National Homelessness Law Center: Everybody needs a safe place to live. But instead of lowering rents and fixing our broken housing system, politicians are setting the stage for violence by cutting funding for vital programs, passing laws that make it a crime to sleep outside, and continually demonizing and vilifying homeless people. Their actions have devastating and fatal consequences.
Three separate incidents within the last week highlight this horrific trend.
- Over the weekend, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, on national television, called for the mass murder of homeless people.
- Second, on September 15, homeless people in Minneapolis were the victims of a mass shooting. Instead of responding with housing for the victims, the government responded with bulldozers. Those who were impacted, including people who were shot, had their tents and belongings thrown away, including an urn containing the ashes of one unhoused person’s child. Residents are racing to secure a new place to live before winter starts. To support them, click here to donate.
- And third, also on September 15th, a homeless man named Corey Zukatis was found dead, hanging from a tree in Mississippi. The same day, a Black man named Demartravion “Trey” Reed was found dead, also hanging from a tree, also in Mississippi. These deaths harken back to the racial terror that is endemic to this country. Let’s be clear: this too is political violence.
The constant dehumanization of homeless people is part of Trump’s authoritarian agenda.
Trump and his cronies are intentionally targeting communities that our society views as disposable, including homeless people, to see how we respond. However, we know that what starts with homeless folks will spread to anyone who those in power don’t like or don’t want to see. We must stand up now and say “no” to anti-homeless laws, no to detention camps, no to dehumanization, and no to Trump’s fascist takeover.
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