The least of my brothers

7th November 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor

At least twice a year — at the approach of summer and winter — I try to remember to pause and say a prayer for the city’s homeless population. It is at these two times of year that I imagine life must be hardest for those with no place to call home, get a nourishing meal or take a hot bath. I can’t even fathom having to sleep under a bridge or on a sidewalk in these oppressive conditions.

But imagine being told that you don’t even deserve to sleep under a bridge. Actually, you don’t have to imagine it, because that’s precisely what the Landrieu administration recently told those poor souls who were living under the Pontchartrain Expressway.

Today, in keeping with Mayor Landrieu’s efforts to prevent, reduce and end homelessness in New Orleans, the City announced that it has housed homeless individuals formerly living under Pontchar­train Expressway near Calliope and Baronne Street,” Landrieu press secretary Ryan Berni wrote on October 27.

“[A]pproximately 85 homeless individuals were moved into respite housing to await admission to permanent supportive housing, 20 were placed in shelters, and 10 were placed on buses to be reunited with family or friends in other cities,” Berni continued.

“This is a positive first step in what we hope is a permanent housing solution for many of these individuals,” said Mayor Mitch Landrieu. “Ultimately our goal is to make sure that all New Orleanians have a place they can call home, and that our city is clean and safe.”

Sorry, but I ain’t buying none of that. Especially since the same press release an­nounced that the homeless will not be allowed to return to the area to sleep or camp and that the city’s Department of Sani­tation “will monitor and remove any mattresses, chairs or other items, as well as pressure wash the area.”

One might have been tempted to believe the mayor’s heart was in the right place when he came up with or endorsed this plan if the plan hadn’t included orders to prevent the homeless from returning by erecting a fence around the area so smoothly and quickly.

It didn’t help that the media was invited to capture images of city sanitation workers getting rid of the belongings these poor souls left behind, driving home the point that these were disposable, throwaway people that elected officials don’t have to treat like human beings.

These, after all, weren’t property-owning, tax-paying citizens with inalienable rights. These are the dregs of society, America’s version of the “untouchables” of India.

Out of sight, out of mind, right? Wrong.

Of course, we are supposed to believe that the removal of those 85 human beings from the Pontchartrain Expressway had nothing to do with the fact that hundreds of thousands of tourists are headed to the City That Care Forgot over the next few months for the Sugar Bowl, BCS Football Cham­pionship, New Orleans Bowl, Mardi Gras and the NCAA Men’s Basket­ball Final Four. God forbid that they come here and see that people are living destitute lives and setting up camp under bridges. What kind of impression of the city and its elected officials would that make on visitors to a city that prides itself as being warm, friendly and hospitable?

For the record, this wasn’t the first time the city’s homeless was mistreated, pushed around and herded from place to place like cattle by elected officials. There was the quiet effort to discourage them from frequenting the ritzy end of Canal Street as that area was undergoing an extreme makeover to attract more affluent shoppers. There was the move on the part of Council­woman Jackie Clarkson, who decided to place dividers on benches in the French Quarter years ago to prevent the homeless from sleeping on them. Then there were the eviction of the homeless from Duncan Plaza across from City Hall four years ago after which a chain-link fence was summarily put up and the removal of the homeless from under the Claiborne Avenue Overpass several years ago.

While there are a number of groups whose mission it is to help the homeless, they can’t do it alone. These homeless shelters are likely to be overcrowded and severely underfunded. And some of those living on the streets of New Orleans are simply not ready or equip­ped to live in a structured living facility. Why else would so many of them make it clear that they prefer to live under a bridge?

It may be overwhelming to see that there is so much suffering, misery and desolation in the world, but when we refused to treat the homeless like living, breathing human beings we push them further to the fringes of society.

As children of God, they deserve to be treated with love, patience, respect and dignity.

Shame on those elected officials who see nothing wrong with the way this city has treated the homeless for decades. The rise in home foreclosures, skyrocketing unemployment rates and unprecedented levels of poverty in the United States should drive home the point that “there but for the grace of God go the rest of us.”

It is unfathomable that any human being who believes in a Higher Power and the idea of a Day of Reckoning where each of us will be held accountable for our deeds would think that there is nothing wrong with the way the homeless are treated in this city.

How can we even fix our mouths to proclaim our love for God who we cannot see while doing such a poor job of loving, caring for and helping our brothers and sisters that we see struggling every day?

If nothing else motivates us to do better, may we find the will to do the right thing in the scripture that implores each of us to love our brothers and sisters as we love ourselves and a hymn with a compelling message from the Creator:

“Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.”

Hotep.

This article was originally published in the November 7, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper