Florida MOST Perilous State for Homeless
INTRODUCTION
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lorida is the most dangerous state in the country for the homeless, with 48 attacks last year, about one-third of all attacks registered nationwide, according to an advocacy group's report released Tuesday. The report also found that violence against the homeless is spiking across the country. It was the second year Florida ranked first in the statistics complied by the National Coalition for the Homeless, partly because of the now-infamous January 2006 beatings of three Fort Lauderdale men by assailants wielding baseball bats and a golf club. One victim died, and three teens have been charged with his murder. In Fort Lauderdale alone,
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Why Florida leads the nation is unclear. California has double the number of homeless, yet reported only 10 violent acts last year. seven acts of violence against the homeless were reported last year. Only one U.S. city, Phoenix, reported more.
"South Florida has really become the capital of vicious attacks on the homeless," Hollywood home(Continued on page 11)
One More Person, One More Victim
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o you recall what you were doing in mid December 2006, on any given night at around 11 p.m.? Chances are you probably don’t remember. I know one man who does recall what he was doing. Mr. Gerald Richard Murphy (Gerry), from Delaware turned 50 years old in December 2006, but he didn’t celebrate his birthday. He didn’t celebrate Christmas that year either. Instead, Gerry was fighting for his life as he lay in the hospital after being brutally attacked by total strangers. Gerry was sitting quietly on a public street bench at Riverfront in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, probably thinking about what the holidays would bring. Gerry has always taken pride in how he dresses and that he was dressed pretty well. He didn’t have a cane then and didn’t “look homeless”. In an instant a gold color Ford Taurus pulled up in front of him and four men jumped out of the car. They began beating, kicking and dragging Gerry off of the bench and into the street. They were silent while doing the unthinkable to this human being. Except Gerry recalls one of the men saying “Check the man’s pockets, he may have some money.” They were right. Gerry had an exorbitant amount of money in his pocket, a grand total of $180. That was an exorbitant amount of money to Gerry, it was all the money he had in the world. To some of us, this is almost the price of an excellent pair of All-Star sneakers. He believes the attack was motivated by money and not because he was homeless, he didn’t “look homeless”. Gerry is one more victim, one more person who has been senselessly at-
n 2006, homeless individuals in America faced another year of brutality that ranged from assault to killings. Sadly, these gruesome accounts are just a few of many that demonstrate the hate/violence faced by people experiencing homelessness each year. The following report documents 142 hate crimes and violent acts that occurred in 2006, collected from newspapers and reports across the country. The narratives bring to light the discrimination and senseless violence faced daily by so many of our country’s homeless citizens. Here are just a few illustrative cases: In February, a 62-year old homeless woman from San Antonio, Texas was severely beaten around 1 a.m. by a man with a tire iron. The beating came after this woman rejected his demands for sex. Despite her serious injuries, she was able to walk to a convenience store and get help. A responding officer described her face as being “pulverized”. Last March in Orlando, a homeless man named August Felix, 54, was found having been severely kicked, punched and beaten with an unknown blunt object. Felix was living near the railroad tracks when a group of teenagers attacked him for fun. Other homeless individuals were targeted, but Felix was the only resultant death.
Mr. Gerald Richard Murphy (Gerry) tacked on the streets of America the land of the free just because someone wanted another persons property. The four men beat and kicked Gerry so severely, that he lost sight in his left eye. The injuries on his head and face have healed but the scars remain obvious and still look new. His remaining eye is pale green like the tropical seas and is lit with hope for better things to come. He lost full mobility of his left leg and now requires the use of a walker or cane to walk. He is in constant pain and cannot stand for any length of time. At the time of this interview, Gerry was still healing from being dragged down the street. There were large areas of skin on both of his arms which had just lost its scabs, exposing fragile pink new skin. Then there (Continued on page 10)
In August, Tara Cole, a 32-year old homeless woman from Nashville, Tennessee, was pushed off the dock where she slept every night into the nearby river. Cole’s body was recovered from the river on August 21, ten days after her murder.