Hate Crimes Against the Homeless

Exploratory Essay

            When I was younger, I went on many of vacations and I still do. While I am on those vacations, I get to experience sights I have never seen before. I remember going to Washington D.C. one year and, we were driving down this road filled with people on each side. Some of them would come up to my father’s window and ask to wash his window for some cash. When driving down these roads, it broke my heart seeing these people lying on the dirty streets. I’ve had many more experiences like this. I look back thinking this could be me at any given time. I believe that everyone in this world is here to help each other. Homelessness is a very terrible life style, especially if you have children. No one should have to live like that no matter what.

            Homelessness is one of the most terrifying life styles that can happen to someone. When living and going into debt and losing things, people become very unstable and, sometimes people become homeless. Reasons why people become homeless are because they do not have much money and they do not really spend their money as wisely as they should. Another reason based off of the “National Coalition for the Homeless” is that foreclosures also are a cause for being homeless as well as, economic troubles. I know that every family worries about this at one point. One of the top priorities parents try to do for their children is give them a good environment to grow up in. Many parents are unable to buy items that other children get. Our world revolves around money and who has more of it. Homeless people feel like they’re lower ranked than others when really everyone should be treated equally. People refer to the homeless as “bums” because they have no home and live on the streets. There are people all around the world who are homeless, many who have children. Based off of the “National Coalition for the Homeless” for the past several years there have been more and more hate crimes against the homeless than there are plane crashes and terrorist attacks put together. Our world is getting worse and worse and, the government can prevent this.

            In my initial research, I found the National Coalition for the Homeless website; it stated that they try to protect the rights of people experiencing homelessness. This report states horrific hate crimes that have happened to the homeless people. On the NCFTH it said “hate crimes occur when perpetrators target victims because of their perceived membership in a certain group or just because they were homeless”. The NCFTH states that hate crimes will continue until we decide to help those in need. Hate crimes are very popular to this day and will continue unless they are prevented and stopped by the government. It is devastating to see someone killed because they were unable to afford a place to live. I am here to educate people about the problems with hate crimes so that I can help protect the civil rights for everyone, regardless if they don’t have a home. How I will do so is start informing people more about hate crimes and how they occur. The importance of the NCFTH article has guided on how to inform people more about thing topic such as, make the government for known of what is happening.

            I would like to explore the hate crimes on the homeless because I find it interesting that the number of deaths of the homeless have been increasing. If the government and lawmakers were more informed of the problem maybe, they would help protect the civil rights of people. I hope that I can convince citizens that homeless citizens should not be considered “bums” because of the economic issues or their housing situation. I would like to help the homeless have one less problem to worry about and that is being killed because of a hate crime. 

Work Cited

"Why Are People Homeless?" National Coalition for the Homeless. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.

"Violence and Hatred Risky for Homeless." Bring America Home Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.

"A Step in the Right Direction: Amending State Police Monitoring Laws to Include Hate Crimes Against the Homeless." RI Coalition for the Homeless Resources Homeless Legal Clinic Hate Crimes Against the Homeless. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.