European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

City of Angels - (graphics heavy)

by Izzy
Tue Oct 24th, 2006 at 02:03:16 PM EST

More news from my hometown in the richest nation on earth.

LOS ANGELES - The early morning light reveals a no loitering sign and a half-dozen people sleeping beneath it in tents on the Skid Row sidewalk.
A few bony men scatter as a police cruiser rolls up. But Glenda Caldwell isn't stirring from beneath her filthy blankets, sprawled beside a shopping cart filled with crumpled cans and paper.
"Where do you want me to pack up and go? To hell?"

It's difficult to convey my feelings when I read yet another article about criminalizing the poor. I get tired of arguing. Tired of hearing about "those people." Tired of hearing how the system is basically fine or that Los Angeles, somehow, isn't really America, even though this is happening in all over the country.

Yet I feel compelled to comment, even while words fail me. Perhaps the eyes and ears work better than the brain as a path to the heart, so here's a song and some pictures.

Heaven, is this heaven?
Heaven, is this heaven?
Heaven, is this heaven where we are?

See them walking,
if you dare ,
if you call that walking.
Stumble, stagger,
fall and drag themselves
along the streets of heaven.

Where is the blessed table
to feed all who hunger on earth,
welcomed and seated
each one joyfully served?

Where is the halo
that should glow 'round your face?
And where are the wings that
should grow from your shoulder blades show them to me

These sobering sights I've seen
in the City of Angels
have all been one rude awakening
that was due to me in this city of fallen angels.

. Home
. About
. Contact
. New User Guide
. FAQ
. Search
. Search (Google)
. Archives (Wiki)
Art, Economics, Energy, Environment, EU Politics, Mech & Tech, By Country

Username:
Password:

. Make a new account
. Reset password

City of Angels - (graphics heavy) | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: City of Angels - (graphics heavy) (4.00 / 2)

All the photos are from flickr. Here's some links (these aren't necessarily the photos in the post, but worth browsing through): kris kros; Shavar; P.S.Zollo; and retro traveller.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Oct 24th, 2006 at 02:09:28 PM EST

It does get to the heart (4.00 / 3)

Thank you, for the space to feel and think.

_Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. --Charu Saxena._

by metavision on Tue Oct 24th, 2006 at 02:32:04 PM EST

Re: It does get to the heart (none / 0)

Thanks, metavision. I'm glad you liked it. The hardest part was deciding what photos not to put in -- I was lost in flickr all day yesterday.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Oct 24th, 2006 at 02:54:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: City of Angels - (graphics heavy) (4.00 / 2)

I actually heard the story about this today on the radio, about hospitals "dumping" homeless patients on skid row. Too depressing...

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

by p------- on Tue Oct 24th, 2006 at 04:18:04 PM EST

Re: City of Angels - (graphics heavy) (none / 1)

I hadn't even seen that! Although it doesn't surprise me...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Homeless_Dumping.html

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Oct 24th, 2006 at 04:30:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: City of Angels - (graphics heavy) (4.00 / 2)

I remember when I went there being vaguely surprised by how common they were even in affluent areas. And realising how little hlp, or hope, there was for any of them.

Even commenting on their existence brought me nothing but grief from my hosts who regarded such as an attack on America or them...or something.

Yet they are images I can't ignore, particularly those of the vets.

I'm not saying the UK is unblemished here, but our system is not so brutal.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Oct 24th, 2006 at 04:58:05 PM EST

Re: City of Angels - (graphics heavy) (none / 1)

Brutal is exactly the right word -- it is shocking.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Oct 24th, 2006 at 05:25:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Money (none / 0)

is not the solution - commitment is. Whether you are in prison, homeless, disabled, minority or otherwise differentiated from the mainstream, the most important thing is to believe that other people CARE. And I join these categories together provocatively...

There is, in many people ( possibly all), a feeling of being incomplete. None of us is perfect. But being imperfect is not an excuse for remaining so. One can only reach out.

