The homeless should not live in silence
The city is a fast moving place. Most of the people who inhabit the city all have a place to be and pressing tasks to accomplish, but one group of people stands still: the homeless.
According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, over 36,000 people in the city of Los Angeles are homeless as of 2019. This is a whole community of people whose voices are silenced by the media just because it makes people uncomfortable to see how they live.
How many films can you name that are devoted to those in America who are living without a home? The closest form of media I can recall is one I learned in a history class. Jacob Riis published “How the Other Half Lives” in 1890, a photojournalistic piece that captures how people lived in New York’s slums.
These films about homelessness do exist, but they are not well known. For example, “Lost Angels : Skid Row is my Home” is a 2010 documentary following eight homeless people living in Los Angeles. “Los Angeles’ Skid Row is home to one of the largest homeless populations in the United States” according to an organization known as Haven Toronto.
I have been a witness to homelessness in every major city I have visited, including Los Angeles. I have seen homeless people talk gibberish to themselves, scream in the middle of the street and pretend to be a bush only to startle people who walk by.
It is clear to see that a significant portion of these people are mentally disabled. As I watch them suffer all alone, I imagine what there life must have been like. Have they always been like this? Did they have the support they needed growing up? Who abandoned them?
However, I have also seen homeless people who do not have severe mental disabilities. I can tell by the way they mope when they sit on the side of the street with the cardboard sign pleading for financial help. They are aware of the situation they are in.
Mentally disabled or not, these people need our recognition. The media should know the importance of preventing homelessness considering the center of the film industry is surrounded by thousands of homeless people.
On an individual level, the homeless need our support, or our kindness at least. Mental illness is not a laughing matter, especially when it comes to those who have been left with nothing. Respect them by not joking about their suffering. If you ever walk by a homeless person who is not mentally ill, give them a smile and a small donation if you are feeling generous. It goes a long way.
These people deserve respect and a voice. The homeless, like anyone else, do not deserve to suffer in silence.
