This
week the Duluth Police Department posted an anti-panhandling post on
their facebook page. In it, an armed police officer mimics a panhandler by holding a cardboard sign, urging folks not to give directly to those in need. This post comes despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme
Court has declared panhandling to be free speech, as well as the fact that last year the Duluth City Council repealed its archaic panhandling ban at the request of the Homeless Bill of Rights Coalition. Anti-panhandling messages like this demonize the poor who slip
through the economic cracks of this country’s economy. And it
reflects and validates the Chamber of Commerce and middle class discomfort with having
to come face to face with those struggling to survive. We call on
the DPD to immediately remove this post.
Below we are re-posting comments by two important local groups who have spoke out on the issue:
DuluthInAction: It is possible to support social services that provide valuable resources to our homeless and/or impoverished communities without demonizing those individuals who need significant financial support & choose panhandling as a means to provide themselves with basic needs. A more expansive focus should include prioritizing (truly) affordable housing, supporting the social services that provide essential & life-saving resources AND treating people like people, not burdens. We are all responsible for the well-being of our communities & we should reject any attempts to harm or strip the humanity of any Duluth citizens.
HomelessPersons Bill of Rights Coalition: Very disappointing to see the Duluth Police Department share a video asking not to give panhandlers money. The Duluth City Council acknowledged that the old panhandling ordinance was unconstitutional and that it is free speech to ask for money in public. Let's urge the DPD to shift their thinking from demonizing non-criminal activity and the poor. Let's shift the focus to building an equitable Duluth with affordable housing for all and making sure our most vulnerable citizens can have their basic needs met.
10 comments:
No, the dpd's statement was if even one person spent money from flying a sign on food, that person deserves to starve.
Explain to your kids that we don't have adequate social services and that disenfranchisement generates addiction, not the other way around. Explain to your kids that panhandling and outdoor sleeping just got legalized in duluth, and cops still want to treat the people who need those laws as criminals.
Tell your kids that a dead addict never got clean, so the cops need to comply with mn Good Samaritan laws and carry Nalaxone to administer in the event they come across an opiate overdose. Explain to your kids that they don't carry it, and won't use it when they do, taking lives in the process and making the problem exponentially worse.
Or don't. You kick a panhandler $5 and give a shit about what they spend it on? You sound like a prick. Fuck you.
Yep, assholes gotta blame the poor for being out in public. NiMarie, you need your friends to read you a book or drive you to a class.
This post was made by the Monroe Police Dept DPD reposted it FYI
#FTP
Wow... Just wow. The ignorance of those sworn to serve and protect. Do they not know that that means ALL citizens? Even those without an address. I was homeless for 5 years. Not because I was strung out or anything like that. I simply couldnt afford the rental rates. Did you know that a base rent for an efficiency apartment in Denver is $1200? Who can pay that? That's literally a house in Texas.
It’s sad and disgusting that the dpd would find this degrading behavior acceptable. Although I’m not surprised. They pretty much get away with anything anyways. Instead of helping the homeless and the poor they take this route instead. How disgusting
that pig violated his Oath of office.
cops wonder why they fet no resoect, its the way u coppers act n smell.
THERE ARE NO GOOD COPS- IF THERE WERE ANY GOOD COPS THEY WOULD HOLD ALL THE BAD ONES LIKE THIS JACKOFFICER ACCOUNTABLE. THE ONES THAT DO GET FORCED OUT, SO THERE ARE ****noNOno***** GOOD COPS.
FUCK THE POLICE
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