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  • Bill Perkins

Don't Give Me That Look

1/31/2014

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i went to the no-bucks cafe this morning. it wasn't a bad morning. after all the near zero temperatures, it felt closer to normal winter this morning. the wind was calm...it was cold....but not blistering cold. i was in one of my watching moods this morning so i did just that. i was about to leave when i saw it. 
across the room a few tables over was that look. i know that look. it comes right after that feeling. it can pop up at any time or any place. it can be while you're alone or with other people. it can be while you're walking or eating or just sitting quietly. that look and that feeling is what happens when you remember and start to think. you're homeless...and all that comes with it. 

after you've been homeless for abit, you accept it. the popular saying, one that i dislike, is...it is what it is. in any case, you accept it and begin to deal with it. you slip into somewhat of a pattern of normalcy and routine and begin the daily grind of surviving and acquiring what you need to survive. you begin the process of coping. along with that you do the things that you feel you need to do to come out of your homeless situation. you develop patterns and do some things repeatedly on a daily basis. you make one or two friends and alot of acquaintances. you meet new people and you cope....and survive. but every now and then that look takes you over. with that look comes that feeling.....it's a combination of sadness and frustration, coupled with something close to despair. you look at yourself from a perspective that you've never looked before. you remember who you used to be. you remember what you used to be. you remember old friends...you think about family. you think about alot of things. you remember most of it's gone. along with the material things that were lost you lost very personal things. you see yourself in the current situation and it can almost overwhelm you. at best it hurts. at worst it paralyzes and drives you into a deeper state of frustration. 

when you're walking down the street and you know you are about to pass a homeless person, take a good look at his or her face when you walk by. you can see it sometimes. it's there...in their eyes and on their faces. it's there in the way they walk or move. it's there.....take a look. i've had it. i've felt it. it's not pleasant.

that look and that feeling is why it's important that the homeless know someone notices. it's important to know that they haven't been completely disenfranchised or forgotten. it's important to know, even in the smallest of ways that someone cares and is aware of them and the situation they're in. it's important for the homeless to have hope. the missions and different outreach workers and social organizations do give that hope. but it's also important for the homeless to know that individuals notice and care and are aware of what they're struggling with. hope is very inexpensive and it's easy to give. sometimes all it takes is a good morning and a smile and a ...how are you this morning. 

being homeless isn't easy. it's a very difficult struggle both physically and mentally. it's particularly a hard struggle emotionally and psychologically. anything you can or are willing to do, no matter how small, can make a difference....even if only for a moment or for that day. it can pull that person out of that look and that feeling and help them thru the day.

do what you can. they already have that look. don't give them one.

see you around town
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The Equation to Ending Homelessness

1/30/2014

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i don't have to write any fancy graphs or charts. i don't have to write an economic policy or long winded entry. it's this simple. no extrapolated or skewed figures and no overhead. and yes...it's really that simple. 
Picture

plus

Picture

plus
Picture
plus
Picture
minus
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equals
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homeless mathematics
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see you around town....your town
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There Is Nothing To See Here

1/29/2014

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there's an old saying that there's nothing new under the sun. that may or may not be true. but in the world of poverty and homelessness....they may be right. 

i've been reading alot lately. i've been nosing around the internet looking at reports on poverty, homelessness and hunger. i've read blogs, gvt reports, opinions, economic history and forecasts. know what? they're all the same, just worded differently. there is nothing new. there are no innovative ideas. there is no solution being formulated to end it. there is no emerging leader in the fight on those three blights on america. there are no new gvt. programs that are being rolled out. there are no new speeches. there are new buzz words...economic violence, income inequality, disparity, social injustice, socio-economic opportunities, enterprise zones, promise zones and the latest...social mobility. it's all crap. it's all nice words to describe something that's been around since the beginning of this country. it's political volleyball on issues that have been effecting this country and the citizens of this country for every generation. free housing...supportive housing...welfare...snap...medicaid....hunger...poverty....homelessness....they're not new. nothing today that is being tried to end them is new. nothing that the federal gvt is doing to fight these issues is new. 

