wrong, this is bigotry in all its naked, ugly reality.

[asdjrocky]

33. Thanks Bobbo.

Glad you brought this, but sorry that it's there for the bringing.

[bobbolink]

40. Yes, indeed, it is not a pleasure to either find these, or post them

:(

Here is what I would like to be able to post:

"Obama administration announces today the formation of a Manhattan-style effort to end homelessness in the U.S. In the next month, homeless people from all over the nation will be brought to D.C. to testify about the needs they have for housing, and will be included in the planning. There will be a CCC-style program to employ young, out-of-work men to begin building housing across the nation, including in neglected rural areas."

Yeah, I would be most happy to be able to post that!!

[maryf]

34. K&R nt

[Mojeoux]

36. K & R

[bobbolink]

47. I want to share what a DUer sent to me....a relatively minor example of hate

as a very small example of the hatred that we face on a daily basis:



How is this any different from this:



or this...?

[proud2BlibKansan]

48. Just disgusting

[Odin2005]

49. Ugh. We fucking suck as a society!

:grr:

[Richard Steele]

53. K&R

[G_j]

55. K&R

:-(

[npk]

57. K&R And many of the crimes are not reported

many homeless people suffer assault, and robbery and worse, but they don't report crime to police, out of fear or either retaliation or out of fear of the police locking them up, or both.

[maryf]

84. that's a good point...

so many will be taken to a hospital because they are perceived to be unstable, so far from the truth for the vast majority of them...in fact no more, or maybe even less than the general populace...

[bobbolink]

120. You are so right. We are disenfranchised. The police are NOT there to

"serve and protect" us.

They there to run us out of town. One honest cop admitted this to me.

We have NOWHERE to go for protection!

[flvegan]

58. Absolutely shameful.

I will never understand the mentality that goes into playing predator to anyone, never mind someone so obviously disadvantaged.

[pleah]

60. K&R

[Axle_techie]

63. I spent 6 years homeless, 1.5 months of it in a hospital

at one time because a bunch of kids in San Diego thought it would be fun to go out "bum bashing". I had most of my ribs broken, multiple fractures in all bones on both arms, a couple of fractures in my arms, and though I identified a few assailants when shown pictures, and was definite it was them, not a single charge was ever filed.

I learned to live with cruelty when I was homeless

[barbtries]

69. i'm so sorry

we are really a sick country. :cry:

[bobbolink]

77. I am so sorry! This is nothing short of terrorism!

:hug:

[Hannah Bell]

64. kr

[Starry Messenger]

65. k & r

[Forkboy]

66. K&R

[a la izquierda]

67. Oh...wow.

It is so awful that our society seems to accept this. Thank you for sharing this terrible, tragic story.
:(

[bobbolink]

83. Thank you. Yes, it is a common story, but underreported.

We just aren't important.

And, yes, it is happening because it is accepted.

[Political_Junkie]

70. Wish I could rec this more than once.

Thanks, Bobbo, for bringing this topic to light. I've been through a lot in my life, but being homeless was the worst.

[old mark]

71. The sad irony is that many homeless are veterans themselves.

Their lives were twisted into ruin by our government's pointless and useless wars - they pay the price for all their lives for the immorality or our leaders.

Thay may have been better off being killed in action rather than here on the streets at "home" by police and other thugs.

mark

[Mimosa]

107. I've been wondering what will happen 20 years out to Iraq/Afghan war vets.n/t

[Blue Owl]

72. Humanity has left the building

And there's something very "Republican" about all of it.

[burnsei sensei]

73. +1 nt

[burnsei sensei]

75. The society has given no quarter to the vulnerable.

No place either to sit or lay their heads.
No dignity in interaction.
I want the tables turned, not just in the legal system, but out on the streets.
These things happen not because there are homeless people, and not just because there are bullies.
These things happen because the society itself tolerates them casually.
The crimes are allowed by informal and formal authority alike.
If we confront the ugliness of these crimes directly as a society they will end.
Meanwhile, I would suggest we report all of it to Amnesty International as human rights abuses.
Let them keep these crimes in the column next to the incarceration and death penalty figures on the U.S.

