The Tents of Shame
Published in Cyberpresse/La Presse
(Canada) on 28 March 2009
by Nicolas Bérubé (link to original)
(Canada) on 28 March 2009
by Nicolas Bérubé (link to original)
Translated from
by Floriane Ballige.
Edited by Katy Burtner.
One year ago, some homeless set up a camp in a wasteland of Sacramento, California’s capital city. Their history has been known all over the world since then. Oprah Winfrey filmed a devastated rundown of the situation there. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger “visited” the area as well and shook hands. This week, the township authorities made the decision to put an end to the adventure of Tent City, America’s shame.
The very first tents appeared one year ago. They were followed by dozens of other ones. The wasteland turned into a small village that was nicknamed “Tent City” by the inhabitants. Later on, the media came.
CNN. Associated Press. Reuters. San Jose Mercury News. The Guardian. The Oakland Tribune. MSNBC. Los Angeles Times. CBS. Oprah. Al-Jazeera.
Name of the rundown area: “Tent City.” Number of inhabitants: between 150 and 200. Who are they? Chronic homeless, drug addicts, unemployed. Main problem of the place: waste, insalubrity, vermin, lack of food. Panoramic shots of the tents. Dramatic music in the background. Commercial pause.
Some in the media have made an interesting comparison: during the Great Depression of the ‘30s, some unemployed families had set up a camp at the same place, by the river, a few miles away from the Capitol. They were memorialized by the photographer Dorothea Land, and these pictures are now a part of American folklore.
A rapidity that was never seen before
According to Sacramento social workers, the rate of rapidity that the camp grew at was mostly surprising. “A year ago, there was practically no one on this wasteland,” Joan Burke, who works for the Loaves and Fishes organization, explains. People arrived as the months went by. Today, around 200 people live there. Some other spontaneous camps have appeared in the United States over these past few months. In Seattle, Washington, around 100 unemployed workers have set up their tents in the parking lot of a church. In Fresno, California, dozens of people are living under a highway interchange.
Until recently, these people had a roof over their head, Joel John Roberts, manager of an organization for the homeless in Los Angeles, explains. “Centers for homeless are not laid out for people who lost their job or their house. There are services for mentally handicapped people or drug addicts. We encounter more and more homeless who don’t suffer from such types of problems. They are simply victims of the crisis and need some help.”
Quite embarrassing for the mayor…
In Sacramento, Tent City has grown for more than 12 months and nobody ever even paid attention to it. Since the media wave, some citizens have started helping the homeless.
A building company recently provided a container so that the inhabitants could throw their garbage into it. Another company delivered some restrooms.
“It’s a really good thing for us,” Luis Morales, also nicknamed “The Mayor of Tent City,” declared. “We can now call up everybody and clean the camp all together. It’s very important to us.”
Sacramento’s new mayor, Kevin Johnson, found the media coverage far less pleasant. As an ex-NBA star, Mr. Johnson has to face tons of requests to get interviewed about Tent City. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose office is located only a few miles away from the camp, also didn’t appreciate California’s capital city now being depicted as a third-world city.
The problem was brought up for discussion in Washington, where President Barack Obama was asked a question this week about the emergence of these temporary camps.
“It is not acceptable that our children and families have no roofs over their heads in such a rich country,” the president said.
The immediate media coverage of the camp also gave rise to criticism. In the L.A. Times, journalist Lauren Beale says she doesn’t appreciate seeing Tent City making headlines. “Has the camp become so famous because people got interested in poverty or because it is ill-advisedly located in California’s capital city?” she asks.
Closed within a month
This week, the city of Sacramento’s authorities announced the intention to close Tent City. Within a month, the residents will have to pack up and go. The city’s spokesman, Steven Maviglio, claims that the decision was made for reasons of safety. “We will find some other places for them. The camp is not security-conscious. This is not human. Having said that, it doesn’t mean that we’ll come there with a bulldozer.”
The homeless will be lodged in community accommodations. A huge tent will be erected on the ground owned by a local charity organization. This assistance will cost the city around one million dollars.
Several inhabitants of Tent City are happy with this decision, but some other people would have liked to be left alone.
“People look at us as if we were freaks,” Michael Borchardt, a former truck driver, said this week to the New York Times. “People come here and take pictures, whereas no one ever even paid attention to us beforehand,” he said, explaining that he will have no other choice than to leave when the authorities want them to.
After the poor people will have left, the wasteland called Tent City will be surrounded by railings. Until the next crisis.
The very first tents appeared one year ago. They were followed by dozens of other ones. The wasteland turned into a small village that was nicknamed “Tent City” by the inhabitants. Later on, the media came.
CNN. Associated Press. Reuters. San Jose Mercury News. The Guardian. The Oakland Tribune. MSNBC. Los Angeles Times. CBS. Oprah. Al-Jazeera.
Name of the rundown area: “Tent City.” Number of inhabitants: between 150 and 200. Who are they? Chronic homeless, drug addicts, unemployed. Main problem of the place: waste, insalubrity, vermin, lack of food. Panoramic shots of the tents. Dramatic music in the background. Commercial pause.
Some in the media have made an interesting comparison: during the Great Depression of the ‘30s, some unemployed families had set up a camp at the same place, by the river, a few miles away from the Capitol. They were memorialized by the photographer Dorothea Land, and these pictures are now a part of American folklore.
A rapidity that was never seen before
According to Sacramento social workers, the rate of rapidity that the camp grew at was mostly surprising. “A year ago, there was practically no one on this wasteland,” Joan Burke, who works for the Loaves and Fishes organization, explains. People arrived as the months went by. Today, around 200 people live there. Some other spontaneous camps have appeared in the United States over these past few months. In Seattle, Washington, around 100 unemployed workers have set up their tents in the parking lot of a church. In Fresno, California, dozens of people are living under a highway interchange.
Until recently, these people had a roof over their head, Joel John Roberts, manager of an organization for the homeless in Los Angeles, explains. “Centers for homeless are not laid out for people who lost their job or their house. There are services for mentally handicapped people or drug addicts. We encounter more and more homeless who don’t suffer from such types of problems. They are simply victims of the crisis and need some help.”
Quite embarrassing for the mayor…
In Sacramento, Tent City has grown for more than 12 months and nobody ever even paid attention to it. Since the media wave, some citizens have started helping the homeless.
A building company recently provided a container so that the inhabitants could throw their garbage into it. Another company delivered some restrooms.
“It’s a really good thing for us,” Luis Morales, also nicknamed “The Mayor of Tent City,” declared. “We can now call up everybody and clean the camp all together. It’s very important to us.”
Sacramento’s new mayor, Kevin Johnson, found the media coverage far less pleasant. As an ex-NBA star, Mr. Johnson has to face tons of requests to get interviewed about Tent City. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose office is located only a few miles away from the camp, also didn’t appreciate California’s capital city now being depicted as a third-world city.
The problem was brought up for discussion in Washington, where President Barack Obama was asked a question this week about the emergence of these temporary camps.
“It is not acceptable that our children and families have no roofs over their heads in such a rich country,” the president said.
The immediate media coverage of the camp also gave rise to criticism. In the L.A. Times, journalist Lauren Beale says she doesn’t appreciate seeing Tent City making headlines. “Has the camp become so famous because people got interested in poverty or because it is ill-advisedly located in California’s capital city?” she asks.
Closed within a month
This week, the city of Sacramento’s authorities announced the intention to close Tent City. Within a month, the residents will have to pack up and go. The city’s spokesman, Steven Maviglio, claims that the decision was made for reasons of safety. “We will find some other places for them. The camp is not security-conscious. This is not human. Having said that, it doesn’t mean that we’ll come there with a bulldozer.”
The homeless will be lodged in community accommodations. A huge tent will be erected on the ground owned by a local charity organization. This assistance will cost the city around one million dollars.
Several inhabitants of Tent City are happy with this decision, but some other people would have liked to be left alone.
“People look at us as if we were freaks,” Michael Borchardt, a former truck driver, said this week to the New York Times. “People come here and take pictures, whereas no one ever even paid attention to us beforehand,” he said, explaining that he will have no other choice than to leave when the authorities want them to.
After the poor people will have left, the wasteland called Tent City will be surrounded by railings. Until the next crisis.
well now you in the world are finally understanding the american mentality.
we have 47 million people without health insurance and millions more with pre existing conditions that cannot be covered.
over one half of all bankrupties in america are due to medical care costs.
america is becoming a country of haves and have nots but few see it happening. after all we have hope.
yet we spend trillions for our war machine to appease our national ego as a super power.
america is a failed state.
iraq and afghan will finish the job that vietnam started. vietnam was the beginning of the end for america as we knew it.
america is an imperialist country and look at history to see the future of imperialistic countries in the past like russia, england, japan, rome, etc.
with communism man expolits man with capitalism it is the other way around.
very few in america understand the above quote.