Hijacked Part Three: Who's worth saving first??? Homeless women and children, Whites, Blacks, Asians/others???

Does American society’s prejudice affect our response to homelessness? You betcha!! Let’s face it; we still live in a society where gender, race, and class provoke stereotypes and inequality. And when we compound these issues with homelessness, society’s reaction is much of the same, “they brought it on themselves,” “they’re lazy,” “ignorant,” “they just want welfare.” We may be more tolerant than the segregationist of our not too distant past, but that doesn’t mean that we’ve gotten to the point where we treat people equally – and homelessness is no exception.

Lets face it, society wants to help the homeless, but we’d like to help some more than others.

People are not saints devoid of committing social injustice. We are all affected by socialization which instills within us at least some prejudices. So when it comes to homelessness, why would our reaction be any different?

Whether you want to admit it or not, society is still filled with racism, sexism, and CAPITALISM. And when you are homeless or fighting homelessness, your plight is compounded by “isms” that affect the way in which society responds to the cause. Social injustice is not limited to inequality, but also how we respond to fighting against it.

Am I getting too theoretical here? My point is this: our response to homelessness follows those same patterns of prejudice. If the color of homelessness was mostly white, do you think society would respond differently? If it was mostly women and children, would we view them as blameless victims instead of faulting them for their circumstances? Or if it were gainfully employed or wealthy disaster victims, would we replace their housing more quickly than displaced poor people from New Orleans?

Furthermore, do we really need to build more 1500 sq. ft. lofts downtown for the single urban professional, or could we divide some of those units in half, or hell, even in thirds, and make it a little more affordable for us common folk? Sure, the difference between the have and have-nots is money, but who’s likely to have more money; people of color or whites; male or female; capitalist investors or socialist reformers?

Okay, I digress. The point is, homelessness is homelessness and it’s a crisis we must deal with from ALL perspectives. And if we recognize that our response to homelessness is also influenced by society’s prejudices, then we can see why it’s taking so long to make a difference.

PATH Partners, Anonymous Senior Staffer