While I was sitting in my office about 5:00 a.m. earlier this week, a man walked up to my window, began kicking it, spat on the window, then yelled profanities at me, inquiring as to what I was going to do about it. He then tried to prompt me into a reaction. I ignored him and did not respond, verbally or physically. This man has been a nuisance for quite some time. At other times he has not been a problem. Clearly he may have some mental issues or problems with substance abuse or both. I’ve tried talking to him in the past, but he’s generally not interested in any exchange except a profanity laced tirade. Because of previous conversations with this man’s friends or acquaintances, I know that he is homeless.
I got to thinking about the situation. When I’m in my office early in the morning, I leave the front and back doors to the office open, not unlocked, but open. The air flows through and people will stop in and say hello. There wasn’t anything keeping this guy from walking in and threatening me, damaging property, or continuing his tirade. Now I wonder if this practice is smart; I also wonder about my daughter being in the office at night, in between her night classes at WNMU.
I posted a video relating the experience and wondering why some homeless are allowed to act in this way. Several family members, friends, and clients have had negative experiences with some of the homeless in this community. From demanding money, and berating people when they say no, to females being asked to show their body parts; many of these encounters are negative and many people feel threatened. We have been told by advocates for the homeless that they have a right to free speech and nothing can be done about this anti-social behavior. I disagreed with that position.
There are advocates in this community wanting to make Silver City and Grant County more accommodating to the homeless. I wondered why their rights trumped mine as business owner, a taxpayer and a man trying to provide for his family. I also wondered why some in this community want to set up a tent city for the homeless. I am concerned about that approach. By providing such a solution that could attract others to come to Silver City and further strain our resources. To be sure, I was not in any way shape or form disparaging all homeless people, but commenting on the ones that are continually a problem.
One gentleman said I was completely misrepresenting his and his group’s positions on helping the homeless. I did not mention him by name, his organization by name nor did I infer that I was talking about his or his group’s proposals to provide assistance to the homeless in Grant County. But he took it that way and basically called me a liar for mispresenting his position and proposals. Maybe he believes he is the only homeless advocate in Silver City or Grant County. He’s not. I was not talking about him since I’ve never spoken to him or heard about his groups’ plans.
As it turns out, he and his group are openly advocating for a tent city similar to what has been established in Las Cruces. As a matter of fact, there is a move to rewrite city ordinances that deal with camping within city limits so that a tent city could be built within the city limits. Another proposal would build micro homes for the homeless to use while they get help or get back on their feet.
The video sparked a lot of comments, mostly agreeing with the statements I made but also others seemed to disagree with me. What I found interesting is that some of the advocates for the homeless asked me to be friends on Facebook. Then shared my video on their pages, while calling me hateful, bigoted, and belittling my experiences as “nonsense.” It’s kind of like they were baiting me and then using me as an example of “these people” in our community and claiming I had rushed to judgement based upon a small sample size. Again, no one contacted me to find out the sum of my experiences, both good or bad.
Typical liberal behavior; call me names, call me hateful but don’t ever contact me to learn about my experiences. Don’t contact me to find out that I’ve had a number of negative encounters with homeless in downtown Silver City over the last few years. By all means, don’t contact me to find out that during that same time frame I’ve also helped other homeless people, the ones who are respectful and genuinely grateful for help. But also understand when I don’t have work or anything to give them.
Some told me I don’t understand addiction or mental illness, never asking if I’ve had any experience with these issues. Talk about a rush to judgement. I wonder if they are making assumptions based upon the color of my skin, my age or my political affiliation. By the way, the answer is yes. I’ve had family members struggle with addiction, some losing their battles and their lives. I understand the barriers with getting them to help themselves. That doesn’t justify them abusing other community members.
I would imagine that most of those criticizing me and asking me to understand that they are trying to come up with a community solution to a problem have never heard my radio show. Those of you that have listened over the years know that I’ve advocated for more community based solutions to these types of problems as compared to the failed programs foisted upon us by the federal government.
To be fair, some people who didn’t agree with me defended me, saying they didn’t see hatred in my speech. They also suggested that everyone, even people like me, be included in the discussion. I appreciate and applaud them for that viewpoint.
The funny thing, no one needed to be sneaky or underhanded in trying to ‘expose’ my opinions, I will gladly share my opinions with anyone, just ask. I’m willing to put myself out there, my family will tell you that’s never been a problem; except that at times they probably wished I’d kept my mouth shut.
But once again a small group of progressives have done what they say the abhor; participated in hate speech, calling me names and assuming that they know all about my experiences and opinions based upon one 3 minute video. I wonder when they are going to participate in a civil, open dialogue with those they believe disagree with them?