I am addressing the articles about the homeless by Sen. Maurice Johannesen (Redding offers too much to homeless) and Christine Anthony  (Stop giving to homeless and they'll go away.)

It truly saddens me to see that some people are still locked into a hurtful mentality that seems to be extremely difficult to change in our humanity.

First, placing a label on homeless people saying they are all criminals and addicts has the same offensive sound when someone says illegal Mexicans are all murderers, rapists and drug dealers, or Muslims are all terrorists. This kind of thinking gives the impression that they are not human.

Second, I am also concerned about what is happening to Redding. Yes, the homeless congregate at South City Park. Yes, they use the library for their daily upkeep. That alone says they care deeply about their hygiene in this difficult situation they are in.

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Third, we have to take responsibility for what has happened to our country on our watch in the past two decades. Cruel mismanagement of opioids that has skyrocketed drug addiction, unaffordable housing that makes it almost impossible to rent, minimum wages that are mismanaged by either reducing hours and/or breaking up daily hours and keeping workers on call, which gives little chance for finding work to make ends meet.

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Fourth, saying with little thought that homelessness is a choice, homeless people should get a job or, worst, do nothing for them. This kind of thinking about the homeless does nothing but build one’s personal ego. This kind of mentality gives the unthoughtful person the impression that he is off the hook for doing nothing that has a positive outcome.

Five, doing something positive that is truly humanitarian at its best, is reaching back to feeling the core of our humanness, which is finding our true empathy, compassion and inclusiveness.

John Cerro, Redding

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