How America's Safety Net Has Become A Dragnet

[dajoki]

How America's Safety Net Has Become A Dragnet
Barbara Ehrenreich, Posted: Aug 12, 2011
http://newamericamedia.org/2011/08/how-americas-safety-net-has-become-a-dragnet.php

The most shocking thing I learned from my research on the fate of the working poor in the recession was the extent to which poverty has indeed been criminalized in America.

Perhaps the constant suspicions of drug use and theft that I encountered in low-wage workplaces should have alerted me to the fact that, when you leave the relative safety of the middle class, you might as well have given up your citizenship and taken residence in a hostile nation.

<<snip>>

In defiance of all reason and compassion, the criminalization of poverty has actually intensified as the weakened economy generates ever more poverty. So concludes a recent study from the National Law Center on Poverty and Homelessness, which finds that the number of ordinances against the publicly poor has been rising since 2006, along with the harassment of the poor for more “neutral” infractions like jaywalking, littering, or carrying an open container.

<<snip>>

That could be me before the blow-drying and eyeliner, and it’s definitely Al Szekeley at any time of day. A grizzled 62-year-old, he inhabits a wheelchair and is often found on G Street in Washington, D.C. -- the city that is ultimately responsible for the bullet he took in the spine in Phu Bai, Vietnam, in 1972.

He had been enjoying the luxury of an indoor bed until December 2008, when the police swept through the shelter in the middle of the night looking for men with outstanding warrants. It turned out that Szekeley, who is an ordained minister and does not drink, do drugs, or cuss in front of ladies, did indeed have one -- for “criminal trespassing,” as sleeping on the streets is sometimes defined by the law. So he was dragged out of the shelter and put in jail.

“Can you imagine?” asked Eric Sheptock, the homeless advocate (himself a shelter resident) who introduced me to Szekeley. “They arrested a homeless man in a shelter for being homeless?”

<<snip>>

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Yep. I can imagine it.

[hifiguy]

2. Look for the concentration camps to be labeled

as "shelters."

[dajoki]

6. Or the prisons to used...

as dormitories as that candidate for NY governor(whose name escapes me right now)proposed.

[DCKit]

3. Wow. Just Wow.

And they probably gave him a fine he couldn't pay.

I really need to call Elanor Holmes-Norton's office about this one.

[hootinholler]

4. Kick for later n/t

[hifiguy]

5. Kickeroo

:kick:

[XanaDUer]

7. God bless America!!!

nt.

[indepat]

8. America's inimitable show of appreciation and thanks to The Al Szekeleys of our country

for their service, i.e., an example of apolice-state-type outrage beyond comprehension. :patriot:

[Electric Monk]

9. kick

& rec


“Can you imagine?” asked Eric Sheptock, the homeless advocate (himself a shelter resident) who introduced me to Szekeley. “They arrested a homeless man in a shelter for being homeless?”

[KamaAina]

10. California: Unannounced home visits by uniformed officers

to be sure your live-in caregiver isn't committing fraud, of course. :grr:

[woo me with science]

11. K&R nt

[Dappleganger]

12. This is shameful.

[dajoki]

14. Yes it is...

and we still put up with it...why?

[Odin2005]

13. This shit makes me ANGRY!

:grr: