To State the Obvious
We all know that words can be dangerous. We may not all like to admit it, but we all actually do agree. Don’t cuss in front of granny or at church. Don’t talk about religion or politics at the dinner table. Don’t tell your boss to eat shit. Legally, of course, there’s Oliver Wendell Holmes’ “shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theater,” the fighting words doctrine, slander and libel laws. We all behave according to versions of these because we all know that certain ideas expressed in certain instances can become a physical reality.
But this isn’t only true for destructive ideas. It can be true for constructive ones, as well. For example, shouting “Fire!” when the crowded theater is actually on fire. This idea is very simple, but we never quite arrive at it because there is societal disagreement on what is or isn’t destructive and constructive. That disagreement shows up with the people who have the money and power.
Black people, we understand this by default. Disproportionate policing, arrests, convictions, sentences and death penalties will all clearly tell you that powerful white people in this country believe the destruction of Black people is constructive. We, naturally, disagree.
A fundamental part of this is that these powerful whites may not even be capable of caring. When you build a society in which certain classes are protected from certain harms, members of those classes tend to end up in charge. Those types of leaders tend to view societal harms as trivial differences of opinion, aligning their priorities with cruelty rather than solutions.
The current homelessness crisis is a perfect example of this. Many local leaders shrug it off as a national problem, like it’s too big and confusing for cities and towns to solve. Like it’s some sort of unfathomable labyrinthine knot that no solution could ever be thorough enough to untie. The opposite is true.
First of all, we already have a price tag. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, it would cost the country $20 billion to end homelessness. Luckily, President Biden just begged Congress for $100 billion to solve the problem. Just kidding. He did ask for that amount of money, but it was to give to Israel to incinerate more Palestinian children.
In Maine, leadership thinks the solution to homelessness is police raiding encampments and throwing away the belongings of anyone experiencing homelessness. They call this “sweeps” — you know, like getting rid of dirt.
That phrasing is no accident, either. The people who support sweeps, what comes out of their mouths is fucking wild. Some of these goddamn fools are really out here talking about being scared of disease coming from the encampments. Keep in mind, they’re saying it with the same shit-filled mouths they used to use to demand all the businesses and schools open back up in the middle of a pandemic. They’ll also mewl about crime, because they might get robbed, and before their crocodile tears even have a chance to dry, they’re shouting for the police to “sweep” the encampments — robbing everyone there of everything they own.
Obviously, those “people” aren’t looking for real solutions, but are there any? Japan and Finland solved homelessness but, you know, they’re culturally different and stuff. How do you solve this in a country that has whatever’s the opposite of a social safety net?
Well, it turns out there are solutions, and they don’t involve the police throwing away peoples’ entire lives. Just last week, the New York Times published an article explaining how Houston has reduced homelessness by more than 60 percent since 2011. The idea is to get homelessness to a functional zero, meaning when anyone being unhoused is rare and brief.
If that sounds like a pipedream, you should know there are places all across this country that have already reached functional zero. Abilene, TX; Lancaster, PA; Bergen County, NJ; Rockford, Winnebago and Boone Counties, IL; and Bakersfield/Kern County, CA, are the top five.
So, why not Portland? The places I just listed range in population from about 58,000 to about 954,000, so that’s not it. The unfortunate truth is that solving Portland’s homelessness problem would mean slightly slowing — not stopping, just slightly slowing — the rate at which the wealthy are pushing everyone else out. If you’ve read this column any time in the last year, then you probably know Portland’s city manager form of government isn’t designed to do that, even if those in charge wanted to, which they absolutely do not. Until that changes, we will continue to be told the lie, by those incapable of caring, that the destruction of others is somehow constructive for you. Even if you’re the one being destroyed.
Samuel James is a musician and storyteller whose work has been featured on The Moth as well as This American Life.
