The Humble, the Weary, the Downtrodden

In the last few weeks the homeless have begun setting up tents at the local City Hall, which is directly across the street from my office building. At first they were out of sight around the corner; now they have moved to the front of the entrance by the sidewalk and even in the meridian. A town hall was held last week and the homeless have been given 30 days to vacate the area during the daylight hours, although they can return at night.

Through watercooler chat and Facebook posts, there have been a wide variety of opinions given about the City Hall shantytown. Are they all druggies? Criminals? Jobless n'ere do wells?

Statistics show the following for the homeless:

Of course, as with all society, the homeless include drug addicts and criminals. But they also include families, children, mentally ill, laid off, displaced, and so on.  It seems so easy for the homeless to be negatively labeled and demonized rather than determining the "why" behind the circumstance.

The characterization of the City Hall homeless seemed so similar to the depiction of the Jewish in Germany it is uncanny.  Per the New York Historical Society, it is about "the ease with which the rhetoric of hatred directed toward a particular group - in this case, the Jews - can permeate a national discourse and become "normal" for ordinary people."  I see this happening with the City Hall homeless.

Instead of tearing down the group, perhaps City Hall should have spent the meeting trying to figure out how and where to accommodate the people in need. Isn't there land somewhere available to pitch the tents? Or free on-site medical attention for addiction and mental health treatment?  

I don't know these people nor do I have all the answers. Just thinking that the judging from society isn't helping and what is needed are solutions rather than labels.  In the end, therefore but the grace of God go I.