Saturday, January 31, 2009

It's Easier If We Pretend They Don't Exist

James Pate ProgressiveChurchlady notes a piece on the practice of "hiding" the homeless during major events, which is doublespeak for arresting them for being an eyesore. It seems that with the Super Bowl this weekend, Tampa Bay has joined the long list of cities to sweep for vagrants and lock them in jail while the crowds have their fun.

Instead of dealing with the problem directly--which would require admitting the numerous ways we dehumanize and disenfranchise the homeless--we cart them off and pretend then don't exist.

3 comments:

James Pate said...

Wow! Does the author of this blog have the same name I do?

Ken Brown said...

Nope, I'm just an idiot. Blame it on Google Reader....

James Pate said...

Well, I did mention homelessness not long ago, so that may have been where Google reader messed up.