Homelessness in the United States is a problem that is plaguing our country, especially in our cities. While homelessness is a problem on its own, its disproportionate rates among the African-American community and raising crime rates in areas were homelessness is prevalent have become increasingly worse as well. I personally believe that the demographic summary of the homeless population in the United States (as shown in the table below) is a major systemic injustice, highlighting the race issues in our country to a tee
When I first saw this table, taken from an article on “endhomlessness.org,” I was personally frustrated. How is one race so disproportionately represented? The answer; to this days African-Americans still do not have the voice that they deserve and are unjustly a subaltern in our society. I do not have the power to personally change this issue, but I can change one of the issues that stems directly from this, and that is the stigma toward homeless people, specifically African-Americans.
In week one, I posted a story of a night out with friends that quickly turned into a tense situation. I was out at a restaurant in short north with some friends and I was having a great time celebrating my friend’s birthday. At one point, things got a bit uncomfortable when an African American homeless man walked onto the property and started asking for money or for some food. I reached in my wallet and handed the man $5, he thanked me and went to the next table. Here, the man again asked for some money, and the man sitting at the table began to threaten to call the police. The situation got loud and out of hand fast and the man did call the police. By the time that the police arrived, the homeless man was gone. The horrific injustice occurred when the police was asking the man why he called the police and he said, “because a black man was faking being homeless to take my money.” When I heard this, it completely shocked me. I have grown up in a privileged family and lived practically in a bubble, I had never seen anything like this before. It was in this moment that I realized that our country has systemic issues in the way that it views African-Americans, and especially those that are homeless. Like I previously said, I am not able to personally change the unjust rates of homelessness in the black community, but I can do my part in changing the stigma and not allowing views like the man at dinner that night to spread. We can all do our part, and we must begin provide African-Americans with a fair and equal voice. We should have no subalterns in our society today. Below is a link to a video that also sums up the disproportionate representation of African-American homeless people in our country. I hope you enjoyed reading this post and learned something valuable as well.
https://ridley-thomas.lacounty.gov/index.php/black-homelessness/
Great showcase on how homelessness affects African-Americans. It’s very saddening the majority of homeless people are African-Americans. I did not realize that till after seeing the table in your showcase. Homelessness is something that we see every day but we turn a blind eye as if it’s not a problem because it makes us uncomfortable. You’re right we do see situations where people fake being homeless just to take money which is sad because you truly can’t distinguish if someone is truly homeless or if they’re lying due to being lazy and just want to take your free money. People also have to think of what are these homeless people truly spending the money you give them. Are they spending it on beneficial items or are they going out to buy things that aren’t necessarily going to help them such as drugs.