the conditions and struggles of the homeless and those fighting poverty and homelessness aren't new either. the setting may be different. the number of people may be different. the types of people may be different. poverty and homelessness have found its way into the middle classs. the educated and skilled are now fighting what was once the fight of the uneducated and unskilled. the people without disabilities, addictions, or mental illness are now fighting the battle that once was almost solely reserved for the less fortunate. it's now common...more people are aware....and more people are being effected. but the struggle and the emotional and mental stress are the same. the impact is the same....just on a larger scale and to a more diversified group of victims.

the front line warriors aren't new either. the missions and shelters and grass roots organizations are still there. they're still fighting the same battles. they're still operating under a redundant and blown up federal system that is antiquated and stipulates so many rules and regulations that the cost of implementing a true fight against homelessness is so cost cumbersome that the battle is lost before it begins. these people know the answer. they know it's simple.  they see successes every day in their field of vision. 

listen, seriously....homelessness, poverty and hunger aren't simple issues. but the answer is. reach out....give....and rescue those caught in it. you feed a hungry person. you give a job to someone in poverty. you give a home to someone who is homeless. i know that's very simplistic on the surface of it. but isn't it really that simple? don't over complicate it. 

i think it's time the local gvts. and churches and organizations do what they do best....and simply help those in their own community. it truly is simple....and it's not new. we just need to remember.

see you around town



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Up Close and Personal

1/26/2014

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If you were here i'd say, come here, sit down and listen. i want you to hear what i'm saying to you. but, you're not. so i'll say this...slow down. don't speed over this. don't look at the hilites and then move on. stop and read it, think about it and hear what i'm telling you. it's important...to all of us. twitter and facebook and the news and other media will still be there when you return to it. sit down and listen.

we live in a fast paced world. it's a world of facebook, twitter, emails, cell phones, cable television and other social media outlets. information and technology are at our finger tips at an almost blinding and overwhelming speed. we see all the good and the bad in the world played out in front of our eyes like no other time in history. we are connected to the world like no other generation has been. but at the same time we have become disconnected from the world like no other generation. we see so much bad news, so much suffering and so many horrendous things flash before us we become almost immune to the people behind those happenings. sometimes we just need to stop for a moment, take a pause, and think about some things. we need to slow down and think about the true impact of what we're seeing. we need to step away from the next major event and remember that what we're seeing is very real and scrolling to the next entry or page or channel doesn't change what's happening or the consequences of that event. there's people behind every news event. there's tragedy behind every piece of bad news we see or read. there's another human being behind that headline or tweet or entry on a news feed. 

i hope you will take that moment right now. step away from it all...and listen. you know i write about homelessness and poverty and hunger. i want you to step away from all the arguments about the homeless and poverty and how to solve it. i want you to step away from all the programs that people undertake to solve these issues. i want you to step away from the underlying reasons and causes of poverty and homelessness for a minute. step away from the costs and who's paying for it and the stigmas and name calling and other things associated with the issues of poverty and homelessness and welfare programs. step away from the next grandiose federal program or the next blog or the next person who professes that they have the answer.

just...step away. for now....they don't matter. the politics and religions....don't matter.


what matters then? it's brutally cold here and in most of the country. it's snowing or about to snow again in alot of the areas of the country. for many people this is a matter of pure survival. what matters is saving the lives of men, women and children. what matters is the deep level of poverty and hunger that many americans feel...every day. these are not refugees from another country. these are men and women and  children in your city....in your communitty.......people you see and pass every day. it's not a thousand miles away. it's a few blocks away. children matter. no mother should ever see their child go to bed hungry....wake up hungry....or worry about what they're going to feed them tomorrow. no child should ever wonder why they're different. no child should ever sit in a school and even think about why they don't have the things the other children do. no child....ever.  a roof over your head and warmth at nite matters. compassion for our fellow human beings matters. local churches and missions matter. whether or not someone freezes to death tonite for no other reason than they're homeless and have no place to go...matters. that woman or man  you saw sitting on the sidewalk or bench....they matter. the men and women who have made it their life's choice to help the poor and the homeless and the men, women and children......they matter. the children who can rise out of this poverty and become someone special and someone great.....they matter....more than anything else. being able to work and having an economy and city that affords the opportunity to work...that matters. 

