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With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Yesterday I read a news item that said a Florida man had been arrested for feeding homeless people:
MIAMI (Reuters) - Police in Florida have arrested an activist for feeding the homeless in downtown Orlando. Eric Montanez, 21, of the charity group Food Not Bombs, was charged with violating a controversial law against feeding large groups of destitute people in the city center, police said on Thursday. Montanez was filmed by undercover officers on Wednesday as he served "30 unidentified persons food from a large pot utilizing a ladle," according to an arrest affidavit.
The law the police used was a new one backed by local businesses in an effort to make life uncomfortable for homeless people in the area. The businesses argue that such people detract from the area and keep people away. By people they mean people with money and a willingness to part with it.
Two things really bother me about this event. First, feeding people in need of food should not be a criminal event. It is charity. Charity is the very first perfection the Buddha taught. To criminalize this is an atrocity against our basic human nature. Second, that the police actually dispatched undercover officers to film this "crime" is plain ugly and reminds me very much of the sort of thing we might have read in Orwell's 1984 with Big Brother's eye in every room and on every corner. The police really could feel comfortable using valuable time and resources "busting" a person feeding people? True crime never goes undetected.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
Yesterday I read a news item that said a Florida man had been arrested for feeding homeless people:
MIAMI (Reuters) - Police in Florida have arrested an activist for feeding the homeless in downtown Orlando. Eric Montanez, 21, of the charity group Food Not Bombs, was charged with violating a controversial law against feeding large groups of destitute people in the city center, police said on Thursday. Montanez was filmed by undercover officers on Wednesday as he served "30 unidentified persons food from a large pot utilizing a ladle," according to an arrest affidavit.
The law the police used was a new one backed by local businesses in an effort to make life uncomfortable for homeless people in the area. The businesses argue that such people detract from the area and keep people away. By people they mean people with money and a willingness to part with it.
Two things really bother me about this event. First, feeding people in need of food should not be a criminal event. It is charity. Charity is the very first perfection the Buddha taught. To criminalize this is an atrocity against our basic human nature. Second, that the police actually dispatched undercover officers to film this "crime" is plain ugly and reminds me very much of the sort of thing we might have read in Orwell's 1984 with Big Brother's eye in every room and on every corner. The police really could feel comfortable using valuable time and resources "busting" a person feeding people? True crime never goes undetected.
Be well.