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Our country is in crisis: it is suffering an epidemic of homelessness. More than three and a half million people are homeless in America each year, and one million of them are children.
Homelessness surrounds us every day. And yet, though the poor and unsheltered are right before our eyes, we have ceased to notice them. The indifferent gaze of the general public has rendered them faceless and anonymous. Homeless people have somehow - conveniently - been deemed unworthy of our grief. It is all too easy for mainstream society to be lulled into believing that extreme poverty is the result of indolence, a myth from which those in more secure circumstances can draw a measure of comfort, creating distance between themselves and the people they see - or don't see - on the streets.
There is something self-perpetuating in this process of marginalization, and also something deeply inhumane. Millions of people are being casually robbed of their ability to imagine their futures, to define their own identities. Their utter lack of societal status is reinforced to them every time someone brushes them aside or fails to meet their eyes.
We call ourselves a democratic nation. We say that our policies are rooted in responsibility, equality and compassion. Our behavior towards homeless individuals is a conflict of rational values and culturally ingrained habits that have allowed us to systematically dismiss those less fortunate for too long.
Text excerpted from, Finding Grace, © 2007
Danny Glover. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.
www.earthawareeditions.com
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© Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless (A.C.E.), © SoHo Partnership, © TriBeCa Partnership |
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