IMO, a sense of belonging - on whatever scale suits you - is one of the most important influences on the development of character.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Wed Oct 25th, 2006 at 04:47:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

devastating (4.00 / 2)

Thank you, Izzy, for giving these people a voice - if only more people would hear it. Great post!

by iamcoyote (iamcoyote at gmail dot com) on Tue Oct 24th, 2006 at 07:46:42 PM EST

Action (4.00 / 4)

no one have to be spectator, you can act !
In each of your cities there are organization that need you help, not only with you money but with your skills (more important).

i am on the street 2 days a month but more importantly i use my skills by creating businesses, finding finances and partnerships, providing training.

last month, 2 of our friends left the street and started their own business (professional services,office cleaning), already get a close to average income and are more than happy to have debts to repay.

you can not imagine how easy it was.

they all can leave the street.

by fredouil (fredouil@gmailgmailgmail.com) on Tue Oct 24th, 2006 at 09:46:36 PM EST

Re: Action (none / 0)

That's great news, fredouil! Thanks so much for your encouragment and enthusiasm.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Oct 24th, 2006 at 10:52:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

There is a pattern all over the world, history (4.00 / 2)

In a condition of wealth disparity, those seeking wealth migrate as closely as possible to concentrations of same.

Some lucky few are let into the kingdom of gold; the rest dash their hands and heads against the closed gilded grating.

The accumulation of want and suffering and despair at the footsteps might well bother the insiders, who endeavor to keep the portal to their city of gold nice and shiny and free of squatters.

And so long as they do not change the basic condition of wealth disparity, to reduce both the appetite and incentive to squat before the closed gates of the city of gold, guess what?

There will continue to be squatters before the closed gates of the city of gold, no matter how much force and denial is applied against people whose first, worst crime is wanting to be part of the prosperous society that wants nothing to do with them.

It is no accident that super-wealth and abject poverty are a seemingly inseparable pair of twins, or that the rich seek to retreat as far as possible from populated areas, or that wherever the wealth goes, no matter how remote a locale, given sufficient time a new population center will arise, and the entire process starts over again.

Have Keyboard. Will Travel. :)

by cskendrick (cs ke nd ri c k @h ot m ail dot c om) on Wed Oct 25th, 2006 at 11:37:01 AM EST

Re: City of Angels - (graphics heavy) (4.00 / 2)

I remember the day I began to hate Ronald Reagan. It was the day I realized how much he had contributed to the dehumanization of other Americans by promoting policies that increased homelessness. It was the day I came up the escalator from the DC Metro into the middle of the Mall and saw multiple homeless men and women huddled over grates for warmth. I was a visitor in a city I had lived in 6 years before. WhileI lived there most people on the mall were tourists. I left DC when Reagan was elected. It was a shock to see how things had changed during his presidency.

So I can relate to your feelings of anger that are intricately connected to your affection for a city in which you once lived.

by Maryb2004 on Thu Oct 26th, 2006 at 12:37:01 AM EST

Re: City of Angels - (graphics heavy) (none / 0)

Oh, I have to heartily agree with the Reagan hating -- the loathing runs deep. And for much the same reason -- homelessness and, lest we forget, AIDS. I have to bite my tongue when I hear the younguns say "but he wasn't as bad as Bush." He did so much to push complete selfishness and callous disregard for one's fellow man that it was breathtaking. And sold it all with a dopey smile, too. Asshole.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Oct 26th, 2006 at 01:28:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: City of Angels - (graphics heavy) (3.00 / 2)

I don't want to go on record as a Reagan defender, but keep in mind that the "turn the homeless people onto the streets" concept was also strongly supported by advocates for the mentally ill. It was a bad idea all around, and one that is still troubling. How do you resolve the question of involuntary confinement of someone who is non-violent but mentally incompetent (as defined by the rest of society). If someone wants to sleep in the park and drink his social security money, who is to say that this is wrong?

by asdf on Fri Oct 27th, 2006 at 10:52:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: City of Angels - (graphics heavy) (none / 0)

Would you do it on a regular basis? If I reached that level of un-ease, I hope someone would try to stop me.

_Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. --Charu Saxena._

by metavision on Fri Oct 27th, 2006 at 01:59:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: City of Angels - (graphics heavy) (none / 1)

I don't normally get involved in comment rating discussions, but in this case I would ask that Poemless do a bit of investigation into the history of the treatment of mental illness in the U.S.

