...The Real Story Behind "Tent City" -- and How the Media Get It Wrong

[babylonsister]

"People Shouldn't Have to Live Like This": The Real Story Behind "Tent City" -- and How the Media Get It Wrong

By Rose Aguilar, AlterNet. Posted April 20, 2009.

The media have finally discovered homelessness. Not surprisingly, they get the story wrong.


Over the past few months, reporters from around the world have flocked to the now-famous tent city in Sacramento, Calif. When they find out that 55-year-old John Kraintz has been living in a tent for almost seven years, they turn around and walk away.

"They don't want to talk to me," he says. "They're searching for people who just lost their homes. It's kinda tough to lose a home when you've never owned one. Sorry, but most of the people here have been homeless for a long time."

A tall and lanky man with a long beard tied in a ponytail, Kraintz is one of 100-200 people who have been told to leave the homeless camp between Sacramento's Blue Diamond Almond factory and the American River.

Kraintz and so many other homeless people like him have been living in scattered Sacramento encampments for years, but they've been largely ignored and hidden from public view. That is, until Lisa Ling, a reporter with the Oprah show, came to town in late February to focus on what Oprah Winfrey called the "new faces" of homelessness.

The show reported -- inaccurately -- that an estimated 1,200 people in Sacramento are living in tent cities after losing their jobs and homes. According to Loaves & Fishes, a privately funded group that has been feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless in Sacramento for 25 years, 1,226 people live on the streets of the city. Between 100 and 200 temporarily call tent city home.

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http://www.alternet.org/workplace/137045/%22people_shouldn%27t_have_to_live_like_this%22%3A_the_real_story_behind_%22tent_city%22_--_and_how_the_media_get_it_wrong/?page=entire

[ejpoeta]

1. so is the reason they are being kicked out because of the publicity

that is making them look bad?? hardly a reason to kick someone out of there. if they are not hurting anyone or committing any crimes like stealing and such, then friggin let them stay!

[droidamus2]

3. Done all the time

I used to live in Sacramento and they were constantly rousting people out of 'camps' along the river and destroying whatever was left. Even when they were out of sight they would still go after them. People don't want to be reminded that with one lost job or major health problem they could end up in the same position.

[Orrex]

2. Sad but true. The 'story' is about people who've fallen into hardship in recent months

The media in general cares nothing about people who've struggled in poverty for years, because those people work against the illusion that "the fundamentals of the economy are strong."

It's disgusting that anyone in this country should be homeless while others have to decide which of their seven homes to stay in tonight. But to talk about that would be to admit that we were a long way from prosperity even before the housing bubble burst, or the tech bubble burst, etc.