WASHINGTON - Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.
And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.
The Veterans Affairs Department has identified 1,500 homeless veterans from the current wars and says 400 of them have participated in its programs specifically targeting homelessness.
Further thoughts on the cultural labor of poetry and art. Not merely "is it good?," but "what has it accomplished?"...reviews of recent poetry collections; selected poems and art dealing with war/peace/social change; reviews of poetry readings; links to political commentary (particularly on conflicts in the Middle East); youtubed performances of music, demos, and other audio-video nuggets dealing with peaceful change, dissent and resistance.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
25% of Homeless Are War Veterans
Check out this recent finding. Next time you see a homeless person, ask if they served.
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2 comments:
such a sad reality, common to many countries. here in argentina too, the veterans from the malvinas/falklands war are in the same situation. i admit i'm not intelligent enough to understand why the social and institutional disdain they suffer exists; but I still keep wondering and observing. A mask of happiness can be covering our argentinian society values, but is just a hunch.
Hey Runnerfrog,
Some of it has to do with the war experience itself, a profound *unmaking*, to paraphrase Elaine Scarry's words.
BTW, I love that you regular commenters are from Argentina, Hawaii, Milwaukee, and Cleveland. I feel like this is a little globe of us.
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