America's Tent Cities
"All over the country, in the last few years, police have moved in on the tent cities of the homeless, one by one, from Seattle to Wooster, Sacramento to Providence, in raids that often leave the former occupants without even their minimal possessions. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, last summer, a charity outreach worker explained the forcible dispersion of a local tent city by saying, 'The city will not tolerate a tent city. That’s been made very clear to us. The camps have to be out of sight.'"
—"Homelessness is not a side issue unconnected to plutocracy and greed." Although don't remind Jersey gov Chris Christie about his plans to help the residents of Camden's four tent cities. (FOUR.) Meanwhile, Seattle has legalized tent cities when they're run by religious institutions. The only tent city in America that was even fairly well-resolved was the encampment of convicted sex offenders, who were legislated out of living anywhere else.
They used to call the occupants of tent cities "the forgotten men" during the great depression. The irony is that they remembered them in 1934 enough to give them a name.
We don't even have a name for them now.
This alone tells you everything you need to know about life in the United States these days.
Thanks for raising awareness about the plethora of Obamavilles sprouting up lately.
@sf_sorrow Good luck to your side in 2012. Might as well write in for Todd Palin.
LOL!
@ep My side is against economic stagnation, and for the empowerment of the working class. We don't need your stinking luck!
I'd highly recommend William T. Vollman's cover article from last spring in which he becomes a member of tent cities. He does a good job of describing the conditions and telling the stories of the residents while neither belittling or romanticizing them.
(Link here, but you'll need a subscription: http://harpers.org/archive/2011/03/0083334)
@John McGarry@facebook Thank you. That article came to mind for me as well. Vollman prevents us from looking at the homeless as monolithic or susceptible to one-size-fits-all solutions.
Start with Ocean Grove, please.
http://njmonthly.com/articles/jerseyshore/where-time-stands-still.html