JUSTIFICATIONS

JEMIAH CLEMONS @Miclemah

Signs discouraging panhandling have become a common sight in Baton Rouge and other parts of Louisiana. While there’s a safety aspect to this, the signs are inherently discriminatory and wrong.

By taking five minutes to really think about the words on the sign, anyone can see the moral errors behind it. Discouraging interactions with homeless people pushes the stigma that they’re dangerous or looking to cause harm.

The notion of only donating to homeless shelters is problematic. When people hear the word shelter, they assume the absolute worst. Shelters are often synonymous with drugs, violence and corruption, but this isn’t true for all of them. This again pushes another stigma on homeless people. The harsh re - alities of shelters are even more alarming.

Solely donating to shelters is also quite ineffective. When encountering someone on the street, you’re not going to roll down the window and say, “Hey, I can’t give you anything, but I’ll donate to the shelter instead.” That may be helpful to people in shelters, but it doesn’t directly help the person on the street.

These signs are used to prevent confrontations between the homeless and motorists and to decrease the homeless population. It’s important to understand Baton Rouge’s homelessness reduction efforts in the context of other cities.

On an extreme scale, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez proposed moving the homeless population from the city to a small man-made island in July 2022. Moving people to an island with no chance of socioeconomic advancement is literally insane.

This idea is now on hold, according to a WSVN 7News, but its unethical nature remains.

In the middle of the spectrum is Houston, Texas. The city did this by implementing what it called the housing first method. This idea was introduced in the ‘90s, according to Kronkite News. It required the recipients to fix their problems before receiving permanent housing. Houston city officials flipped this and provided people with permanent housing first and then gave people the opportunity to fix their problems. As a result, the city’s homeless population has decreased by 63% from 2011-2022, according to the New York Times.

In relation to Louisiana, the Baton Rouge Metro Council passed an ordinance that prohibits camping in a public area in August of 2022 according to The Advocate. Doing this will result in a $250 fine. How Baton Rouge officials expect homeless people to pay a fine is beyond me. It seems that Baton Rouge could learn a thing or two from Houston officials.

All of this chaos stems from the dehumanization of homeless people. The societal lack of empathy and perspective bleeds into legislation and causes serious harm. As a result, homeless people are living in shackles of isolation.

Jemiah Clemons is an 19-yearold Kinesiology major from Miami, Florida.