6 May 13 - May 26, 2009
org
MD Governor Signs Homeless Hate Crimes Bill
By Josh Miller
A bill signed by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley
last week made Maryland the first state to include the
homeless as a class within the scope of anti-hate crime
legislation.
Perpetrators of crimes that target people living on
the streets or in shelters will now face stiffer conse-
quences in Maryland, such as sentences of up to 20
years in prison for felonies.
“What the law now specifically provides is for in-
creased penalties for an attack on a homeless person
that was committed because the person was home-
less,” said Antonia Fasanelli, executive director of the
Homeless Persons Representation Project.
State Sen. Alex Mooney, a Republican, sponsored
Senate Bill 151, which also added gender and disabili-
ties as determining factors in applying the state’s anti-
hate crime laws. Those laws already covered attacks
against a person based on his or her race, color, reli-
gious beliefs, sexual orientation or national origin.
“The other historic thing about this signing today
is that the homeless are considered a protected class,”
said Michael Stoops, executive director of the National
Coalition for the Homeless.
Advocates of protecting the homeless celebrated
Maryland’s pioneering measures at a press conference
Thursday in Baltimore.
“It sends a very clear message that the government
does not tolerate hate crimes against homeless peo-
ple,” said Tulin Ozdeger of the National Law Center on
Supporters Rally for Private School Scholarships Program
By Reginald Black
In these perilous economic times nothing is safe
from the crunching.
The first week of May, I observed a rally at Freedom
Plaza in support of a program that has drawn strong
support from participating District families.
The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship, which allows
low-income families to send their children to private
schools, is slated to lose funding next year. Federal
budget legislation would eliminate the program; ac-
tion by Congress and the D.C. Council could restore
it.
The sad reality is that without a good education one
can find oneself sleeping in a park or in the neighbor-
hood hallway. The District is in a fierce dispute about
how to improve its troubled public schools, because
people of every opinion recognize this reality.
The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program is one
proposed solution for improving things. In 2008-2009
the program helped 1,715 District students attend 49
nonpublic schools, with scholarships of up to $7,500.
The program started in 2003 when Congress passed
the D.C. School Choice Incentive Act. The law man-
dated an independent rigorous evaluation of what is
now called the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship (OSP).
Studies do not show evidence of a significant
change in test scores between those using the schol-
arship and those that do not. But the program has a
positive impact on parent satisfaction and their per-
ception of school safety.
Hosting the rally was Kevin Chavous, former mem-
ber of the D.C. Council and the author of “Serving Our
Homelessness & Poverty. “We hope this legislation will
be one step in many that Maryland will take.”
Elsewhere, state legislatures in California, Ohio
and Texas are considering similar bills. In Congress,
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) has introduced a
resolution, on which Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
is a cosponsor, to extend anti-hate crime protections
to the homeless. And the City Council in the District
of Columbia will vote on similar directives as early as
June.
Other state and local governments have taken ac-
tions to stem or track violence against the homeless.
Maine and Alaska have allowed a victim’s homeless sta-
tus to be a factor in sentencing. Seattle added home-
lessness as a category applicable to anti-harassment
cases. And Los Angeles has asked its police to begin
tracking attacks against homeless people.
“There’s no law enforcement agency anywhere that
keeps statistics on attacks against the homeless,” said
Stoops. “We need a more scientific way. If we had a
scientific way, the numbers would be a lot higher.”
As the numbers stand, according to Stoops, more
than 800 attacks against the homeless were document-
ed from 1999 to 2008. More than 200 of those attacks
resulted in loss of life.
Mooney, who originally opposed the Maryland
bill on the grounds that it provided protection on the
basis of sexual orientation, cited newspaper reports
of incidents involving attacks on the homeless as his
motivation for sponsoring the bill, which had been
defeated twice before passing this year. The law takes
Children: Charter Schools and the Reform of American
Public Education.” He referred to the already seated
leaders as a pipeline to the good Lord.
I was blown away as the St. Francis Xavier student
choir sang. It was cute to watch children of all ages
and grades come together for one cause, to see each
other next year.
Joining in support were recording artists Genuine
Sole and Mya. Genuine told the crowd “I do not come
to you as Genuine, but as a husband and father.” Mya,
who said she is still teaching herself, also runs a youth
group.
Next was Dr. Ben Chavis, who started the chant “Put
our children first!” He also called out District leaders
in the Wilson Building across the street by saying that
instead of cutting funding, we should be increasing
funding. Former Mayor Anthony Williams also briefly
REginald Black
addressed the crowd, saying “I would not be here to-
day if loving parents didn’t adopt me into their loving
home.”
There were many schools in attendance, and the
roll was called of all in attendance. The children had
made hand-written posters and the parents came in
droves. Some spoke on how the program has helped
their children. Two students in the program gave their
testimonies of success.
Several current Council members showed up as
well. First, Council member Marion Barry, who ex-
claimed, “Let my people go.” He assured the crowd that
he is with them when it comes to education. Council
member Harry Thomas Jr. also showed his support.
After more chants and expressions of support, a
huge crowd of parents and students marched over to
S treetS ense.
effect October 1.
“The legislature acknowledged the serious circum-
stances that our clients face every day on the streets
and something had to be done,” Fasanelli said.
In 2008 in Maryland, there were four attacks on
homeless people, two of which were fatal. One was
on Valentine’s Day when a homeless man was beaten
to death while sleeping in an alley in Frederick. Docu-
mented attacks on homeless people in Maryland date
back to at least 1992. That year, a homeless Korean War
veteran in Annapolis was killed after being soaked in
urine, called a “worthless bum” and kicked down a ra-
vine. Almost a decade later, in 2001, a group of young
men from South Baltimore killed three homeless peo-
ple during a spree of beatings and robberies.
“When the teens went to trial in Baltimore, they tes-
tified that they considered the people they attacked to
be trash,” Fasanelli said. “So that does provide some
indication of their intent.”
Most violence against homeless people nationwide
is perpetrated by teenagers and young adults, Stoops
added.
“There’s a big battle going on in downtown America.
… Many cities are criminalizing homelessness,” he
said. “This gives a bad image to youths that homeless
people are worthless.”
Their growing visibility also is contributing to ag-
gression against homeless people, Fasanelli and Stoops
agreed. Homelessness increased by 10% in Baltimore
from 2006 to 2007 and by 14% in 2008, according to
Fasanelli.
Organizers of the rally handed out T-shirts for all participants to wear.
the Wilson Building. They carried in hand 7,000 sig-
natures to a petition against cutting the Opportunity
Scholarship program.
With the final decisions on the District’s budget
coming soon, one can only wonder where the pro-
grams that help the impoverished are going to be in
the coming year. And whatever decisions are made
about public funding for education, the parents who
favor this school-choice program have made their
voices heard.