america....it was built on communities and local neighborhoods....helping and caring for each other...in good times and bad. that was our strength...our bond. helping each other still matters. taking care of our own neighborhoods and our own communities and cities still matter. and it is indeed the solution to the problem of hunger and poverty and homelessness. there is no other answer. the answer is what matters....you...and me. it's the american spirit of caring that matters. it hasn't changed. it hasn't been replaced by something else. it hasn't vanished...it's still in each and every one of us. if we slow down..and pause...we'll feel it. step away from everything..and listen. it's you and me...caring...helping... looking out for the ones that are weaker and in a more vulnerable posiiton than us...that's what matters. don't worry about another country...another state...another city. just those around you ....in your own community. people who were born there, went to school there, were raised there and are still there. 

i know my life matters. and without the caring and compassion of many people i probably wouldn't be here today. take a minute...and think about. it. help someone, any way you can, anytime you can. if enough people did this.....there would be no poverty....no hunger....no homelessness. 

see you around town
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I Could Be Wrong...Again

1/23/2014

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sometimes i'm wrong. well, ok....i'm wrong alot. i just don't admit it sometimes. but there are some lines of thinking and some opinions i realize i was wrong about. when i first became homeless i didn't have a very high opinion of the homeless and people on snap and welfare. i saw the abuse and the fraud and the other things that accompany any free government program. but as time went on i did see
the other side of being homeless and poor. i did see the other side of snap and welfare. i saw the people legitimately struggling and utilizing the programs the best way they could in order to survive and hopefully better themselves. i saw the people who were trying to work their way out of poverty and being homeless and i realized that alot of the government programs were enabling them to do that. i realized that without the programs, some could still find a way out, but the path would be even more difficult than the one they were following. the struggle would have been harder, the path longer, and the end may not have come at all for some.

one of the things i made a mistake on was obama phones. i wrote a blog dated 11/22/2013, titled just that...obama phones. i was wrong. i wasn't wrong about the initial entry. my opinion at the time was correct....as far as i knew. but i was like so many americans who saw people getting something for nothing and using them for nothing. i think you should read that entry before you can understand what i'm saying. it's in the archives on the right of your screen. 

but yes...i was wrong. my highly critical, self righteous opinion has been changed as my time of being homeless has been protracted. the phones do see alot of abuse. the phones are wasted money in alot of cases. but in some it is indeed a lifeline. it's a lifeline for finding employment and gives the user an equal footing as far as potential employer contact goes. it gives the user equal footing when inquiring about a job. it gives the user a means of contact they wouldn't have otherwise. homeless people and most poor people cannot afford a 35 or 50 dollar a month phone. i know there are cheaper alternatives, but the end cost is still about the same. it also does something else...it gives the user a feeling of not being totally disconnected from the world. you can call someone you know or try to establish contact with a family member that you've been disconnected from. it doesn't matter if it's successful or not, it at least you gives you that hope and chance. it also makes getting healthcare alot easier, which as you know can be difficult at best. without a phone an appointment is difficult if not impossible. 

now i'm not saying that you continue pouring money and resources into fighting homelessness and poverty and hunger. there has to be quantitative results at some point. so let me make that point now. and it has to be one that works for everyone...the homeless and the ones who aren't. but that's another argument for another time. 

so yes, i was wrong. maybe about alot of things. time will tell. but my point may be this. i am homeless and my opinion about people and things and programs i was around every day was wrong perhaps you should think about your opinions and reconsider. while fraud and abuse is widespread, can you put a value on the minority it does help? is it worth it for the ones that use the programs and successfully transition out of poverty and homelessness? i think the minority are the ones where the ultimate solution to poverty and homelessness will come from. think about it. if i can wrong....maybe you are too.

see you around town
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It's Stronger Than The Storm

1/17/2014

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being homeless comes with its own set of problems and struggles but i think one of them is universal. when you become homeless it's like falling off a ship at sea. you've lost your means of arriving at the port you were headed to. you're suddenly taken from the comfort and safety of the ship and you're drifting in a sea.....of nothing. you grab onto the first thing you can find to try to keep from drowning and you may succeed in doing that. but you're still adrift, in the middle of a swell of waves, treadding water, going nowhere.

