Allow me to introduce you to Jed. He's quite a character, and I think you would really take a shining to him. At first glance, Jed will admit that he's a little rough around the edges; he's not the type to go out of his way to hide the handiwork of Father Time. His mannerisms, too, will betray the fact that his time on earth has not exactly been \a walk on the beach,"" as he describes it. You would think that someone who served as a light infantryman in the Army's famed 1st division in Vietnam could, with absolute certainty, tell you that his worst days were behind him. But that's not the case with Jed. His hardest day is always tomorrow, and with a Wisconsin winter on the way, it's not going to get any easier. Why? Because Jed is one of the 2,000 homeless people in Dane County.
Nearly every social ill that has lingered in America has done so because of the persistence of stereotypes. Stereotypes of African-Americans that are unconscionable today festered openly just 50 years ago. Just 20 years ago a swath of America believed that AIDS was an epidemic only amongst homosexuals. Stereotypes are anathema to any progress towards resolving social ills, and in this respect homelessness is no different. What is different about homelessness, however, is that even after the 50 years of the great social movements that shook America, the stereotypes of the homeless that were common in 1954 are still common in 2004.
Even on this campus, where in the 1960s intrepid young Badgers bussed en masse to confront Jim Crow laws, we allow one word to characterize the entire homeless population of Madison: lazy. The most prevalent stereotype of the homeless is that they are the segment of society that is just too lazy to keep a job.
The argument usually goes something like this: ""Why should we help or care about the homeless? It's not really that hard to keep a job; I have a job while somehow, miraculously managing to go to school. Why should I give them my money when they are just going to spend it on liquor?""
Looking at the statistics, it looks like our stereotype rings true-only 20 percent of the homeless are employed. The rest, it seems, are simply lazy children, mentally handicapped citizens who are too lazy to work, and, of course, the veterans who managed to get off their asses, were spoiled in the jungles of Vietnam and then returned too lazy to work.
Of the 2,000 homeless people in Dane County, 35 percent are children. Odds are that one in four of the men who ask for change on State Street have served in our armed forces, and a third of them took part in ""engagements against an armed enemy."" Up to 22 percent of the homeless are mentally handicapped. The homeless population of Dane County are not monolithic, and it should not be judged as such. It is undeniable there are those who will take your quarter and do nothing more than buy a beer, but the overwhelming majority of the homeless are our most vulnerable and our most venerable.
Most Americans realize that homelessness is a problem, but often the prescribed remedies are just as harmful and demeaning as the problem itself. Solutions have been offered based upon a formula of helping those who are most likely to be able to one day give back what we have given them. Think of it as calculating an investment. The impetus behind this is the desire to create a system that isn't a black hole for funding and where tactile results are seen.
However, if we claim homelessness is a problem that should be addressed through the prism of reciprocity, then our laissez-faire economics has indeed produced a climate of laissez-faire morality. What does it say about a society which takes a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately approach toward its veterans, who have already given more than we can ask? What does it say about an America that decides which homeless families and children receive attention based upon their potential? Why can't we help the homeless because they need our help?
Well, some students are doing just this. The Madison Warming Center Campaign was created last winter in response to two Dane County citizens freezing to death. The short-term goal of the all-volunteer effort is to create an emergency warming shelter for this winter, and the long-term goal is to make it permanent. They have proposed the city should buy a vacant building from an owner willing to contribute it for the cause, and apparently they already have some viable prospects lined up. In a dramatic exercise of old-fashioned values, members of the campaign show up and, according to UW-Madison Freshman Ben Spies, ""Contribute what they can to the project ... because we believe the homeless problem shouldn't be ignored, and we have a responsibility as humans to help out all we can.""
The idea of helping because we can brings me back to Jed. He returned from Vietnam traumatized from the experience, and settled in Kansas, close to his old army base. Having no degree of any kind, he was a member of the ""working poor,"" Americans who live hand-to-mouth, paycheck to paycheck. He admits that he made a few mistakes, but mostly hit a patch of bad luck starting with frequent problems with his back.
To make a long story short, he's now homeless in Dane County at an age when most people retire. He's run up his limit in the homeless shelters. He asks for money not because he is lazy, but because he's got nowhere left to turn. He and most of the other 2,000 homeless people in Dane County are asking for some help so they can live as normal Americans. I don't think that's too tall of an order for our city and our campus, and I don't think it's too much to ask.
opinion@dailycardinal.com.
