Hate Crime in Central Ohio

Young People Attack Homeless

In Reynoldsburg, Ohio just outside of Columbus, a group of young people attacked a man who was sleeping behind a hardware store. Robert Wirtz was known to the community as a quiet man who did not bother anyone, but lived outside. People in Central Ohio have raised money for Wirtz's medical care, and the Mayor of this suburban community has gotten involved. Eugene Clemons was attacked in Cleveland last April, and had to spend weeks in the hospital and in nursing care. The Veterans Administration eventually caught up with Clemons and were willing to offer housing to this former Marine. He is doing well in housing. Both individuals were attacked by young people.

This is a common occurrence, and the Columbus Dispatch has done a good job of looking at this issue. They interviewed Michael Stoops from the National Coalition for the Homeless and a lawyer from California who has done a great deal to address this problem. It only brings up that we need Rep. Foley's hate crimes bill to act as a deterrent to these kind of attacks in Ohio. If Maryland can pass a homeless hate crimes bill, why not Ohio? For those who do not believe that enhanced punishments do not work, look how attacks on minority and religious institutions have fallen over the last 40 years since hate crimes legislation swept across the United States.

The National Coalition for the Homeless hate crimes report will come out this summer. This is strategic in that many of the attacks happen during the summer when kids are out of school. They get bored and they find easy targets. These targets have become fixtures in our communities. Homeless people are hardly noticed in our cities anymore. Pedestrians walk over, ignore and turn their heads when confronted by a homeless guy or a panhandler. For the young person who has grown up ignoring homeless people their entire life, it is not much of a stretch from ignoring to vandalizing to violence. The problem is that homeless people are not mailboxes or washboard signs that can be tagged and beaten with baseball bats. Suspects are in custody in Columbus for this brutal attack. No one was ever arrested in the Cleveland attack on Mr. Clemons.

The above photo is by Larry Whitted from our 2007 Photography class.
Brian
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