By Ted Hayes November 9, 2006
Like the juggernaut that it is, the downtown Los Angeles Renaissance movement is rapidly moving towards achieving its high goals of redevelopment, even now preparing for the 2028 Olympics, being its unprecedented third time.
Unfortunately, bodies are laying on the tracks to success. The movement is perplexed as to what, in the eyes of GOD and the whole world, can be humanely done about those destitute “some bodies”, literally laying in the way of genuine progress.
The engineers of the Renaissance have three options from which to chose and implement with a good conscious, the removal and descent replacement of those huddled masses on city sidewalks yearning to be free… or the world to see.
Those options are
1. Leave Situation As Is
Leave the chronic, hardcore, street-sidewalk encampment situation of downtown LA as it is and tolerate the systematic dehumanization and criminalization process of the poorest and most vulnerable human beings in the city, resulting the eventual and total breakdown of civilization.
So much for the vaunted Los Angeles Renaissance. The construction and refurbishing of buildings, the glamour of art, especially musical and theatric entertainment, societal pomp and circumstance is meaningless as long as culturist parade themselves in downtown, heads high and holding their noses from the stench of human bodies languishing on city sidewalks, below living conditions that we won’t allow for our domestic pets to dwell in.
If this inhumane condition is allowed to continue, essentially, the Renaissance is still born and remains a dead, hypocritical, international shame of the worst sort, embarrassing itself, the USA and the world, where such travesty ought not to be. This scenario is a major contradiction in an enlightened Renaissance society of all free nations, especially our Union republic.
2. Being Already Criminalized, Incarcerate the Homeless Persons
Incarcerate them out of the Homelessness Industrial Complex (HIC) into our Union republic’s Prison Industrial Complex (PIC).
Though harsh and draconian, such measures would clear the bodies off the tracks to Renaissance. For citizens of such an enlightened resourceful society to give up on fellow human beings, thereby relegating their existence to one of lifetime enslavement in America’s Prison Industrial Complex discredits its Renaissance.
Furthermore, this blaring mistreatment of US citizens, invalidates the credibility our nation’s State Department when attempting to chide or correct, even by sanctions, other sovereigns on how they mistreat, abuse, oppress, starve, incarcerate and torture, etc., theirs, such as in the cases of the so called “rogue” nations, like Iran, North Korea, China, Venezuela, Mexico – Central America, Zimbabwe as well as other black-African countries, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab states.
This abuse is especially poignant as it relates to USA black citizens, who according to Section 1 of the 1866 Civil Rights Act (The Act), which is the Progenitor of the 14th Amendment, being the official, National Birth, Identity and Civil Birthright Certificate solely of the 1865 freed chattel slaves, the Freemen (non slave blacks), et al, and their descendant children as long as this Union republic “…shall not perish from the earth.”
The US black citizens, upon whose chattel enslaved ancestors’ backs, this erroneously purported “nation of immigrants” is built, and thereby entitled by the 14th Amendment and The Act, to EXPERIENCE an “equal justice-protections under the law” citizenship “as is enjoyed by white citizens”, i.e., willing immigrants, regardless of race-skin color, etc., upon being only circa 12% of the national population, disproportionately, and often numerically, lead all other ethno-racial identities in nearly every negative social statistic, including incarcerations and homelessness, the later, being over 60% of the homeless populations;
Alarmingly, in downtown Los Angeles, the national capital of homelessness, situated in Central City East, dubbed Skid Row, its “ground 0 and black hole vortex”, from the “cheap” hotels, to SRO’s (Single Room Occupancy), transitional shelters, missions, automobiles, and especially the sidewalks, of all the human beings entrapped there…circa 95% are BLACK MEN, followed by BLACK WOMEN and their innocent CHILDREN, then people groups.
Therefore, if this injustice is allowed to continue, the rogue nations will disrespect our foreign policies, but they will continue to mistreat their citizens, even excusing themselves with the notion that they recognize their brutal behavior towards their citizens not claiming some religious morality as does “GOD bless America” United States, Christian nation, who for all of its professing platitudes of being self evident that all humans being are equally created and endowed by GOD with “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness”; “equal justice-protections under the law”; “…one nation under GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”; “land of the free and home of the brave.”
The primary reason that other nations continue to respect the USA, is simply due to our economic and political prowess.
However, more than how other countries and their governing bodies view us, the greatest danger to our national security is the reality that our stress-out society is pushing-forcing its law biding citizens into situations and conditions whereby they become outlaws dwelling in lifestyle that violates public health and safety laws, thereby making them criminal and subject to arrest, which is anti-Constitution.
WARNING: In light of the public health and safety concerns, while presently the courts refuse to prosecute homeless persons in violation of such laws, i.e., sidewalk and encampment dwelling, there is a danger that the very citizens whom voted billions of dollars to humanely rectify such homelessness, our of concern for themselves, children, property values, homes, schools, parks, businesses, etc., though wrong, draconian and anti Constitution, will understandably have a turn of heart and vote measures to remove them by any means necessary, even utilizing former military bases to concentrate them into “work camps”, supervised, perhaps, by entities like the Salvation Army, et al.
Note: Nazi Germany says of concentration camps, ““Arbeit macht frei” meaning “work sets you free”.
