Ghosts Among Us

I witnessed something disgusting today.

I was in a public city building on Miami Beach when a homeless man walked in to use the bathroom. As soon as the door closed, the supervisor bolted out of his office as if the building had suddenly caught fire, and rushed in after him.

They emerged about a minute later, the supervisor directing his staff to call the police. The homeless man was noticeably shocked, but managed to utter a “God bless you,” and left. The supervisor then instructed his staff to call the police at the first sight of the man.

Let me be absolutely clear: this man did nothing wrong. He was not disruptive. He made no attempt to bother anyone. He was not dirty, nor did he smell. He did not appear to have any mental illness. Moreover, the bathroom was located directly adjacent to the front door, meaning that he crossed as little of the room as possible to reach it. He was not wandering around the facility. He simply needed to use the bathroom.

The supervisor showed absolutely no basic decency towards this man. The contempt with which he showed another human being was downright despicable, especially when that human being was impoverished and in need of essential amenities.

Just last week, a study released by the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness showed that the Florida taxpayer spends $31,065 for every year a chronically homeless person lives on the street. According to the report:

“The price tag covers the salaries of law-enforcement officers to arrest and transport homeless individuals — largely for nonviolent offenses such as trespassing, public intoxication or sleeping in parks — as well as the cost of jail stays, emergency-room visits and hospitalization for medical and psychiatric issues.

In contrast, providing the chronically homeless with permanent housing and case managers to supervise them would run about $10,000 per person per year, saving taxpayers millions of dollars during the next decade.”

The rights of homeless people are constantly being attacked all over the state of Florida. In November of 2012, a homeless Sarasota man was arrested for charging his cell phone in a public park. He was charged with “theft of city utilities” and sent to jail. The very next day, a judge dismissed the case, citing a lack of legal justification. Later that month, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida (ACLU-FL) released a report regarding the targeting of homeless citizens by the Sarasota Police Department. Transcripts from the officers’ communications described an activity known as ‘bum hunting,’ as well as a rite of passage in which an officer must assault a homeless person in order not to be considered ‘soft.’

In April of 2013, the Miami City Commission voted unanimously to modify the decades-old Pottinger agreeent, which granted certain rights to Miami’s homeless. The ACLU-FL negotiated with the City to create a new agreement, but still some rights were lost.

The homeless are the living casualties of our society. They are trapped in the recesses of our cities, marginalized for falling victim to forces outside of their control. Yes, some people made poor life choices that led to them living on the streets, but 40 percent of the homeless live with a disability, 20 percent are children with 20 percent of those children being LGBT, and another 12 percent are veterans. In 2010, black citizens were seven times more likely to be homeless than white citizens. Additionally, This is hardly an issue that can be blamed on poor choices, or simple laziness. Homelessness is a full blown crisis in this country and the marginalization and shaming of the homeless must end. It’s been proven that the lives of the homeless improve when given assistance, instead of handcuffs. We as a society must embrace the least fortunate in our midst in order to improve our own lives. The consequences that befell them could strike any one of us at any moment. The stories of Griffin Furlong, valedictorian and homeless, and Antoine Turner, whose school had to beg the NCAA for permission to give him aid, should show beyond a doubt that being homeless does not have to be a death sentence, and yet for so many, it is. Above all else, they deserve our respect.