one of the most difficult things about being homeless is having no sense of purpose and no direction. sure...when you first become homeless your purpose is to get yourself out of the situation you're in and back on track, with a roof over your head, income and some semblance of security. but as time goes on and you've been doing the things you should do with no results, you stagnate. you begin to accept being homeless and the lifestyle, or lack of it, that comes with it. you become....not complacent...but something in between complacency and despair. you lack that sense of purpose that i think all people need in order to feel satisfied or feel like you're heading toward the place you're suppose to be. some people have their work which drives and fulfills them. some people have their family that is their focus and primary reason for the things they strive to accomplish. some people have a spouse that they love dearly, are devoted to, and they strive for the security and happiness out of love. some people are just happy to be alive and having the things that americans have...a job, a home, a family, friends, and the things that come with them. homeless people lose most of that along the way. some lose it before they become homeless and others lose it after they become homeless. but most lose it somewhere along the way. they begin to drift with no purpose, no reachable goal, nothing to identify with, and no vision of their final destination. it's a difficult place to be. you feel unneeded, unloved, unwanted, and unnoticed. you isolate yourself, either physically or mentally. you've been cut off from everything that plants the seeds of hope and ambitions and dreams. it can be more devastating than the poverty and lack of shelter that accompanies homelessness.

if you have any relatives that are homeless, it doesn't matter the reason, don't deny them a rudder. don't deny them hope. don't validate the fact that they are totally disenfranchised from society as a whole. give them hope and something to grasp onto to pull themselves out of that sea. don't turn your back on them. they are the same person you once knew. they've just lost their way temporarily.

if you work at a mission, don't forget that hope and a feeling that a goal can be reached is just as important as addiction treatment or counseling. it's just as important as shelter and food. it's just as important as religion or social skills. don't forget to give that hope and the feeling that there is a goal 
that can be obtained that will end their situation. 


if you don't know any homeless people or aren't aware of any....become aware of one. support your missions and shelters that can give this hope to them and give them a direction out of the fog that's blocking the vision of where they're headed. 


if you know a family who's struggling, do something before they fall off the ship. do something to keep that child from ever becoming familiar with the struggles and problems that come with poverty or homelessness. 


hope and direction......to borrow new jersey's slogan.....it's stronger than the storm


see you around town






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Hey, It's Free

1/16/2014

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Ok, all you bloggers and tweeters that think being homeless or on snap is free and easy. you think homeless people have an easy lifestyle at your expense? you think homeless people get things for free?
let me tell you something....it comes at a cost you couldn't imagine.

i paid a high price to be homeless. i paid a cost you couldn't imagine to live on snap and use some available resources and benefits that you paid for thru your taxes. actually, on a monetary basis i paid for them too. do you think homeless people have never worked and paid taxes in their lifetime? sure...maybe a very small percentage of the homeless and poor haven't worked much in their life...if at all. but most have...some for years. some for a longer period of time than you. some for longer than you are old. being homeless or poor doesn't equate to having never worked, never paid taxes and never contributed to the very fund that they now have to utilize in order to survive

but there is another price that's paid when you become entangled in homelessness or you suddenly fall into ...let's see...how about economic violence. some like to call it that. ehhhh.... i like poverty or being poor better. that's what it is. you pay a price though...sometimes one that is almost too high. you pay with your dignity. it's embarrassing and almost to the point of being humiliating to have to sign up for and use snap benefits. the process itself can be demeaning despite the efforts of the most courteous and considerate social worker. unfortunately most don't fall under either of those adjectives. it hurts your pride and sense of self worth to go into that welfare office, fill out those forms and admit you're unemployed, broke and at the mercy of your government to obtain the meager amount they allocate to buy food and the essentials of survival.  it's almost like validating a fact that you've been denying. you're poor and maybe homeless.

it also comes with another price. how much is the worth of a human being? maybe visa would say it's priceless. how ever much it's worth, being homeless makes you feel like your value to the rest of society just bottomed out. suddenly you're at just about the lowest point of existence you could be. you have no home. you have no roof to sleep under. you are forced to go to a mission or a shelter and sleep with many other homeless people. it's almost like being relegated to a camp for poverty.  i'm in no way criticizing the missions. this is a personal and very intimate feeling you can't escape from. you are there.....with the poorest members of america's citizens. you are at  the total mercy of others to eat, sleep and have shelter. you have no choice. 

the price of your sense of well being is beyond quantitative value. you become insecure about everything. you have no control over your day, your nite, and sometimes it feels like your existence. it weighs on you nite and day.  your search for a solution is always there in your thoughts and in your mind. if you somehow manage to push it aside for a few minutes or hours, something manages to bring it to the forefront. someone you pass on the street, some offhanded, thoughtless remark you overhear, that look by someone that tells you they have no compassion or understanding....something...somewhere...always catches  you and brings you back into the thoughts accompanying homelessness.

