A SHAMEFUL EPIDEMIC

When will a picture like this be displayed as part of a sad history of our country? When will a museum such as the Newseum - “a museum dedicated to journalism and the First Amendment” build a display showing that once the capital of our country had homeless people warming themselves outside on the ground, sleeping next to utility holes with steam escaping? When will homelessness join the annals of history?

On the one hand, it felt like an invasion of privacy to photograph this man. On the other hand, as a journalist, how could I not document the growing epidemic in our land? As the homeless population continues to spread from coast to coast, I continue to think about what can be done and wonder when our government will step up.

The scene of a man lying outside in our nation’s capital, soaking up the steam from a utility hole on the 500 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, clashed with my thoughts of winter travels in Florida, where scores of bathers frolic as they soak up the sun. On a brisk October morning, my husband and I were stepping into the Newseum, only feet away from where this homeless man “lived.”

Displays in this historic museum include Pulitzer Prize-winning pieces, which report wrongs that have been perpetuated in our country and beyond. Due to a lack of funding, ironically, the museum is scheduled to lose its home at the end of 2019. That would be a terrible misfortune. (Update: While they sold the building, which is in a prime real estate location, they are looking for a new home for the Newseum).

When will the playing fields be leveled? When will there be justice and liberty for all? When?

View of the United States Capitol from the Newseum-Washington, D.C.-October 30, 2019