Article Response by Feng

SS245

Ms. Greco

4/19/2011 Tues.

Response for the article “In High School and Alone in a Homeless Shelter” By Andrew Keh (January 26, 2011)

It is one of the neediest cases on the New York Times. Thakane Masondo, 18, was born in New York City, but she was not brought up by her mother, instead she grew up in South Africa with relatives. Her mother returned her to Harlem and Thakane went to Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem when she was 16. Her mom lived with her for a short period of time but did not trust her own daughter which was very disorienting to Thakane. With nowhere to turn, Thakane ended up in a homeless shelter in Bronx when she was 18. She was the youngest person there and often finished her homework on the hallway floor after the lights had been turned off in the sleeping quarters.

Thakane Masondo's story really struck me. But even more heartbreaking is what she said during that interview. “I kept asking myself, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ ” she said. I think Thakane’s situation is even worse than those orphans. She has a mom who lives close by but she can not get any love from her. The feeling of being discarded by parents must hurts deeply and she kept asking herself why this is happening. I can’t believe the stress and how hard she must struggle to keep herself going to class each day. It’s terrible how some parents can be so heartless to let their children live on the street and not keep in contact with them.

Despite all the problems Thakane is still performing well at school. “She plays lacrosse, belongs to the global history club and is the founder of a dance group that performed at the Apollo Theater. She has a playful sense of humor and a mischievous smile.” With the help from Adulthood program of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, Thakane was able pay for SAT exam and apply for college. It’s inspirational to hear of a student at such a young age who can keep herself afloat with all the problems surrounding her and to find the motivation to get her diploma and who is trying to go to college.

I believe Thakane can achieve her dream of going to college and may even do better than her classmate. But one thing that makes me sad is that most likely there is already a scar in her heart and it will hurt whenever she touches it. Just like what she said at the end of the interview: “I don’t like not liking my mother, but I don’t like her,” she said, her eyes fixed to the floor. “I pray that I like her. I don’t know how I feel about her.” She paused. “Maybe I’m upset,” she continued finally. “I don’t know. No, I don’t think I’m upset. Well, maybe I’m upset.” We can do all the things to help homeless people, but what’s hurting inside is hard to heal for them.

Article Response by Bruno

Photography and Human Condition

HOMELESS ARTICLE

            The article that I read is called “Attacks on the homeless rise, with youths mostly to blame,” by Amy Green.  In the article Amy is talking about how there is a lot of violence going on in the streets with homeless people involved.  But the homeless are not the ones causing the violence, they are being victims of violent acts by people going by. Some people are beating them up, spitting at them and screaming at them for no reason what so ever. But the majority of the violence is being caused by teenagers who are still in high school and is hanging out at night with friends.

            In this article Amy Green shows a story of a teenager, who at the time was 15 years old, attacked a homeless veteran that was in the streets. Warren Messner was with some friends and they beat Michael Roberts and left him on the street to die. Messner was sentenced to 22 years in jail, and now three years after the committed crime he says, “ it was just a senseless crime”,  following with, “ I wish it would have never happened. It made no sense. It was stupidity.” Only speaking to his parents once in a while, Warren with arms filled with gangster tattoos is now claiming he is regretting what he have done.

            In my opinion 22 years is not enough. Michael Roberts will never come back no matter what because of actions taken by teenagers that were trying to smoke marijuana in the streets at night and decided to play with another person’s life. Now after three years in jail Messner confesses to regret all the actions taken that night. But only because he was caught. Who guarantees that he would regret those actions even if he was not caught. He could just go on and live his life normally like nothing had happened.

            Of 147 unprovoked attack on homeless  people in 2007, about 32 were in Florida. Florida has a lot of these attacks on homeless. Other stories mentioned by Amy Green in this article were the ones about the group of kids caught on camera in Fort Lauderdale beating a homeless person with a baseball bat. They went around and beat three homeless that night killing one. Drugs and influence are great factors of this brutal act. Teen agers are going around at night and when they see someone that they think that will not react and nothing will happen to them, they take advantage and do as they will with that person.  “People seem to pick on the most vulnerable because they really think that they won’t do nothing,” said Mr. Siletti who was attacked in the 80s. Teenagers just need to realize that they will also be charged, specially when dealing with such brutality, also understand what is right or wrong, they are not kids anymore.