[bobbolink]

78. Thank you! Could you please look into Amnesty International and see if

this would fit in their guidelines of something they would follow up on?

The common meme is that poor and homeless people in the US have it so much better, that it is not worth dealing with. :grr:

I would really appreciate it if you could follow up on that idea.... I think it is a good one, and I hadn't thought of it.

:yourock:

edited to say... did you see this one? http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8776352&mesg_id=8777681

[OneGrassRoot]

106. That's brilliant. What a great idea....

Please do let us know if you follow up with Amnesty International, or if you need assistance doing so.

Thank you, and thanks to bobbolink for the OP.

:)

[burnsei sensei]

110. Amnesty International

does indeed recognize that the imposition and worsening of poverty are human rights violations.
They have a campaign called "Demand Dignity". Though I don't see anything having to do with American homeless, I've seen this page.

http://demanddignity.amnesty.org/en-gb/frontpage/location

Here is the page of their campaigns overall:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/campaigns

I looked up USA and Homeless in the same field and found nothing.
But keeping stats on these crimes would square well with their Demand Dignity Campaign.
So if I and a few others contact them, maybe something can happen.

[bobbolink]

116. Thank you for researching this. It is as I feared...... there is NOTHING on the US.

This is the typical attitude.. that people in the US have no right to complain about injustice "because it is so much worse elsewhere." We get this constantly. It makes me want to bang my head against the wall. :banghead:

If you and some others can make any headway with this, it would be great. AI has a very good reputation, and if they were to take this seriously, it might make some people actually sit up and take notice.

Some time ago I found information from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which was the only organized thing I could find at all. http://www.nlchp.org/ As you can see from my OP, however, all of this continues to go on, and is worsening. Clearly, there needs to be more of a push on this.

This has something about homeless hate crimes legislation:

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/civilrights/index.html

What it will take is a LOT of people getting serious about this, and deciding that it must change. I don't know how to make that happen. There isn't much interest in action on DU.

I welcome your ideas on this, and am very appreciative for what you have researched! :yourock:

[bobbolink]

117. Here is the piece I was originally looking for...

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2007/summer/hating-the-homeless?page=0,2

Look at all the inaccuracies and stereotypes, and this is from "Advocates"!!

By Brentin Mock

"These attacks are hate crimes because you have an identity characteristic being a significant motivating factor in the prejudicial selection of a target," says Levin, who has testified before several state legislatures on behalf of extending hate crime protection to the homeless. To support his argument, Levin points to the FBI's data on hate crime homicides between 1999 and 2005. According to the FBI, 82 murder victims during that period were targeted substantially because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. During that same time period, 167 homeless people were murdered, not counting so-called "homeless-on-homeless" killings.

"The homeless are at an astronomical risk of attack compared to other people," says Levin.

But there is significant opposition to that view, and not only from people and groups who oppose all hate crime penalty enhancement laws on principle. Some critics of offering homeless people hate crime protection argue that homeless people are at increased risk of street violence primarily because they live on the streets, and that being homeless is often a lifestyle choice, not an immutable characteristic like race.

"People aren't born into homelessness," says Robin Tomas, president of the California Association of Human Relations Organizations. "But there are reasons why people fall into homelessness, such as drug addiction and unemployment.(my note... you see, even with "advocates", right away they use the stereotypes...... it is simply not true that most homeless people are addicts!) It's a status. The other categories covered by the hate crime bill … ethnicity, sexual orientation, are categories that we don't choose."

Harold Washington, the homeless man in St. Petersburg who was attacked outside the baseball stadium, admits that he's homeless by choice. "I really don't have to be homeless because my family got money. I wanted to really find out what low-life is … deal with the homeless and see what they was all about." But Levin and other supporters of extending hate crime protection to the homeless point out that religion is also a choice, yet religion is protected by hate crime laws.

