So today at In n' Out, I'm just hanging out with a few people - you know who you are...
Anyway, behind me at a table there is a homeless lady talking with another lady (I don't know if they had ever met before). Not too far into my meal, I notice that two cop cars pull in the parking lot, and I turned to Katie and predicted the future: the homeless lady was going to be picked on.
The police came over and started asking some general questions because they were just... "interested..." Right.
And not too long after that, the homeless lady was kindly escorted into one of those lovely black and white cars. Oh but don't worry - they sent for a third cop car, actually a van, for her shopping cart with all of her earthly possessions inside. So now we have two cop cars - one with the homeless lady inside (cuffed by the way), and a van with her cart.
Here's my problem:
How did the cops find this out? Why did it take two of them? Why did they pretend for thirty minutes that they were Kris's friend (I believe that was her name)?
According to another Chris (friend of mine), she was found in possession of a substance of some kind... Now a lot of you are probably thinking, "I knew it! It was just a drug addict homeless person!" Well then I have a problem with you too.
I don't really consider myself that hostile, but this kind of thing really sets me off. I mean this lady was not hurting anyone, she was not damaging any property, nothing. Don't get me wrong - I am not saying this lady should just go unpunished forever, but why is she the one that gets hammered for every mistake she makes?
There is a huge prejudice against homeless people. Everyone assumes they are some form of an animal - incapable of acting dignified, always having a drug problem, using every penny they get to buy alcohol...
I'm not saying it doesn't happen, and I don't want to hear stories of examples that prove me wrong. I wouldn't even go so far as to say that the majority of homeless people are "good." But why does every homeless person we see get this label put on them?
Why did the police straight line for this person? Maybe they got a call? Well, I know that not every homeless person I see stopped by the cops was tattled on.
I don't know... this is not an argument - it's unorganized and based on emotion, so don't just tell me I'm wrong.
I just want this question answered: why can't we just love homeless people?
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That makes me really sad... And, it does seem very odd that the cops just randomly approached her. But just so you know, its common that when making an arrest cops call for backup as a precaution in case of violence (not saying this was going to happen, it's just a policy thing). I can't imagine that some random cop simply decided to pick on a homeless person at In-n-out. Somehow he must've known about her beforehand. I'm not excusing our treatment of homeless people, however. It's horrible how we judge and immediately assume we know everything...
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