EUGENE CITY COUNCIL: Do NOT Criminalize Kind Acts for the Unhoused: An Open Letter by Sai Marie Johnson
We are already facing a terrible situation of over-priced housing, an unfair hiring market and an influx of needy people. The only thing that more red tape and ordinances will produce is more non-violent offenders taking up space that violent offenders deserve to occupy or more innocent people being fined for trying to do the right thing.
If we remove the element of kindness and support from the public we will be alienating a large group of persons from society only furthering their predicaments and suffering.
Whereas, if we choose to be a society who tasks ourselves with finding solutions to alleviate these problems will be working together to form a safer community for both the housed and the unhoused, which should be a founding point to the success of any metropolitan city.
If we step back and realize that kindness directly changes the negative outlooks of many people already facing hardships that most individuals who are housed take for granted, we are then forced to recognize how taking away that element is a crime in and of itself.
Please, I beseech you, do not further ostracize those very needy individuals who sometimes only exist and survive due to the kindness of others.
It is a most basic principle of a humanist to be the Good Samaritan when others typically look away or berate and belittle an already hurting populace.
Reconsider how that actually affects all people, from all walks of life across our city.
Wouldn't you want someone to be kind to you if you were in those shoes?
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