Facebook Comments Reveal Prejudices on Homelessness

Recently I had the privilege to share our new documentary "On the edge" with a group of women staying in a shelter in Tallahassee.  One woman, hearing that my hands were freezing when I came in to set up, gave me one of those new-fangled hand warmers, a toasty little treat for my hands. This act, plus their response to the video touched my heart. So I was feeling all warm and fuzzy when I came out to Tillie, my RV plugged in at this shelter for the night.

But then I peeked at my Facebook page and, lo and behold, my warm, fuzzy feeling turned to foaming at the mouth. A woman I know from back in Illinois made a derogatory comment about homeless people's lack of "personal responsibility," continuing on with the textbook diatribe about people wanting to be homeless, and no need to support them... blah, blah... barf.

My less than subtle comment spewed. She didn't spoil my evening, but she came close. Then I started thinking about the travails in Gainesville, and an obviously unenlightened city commission putting the hurt to homeless people supposedly because they scare away customers in nearby businesses.

What is it about hate and fear that is so hard to overcome? How do people move from being ignorant to being at least somewhat open-minded, a prerequisite for sanely sharing space on this planet? Sure, some folks, housed and not, do things for a variety of reasons that make it hard to appreciate them as human beings, but enlightened people can get beyond the initial behavior and see the reason behind it.

In my decades of work with homeless children and adults, I've heard an amazing comment made about some people in authority, to the effect of "They're really scared of homeless people." Really? Most homeless people I know are far from scary. They're actually much easier to like than some affluent housed individuals. But fear-mongering is in vogue now, so homeless kids and adults better watch out.

Among the groups fearful of homeless people, mayors come to my mind. The discomfort level of most mayors I've talked with about homeless people is astounding. I don't know if that's why the U.S. Conference of Mayors continues to pay lip service to homelessness with their annual drivel, the Hunger and Homelessness Survey.

Validating my premise that mainstream media jump on stories like the pre-Christmas release of this survey, even HuffPost fell for the bait and posted a deceptive headline, Homeless Families in America Increase by 9%. Gosh, 9% doesn't sound bad. But anyone paying any attention to the raft of articles documenting huge increases in the number of homeless students identified in schools across the nation - increases of 20-50% are common - would figure that the increase would be much larger than 9%.

A related puzzling phenomenon that needs rethinking - cold-weather shelters. How many housed people realize that many communities across the country have NO shelters (for humans anyhow, as opposed to animals)? Cold-weather shelters, which tend to open when temps drop below 40, are certainly better than nothing, but would you find it adequate if you and your family were looking for a place to stay?

So, what can we do?

• Sign my petition to urge the US Conference of Mayors to put more effort into their annual survey.
• Volunteer at a shelter, or lend support financially, donate food or clothing, or tutor homeless students.
• Contribute to help Tina and her kids avoid homelessness.
• Learn about homelessness (read my book).

Seems to me that as homelessness abounds we need to become more enlightened. If things keep going in the direction we're headed, homeless people will soon be the majority.

Photo credit: Diane Nilan