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"Over the past year, over two million men, women, and children were homeless in America". (NLCHP) Homeless people face an intense struggle just to stay alive despite the fact that society turns its head from the problem. The government makes laws that discriminate against homeless people, which make it, illegal for them to survive. The mistreatment of homeless people is an issue that is often ignored in our community. When you see a homeless person on the streets how do you react? Do you turn your head and ignore them? Do you feel frightened and avoid the situation all together? Or do you see these people as human beings and treat them in that way? Homeless people are "subjected to alienation and discrimination by mainstream society". (NLCHP) Most alienation and discrimination comes from the lack of education about homeless people. Which seems to be a roccurring theme in our history we are scared or bothered by what we do not understand. There are numerous untrue myths abou!t homeless people. Many people believe that homeless people "commit more violent crimes than housed people." (NLCHP) The reality is that homeless people actually commit less violent crimes than people with homes do. Dr. Pamela Fischer, of John Hopkins Univ
nities. While interviewing at the River Street Homeless Shelter I found that many homeless people have experienced hate crimes and mistreatment because they live on the streets. When I asked one man how he usually spends his days he replied, "I get beat up". (Anonymous) Another homeless man said, "People blow us off like we're not humans... we paid taxes once...we had homes, families, and cars too." (Rick) Many homeless people hide in the mountains because they Hopper 5 do not want to face the exploitation. It is difficult to understand how society can be so heartless when dealing with these people. All of the people I interviewed felt misunderstood by the world. Rick said, "You have to come out and join us on the streets before you can pass judgment...then people will realize what we're going through." (Rick) There are some organizations that aid the homeless. The River Street Homeless Shelter and Human Resource Agency have dinners and showers available seven days a week. She! ersity, studied arrest records in Baltimore and discovered that even though homeless people were more likely to commit non-violent and non-destructive crimes, they were less likely to commit violent crimes against people. (NLCHP) The crimes that these people are committing are necessary to keep them alive. These crimes include sleeping, eating, and panhandling. Making it illegal to perform necessary daily activities in public when homeless people have no where else to go makes it impossible for homeless people to avoid violating the law. (NLCHP) Another myth about homeless people is that they do not work and that they get their money from public assistance programs. A study done in Chicago discovered that "39% of homeless peo! ley the city council voted to make illegal the following actions; sitting on a sidewalk, asking for change near an ATM or parking meter, asking for change after dark, holding a cup, ect. (Ott 18) Also, Santa Cruz currently has a camping ban that prohibits having sleeping materials on the ground between certain hour
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1367
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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