Homeless Rage in America

Photo: Mike Hastie.

Yesterday I was driving in Portland, Oregon, when this homeless woman stepped in front  of my car and just started to scream.

I had my camera on the floor next to my legs, so I grabbed it real quick and took this picture. Being a photojournalist, I simply wanted proof of what I was witnessing.

Sitting next to me was Brian Willson, who witnessed U.S. atrocities in Viet Nam.

In the back seat was a Nicaraguan woman by the  name of Ulda.  She was visiting the U.S. for the first time.

When she was a small child she remembers eating  only banana roots. Her family didn’t have food  to eat because of the U.S.-funded Ronald Reagan War.

In the past two years, 200,000 people have moved to Portland from all over the country.  Rents have gone sky high, just like other cities across  the nation.

Homelessness is an avalanche–tents popping up  like wild flowers everywhere.

Streets are littered with trash everywhere.

Arguments on many street corners.

You can feel the stress everywhere.

Anyone reading my words knows exactly what I am  talking about.

In fact, I doubt if I could say anything in this post that people don’t already know by heart.

It’s happening!

You can’t spend 50% of U.S. tax dollars on the violent military, without eventually turning this country into an economic war zone.

So, Mike, what’s your point?

My point?

The world is finally getting even.

The Scream is finally being heard.

Mike Hastie served as an Army Medic in Vietnam.