Editor:
My name is Brielle Thomas and I am a student at Redwood Coast Montessori in Arcata. Since the beginning of the school year, there have been a lot of weird looking vans sitting outside the school and people camping in tents. I am worried that something bad might happen to the students. I feel that the city should do more to help them (Mailbox, Jan. 12).
I see that they are giving out free phones to the homeless people but I think we should do more because some of the homeless people leave trash around the city and steal shopping carts from stores. These people are struggling with money and some might be facing depression. Some of them do drugs and that’s their choice. Some of them just don’t have the resources to get an apartment. However, maybe if we help them out more, the city can look better and feel safer. I want homeless people to have somewhere to stay instead of sleeping out on the streets so they have a warm place to be safe. It is very sad to see them out in the cold rain every day.
I think that the city should focus on creating more spaces for these people to live so they can get back on their feet. This would make a better environment for all the people in the city and it would make all of us feel a lot safer than we do now. Doing this would mean a lot to all the people in the city and to me.
Brielle Mya Thomas, Arcata
This article appears in Anatomy of an Embezzlement.
Thank you for this, Brielle. I am currently homeless in Arcata, and I feel you feeling our pain. Homelessness is a crisis, sometimes for the homeless, but more often than not homelessness is a crisis for the homed.
And from the homed…the homeless are an amalgamation of circumstances coming to a head. Criminalization of homelessness rather than curing it hits home for all of us. The lagging economy lifts fewer and fewer boats each high tide. Drugs and alcohol reach the homeless because the homed provide the manufacture and pathways to access. A very small percentage of crime comes from the homeless, same with the production and build up of trash. We are front an emer ad easy scapegoats for a society tht thrives on blaming others and never learning its lesson.
The most dire need is found in the tendency for homelessness to be a dumping ground for the mentally ill too peaceful to be put in jail. Back in the late ’70’s and early ’80’s, mental illness became a crime rather than a health and wellness issue. Mental institutions were closed, and those who didn’t end up in jail, ended up on the streets. Most if not all are unique in their personal expression and backstory, but few are ever a threat, even to themselves. In my experience they either don’t know they’re mentally ill, or they do and don’t hide it and openly cope with it.
Some are here because of financial ruin, by nature of the boom bust economy, and by nurture of poor spending habits. Some are here because of drugs and alcohol, but most of these are elf medicating a mental or emotional trauma, and/or physical pain. Some are criminals on the run or fresh out of jail and in limbo. And there’s people like me, who choose to be here with no underlying circumstances. I choose not to have a job and pay taxes into the system. So I accept the consequences and live for free.
The homeless are a community, and openness is part of it like blue is to sky. We do tend to respect private spots, but few things are hidden amongst us, and this results in a more mature, personalized approach to any given situation. We see the same handful of people coalescing around the same areas with generally repetitive intents, day in and day out. We have few, if any, places to run and hide on a bad day, and our mental and emotional states are broadcast for all to see, and help, and learn from.
I am planning to speak at the Arcata city council at the upcoming meeting. I will be addressing my experiences and highlighting comments and concerns I have heard. I also plan to read your letter to the editor, so thank you again for providing the perfect personal touch to my logical approach.
Ryan Greenwood
Arcata