Memphis officials scrooge over the homeless for the holidays

Late last week, an alert on the Catholic Worker e-list caught my attention. The subject line of “War on homeless accelerated in Memphis” grabbed my attention by itself, but given that we just had the annual Jesus Radicals conference in that city, I was even more intrigued. I was sad to read the following message, but glad to see that the Memphis Catholic Worker is doing what they can to challenge this kind of blatant injustice.

Yesterday (Dec. 3) Memphis police began handing out little business sized cards to homeless persons telling them to go to a particular “service provider” for help to get off the streets. Few went rightly fearing it was a set up. At the same time, the police told homeless people that starting next Wednesday, Dec. 9th, they would arrest anyone found sleeping outside or in abandoned buildings, confiscate their belongings and take them to jail. All of this in a city with NO free shelter, NO city run shelter at all, widespread destruction of public housing, and a severe lack of other services for homeless persons to help them get off the streets…

It is bad enough that the celebration of the birth of Jesus has turned into such a capitalist money fest. It is bad enough that Advent (waiting for the Incarnated One) has turned into the period of pushing, rushing and waiting in long shopping lines. It is bad enough that we are pressured to define our love for one another by how big and expensive a gift we can squeeze into boxes. It is bad enough that Christmas has turned into a time of incredible greed and incredible waste. But to criminalize those who have been chewed up and left to fend for themselves during the season in which we give thanks and praise for Jesus’ entrance into this world as a homeless infant–well, it just adds insult to injury.

If you feel compelled to learn more about or help resist the callous treatment of people whose only “crime” is that they do not have a home, please visit the Memphis Catholic Worker Web site.

Illustration by Eric Drooker.

Tags: current events, police