the emotional cost is almost beyond anything you can describe. heartbroken is the only word i can use that comes close. you feel abandoned, lost and left alone in the most difficult time that any one of you can imagine. not only are you in a fight for your very survival and a fight not to lose yourself and who you are in the day to day struggle of being homeless....you are doing it alone. 

even if you manage to bring yourself out of being homeless, it follows you. you'll never be able to feel totally secure again. you know it can happen and just how quickly it can happen. you carry around that scar that being homeless put on your soul and on your heart. even if you attest that it made you stronger, which in some ways it may very well have, in alot of ways it made you weaker and more wary and more aware of what a thin line separates you from being homeless again. it's always there like a gnat swarming in the summer time. it's not going to bite you but it's prevalent enough to be annoying and sometimes distracting. your thought process and decision making change with that homeless factor being in the equation.  it can and does haunt you. 

being homeless isn't free...under logic, concept or way of thinking. it's expensive...not only monetarely to our society and our government...which is you....but to the individual. it's carries a high price to the individual. not only that...it pays itself forward into that individuals future. trust me...being homeless isn't easy. it certainly isn't free. i have paid dearly for it.

see you around town
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Call a Spade Homeless

1/15/2014

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obviously everyone wants some end or solution to homelessness. you do or you wouldn't continue to read this blog. i'm not that interesting of a writer and i'm certainly not famous. or maybe you want to see just how bad this entry is going to be. either way, there's only about four of you so i'm not that worried. 

you've heard alot about the war on poverty and homelessness. ehhh....me too. i've heard it, i've read it, i've thought about it. a lady on twitter posted an entry the other nite that caught my eye. it asked the question....so who are these poor we keep hearing about. how do you define poor and who defines it.
it was one of those posts that came back to me a couple of times when i was thinking about something else or another topic would come up in a conversation. who are these poor we keep hearing about?

why...it's the victims of economic violence of course. it's the disadvantaged and weaker among us. it's the victims of income inequality who suffered thru years of earning disparities. it's the socio-economic results of years of inner city living and environmental issues. it's the victim of one parent families that never recovered from the trauma of not knowing his father and was forced into poverty thru lack of self esteem. 

now seriously...have you ever such a paragraph of ridiculous things? the poor are just that....the poor. they don't make enough money or they don't have a job. they are on welfare and on snap. they live in sub standard housing alot of times with little if any resources to fall back on. they are constantly worried about food and the staples of life. they wake up poor and they go to bed poor. they live their life in between that time being poor. they are black. they are white. they are hispanic. they're christians, jews, muslims and hindu. they're poor. there is no other tag or description that fits all of them except poor. it's the common denominator.

the homeless are the same way. they're homeless. there are other adjectives that you can use to describe the homeless. mentally ill, unemployed, under employed, victims of domestic abuse, physically impaired or disabled, advanced age, drug addiction, alcoholism...homeless. the common adjective that fits them all is homeless. 


now here's my point. if we can't call the poor and homeless exactly what they are....poor and homeless...how can you ever think you could come up with a viable solution for them. if you have to nice up the description or you have to come up with some politically juiced up word that will impress your audience instead of saying poor or homeless, how could i ever trust you to come up with and implement a plan to end poverty and homelessness. you can't even use the words....so you think i'm going to believe you're sincere about fighting the two issues? what i'm going to think is that you have yourown agenda and you like to feed your own ego with words. homeless and poverty aren't eloquent,  don't try to be when you speak about them

pssst....i'm homeless. i'm poor. it's ok...i know it. i don't mind if you call me that. what i do mind is you letting words get in the way of a viable option and solution to the plight of the homeless and poor. being homeless and poor isn't nice. you don't have to make it seem like it is. being homeless and poor doesn't make me a victim, so don't pretend i am.....i don't. homeless and poor means exactly what the words imply. so use them to describe us. maybe america will believe you and trust you then. maybe they'll join you in the fight against poverty and homelessness. until you do....all they'll hear is nice words. all they'll see is another man using nice words with no meaning. remember.....homeless.....poor.....poverty. they are the correct words. keep it simple

see you around town



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Kelly Thomas, Me And You

1/15/2014

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Kelly Thomas. if you're not familiar with that name you haven't been watching cable news, reading the newspaper and you're not on any social media. he's dead. he didn't die a hero in a war. he didn't die rescuing a family from a fire in new york. he didn't die in a gun battle with the police while robbing a bank of america. he didn't jump from the subway station into the path of an incoming train. he died because he was mentally ill and because he was homeless. he died at the hands of those who's duty it is to serve and protect....everyone. 

