Americans aren't able to agree on much these days, but there is one thing that can cross partisan divides. That's criminalizing the poor, in particular the poorest of the poor, those living on the streets, sleeping rough.
Yesterday the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case over whether a city in Oregon can cite people for sleeping in public when there's no shelter space and they have nowhere they can go. Here in Kentucky they weren't waiting around for that, the General Assembly just overrode the governor's veto on a bill outlawing camping in public spaces.
"Root hog or die" is now just "Die, preferably elsewhere." Not everyone is okay with that though, so we showed up downtown for a 'Housing Not Handcuffs' rally.
In case you haven't guessed by now, this is personal for me. Back during the Great Recession, I got to spend more than a year living on the streets. That experience is one that will never leave me and is no small part of what motivates me to this day.
The hostility, the callous indifference, the people afraid to look at you for fear they might see you as human. Never could tell if people were afraid of me or afraid of the thought that they could somehow wind up in my situation. Either way it's enough to make you want to make people see, to have some understanding.
One speaker at the rally dropped the statistic that 78% of Americans are living check to check, which goes a long way to explaining why this country is so damned volatile right now. Also means three quarters of Americans are one mishap or fuckup away from being in my old shoes.
Near as I can tell, all our great successes in the wars on drugs, poverty, and terror have convinced the powers that be that the best solution is to wage war on the homeless now too. Still not sure how ninety days in jail is supposed to cure someone of their homeless tendencies, but that's the solution they're going with here.
Helping people with housing and support does work wonders for that but it doesn't satisfy our penchant for punishment at all. Can anyone think of a problem we have been able to punish our way out of?
One thing I came to realize while on the streets was that things that seem insignificant to me can have much larger significance for others (and vice versa). Housing is something that has to be addressed at the community level but even that starts with individuals. In the meantime a nod, a kind word, a spare cigarette or fiver, any acknowledgement of shared humanity really, can have far more impact than you will ever know. What'll it hurt?
Hell, you don't even have to be kind, just don't be a dick.