Death on our streets is a human rights abuse too far
Street living and homelessness are human rights abuses. I cannot see it differently. Poverty is abuse. It robs you of all that makes you human.
Yes, let's sing a song to its termination, write books and poems, collect money for food banks; and do a hundred more things to fight it.
But let's also unify our efforts in preventing it.
Let's get rid of that blasted thing that, like a millstone, we carry round: poverty.
That involves the grandest planning, the biggest unified thinking, the most careful husbanding of resources.
And the jettisoning of the slapdash, temporary, patched-up stuff that poverty-solving seems riddled with.
As I've written about in this week's Big Issue, I want to widen human rights to include the person we see left behind on our streets with no system to support (other than the stop gap).
The bad news last week for the streets is how deadly they are. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has revealed that 449 people died in the last year.
This is the worst indictment against street-dwelling I've heard in years.
Don't forget. The streets are a place where neglect kills. Death on our streets is a human rights abuse too far.
Earn More ?????? Creating flexible income with you, while you work.
6 年Totally agree!
Founder, Owner / Managing Director - PASSIONATE ACTIVIST. The Really Caring 60+ Recruitment Company.
6 年Absolutely correct !
Marketing & Communications Consultant ? Author
6 年A friend was walking in downtown Honolulu this morning, and encountered a tragic scene: a man died in a doorway sometime between dusk and dawn. This has happened before in my experience, and I think a society that closes its eyes to our shrinking middle class and huge disparity in wealth is not a civilized society. Unless we have a trust fund, we are all one spousal death and one major medical emergency away from bankruptcy and even homelessness.