if i had to give someone a brief, on the run description of what happened to kelly it would be this. he was homeless. he was mentally ill and diagnosed with 
Schizophrenia. he lived on the streets and apparently people in that area were familiar with him. the police officers should have been also. he was described as harmless, i'm not so sure about that. he was attempting to open up car doors and the police were called and responded. he resisted. they beat him to death. that would be it in very brief summary.

a summary, that's about it for most of america. they've briefly read the account of what happened and heard about the trial. they've come to their own conclusions about the validity of what happened and for some it may have caused a few moments of thought about the homeless. for some it would have concreted what they already thought. for others it did neither, because they seldom think about the poor and homeless and don't want to. 

i think all of america should stop and take a few minutes and think about what happened to kelly thomas. he was a schizophrenic who was homeless. that in itself should be cause for concern. how could a young man with a troubled past, suffering from schizophrenia be wandering the streets trying to open unlocked car doors. what happened? how did he fall into the cracks of our society and end up there, on that night, with six police officers who responded to the call. how on that nite did a mentally ill man who is 5'9 and thinly built provoke six trained police officers to the point of beating him to death? where did our system of dealing with the mentally ill go so wrong that this man was in that place at that time? isn't this the argument gun control advocates use when they say guns end up in the wrong hands....of criminals and the mentally ill. what if kelly thomas had been carrying a gun? it could have happened....easily. this is one the problems you have to deal with and keep in mind when you're trying to come up with a solution for homelessness. what about the mentally ill? what about the people who are mentally ill, but by law are still capable for caring for themselves and making decisions? 

what about the reaction to the death of kelly thomas and the subsequent trial and the not guilty verdict. come on america....do you really think these police officers weren't guilty of manslaughter? they were as guilty as surely as someone committing a knockout game murder. they were guilty as surely as a soldier intentionally killing a civilian in iraq or aghanistan. they were guilty as surely as a bank robber who inadvertently kills during his crime. did they intentionally kill kelly thomas? i doubt it. did they intentionally beat him because they were angry and wanted to teach him a lesson? yes. did they beat him because he was homeless? yes....partially. did the jury reach a not guilty verdict because he was homeless. yes...that and the propensity to not convict a police officer who commits manslaughter in the act of what is perceived as doing his duty. but remember....they were sworn to protect and serve everyone. they were sworn to uphold everyone's rights and not to use undue force. not just to people who have homes.....everyone. did they fail in this....yes.

i've seen with my own eyes police officers abuse the homeless. it comes out of frustration and dealing with them on a daily basis. in some ways it can be more frustrating than dealing with a drug dealer or a petty criminal. the anger builds and the frustration mounts. the officer loses his temper and it can happen....just that quick. homeless people can be a nuisance. they can be annoying. they can be very frustrating. but they are also citizens. they are citizens of the city they live in. the police officer's job is not to determine which individuals deserve which treatment. their duty is to uphold the law and the constitution of the land for all citizens. yes....even the homeless citizens. 

when it comes down to it, the homeless are a lost group of people. in general they have been abandoned by their family or they have isolated themselves from friends and relatives. they usually have no close friends other than other homeless people. if it had not been for the video you would not have heard the name kelly thomas. maybe a quick headline or a new comment on msnbc or fox. but you would not have heard about kelly or the trial or the verdict or the repercussions from both. i would not be writing this entry about him. listen....seriously....i could have been kelly thomas. if i had been in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong police officer, i could have been him. if i had provoked that officer in the slightest way, i could have been kelly thomas. america has hardened itself to the homeless and the poor. there is a stereotype about the homeless that every one is a drunk or an addict and somehow a public nuisance and menace. we are going to rob you or ask you for money or urinate on your sidewalk. we have been dehumanized to the point that something like the kelly thomas incident can happen and mainstream america shrugs it off. i know of an incident where two people burned to death in a fire here in wilmington. they were homeless. the responders were told that two people were living in the abandoned house that burned and they didn't get out. noone would listen... noone. the homeless kept talking and pleading and arguing that they were in the building when it burned. there were eye witnesses. within a couple of days the building was razed. had it not been for the intervention of a state official, the bodies never would have been recovered. one of the individuals' bodies had already made its way to the dump site. if these two had not been homeless and if the people telling officials that they were in the building at the time of the fire had not been homeless, that tragedy never would have happened. 