The number of people institutionalized decreased constantly after the Second World War, partly due to the work of patient advocates and partly because government cheapskates saw it as a way to save money. Reagan was one of the latter, but it is simplistic to think that he was a jerk who hated crazy people. This issue has been discussed in the legal system at great length, and at this point it is extremely difficult to put someone in an institution without their permission.

In L.C. v. Olmstead, 527 U.S. 581 (1999), the United States Supreme Court ruled that placing in institutional facilities individuals with disabilities who are capable of living in community settings constitutes a form of discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 42 U.S.C. § 12132. In so ruling, the Court gave great power to the "integration mandate" found in Title II of the ADA that applies to state entities. It requires that public entities administer programs, "in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities." 28 CFR § 35.130. The Court also recognized Congress's intent to set forth a "comprehensive view of the concept of discrimination" in the ADA that does not require a demonstration that people with disabilities were treated differently than a comparison class of individuals with no disabilities. Olmstead, 527 U.S. 581, 598. In this case, segregation of persons with disabilities in institutions (and the consequences of that segregation) was viewed as inherently discriminatory.

http://www.law.uh.edu/healthlaw/news/01-2002.pdf

by asdf on Sat Oct 28th, 2006 at 01:23:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: City of Angels - (graphics heavy) (none / 1)

I rated you a 2 because of this comment:

"If someone wants to sleep in the park and drink his social security money, who is to say that this is wrong?"

The assertion that they want to live this way is a standard argument made by the right to avoid taking any responsibility for their fellow citizens. While their are many caring and professional people working in it, the mental health industry itself is just a step above the prison guards at Abu Graib, IMO, but I've been through it and I've known the people who are dumped on the streets, and I can tell you, this is not how they want to live. What they want is dignity.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

by p------- on Sat Oct 28th, 2006 at 01:30:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: City of Angels - (graphics heavy) (4.00 / 2)

You're correct in that the left was indeed involved in the fiasco. They were pushing the idea of "mainstreaming," which is to say they wanted people in apartment or communal settings or halfway house type arrangements rather than being "warehoused" I think was the buzz word.

However, the people pushing this idea were not in power as far as being able to implement their ideas to replace it. The left acknowledged all along that mainstreaming would have been more expensive. The notion was siezed on by the right and used as an excuse to CUT funding and close mental health facilities. This was in no way, shape, or form the goal of the left.

And I saw the right do this, led by one Governor Ronald Reagan, all over California before he took his shit national and the rest of the country started following suit. Not only do I blame Reagan for this, I blame him even more for selling it.

He's directly responsible for spreading this bullshit lie and making sure it seeped into the national dialogue: If someone wants to sleep in the park and drink his social security money, who is to say that this is wrong?

Congrats. You couldn't have said it better if Peggy Noonan had written it for you. It's nothing but convenient way to let the stupid and unthinking sleep at night without spending too much time wondering why they're stepping over families on their way to work.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Oct 28th, 2006 at 03:30:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: City of Angels - (graphics heavy) (none / 1)

Thanks izzy...good reminder of what's not usually in the msm...

if it were not for all the attention given to katrina, i think many people worldwide would still be believing the myth that unrestrained capitalism is a golden goose that benefits all levels and classes of society.

wrong....

the unglamorous underbelly is what you have portrayed here.

slightly ot, but did anyone see that horrifying documentary on the people who live in the rat-infested sewer system of new york?

totally nightmarish, and the amazing thing was how organised they were down there, and how accepting the inhabitants were of their lot.

meanwhile the media is full of lying ads for 'lifestyles', instead of shaming the gvts and people who van perpetuate social systems which permit and foster this inequality and lack of compassion.

well done for trying to redress the balance.

"These days, there's nothing more ridiculous than the truth." Leonard Pitts Jr

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Thu Oct 26th, 2006 at 04:35:38 AM EST

City of Angels - (graphics heavy) | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Go to: [ European Tribune Homepage : Top of page : Top of comments ]