Article Response by Sonya

S245 Photo

Article Reading (Attack on Homeless Rise, …)

            The article that I read was how the youth of our nation are not educated as well as they should be on the topic of homelessness.  They are attacking unhoused individuals and calling it fun, or like in the article they called it a sport. This is wrong on so many leaves. The boy age 18 who has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for second degree murder the lighter sentence of the four young men.  He said that he regretted doing it and even tried to stop his three friends. The speaker’s bureau in that state has opened a lot more places and they are working with the school system to educate and explain that the biggest population of homeless people is families.  This is due to a group of 10 and 12 year olds attacking a group of homeless people sleeping under a bridge.  One of the 10 year olds picked up a cement block and smashed in one of the man’s heads stated a police officer after viewing the security camera that the kids were caught on. This kind of violence is so wrong and incorrect. What would bring a 10 – 12 year old to drop/throw a rock into another human beings face.  This is why theses states are working with the speakers bureau to educate children in elementary schools all the way into college and higher to show that anyone could end up on the streets. Most people on the streets are well educated people, they are families, and a lot of them served our country and fought for our lives. The main point of this article was to show that not everyone deserves what they get and to treat another human as a toy is not right. Children shouldn’t be going to jail for murder and they shore shouldn’t be beating/killing homeless people. This all goes back to video games, today’s society, and they way we treat teens and young adults. They have way more power and they get it all from the media. But if we use it to show that everyone is the same and they could be the person sleeping under the bridge and getting their face bashed in, that will be when the world will change.

Article Response by Adamis

Life is the most fragile entity I can think of. Anything can happen to anyone at anytime. These events have an impact on regular people that in turn have to deal with it. One thing leads to another, from the loss of a job to an injury and then, where do you go? Family if you have any but if not, then what? The article I read was titled, “Cities Deal with a Surge in Shantytowns” by Jesse McKinley. The article talks about the rise in make shift homes popping up under bridges and such. Issues like the economy and job market are discussed as are initiatives the state of California is implementing to curb the growth of homelessness. What brought warmth to the article were the parts on the individuals and their lives, and the fact that they continue to live as best of lives as they can, regardless of their living conditions.

            The article interviewed a man that had been living in what the media had dubbed Taco Flats. His name was Guillermo Flores and he had been living there for eight months in a three room shack he built himself. He collected cans during the day which brought him five to ten dollars a day. What got me the most was that he took pride in his little home and that all in all, he enjoyed his life. It wasn’t about having the finest of things but rather having something to call his own. Another woman was telling the reporter about her roof and the fact that it didn’t leak. Towards the end of the article I was starting to feel jealousy for the simple lives they have and how fine things can be when you work with what you have.

            Another aspect I really respected about the way of life for the people of the shantytowns was the neighborly atmosphere which was being created throughout. Neighbors got together and shared and traded there goods. They looked out for one another which is really admirable. There was even a division of class as one recalled. There was a “good” part and a “bad” part warning of the drugs and other harms that the bad part was embedded with. What I find most interesting is that people will generally survive with the proper attitude and if they stick together. The shantytown in many ways resembles the beginnings of society, crude resources but a will to live. Slowly but surely the little town gained momentum and began to do well. Just like the lives that filled the towns.  

Speaker Response by Adamis

“He giveth and He taketh, life is cruel that way.” A quote from Jay-Z starts to describe the way I felt when I heard the story of Sheral, a displaced person with a story. But as the story goes on, I wonder to myself, how cruel does the world need to be? How much pain does one need to take, and why? Why did Sheral have to have such a difficult life? It’s not her fault she was sexually abused as a child and that no one ever gave a damn about her to begin with. Yet the stereotypes can’t wait to infiltrate your every thought as you pass by a homeless person on the street. Someone that could be Sheral or the high percentage of abused displaced women that is out there. How did I respond to the story of Sheral once her story was over? I was very angry at the world. Angry at the evil that rests in the hearts of people that find it fitting to take it out on those who have done nothing to deserve it. People that make this world what it has gotten to be like now, cold. Sure there are agencies out there that help but their resources are meek. Insignificant is the word that best describes any problem I have in my life when compared to Sheral’s. All I can do is pray.

            “He giveth and He taketh, life is cruel that way.” The same could be said for my second speaker but in a different way. James was a nice guy that made some mistakes in life that ultimately ruined it. James was born to a very strict and religious mother. When James got older, he got a job out of high school as a roofer which paid well. Like most kids with money, it can prove to be a very destructive thing. And that is exactly what happened. To me, as much as I like James, he had a choice in life which was using drugs, something that ruined him. Sheral on the other hand was taken advantage of as a young child. Two different stories, same product.

Homeless by Adamis

I have it good. Statistically, I have it better than 37 million people in the USA. And that’s not including the love from my family, making me feel even guiltier about an ugly truth. I don’t know what to say about my wealth when hundreds of millions of people around the world have so little. It almost seems unreal until you read the statistics and about the lengths people are going through to make sure that displaced people are being cared for in one way or another.

