Stories and Poems from the September 2005 Street Spirit Publication

What is Street Spirit? - Click Here | To read all articles and poems from this issue of Street Spirit, please visit Street Spirit's Website at http://www.thestreetspirit.org/.

To read stories by BOSS participants, click here.

Articles, stories, poems, statements, and such sharing first-person accounts and opinions do not necessarily reflect BOSS's organizational views. We offer this site as a forum to share all views, particularly those not generally heard in mainstream outlets.

Alarming Rise in Hate Crimes Against Homeless People in United States - Over the past six years, advocates and homeless shelter workers from around the country have seen an alarming increase in reports of homeless men, women and even children being killed, beaten and harassed.

The Increase in Hate Crimes and Homeless Murders Is a Warning Sign - With growing fervor, government officials, merchants and the media have broadcast a message of intolerance that labels homeless people as unwanted outcasts. When the pillars of society vilify homeless people as a subhuman minority synonymous with urban blight, and when city officials pass laws aimed at banishing people living on the street, an extremely dangerous message is sent out that this is one hated minority that it is safe to attack.

Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA - Case Descriptions by Month, Date, and City in 2004.

Welcome to the Hotel California - Tenants sue nonprofit, say that Oakland's historic California Hotel is infested with rats and bed bugs - Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite, as the old saying goes. But some Oakland tenants have learned that this is more than just mere folklore that has been passed down through the years.

Social Security: An Irreplaceable Part of the Safety Net - Social Security is a vitally effective public program that benefits all of us. Despite the myth of an urgent funding "crisis," Social Security can pay all promised benefits until at least the year 2052 and most benefits after that, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. There is more than enough time to make the system even stronger without undermining it through privatization.

back top