The United States of America, is quietly on the very edge of slipping over the “cliff” of fascism, etc., because its citizenry refuses to effectively and humanely rectify homelessness according to our own professions of justice for all.
3. Mainstream Homeless
After decades of work and hundreds of millions of dollars spent on homelessness, the kind of numbers of homeless individuals transforming into and maintain a “mainstream” lifestyle has been minuscule, at best…perhaps, 1%.
That lifestyle of mainstream should consist of adequate housing in “decent” neighborhoods, maintaining a cost of living wage, owning health and dental care insurance policies, et, in a stress free environment. Otherwise, mainstreaming means paying taxes, rent-mortgages, utilities, back loans, alimony and child support, health care costs, children education, etc. that is not beneficial, which is therefore, reasoned by the homeless as futile drudgery, reminiscent of a form of slavery.
Mainstream Society Rejects Homeless
Ninety-eight percent (98%) of homeless individuals ranging those who dwell from the “cheap” hotels, to shelters and missions of various sorts, to automobiles, to sidewalks, etc. will never make it to the mainstream concourses of society.
Due to overpopulation, rampant growth of density in the Los Angeles regions, complicated by their physical and mental disabilities massively mainstreaming homeless peoples into affordable, adequate, housing in “decent” neighborhoods, is an ever increasing impossibility.
In fact, Angelinos with “money”, are being priced out of such neighborhood, therefor how is it possible to transition chronic homeless persons into such.
Therefore, it is literally impossible for social services to transition homeless and houseless persons upward into mainstream while the “rain” of individuals and families are falling down towards homelessness. Actually, as they fall in this “rain”, the more upward mobile, better equipped, former middle classes citizens, turned working poor, forces the homeless persons back down.
Essentially, the welfare, working and newly poor are the “ceiling” for the upward mobile homeless persons.
In companion with a lack of housing is the absence of gainful employment.
Literally, it is geo-physically and economically impossible to transform street, sidewalk level, chronic homelessness people into the mainstream and to keep them there.
As rushing rivers, the mainstream concourses of our stressed society are deep, turbulent and tricky. If a person is unable to negotiate those tricky currents, mainstream will destroy him/her, washing them back onto the shores of homelessness.
Mainstream lifestyle is stressful, difficult and exhausting, especially if one gets stuck in one of those whirlpools of working like a slave, never making progress, yet earning less money while their bosses or employers get ever richer.
Homeless Reject Mainstream Society
In the secret of their hearts, the last place that graduates from homelessness rehabilitation programs want, is a shove back into the same conditions that originally pulled them down to the very bottoms of American society.
Though dwelling is squalid conditions, etc., at least the homelessness a person(s) is free of the fiery mainstream stresses that wreck havoc with the physical and mental health of working class human beings.
After living at the bottom of society and repeated failed attempts to make it to mainstream, human beings have a tendency to adapt to the environment that has engulfed them!
For sane survival sakes, they embrace the pain, even becoming one with homelessness. Then with an unexpected but pleasant surprise, after many failed attempt to make it across the great gulf of social services programs to the land of prosperity, after being embarrassed, depressed, despondent, they rather find tranquility in their misery.
The slave that has inadvertently escaped from the plantation would rather die in the filth of the swamp, than return to slavery. It would a tragic farce, if rescue personnel arriving at the scene of a house fire only to encourage or even force smoked-filled individuals, beating the flames off their cloths as the flee the burning structure, back into the flames.
This is what mainstreaming efforts are doing to homeless persons…while receiving masses, even billions of private and public funds are driving them back into the destructive conditions of the stressful, working society. Why would a free man, who happens to be Homeless, return to enslavement of a working-class, slave society?
Ninety-eight percent (98%) of the homelessness population who can physically and mentally maintain regular, hard working, tax paying (tax slave), “9-5” jobs, are refusing to take them, even at $15 or $20 dollars an hour, including benefits.
Accepting such “by-off” would simply place Homeless back into the same “enslavement” situation prior to homelessness…in fact, in which circumstances have become worse.
These homeless folks won’t work or go into mainstreaming programs, but would rather reside on sidewalks, hustling day to day for subsistence than be tricked back into the cause of their original demise in the first place, are correctly, but negatively called by authorities as “shelter resistant”, therefore, leave them for the law to deal with.
Why are they shelter resistant?!? They fear the drudgery and rat race of the mainstream society.
As long as the Homeless have no other option than to go mainstream, they will naturally resist rehabilitation. So, how do we move this understandable mainstream resistant population in a just and humane fashion worthy of a Renaissance?
4. Renaissance of Dome Village-NHP
Renaissance means advancement in thought and moral rectitude; construction of newly designed and redeveloped buildings; various expressions of cultural entertainment and art; lifestyles of clothing, food, transportation, living spaces.
Renaissance peoples pride themselves on being intellectually and morally enlightened. Uncivil behavior and/or barbarism is shame and to be rejected at all cost!
As Los Angeles continues its endeavor to achieve global respect as a world class city, the engineers of the downtown development must incorporate into their plans new and innovative concepts for humane treatment for homeless people that is worthy of the title, “Renaissance”.
Clearly, the Dome Village-NHP, EGIIP by Presidential fiat is the Renaissance of homelessness and poverty into productive citizenship.
Again, consider the options