The other day I posted about Sacramento, and its treatment of the ever-increasing homeless population there. Homeless people are arrested, and their meager belongings held as evidence. The crime? Being homeless.
I thought I'd seen and heard it all.
Then I read about Honolulu. This little bit of paradise holds the #8 spot the list of Top 10 Meanest Cities towards the homeless. But it seems this dubious honor has gone unnoticed by city counselors.
You see, just this week they introduced a bill to prevent the homeless from sitting or lying down on Oahu sidewalks. Not people, just the homeless. It appears that Honolulu City Councilors feel that keeping homeless people out of sight is good for tourism. Maybe yes, maybe no, but what does it do for homeless people, other than shuttle them around like they don't exist or don't matter?
It's a disgrace that in this country we treat our citizens this way. it's a disgrace.
And in further efforts to keep the homeless moving along, Honolulu has been systematically removing benches from parks, retrofitting bus stops and installing concrete stools. Anything to hide the homeless from the tourists and make paradise seem, well, like paradise.
This new legislation, introduced by Councilman Charles K. Djou, comes on the heels of another outrageous piece of legislation, dubbed the "Body Odor Bill".
You read it right. Body.odor.Bill. It is designed to prevent people with a body odor from riding on public transportation. Luckily, this piece of asshattery legislation was quickly withdrawn.
It's insane that we treat people this way. many of these people are mentally ill, or have addiction problems and they could use help, not intimidation. They could use a place to stay instead of being told to move along or get off the bus.
This is disgusting.
This isn't paradise.
And this shouldn't be happening in America.
