It bears pointing out however, that Mr. Bower is wrong on so many levels here I don't really know where to begin.
I believe that is considered vandalism, sir and I think you are breaking the law. Worse, you have done so on television.“If I see shopping carts that I can’t identify, I will destroy them so they can’t be pushed on the streets.”
Then learn about why people experience homelessness, support your local service providers and outreach workers, invite the 100,000 Homes Campaign to help your city, and do something that's actually practical instead of destructive, stigmatizing, and bordering on hate crimes against the homeless.“I want to do something practical that will really clean up the streets.”
Your actions sir, apprear to me to be morally reprehensible. Have you ever attempted to sleep on any city street? If not, you should consider yourself very fortunate and thankful, Mr. Bower, because the violence perpetrated against the homeless while sleeping shocks the conscience.“If someone is sleeping at night on the bus stop, I don’t do anything, but if they are sleeping during the day, I’ll walk up and say, ‘Get your ass moving.’”
Perhaps if you knew about individuals like Tara Cole, a Nashville, TN woman who was pushed into a river while wrapped in her sleeping bag one night by two young men who were drunk and "looking for some fun;" or the man who sound asleep was shot in the face and neck repeatedly with a paintball gun by a gang of teens; or the "suspicious" bus shelter fire that killed 62 year old Harley Lawrence as he slept; or the three homeless men who were all stabbed multiple times and died as they slept alone, you'd understand why some people who are homeless doze off during the daytime.
It's my understanding, Rep. Bower, that Hawaii has one of the highest populations of people experiencing homelessness in the country. There are plenty of evidence-based and promising practices that have been developed to help ameliorate homelessness; you can find some great information on how to accomplish this at the SAMHSA Homelessness Resource Center and you can even get free technical support and assistance to implement, execute and maintain fidelity to the models here.
I would think that as a Representative of "the people" of the great state of Hawaii, you'd be running, not walking, to supports like this, given the amount of homelessness in your community. That you don't reflects poorly on your ability to legislate and govern in your state. A little time spent researching the causes and conditions of homelessness would also clearly benefit you, and you can begin with some very good, honest, and frankly eye-opening information about homelessness here, here, and here.
There's a great new guidebook for Public Housing Authorities to end homelessness as well, and I highly recommend you peruse it. I also recommend a Google search on the challenges related to homelessness; something I recommend you do sooner, rather than later, because you sir, are not helping the problem with your actions.
In fact, your behavior is contributing both to the stereotypes about homelessness and perpetuating violence against those experiencing homelessness, and it hasn't stopped simply because you've "retired" your sledgehammer. In fact, it appears your priorities are skewed, given your recent statement that ”Now that the issue of shopping carts is on our minds...the question is are we going to move forward and try to solve it or just let it become status quo.”
I would think that you'd be more concerned about the human suffering and misery of those who must endure living homeless in your community, sir. My hope would be that these individuals would take precedence over the shopping carts outside of their store zones in your city. In fact, I'll wager that if you actually addressed the real and very large problem of homelessness in Hawaii, instead of trying to send those individuals out of your state with a one way plane ticket and burdening other communities with a situation you're apparently unwilling to resolve yourself, the issue of abandoned shopping carts would disappear pretty quickly.
You now have the resources and the knowledge; you are freed from your previous ignorance regarding the causes and challenges of - and solutions to - homelessness.
The real question now is whether you will act upon your new knowledge and actually do something that ends homelessness in your community.
Hawaii State Rep. Tom Bower (D! wtf?) Sledgehammers Homeless People’s Possessions
Five-term Hawaiian Representative Tom Brower (D-WTF?) has waged his own war on the homeless in his state. He has taken the streets with a sledgehammer in search for homeless people in hopes to destroy any possession they may have. Brower says he’s “disgusted” with homeless people in his state and informed the Honolulu Star-Advertiser about his own ideology in enforcing “justice.”
Brower claims that since he began this new campaign, he has destroyed an estimated 30 shopping carts with a sledgehammer in the last two weeks.“If I see shopping carts that I can’t identify, I will destroy them so they can’t be pushed on the streets.”
As if destroying homeless’ possessions wasn’t enough to ‘clean up the streets’, Brower has made it a priority to interrupt these people that he finds sleeping and tell them to get up and sleep somewhere else.“I want to do something practical that will really clean up the streets,” he explained to Hawaii News Now.
Apparently Brower finds homeless people insignificant and unworthy of any self-respect to owning and protecting their possessions. Clearly if Brower were to raid middle-class homes and smashed their possessions, someone would indeed wake him up and say ‘Get your ass moving’…out of office that is.“If someone is sleeping at night on the bus stop, I don’t do anything, but if they are sleeping during the day, I’ll walk up and say, ‘Get your ass moving,’” he said.
Homelessness is a complex, overwhelming problem, and cities all over America appear determined to solve it by abusing homeless people until they go away. Brower has frightened the homeless, but has not done much to actually help them. Hawaii currently maintains the highest homeless rate in the country, but instead of providing shelters or more services to help these people, lawmakers approved $100,000 to offer one-way flights out of Hawaii to any of the state’s estimated 17,000 homeless persons.
It is very sad that in this country, the default solution is to devise endlessly creative ways to punish the homeless for being homeless.
