The city of Ft. Lauderdale recently enacted an ordinance banning the feeding of the homeless in public places. 90-year-old Arnold Abbott has been doing just that for over 20 years, and his arrest made headlines around the country. On December 3,...
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Last month, a 90-year old-veteran named Arnold Abbott was arrested, twice in one week, for feeding the homeless. It wasn’t something he had done on a whim, nor was it some charitable holiday tradition that put him up to it. For 23 years he’d met many of the local homeless community in local parks through his nonprofit organization, Love Thy Neighbor Inc., but the City of Fort Lauderdale Commission had recently passed an ordinance that “banned public food sharing.” This meant that more than once, Abbott was arrested, cited, and his efforts were shut down on the basis of the new ordinance.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Yesterday, Watchdog.net sent out a petition to those subscribed to speak out against what seems to be a definite injustice. “Homelessness is not a crime -- neither is feeding the hungry!” their website states. They go on to say that while these laws claim to “prevent government-run anti-homeless programs from being diluted,” the truth is that the reason so many nonprofits and homeless advocates exist is because the system is broken.Some statistics say close to two million people are currently homeless in the United States, and at some point during the course of every year,approximately 3.5 million people experience homelessness. This is a number that the current government run programs can’t seem to handle,and may even be exacerbating as laws are made to control homelessness and implement programs. Further, banning “public food sharing” adds to the criminalization of homelessness that has been occurring in our cities for quite some time. “Cities think by cutting off the food source, it will make the homeless go away,” said the National Coalition for the Homeless’ organizing director, Michael Stoops, “It doesn’t, of course.” It’s not just a problem that can “go away.”
Abbott faces up to 60 days in jail or a $500 fine for his transgression against the ordinance. You may wonder what this has to do with you. Many consider Abbott a hero. He’s stated more than once that he will not stop feeding the homeless, and he has gone to court many years in the past (and won!) to fight the law from keeping him from feeding the hungry. He would do it again and he has many supporters.
You may be surprised to find that your city may also consider publicly feeding the homeless a criminal act.According to Mother Jones, 71 cities in 33 states across the nation have also criminalized feeding the homeless.
This is something that the UN finds worrisome. In a human rights report, the UN points out that the criminalization of homelessness “raises concerns of discrimination and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” It’s baffling and incomprehensible, “that people can be without shelter in a country, and then be treated as criminals for being without shelter," states Sir Nigel Rodley, human rights lawyer and member of the UN Human Rights Committee. And then for those to help them to be treated as criminals, too? Abbott told the Sun-Sentinel that "a policeman pulled [his] arm and said, 'Drop that plate right now,' like it was a gun."
The homeless have become marginalized and are often treated as an eyesore instead of the humans that they are. Charity work is much needed, “essential,” according to Watchdog.net. “Charity work like sharing food with the homeless is essential in a country where protecting the poor and needy is never at the top of the list, and is found to help those without shelter get back on their feet.” Nixing such programs can snap the lifeline of those who would not otherwise have any resources at all. It’s important to speak up to this and to help find solutions. Watchdog.net’s petition is one small step in the right direction, as is getting letters in to the governmental offices of each of the cities that have criminalized homelessness.
The city of Ft. Lauderdale recently enacted an ordinance banning the feeding of the homeless in public places. 90-year-old Arnold Abbott has been doing just that for over 20 years, and his arrest made headlines around the country. On December 3,...
on.aol.com
Last month, a 90-year old-veteran named Arnold Abbott was arrested, twice in one week, for feeding the homeless. It wasn’t something he had done on a whim, nor was it some charitable holiday tradition that put him up to it. For 23 years he’d met many of the local homeless community in local parks through his nonprofit organization, Love Thy Neighbor Inc., but the City of Fort Lauderdale Commission had recently passed an ordinance that “banned public food sharing.” This meant that more than once, Abbott was arrested, cited, and his efforts were shut down on the basis of the new ordinance.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Yesterday, Watchdog.net sent out a petition to those subscribed to speak out against what seems to be a definite injustice. “Homelessness is not a crime -- neither is feeding the hungry!” their website states. They go on to say that while these laws claim to “prevent government-run anti-homeless programs from being diluted,” the truth is that the reason so many nonprofits and homeless advocates exist is because the system is broken.Some statistics say close to two million people are currently homeless in the United States, and at some point during the course of every year,approximately 3.5 million people experience homelessness. This is a number that the current government run programs can’t seem to handle,and may even be exacerbating as laws are made to control homelessness and implement programs. Further, banning “public food sharing” adds to the criminalization of homelessness that has been occurring in our cities for quite some time. “Cities think by cutting off the food source, it will make the homeless go away,” said the National Coalition for the Homeless’ organizing director, Michael Stoops, “It doesn’t, of course.” It’s not just a problem that can “go away.”
Abbott faces up to 60 days in jail or a $500 fine for his transgression against the ordinance. You may wonder what this has to do with you. Many consider Abbott a hero. He’s stated more than once that he will not stop feeding the homeless, and he has gone to court many years in the past (and won!) to fight the law from keeping him from feeding the hungry. He would do it again and he has many supporters.
You may be surprised to find that your city may also consider publicly feeding the homeless a criminal act.According to Mother Jones, 71 cities in 33 states across the nation have also criminalized feeding the homeless.
This is something that the UN finds worrisome. In a human rights report, the UN points out that the criminalization of homelessness “raises concerns of discrimination and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” It’s baffling and incomprehensible, “that people can be without shelter in a country, and then be treated as criminals for being without shelter," states Sir Nigel Rodley, human rights lawyer and member of the UN Human Rights Committee. And then for those to help them to be treated as criminals, too? Abbott told the Sun-Sentinel that "a policeman pulled [his] arm and said, 'Drop that plate right now,' like it was a gun."
The homeless have become marginalized and are often treated as an eyesore instead of the humans that they are. Charity work is much needed, “essential,” according to Watchdog.net. “Charity work like sharing food with the homeless is essential in a country where protecting the poor and needy is never at the top of the list, and is found to help those without shelter get back on their feet.” Nixing such programs can snap the lifeline of those who would not otherwise have any resources at all. It’s important to speak up to this and to help find solutions. Watchdog.net’s petition is one small step in the right direction, as is getting letters in to the governmental offices of each of the cities that have criminalized homelessness.
*originally published on the now defunct Examiner.com
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