A letter to the homeless:
I’m sorry that you are now being villainized by a problem that you didn’t choose. I’m sorry that you are now a legitimate criminal because of your inability to be properly housed. I sorry that you may be rattled with trauma and mental illness that heavily impact our inability to grow beyond homelessness. And even more I am sorry that you will spend time in jail and be released to experience nothing new.
You may not understand what they are thinking by arresting you after warning you. I wonder if you would even remember being warned from 48 hours ago. I’m sorry that you may get an evaluation to assess if you need emergency mental health support. I think they think that they are moving in good faith, but it doesn’t look that way to most of us watching on the outside.
Constance Buggs
South Bend
American ideals
With attention around America’s 250th birthday, it’s important to recognize the ideals that gave this nation life: liberty, self-government and the promise of opportunity. But America’s story is also the story of builders ― innovators, entrepreneurs, employers and workers ― who turned freedom into farms and factories, small businesses and global companies, lifesaving medicines and breakthrough technologies.
Indiana has long been part of that story. Hoosiers have helped feed, power, build, move and heal the nation. Today, businesses across our state are creating jobs, investing in communities, training workers and giving people pathways to upward mobility.
But continued progress is not guaranteed. Artificial intelligence, automation, global competition, energy demand and workforce challenges are reshaping what it takes to compete. That is why Indiana Prosperity 2035 ― the Indiana Chamber’s long-term economic vision plan ― matters. It provides a clear roadmap for future growth, opportunity and stronger Hoosier communities.
As we mark this milestone, now is the time to recommit to policies that encourage the needed invention, investment and work. Patriotism is not only remembering what came before us; it is building what comes next. America’s greatest resource remains free people with bold ideas and the opportunity to turn them into reality.
Vanessa Green Sinders
President and CEO, Indiana Chamber of Commerce
It’s the parenting
The school to prison pipeline is not the schools, it’s the parenting! Children that are given structure, taught morals and respect for others usually don’t go to prison. Children in the streets all hours of the night, all over the place, causing damage, being violent with each other, these outcomes are predictable. Where are their parents? You cannot blame society, the school system or the justice system, if you allow your child to be out there.
If you’re not reading to your child, that’s issue number one. If your child can’t read, they’re going to be angry, have low self-esteem and be disruptive. The school is not there to teach your child to read but to reinforce what you’re doing at home. Others cannot raise your child. YouTube should not raise your child. They are put in front of a laptop or phone, and exposed to anything and everything, and we wonder why their minds are corrupted with violence and adult content.
Some parents are working several jobs and I applaud that, but as a parent your number one priority is your child’s well-being ― and no one else can provide that. You have to find the time.
Kenneth Butler
South Bend
The writer works for the South Bend Community School Corp. in security.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Indiana law villainizes the homeless | Letters
Reporting by Letters to the Editor, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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By Letters to the Editor, South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
