This was first posted at REAL Men RoCK Blog.
I want to share an letter that was sent to the Kansas City Star Newspaper and hopefully you will share with me what it stirs in you. As you read it consider what thoughts you have when you encounter the homeless or poor. At the end of this post I will share my thoughts.
What's next for the poor
Mr. Mike Hendricks
Kansas City Star Newspaper
I read your report on the raided homeless encampment with great interest.
My name Richard G. Tripp, and I'm the director of an organization here in Kansas City Missouri, Care Of Poor People, alias{ COPP INC}.
I personally have visited that homeless encampment and met with its residents on several occasions over the past couple years. And yes we have supplied materials to help them survive, and would do it again, I myself years ago lived in a camp on Cliff drive years ago.
I am appalled that the Kansas City Police Department would take the time to harass and destroy an encampment were no proof of illegal activity is apparent. And why technically they were on city property, I personally do not believe that it warranted the actions that was taken, I might add it is questionable whether or not in this case the police acted lawfully.
Fresno, California had to pay out a $2.35 million judgment for destroying the property of homeless people in a similar raid on an encampment. I do not know if this issue has been adjudicated yet in the courts in Kansas City. But the simple fact are I do not believe it's time for our city fathers to have an open season on homeless people. Even the illegal campers have rights, and there is no indication that the rights of the campers were respected by the police.
Unsheltered homeless people have a shockingly high mortality rate. Bulldozing an encampment in the middle of winter is a form of life-threatening assault that should be prosecuted not condoned. Speculation about whether these homeless people would've been better off at city Union mission or any other shelter is simply speculation, you have to walk a mile in their shoes to understand why they would rather stay in a camp or go to the shelter. In the Kansas City metro area we have approximately 15,000 homeless brothers and sisters in that same metro area we have approximately 3,040 beds, Mr. Hendricks would you please do the math.
The question of whether or not a Meth Lab was found at another homeless encampment is needlessly inflammatory. I can absolutely guarantee you that meth labs are not common among the homeless, and no one tares down private homes willy-nilly just because that's were meth Labs are frequently found.
There is a broader moral question here. Our Declaration of Independence speaks of the unalienable right to life. This is something that most American soldiers have died for and countless others have worked and organized and fought for. Should the Kansas city Police Department be empowered to callously deprive people of the very right that is at the core of our nation's founding, and for no better reason than that maybe somebody complained.
On the Times when I visited this homeless encampment I was impressed by the mutually supportive spirit of the people who live there. No evidence has been brought forward that they were harming anyone. I am alternately applauded at the police action and I feel that, at the very least the KC police chief should be questioned as to why he allows his officers to terrorize vulnerable and defenseless homeless people. Of course, that won't happen, but unless some other facts come to light-- and I will keep an open mind, I believe this action at the homeless encampment by the Kansas City Police Department was morally repugnant police misconduct that should not be tolerated in the city that boasts one of America's most livable cities.
Richard G Tripp
Director COPP INC
The homeless stir different thoughts in different people. My thoughts turn to considering how Jesus would react to encountering a homeless person. Would He focus on their need or their sin? Let's look at a couple of examples from the Bible and we will get an idea of what He would want us to do as well.
Matthew 23-25 From there he went all over Galilee. He used synagogues for meeting places and taught people the truth of God. God's kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God's government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came, the momentum gathering. Besides those from Galilee, crowds came from the "Ten Towns" across the lake, others up from Jerusalem and Judea, still others from across the Jordan.
John 5: 1-6 Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem.
Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, "Do you want to get well?"
7 The sick man said, "Sir, when the water is stirred, I don't have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in."
8-9 Jesus said, "Get up, take your bedroll, start walking." The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.
9-10 That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, "It's the Sabbath. You can't carry your bedroll around. It's against the rules."
11 But he told them, "The man who made me well told me to. He said, 'Take your bedroll and start walking.'"
12-13 They asked, "Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?" But the healed man didn't know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.
14 A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, "You look wonderful! You're well! Don't return to a sinning life or something worse might happen."
15-16 The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus—because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath.
So what should our response be? I will leave you with the following words of Jesus and you decide.
Matthew 25: 34-36 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'
37-40 "Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'
To be honest there have been times I was fearful or disgusted when encountering the homeless but then I considered the above scriptures and was convicted that I was fearing out of a lack of understanding and I was disgusted because I lack compassion.
