Hundreds of people were yelling at the Mayor of Anaheim: “We should take up arms and take the law into our own hands”. “We should register and badge them so we know who they are” (like the Jews in Germany). “One flare should take care of the whole thing.” Online posts say things like “Grind them up and feed them to other homeless people” and just “Soylent Green.”
The hate mongers have come out to play like in the cult movie “The Warriors.” Clink empty beer bottles together and screech – “Homeless people come out to play, homeless people come out to play.”
“Anaheim City Council Now Declaring War on Homeless” was the battle cry, as well as the verbiage used in many headlines, and the war continues to grow in scope day by day till it has been a county wide cry. Forces are assembling from many cities to attack the homeless people, forcing them to move to nowhere. The police are loading their guns, checking their handcuffs, polishing their nightsticks, and charging their tasers ready to engage the homeless people and punish them. Under orders directed in collusion with city councils plus the OC Board of Supervisors the police are set to punish them for being homeless, how dare they be homeless people?
The madness of war continued last Friday, as they push them from place to place hoping perhaps they will just fade away or die. They will again move an encampment of hundreds of people from the River Bed near Harbor Blvd and Warner Avenue. Of course they have a place for them to go with a warm bed, proper restrooms and showers, nutritious food and water… Are you kidding?
Pack up your stuff and get out, sharp stone, cuff, kick, threaten, curse and hate.
Let’s look at former hit lists in America. First it was the American Indians, then the Catholics, then the Black slaves (the never ending hit list), then the Irish/German immigrants, then the Jews and Chinese. Today it is the Latinos or anyone that looks vaguely from south of the border, Muslims or anyone that looks in any way Arabic, and of course, “of course”, the fragile target, the target of the heartless, the homeless people.
Why pick on the people that can fight back when you can target your anger at the most vulnerable among us, the weakest that can’t fight back. That is why the cowards target the homeless people.
Hate is alive and well in America. Where are the people with heart, the people that stand with the righteous to stop this war? It seems that in America today we are fighting a losing battle against hate.
Many seem to scream the rebel battle cry, but I just cry for what we have become.
Mike Robbins is a 56 year resident of Orange County. He is a member of Housing is a Human Right OC and The People’s Homeless Task Force.
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