Acts of God: The Deserving
Poor and Everyone Else

Last week there was an earthquake in Afghanistan. Thousands of people homeless-- maybe 200 dead, villages flattened. These people were killed, injured, made homeless by a force completely beyond their control, an act of God, to use the legal term. The international community poured in aid, and American newspapers printed the story on the front page. This was an appropriate reaction to a horrifying tragedy.

On the other hand, American bombs fall on Afghanistan--some 6000 civilians have been killed and who knows how many injured, made homeless, orphaned. These people have had their lives destroyed by a force completely beyond their control. Where's their aid? The bombing has prevented the International Red Cross from doing its work. Where's the American front-page coverage? Most American newspapers haven't printed body counts, except when Americans have died.

So who gets the aid? Are you somehow more worthy because the force that knocked your house down was natural instead of manmade? What if you broke your leg in an earthquake and your neighbor broke his leg stepping on a land mine? Who deserves help, and why?

The San Francisco Chronicle Newspaper printed a story about the earthquake and the international relief effort on its front page. That same day, they also printed two more revealing stories. On page 12: "Bush extends benefits for WTC jobless." George W., in a rare instance of doing something that I support, signed legislation extending unemployment benefits to people put out of work by the tragedies of September 11. These people lost their jobs because of circumstances completely beyond their control, and they clearly deserve public support. 

But for some real irony, on the front page, right below the earthquake story, is this caption: "High court upholds evictions for drugs." The Supreme Court ruled that federal housing authorities can evict people from public housing for the crime of being related to someone who has been arrested on drug related charges. So if someone in your household is arrested (and the story did say arrested, not convicted) on a drug charge, you can be tossed out on the street. If your child, father, wife, brother, or even houseguest is arrested, you can lose your home for something that was completely beyond your control. I wonder what would happen if an earthquake hit a public housing project.

We make decisions about selective funding every day. In San Francisco, we agree that people whose expensive Marina District homes were damaged in the 1989 earthquake deserved our help. At the same time, we walk past hungry people on the street, and we allow the police to confiscate shopping carts that contain all of someone's worldly possessions. If the rich White folks from the Marina were on the street for three days, would we let the police take their belongings? What if it was three months, or three years?