"The notion that something is temporary and not necessarily something society would want to have around doesn't mean it is not worthy of protection," says Levin. "Most hate crimes are not committed by hardcore hatemongers. These attacks , like other hate crimes, involve individuals with latent and not necessarily deep prejudices, but are relying on negative stereotypes that help identify where their aggression should be directed."


The Un-Welcome Mat
"When a city passes laws targeting and singling out homeless people, it sends messages that the homeless are just low-lifes that need to be driven out of the cities," says Stoops.

Take Phoenix, Ariz., where there is no greater hater of the homeless than the desert sun. In the summer of 2005, 32 homeless people died on streets hot enough to fry eggs. During the summer of 2006, four homeless men died of heat exposure in one weekend.

Advocates for the homeless argue that the fact that homeless people die from heat exhaustion in the shadows of air-conditioned office buildings and shopping plazas with no resulting public outcry sends the same message as widely publicized police rousts and harsh anti-panhandling ordinances: that homeless people are worthless, which makes them fair game.

"When you have city ordinances that say people who are homeless are criminals, then the malcontent elements of society feel they have the license to attack them," says Eric Rubin, a St. Petersburg homeless advocate. "Anytime you stigmatize a group of people, then those on the fringe feel they deserve that license to attack."

According to Stoops, who monitors anti-homeless laws across the country, Florida historically is "one of the worst states for criminalizing homelessness." He points out an Orlando ordinance that limits feeding homeless people in public places. On April 4, undercover cops were sent to Orlando's Lake Eola Park, to arrest Eric Montanez for feeding 30 homeless people — five more than the city's 25-person limit.

Similar anti-feeding ordinances were recently passed in Dallas, Las Vegas and Wilmington, N.C.

"You can feed pigeons, dogs and squirrels, but God forbid you try to feed the homeless," Stoops says.

"Some attackers have the impression that they are carrying out a social good while having fun," says Levin. "The victimization rates are so significant that we have to make a specific statement to deter the conduct — not just because people think the homeless are worthless, but also because law enforcement will think they are worthless and not put attackers under any punishment." Gerald Murphy, a homeless man in a Hollywood, Fla., shelter, told the Intelligence Report that when he was jumped and robbed by four black men, the police he told about it didn't bother filling out a report.

"They got nothing else better to do than mess with a homeless person," says Murphy bitterly. "I been arrested for stupid stuff, like open container." During a March 16 visit to Fort Lauderdale, many homeless people interviewed by the Intelligence Report said they'd recently been arrested for violating the city's open container law. That same weekend, hundreds of St. Patrick's Day revelers walked the streets of downtown Ft. Lauderdale carrying open beer bottles and plastic cups filled with cocktails in plain view of police officers. Edward Overman, the chief of police in Deland, Fla., a small town near Daytona Beach, said that he resists pressure from business and home owners who often pressure him to crack down on the homeless.

"They want us to arrest them for just sitting on a bench," Overman said. "I say, 'If I start knocking them off the bench, then we might as well take the benches away and not let civilians sit there either.'"

Sean Cononie, who runs Helping People in America in Hollywood, said that young people need to hear from public officials more often that "being homeless is not against the law" because they're hearing too much of the opposite. "The mayor says, 'I don't want a homeless shelter in my city because it's going to ruin our city, lower real estate values, cause bums to hang around, and it's gonna get our kids molested,'" said Cononie. "Kids are reading these quotes in the paper and they see the news conferences. It sends them the message that it's alright to attack them — they're only homeless."

[Uncle Joe]

80. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, bobbolink.

