The Right to Feed: A National Struggle

 

The struggle against Philadelphia’s public feeding ban has highlighted this civic and religious issue across the nation. More than 50 cities have previously adopted anti-food sharing laws, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. The list includes Denver, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas and Oklahoma City.  

Heather Johnson, a civil rights attorney at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty center stated, “We’re seeing these types of laws being proposed and passed all over the country. We think that criminalization measures such as these are counterproductive. Rather than address the root causes of homelessness, they actually serve to perpetuate homelessness.”

City officials across the board argue that indoor feedings are better all around, providing a measure of dignity, expand services, ensure good public hygiene and safety. There is also the “obligation not only to the people in the parks and on the streets but to the wider community to prevent a public health problem,” says James Brooks of the National League of Cities.      

In two striking cases, the Federal Courts have ruled against the ordinances to restrict public feedings. In 2008, Orlando Federal Judge Gregory A. Presnell stated that the ordinance violated the First Amendment rights of the plaintiff, the First Vagabonds Church of God, and struck down the city’s ban. In 2010, the Nevada ACLU also successfully challenged a Las Vegas homeless feeding ban and reached a settlement that required the police to halt ticketing violators unless there was clear evidence of unlawful activity.
In cities, such as Philadelphia, which saw about 38 million visitors in 2011, city officials may believe that long lines of the homeless and the hungry along the Parkway will keep visitors away from the city.

 

Debate on this issue is widespread and growing. More than a dozen petitions online have enlisted thousands of signatures nationally and internationally in support of public feedings. One of the commentators on Alex Jones’ Infowars, a news show website, added this comment to her signed petition: “Sometimes a well-timed sandwich or a cup of hot soup can make a world of difference for a homeless person.”

One of the most surprising statements came from national pundit Glenn Beck who introduced One Step Away as “a Philadelphia-area newspaper which is a voice for the city’s homeless,” quoted me from my testimony at the May 31st city council hearing, “Feeding people and serving the needs of the people is a fundamental right. Erik is correct. Feeding people is a fundamental right because it’s a natural moral impulse. When you see someone in need, you want to help. You do your part. Not because someone tells you, but because you know it is the right thing to do…We have the right to feed. The right to care. And we must exercise it.

posted by Erik Younge & Paulina Malek