Editorial: In the Afterglow of the Safe Ground March

The December 23 Safe Ground March was a success at bringing attention to the effort to combat the absurd situation that currently exists where unsheltered homeless people are outlaws for daring to breathe.

SacHo blog salutes those that co-sponsored the event, and especially the people of SHOC and SHOC Homeless Leadership Project for their work as planners and administrators to make the march and rally successful. Their effort galvinized the homeless community in righteous support of the decriminalization of homelessness. And, it extended awareness to the citizens of Sacramento that 'there is a problem here' that needs to be addressed.

We are at a place in time when homelessness is a fastly growing "problem." Many citizens who would never have imagined they would be displaced and penniless are going to be. [But here's a not-secret secret: There are ALWAYS people on the street who would never have imagined they would find themselves homeless and penniless.] Homelessness, today, is up-close and personal. To the average citizenry we can today say "We are YOU, more now than ever. Yet, we have always fully been you."

The funny thing [that isn't really funny] is that proposals for addressing homeless problems will save money for the community. By allowing for there to be safe ground where tents can be erected, wildly expensive policies that roust and criminalize homeless people can be stopped. And, by making a pathway out of homelessness [which begins by making being homeless less pointlessly time-devouring], valuable & talented people can be returned to gainful employment. Today, homelessness is a bear trap: "Without an address, you can't get an address. Without a job, you can't get a job."

C'mon people now. Smile on your brother. Everybody get together. Try to love one another, right now.

Comments

Loaves & Fishes implicates Buddhism and Jack Kornfield in its June Donations Plea.

The Sukhothai Traimit Golden Buddha was found in a clay-and-plaster overlaid buddha statue in 1959, after laying in wait for 500 years. It's huge and heavy: just under 10 feet tall and weighs 5 1/2 tons. At the beginning of their June newsletter , Loaves and Fishes relates a story, taken from the beginning of renowned Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield's 2008 book The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology . The first part and first chapter in Kornfield's book is "Part I: Who are you really?" and chapter 1 is called "Nobility: Our Original Goodness," which ought to serve as a clue to what the beginning of the book is about, not that that sentiment isn't strewn through-out the chapter, section and book such that what Kornfield is telling us should be crystal clear. Somehow, the not-ready-for-primetime management at Loaves & Fishes have managed to use Kornfield's wise and kindly words in a way that mangles th...

In an act of Collective Punishment, Loaves & Fishes closes its park in the morning on New Year’s Day

Calvin [a "green hat" in Unfriendly Park] makes the argument for continued incompetent management. Hobbes represents me — only, in real life, I don't have that good a coat . In an act of Collective Punishment, Loaves & Fishes closes its park in the morning on New Year’s Day In one respect — and only one — that I can think of, Loaves & Fishes is NOT hypocritical: The management hates the way America is run and wants to turn it into a backward communist country . Consistent with that, Loaves & Fishes’ management runs its facility like a backward communist country. The People’s Republic of Loaves & Fishes. A seemingly minor thing happened on New Year’s Day. A couple of people smoked a joint in Loaves & Fishes’ Friendship Park and one of the park directors, or both of them, determined, at about 10am, that, in retribution, they would punish all the homeless there by closing the park for the day. This is something the managers of the park do all the ...

The Big Picture (The good, the bad and the ugly in Homeless World Sacramento) Part I

If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? -- William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice While I feel certain that homeless people (including myself) deserve the sympathies and aid of the public and much robust support from the government, I don’t think this because I believe Sacramento’s homeless population could pass as a cross section of the general population (as we're often portrayed). The homeless, who are the bottom 1% socially and economically in our society are, as you would suppose, disproportionate to the whole in being mentally ill; or mentally unusual; or psychically beat up; or depressed; or addicted; or in having quirks or criminal records or spotty resumes or damaged psyches that frustrate getting or holding onto a job. Too, among the homeless are a great many who are asocial – who will steal or destroy things without a moment’s consideration of others who are hurt by these actions. There are also man...

Sacramento Homeless blog

Search This Blog