When you see a displaced person, a stereotype chimes in almost as if it were an emotional self defense mechanism. But when you read about it and hear stories of people going on hunger strikes in the name of humanity, it takes on life in a faceless yet personal way. Personal because when figures of homelessness reach into the multi-million each year, you feel as if there is something you could do about it, certainly someone out there to whom you can write a check to. Unfortunately, those that are writing the laws that help the displaced are few and far between. When I read about Congressman Tony Hall going on a hunger strike in order to stop cuts that would have affected the displaced, I was shocked. To hear someone of that stature taking measures that extreme, is very rare and that is an unfortunate truth.

When evaluating anything, using statistics as a resource allows one to see the matter for what it really is. There is no getting around the fact that there are 100,000 Veterans displaced every night or that 23% of all displaced peoples are children. To not care is to not have a soul. But then again, how does one make a difference. Should you run for president of the USA and change the world for the better or just write a check to the local charity for a few dollars every other year. Life is hard and you just can’t change that. It can be much harder for some than it is for others. For me, I’m going to live life as best as I can and live as a positive role model. Most importantly, I am going to create an atmosphere around me that makes it possible for those that do want to improve their lives, to be able to.

Article Response by Shay

Attacks on the Homeless Rise, With Youths Mostly to Blame

Many Homeless people sleep on the streets every night, and they call the streets home, they faced things in life that brought them into this situation. We cant blame them for being homeless, it wasn’t their decision, no one wants to live like this, But most people don’t understand and crucify them.

People instead of helping them, just walk away and pretend they didn’t see who were sleeping on the street, and that’s not the worse thing people do, they treat homeless like they are not humans. Some of them hurt and kill homeless without thinking they are people just like us.

Warren Messner was 15 years old when he stabbed a homeless to death with a group of friends. Now he is facing 22 years in prison, he knows was stupid what he had done and he regret so much, other youth are in prison for the same reason and all of them regret. I think we can call this a stupid unthinkable crime, committed by young people who has no sense of what they are doing.

In America homeless being hurt by teenager happen all the time. There are many cases of young guys and girls messing with homeless, it starts joking, punching and than without any way to defend they die. It is very sad because those young teenager will lose their lives also, having to face prison for committing a crime which started as such a stupid joke.

Who to blame in those situation? Young teenager at the age 10 they don’t know what they are doing, well parents should have taught them how to treat others better. Schools should teach them that there are other people out there that deserve to be respect even if we are In a situation better than them and instead of abandoning and hurting them people should help.

Attacks are increasing every year, and most of them are in Florida. Schools are creating programs to keep students informed of how it is life for homeless, to teach them homeless are humans just like us, there is no difference between us and not having a house can happen with anyone.

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Cite:

Attacks on the Homeless Rise, With Youths Mostly to Blame

By AMY GREEN

Published: February 15, 2008

Photos by Feng

Home is a very warm word for me. I can not imagine how people can live without a home. That’s why I have great sympathy for homeless people. I sometimes give people who were asking for changes some money but not all the times because there are so many of them, and of course some of them are homeless people. When I read the “living my Uncle’s Story” by a student participant of NCH’s Homeless Challenge program on Bring America Home blog, I was touched by what homeless people see and feel: “We searched for caring eyes, but instead found averted eyes. We went crazy. And we became sane. We found the meaning to life, the importance of friendship, the power of money, and the makeup of happiness. We transformed.” (Bring America Home blog) Yes, that’s what I did sometimes, because I can not always help them, I turned my head away.

Somebody says that it is their choice to be homeless. I totally disagree with it. I do not think people would prefer to be homeless, at least not all of them. People who are homeless struggle with trying to survive, from eating three meals a day to staying warm or even remaining safe. My wife worked at homeless shelter to provide basic eye care for homeless people. She said most of them are very kind; they really respect doctors and appreciate the help and care they got. There were lots of reasons that made them homeless. Some of them was in prison before and could not find a job afterward, while some others have physical reasons. Lots of them are depressed or has mental problems.

I think in Massachusetts, homeless people are treated better than other places in the states because of the Mass Health program and lots of homeless shelters provided. In these shelters, homeless people not only get place to sleep and eat, but also learn some skills to find a job if possible. I think that’s exactly the right way to take care of homeless people. They also have dignity, and they should get help to build their confidence to support themselves.

Bibliography

“Living my Uncle’s Story” (Bring America Home blog) (March 9, 2011)