The Hate of the Homeless

Posted by glenn on Nov 14, 2011 in Homelessness | 226 comments

The California State Legislature has finally gotten around to addressing the attacks and  threats suffered by the homeless. This move is on the cusp of the [as the case of the burning alive of homeless man], and certainly a needed move.

I spent some time researching the number of attacks and other abuses rendered on the homeless population in California over the last five years. For this article I was planning on highlighting some of the more drastic encounters, in which the provocation for the attack was obviously against a homeless person (as a member of a population segment), rather than an attack on an individual person because of a personal dispute. It is not difficult to find large lists of these encounters in every major city of the state. It is also not difficult to find reports of attacks, which were at first ignored by the responding police units, simply because the victim was homeless.

On my way back from lunch, however, walking up Imperial Ave in San Diego, passing the Studio Fifteen building on 15th, I walked right into the middle of a perfect example.

On the ground, covering herself from attack (laying on her side, knees pulled up, hands clasped behind her head, elbows protecting her face) is a handicapped homeless woman. Her back is against the wall. In front and around her, are three young men; all of them yelling threats, laughing, and kicking at her. Most of the conversation is “Get out of her you bitch!” The young men are all between the ages of 18 and 25.

The woman’s name, for this article, is Kim. Getting between Kim and the three young men (after checking to see if she was severely injured), I asked in my own threatening voice, what the heck they thought they were doing.

One of the young men, the youngest, is drinking a beer (it is 3:00 in the afternoon). Another is rather nondescript. The third is wearing the maintenance uniform for the Studio Fifteen building. The maintenance man tells me that his boss (the manager), told him to come out and move her away from the building. I guess he decided that this job required his drinking buddies.

After informing them that they were standing on a public sidewalk, and had no legal ability to follow the manager’s directive, and listening to him disagree, I told him to call the police if he liked, but the hate party was over.

It takes a few minutes to get them to back off, but eventually they do. I ask Kim if she would like to walk with me to check my mail, but she says no. I walk on after deciding the young men have received the message.

On my return, the maintenance man is gone, but the other two are still hovering around Kim, and have attracted a few more residents into their chorus of laughing and threats. Kim, now confused, angry and injured, is yelling back at them (Kim suffers from acute schizophrenia. It doesn’t take much to confuse her). Let’s not be shy here, when Kim feels attacked, she can curl a curse offensive enough to make salty sailors blush.

It is about this time, that one of the young men, the one drinking the beer earlier, has run inside, declaring that he knows how to get rid of her. His answer is to throw urine tainted water out of his window upstairs down on Kim (and me, since I was again over by her, getting between Kim and her attackers).

Now the manager comes out. After witnessing that her reaction is to laugh, and listening to a resident (who identified himself as a employee of the Downtown Partnership) say that she had it coming, I decide to call the police.

I wonder, what the manager of the building found funny about the situation. That Kim was homeless, helpless or handicapped?

The police finally show up, after an hour. They can’t find the person at home, who threw the water out the window (which also damaged my Blackberry phone), and decide that since there is no perpetrator present, there is no crime. I try to remind them that the saying is actually, “no victim no crime” not, “no criminal at home, no crime”, but they ignore me. Kim is homeless, she is not a victim, as far as they are concerned. They also do not choose to look at the security camera footage, or to even write an incident report.

Studio Fifteen houses several criminal types who regularly sell drugs and illegal cigarettes on the sidewalk in front of the building. The building’s security guards do not get in the resident’s way, or interrupt their occupations. They are not concerned with crime. They only focus on the homeless in the area (as far as I have witnessed, and I see them in action several times every day).

Adding the homeless to the Hate Crime list is not for the gruesome act of pouring gasoline on a helpless man and burning him to death. That act is called murder, and the citizens of California still view murder exactly as they should. Adding the homeless to the list, protects helpless members of our society from the predatory attacks which they endure every day. 

Kim is homeless, but she doesn’t panhandle, she doesn’t commit crimes. Kim is not a criminal. She isn’t even unsightly. Kim lives almost exclusively from the food she gets at places like Saint Vincent De Paul’s, and the Helping Hand groups. The major part of her time is spent avoiding these types of attacks during the day, and hiding from worse attacks at night. She is handicapped, and her mental state is not a pretty one to live in. This state of helplessness should not be a reason for her to suffer even more at the hands of hateful people.