it's too late to save kelly thomas. but perhaps his death can save others. perhaps it will somehow motivate and stir a new perception of the homeless and how and what needs to be done. perhaps it will save a kelly thomas somewhere in america. maybe the death of kelly thomas will bring a new awareness to the cause and problems of homelessness in america. perhaps it will change the view of the homeless in america. perhaps socio-economic discrimination and misconceptions will begin to change


maybe...perhaps....i doubt it. remember america...kelly thomas could have been me...your son....your brother.....or even you. it's time to change things before it is. 


see you around town










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When your mission becomes a business

1/14/2014

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Let me say this from the beginning. missions are absolutely critical to the well being of the homeless. without them many homeless would die. women and children would have no place to go. the problems of the homeless in most cities would get very complicated and balloon into a whole new set of problems. missions and shelters do an excellent job under very difficult circumstances. most of the employees of a shelter or a mission are an extraordinary set of people who treat the homeless with courtesy and respect and do the best they can for them. in the end, they help and make a difference and save lives. they are the cornerstone of ending poverty, hunger and homelessness and will play a vital part in the final solution, if it ever comes. 

but i want to tell you about another mission i'm familiar with. it started as a very small mission in a very small building. it began with good intentions and with a vision of aiding the poor and the homeless. and they did. they housed the homeless at nite and fed them in the mornings. they were christian oriented and passed the word of god along to the homeless along with the shelter and food they gave them. the mission grew and they acquired a new building by the way of a gift from a former client. the staff grew and out that staff came a new ceo. that ceo was eloquent in his speech and was compassionate and understanding in his dealings with the homeless. his interaction with the city was good and most of the city and the city officials accepted the mission as a needed service and were willing to cooperate with the mission and the ceo. the mission expanded its services beyond the homeless into mental health, medical and families. it grew...and grew. the ceo guided the mission thru an extraordinary growth period ad it became known widely for its services and its size. but then somewhere along that road of growth something happened. it became something more than a mission and a sanctuary for the poor and homeless. it became a business run by a ceo. the employee base expanded to around 35. it departmentalized. its expenses grew along with its size. its original vision become blurred. the mission thrived....the clients became an afterthought whose monetary value was often greater than the value of their redemption. more than once in a meeting the question was asked of a potential new program client....is he funded? before the question of what is the problem that brought him here, before the question of what physical or mental problems does he have. is he funded? the programs themselves began to become unfocused as the client base expanded. the employees were swamped with clients and short of time. the services offered weren't given. it started to take on the atmosphere of a social service agency where people where shuttled back and forth with no progress. it became a people warehouse. what started as an outstanding mission with good services and excellent results ended up being like so many other agencies that deal with the homeless.....long on showroom, short on results. the ceo inadvertently contributed to this by being so busy promoted the mission and his own personal agenda and recognition that he didn't see the mission morphing into something that noone recognized. 
today that mission is a troubled organization. it is in financial chaos and embattled with the city it resides in. it may be relocated and  relegated to an afterhought. it's ceo is no longer with them....released by its board after months of battling and inner conflict. its clients still come and go. the shelter was still there, but the attention and treatment and healing that is needed in such a place was not. it became a business, obsessed with the bottom line. 

you have to be careful when you operate a mission that money and the cost of remaining open and even growth do not make you lose focus on why you are there and who you are there for. if you do....noone wins. you certainly won't in the long run and the ciients lose in the short term and the long run. its' not only shelter that missions provide, its also a new beginning for alot of people. for others its a regrouping station to recover initially from the shock of being homeless. to get some temporary shelter and respite and then begin your life over again. for others its a shelter for their children when their familly disintegrates around them. the community that supports you will also turn away if they sense the clients aren't being helped in the fashion they expect or you claim. 

again...i'm not criticizing missions. i'm just giving a cautionary piece of advice to you all. 
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    homeless1

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