That’s right, we don’t care if you grew up here in Madison, or if your family lives here. We don’t care if your kids are doing well in school here. We don’t care if you’re here because you left your abusive partner and moved to be with supportive friends. We don’t care if you lost your job when you got sick and didn’t have healthcare and lost your job because you didn’t have enough leave time. We don’t care if you are here to take care of your mother who has to go to the UW Hospital for weekly treatments. We don’t care if you have a mental illness that may or may not be treated. We don’t care if you are heree to get an education at MATC. You’re making us look bad. You’re dragging down our numbers (higher poverty rates, lower median incomes) and you have to leave. Some of you have to go to different schools, you have to move into Dane County and out of the City of Madison, you have to go to the suburbs to get shelter for the night. We don’t want you here!
It’s been a bad week to not be a white middle/upper class privileged male. Somehow, certain high profile people in the community have decided to launch an attack on people who are not like them. It started a few weeks ago with multi-millionaire Fred Mohs telling the church that they can’t help the homeless or they had to give up their parking. Then, at least one police officer tried to blame the homeless for the murder last week. (Turns out, according to the police department spokesperson, the homeless have been “very helpful” in the investigation.) That was followed up by the often fact-challenged Isthmus Newspaper sponsored blog rant by David Blaska about how the homeless are nothing more than lousy good-for nothing “vagrants” and murderers sucking off the system. The next day Blaska blessed us the the “hobo jungle” comments from Fred Mohs. When I thought we had quite enough, the Mayor piles on!
Where does one begin to comment? Each of these requires their own full blog post to respond. Together, its staggering. Forget the liberal and conservative labels. Forget the politics. Forget the racism and other issues involved in the above. What happened to our humanity? What happened to our compassion? What made it ok for these guys to to attack the poor like this and feel like they have support in this community? Poor people are still people. They are not faceless, nameless people with no hearts and no souls. They are brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, aunts and uncles, families and individuals. People who are struggling to have a decent life for them and their families, not trash to be thrown away.
I think what scares me the most is when our leaders are allowed to make these comments and go unchallenged, what kind of message does that send? It encourages fear and hate of people who are not like you. It normalizes the messages they are saying. It makes it ok for kids and young adults to repeat those messages. It makes it ok for polite people in a civil society to rejoice that someone finally said what they were thinking and make terrible jokes. It promotes the “us” versus “them” mentality. It allows others to feel good because at least they are not as bad off as someone else. It promotes stereotypes and dehumanizes us as a community.
There’s more to come on all of this. For now, I’d just encourage you, if you are reading this, to stop. And think. Is this the Madison we want to live in? Is this the kind of Madison you want your kids to grow up in? Are you proud of this Madison? Do you agree with those comments, or do you know that this is not the world you dreamed you would be living in?
If not, what are you going to do about it? Talk to your neighbors and friends about how this is not ok. Speak up when people are saying they agree with some of these comments. Keep it simple – don’t let that comment go by at lunch. Or step it up a notch and write a letter to the editor. Respond to various postings saying this is not ok. Donate to your favorite church or non-profit that works on poverty issues. Tell (and show) people this is not acceptable and not the Madison we want to live in. Want to do more than that, contact me. (brendakonkel AT gmail DOT com)
If we have people in our community who are suffering, lets work together to figure out what is needed to help people change their lives and make their lives better. At a time when there is a renewed sense of “hope” for “change” and a sense of unity and healing in this nation, how is it that Madison is taking a step backwards? And at least one of the people spewing this crap are Obama supporters? Is this what Madison has become? Or just a few wayward leaders in our community? Let’s hope the community refuses to follow, but it will take more than just hope. Take action today – help send a message that Madison is not a community that is going to live in fear and support stereotypes, but instead act with compassion.
