hey the reason why homelessness in america and out-in-the-streets type of begging for food wearing scraps poverty isn't as "obvious" as in some other countries is that america purposefully makes the OUTSIDE WORLD, parks and benches, the outside of restaraunt and cafes, even by gas stations, streets at night, playgrounds, public pools, inaccessible unless you have money.
and if you don't have money and almost exclusively if you're homeless and sound of mind you have nowhere to go but sleep under bridges. in alleys. by highways. anywhere the cops won't find you and kick you out. anywhere an upper middle class white lady will call the cops on you for existing. anywhere you can exist without contorting yourself to look presentable lest you risk getting thrown out of public area. maybe shelters if you can. maybe a friend's house or a car if you can.
homelessness in america is an out of sight, out of mind ill of society. homeless people are pushed to the very fucking boundaries of society. they are not allowed to exist in public. they are not ALLOWED. we TAKE THEIR TENTS. there's no space in shelters. jobs won't hire you unless you have addresses. so you stay at the fringes, maybe hanging out in parks in the dead of night, sleeping in quieter streets, forming groups with other people just to have your communities torn down.
your choices are to survive on the boundaries of society, existing on the very fringes, trying not to attract attention, acutely aware of the fact that you are an eyesore and an inconvenience to most of the american public, and that if you are to ask for help from a passerby by making a sign asking for a few dollars or knocking on their car windows, you are having to stand there. begging for your humanity and your existence to be recognized.
your choices are that or die.
don't ever say things like "well there are homeless americans but it's worse in x country." you have never felt the experience of homelessness when you are treated as blemish upon the Great Country of america. neither have i. it's like slapping makeup on an open wound, get moved out of the way and arrested and bulldozed if you dare to exist in society.
