Protesters tell mayor, cops:
'Hands off the homeless'
By G.
Dunkel
New York
"If the baby Jesus had been born in Bethlehem under
Giuliani's reign, he would have been put in foster care," is
how the Rev. Al Sharpton summed up New York Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani's attack on homeless families.
More than 2,000 people came out to historic Union Square
Dec. 5 on a fine Sunday afternoon to protest the new rules
requiring homeless people to work for their cots-- which they
will only get for 90 days.
The heads of families who can't work, or refuse to, will
have their children seized and placed into foster care.
Two busloads of homeless people came from Philadelphia to
show their solidarity with the struggle for justice in New
York.
Speakers made the point that they not only need shelter, but
also decent jobs and the right to live with dignity.
A homeless Vietnam vet who works, but doesn't make enough to
pay New York rents, said, "Giuliani wants you to lose your job
so you can work for your bed." He went on to say, "Soon the
largest shelter in New York will be Rikers Island." Rikers is
the city prison.
Cops have arrested over 200 homeless people, often roughing
them up. But then New York cops are notorious for their
insensitivity and their racist, sexist, anti-gay and anti-poor
attitudes.
Joseph Camp is a retired teacher who worked in France and
Africa and lives in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood in
Manhattan. Camp volunteers as a tutor in a homeless project. He
said: "Most of the kids want to learn and work. But it's a hard
environment for anybody to learn in."
About 100 to 200 people, including a number of families,
undertook an all-night vigil in Union Square as an extended
form of protest.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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