MLK Day Reflection
Today is the day we mark the day we remember Martin Luther King Jr., and I was thinking about the issues that King would be pursuing if he were alive or if one person had picked up his legacy. We are gathering our stats for the State of Homelessness report 2010, and once again we find that around 75% of the homeless population in Cleveland is African American. I have to believe that if King were still alive or if one individual had taken up the struggle, they would have homelessness on the top of the Civil Right's agenda. Homelessness disproportionately affects African Americans in almost every city in America. I have to believe that the other issue on the top of the agenda would be the criminal justice system. The disproportionate number of African Americans who are involved in the judicial system is a toxic subject for politicians including President Obama. We need a national movement leader to continue to move a Civil Rights agenda forward that will force these issues onto the national stage.
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Showing posts with label Re-Entry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Re-Entry. Show all posts
Monday, January 18, 2010
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Brainwashing the Re-Entry Crowd
Homeless Services Meeting
I attended the Office of Homeless Services Advisory meeting. Don't worry you didn't miss anything...It is one of the worst named groups in the City, because they do not give advice to anyone. The one bright spot was that an actual homeless person was selected to this discussion group. No progress on ending homelessness, but the County Office of Re-Entry was introduced and their new staff gave a presentation. This is a very good idea that the staff of the Office of Homeless Services were instrumental in starting. Everything is going along well with their presentation until they threw in this phrase "cognitive restructuring." This is the euphemism that the Re-Entry crowd is using to tell employers and potential landlords that they are transforming these guys into productive members of society, but it sounded so Guantanamo-Nazi- creepy in a U.S. Department of Justice way.
Every time the staff of the new office used those words I got lost in thought trying to think what "cognitive restructuring" exactly means. Was this a shock treatment? Was it one of those movies with half second images and the person is seated with his eyelids forced open? Was it spending the entire day reading "Cathy" the cartoon and "Hints from Heloise" all day until the individual breaks from reality? Then I am thinking shouldn't we have had this cognitive restructuring before the guy went to jail? If we invested more in the children couldn't we have saved a lot of the incarceration money? Then I am sitting there thinking about the HBO series "OZ" and how the hell does a person get cognitive restructured after fending off murders, rapists, and white supremacists? Then the meeting ended.
Sr. Donna Hawk finally spoke up asking the presenters to stop using these words. Office of Re-Entry is a great idea--the language they are using is very bad.
Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.
I attended the Office of Homeless Services Advisory meeting. Don't worry you didn't miss anything...It is one of the worst named groups in the City, because they do not give advice to anyone. The one bright spot was that an actual homeless person was selected to this discussion group. No progress on ending homelessness, but the County Office of Re-Entry was introduced and their new staff gave a presentation. This is a very good idea that the staff of the Office of Homeless Services were instrumental in starting. Everything is going along well with their presentation until they threw in this phrase "cognitive restructuring." This is the euphemism that the Re-Entry crowd is using to tell employers and potential landlords that they are transforming these guys into productive members of society, but it sounded so Guantanamo-Nazi- creepy in a U.S. Department of Justice way.
Every time the staff of the new office used those words I got lost in thought trying to think what "cognitive restructuring" exactly means. Was this a shock treatment? Was it one of those movies with half second images and the person is seated with his eyelids forced open? Was it spending the entire day reading "Cathy" the cartoon and "Hints from Heloise" all day until the individual breaks from reality? Then I am thinking shouldn't we have had this cognitive restructuring before the guy went to jail? If we invested more in the children couldn't we have saved a lot of the incarceration money? Then I am sitting there thinking about the HBO series "OZ" and how the hell does a person get cognitive restructured after fending off murders, rapists, and white supremacists? Then the meeting ended.
Sr. Donna Hawk finally spoke up asking the presenters to stop using these words. Office of Re-Entry is a great idea--the language they are using is very bad.
Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.
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