[bobbolink]

82. Thank you for giving it the attention!

:hi:

[Plucketeer]

85. Thanks bobbolink.

It IS an "unmentionable" that this country refuses to face up to. There was a homeless camp about a mile from me that was routed and scattered by the Sheriff's department earlier this year. Outside the city limits, out of sight unless you were REALLY looking, NO disruptive clamor or crimes because of this "tent village" and EVEN had the blessings of the land owner to stay. But the city fathers persuaded the county powers to dispatch these folks on "humanitarian" considerations - not living by established codes. ! Truly a sad and unforgiveable situation in a land that crows about it's "compassion".
No problem pouring TRILLIONS into improving the lives of folks in other countries where the inhabitants would think this uprooted encampment was the "high life". But a whole different mindset within our borders.
All the clamor about keeping folks from losing their homes in these tough times, but hardly any mention of those who already have.

[miscsoc]

86. Within the market fundamentalist conventional wisdom of much of western society these days

This DOES make sense. If the market is essentially just, and rewards virtue, then the homeless are surely morally inferior.

I'm going to violate Godwin's law a bit and say the widespread acceptance/indifference towards cruelty towards the homeless is not that far from the attitude towards the treatment of the Jews in early Nazi germany - not the Holocaust, but things lie the SA making Jews scrub the streets in public for laughs. The brownshirts weren't exactly representative of the average german, and even, in the early stages, encountered some public disapproval (even Hitler initially felt compelled to exempt "deserving" jewish veterans etc. in his first wave of anti jewish laws for this reason, and passionate anti semitism was probably a minority pursuit in germany until the end, although certainly a majority were more or less indifferent to nazi racism, and this indifference can't be seperated from cultural prejudice), but they wouldn't have gotten away with doing that to aryans, any more than these bum fight people would get away with doing this to middle class people with a home and a couple of cars.

[bobbolink]

114. Yes, indeed... I have felt that I couldn't say it that strongly, BUT....

It is building up to more and more violence, and I wouldn't be surprised (HORRIFIED, but not surprised) if there was a Krystal Nacht-style violent happening just around the corner.

[miscsoc]

118. if there was such a happening the msm would condemn it

but in lukewarm words, and with a lot of understanding about how the perpetrators were driven to it by these unsightly, criminal, above all POOR people messing up their streetscape by existing.

[bobbolink]

119. And that comes back to the sad fact that there are not enough people advocating for

homeless people.

It isn't a sexy issue that most of you are interested in, so the corpomedia and the citizenry at large know that, and target us because of that.

The only way to change that is first, more education about the true facts of homelessness, and second, many more of you becoming activist in the issue.

[democrank]

87. Bless you, bobbolink.

~PEACE~

[bobbolink]

121. thanks for your kind words.....they mean a lot. All of this is very depressing.

[Joe Chi Minh]

88. K&R

[Billmelater]

90. pieces of paper

That our society allows people to go without food, without safety, without shelter for want of a few pieces of paper is the real crime.

When I was young I thought the future would reflect our best human qualities. Increasingly it seems to display our worst.

[handmade34]

93. K&R

[dana_b]

95. either brutalized or ignored

and a hate crime is a hate crime. Some are taking out their own problems on the weakest amongst us. They are ugly and sick human beings.

[Capitalocracy]

96. Self-delete

Something odd happened, dupe.

[Capitalocracy]

97. A real eye-opener, thanks

K&R

And the way things are going, more and more people will end up homeless. And people will start to talk about the "homeless problem", as if it was their fault, when really they're victims of an economic system which acts as a meat grinder feeding the poor and middle class to the rich. And while we're fighting eachother, they'll be laughing all the way to the bank.

[walldude]

99. K&R

[awoke_in_2003]

100. k&r...

we are becoming a very cruel country.

[Liberal_in_LA]

103. K&R

[Dystopian]

105. KandR

I wonder what has become of humanity...I dwell on this daily ...
I feel so very hopeless at times...
Thank you for posting....although it breaks my heart.

peace & love to you, bobbolink~

[foxfeet]

108. K&R

:kick:

[geardaddy]

109. K & R

Thanks for posting.

[bobbolink]

122. a kick because this needs to come from behind all the denial.

It finally needs to become IMPORTANT.

[tpsbmam]

123. Wow. Kicking so as many as possible see this. n/t