I work with a subset of the population which experiences discrimination on multiple fronts every single day. Today was a doozy with stupid statements from well-meaning people who have no clue.
AND PLEASE UNDERSTAND - I am not sure I am even aware of all the bias and inaccurate information. I do not LIVE the same life as do the people with whom I work. I am blessed to have a life that has had different challenges and different lessons. It is slowly that I am learning how very blessed I was and am.
But I am very much learning people's lives are neither simple nor easy. There are no easy answers to "fix" problems which are society-wide and systemic. There are no demons in this story.
Statements that make me clench my teeth and want to scream:
"I don't know why they can't just make better choices. That's why they have food stamps to make sure they have food"
"We only let people come to the food pantry once a month cause it should be enough to get them through if they are really using their food stamps"
"People are only homeless because they are too lazy to work"
"If you pray enough, you won't have problems with mental illness"
"Those people are just abusing the system"
"Medicaid should not exist. My taxes should not pay for people who can't be bothered to get a job"
"You can choose not to have mental illness"
"Only criminals go to jail"
"There are safety nets for people. No one has to be homeless or hungry. They just don't want help."
I just so very dearly wish that people would look past labels and preconceived ideas to see the PERSON on the other side of that neat little box. Maybe if we could have honest and caring conversations, instead of taking the convenient short-cuts of incomplete labels, we might start seeing what can be done.
