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The Answer to Hunger and Homelessness
by Alice Bernstein
During the Thanksgiving holiday time, which is also National
Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, we should do everything we can
to end these agonies affecting millions of people. That is why I
urge you to sign the ever so important “Petition to End Homelessness
in America,” and mail or fax it as soon as possible. Please make copies
and give them to everyone you know.
The petition, which arises from the ethics of Aesthetic
Realism, the education founded by the great American historian, Eli Siegel,
will be sent to members of Congress. It presents a practical solution,
in keeping with the U.S. Constitution, for ending the brutal injustice
which is hurting -- and even killing -- children and adults in the wealthiest
nation on earth.
The petition is being distributed nationally in newspapers,
and at conferences in which New York City Planner, Barbara Buehler and
Emmy award-winning filmmaker, Ken Kimmelman speak on, “Housing:
A Basic Right, An Urgent Need.” Aesthetic Realism explains America’s
Housing Crisis, the Cause of the Solution most recently at the Conference
of the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness at the
University of Maryland, and last spring with architects Dale Laurin and
Anthony Romeo at the American Institute of Architects Convention 2000 in
Philadelphia.
Featured in these presentations is a public service film
against homelessness and hunger by Ken Kimmelman, “What Does a Person Deserve?”
based on the crucial ethical question asked by Eli Siegel, “What does a
person deserve by being alive?” This powerful award-winning film with original
music by Edward Green, was shown last week to an international audience
during the Poor People’s Summit at the Riverside Church in New York City,
and is being broadcast nationwide on television. Through this film the
viewer feels, “Yes, homeless people are real; they have feelings; they
are like me; I can’t bear what they are forced to endure, and I want justice
to come to them.” The dignity and humanity of people who are deprived of
both by an unjust economy, can be seen and felt in this beautifully made,
kind film.
PETITION TO END HOMELESSNESS IN
AMERICA
WHEREAS, there are 700,000 people
homeless on any given night in America;
WHEREAS, federal funding for
housing programs has dropped 97% in the last 24 years;
WHEREAS, there is currently
no federal money allocated for public housing construction;
WHEREAS, $125 billion of our
tax money went to subsidize corporations in a single year (1998);
WHEREAS, there is nothing
in the US Constitution establishing or supporting profit economics;
WHEREAS, the Declaration
of Independence calls for our government to secure for everyone "Life,
Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness;”
WHEREAS, fundamental to these
rights is a person's right to a home;
We, the undersigned, One.
Call upon the President and Congress to assume responsibility for providing
a home--not a shelter, but a safe, well-built, comfortable, permanent home--for
every man, woman, and child in America.
Two. We call upon our leaders
at every level of government to cease and desist all tax subsidies and
other assistance to privately owned profit-making industry and redirect
that money instead for the common good of all Americans, towards the immediate
eradication of homelessness in every city and state of our rich and abundant
land.
Three. We hereby pledge our
support for this kind, ethical undertaking and pledge to work with all
interested parties in giving the best of our knowledge, experience and
abilities to this beautiful, just, truly American endeavor--in keeping
with this statement by the great American historian and founder of Aesthetic
Realism, Eli Siegel: “The world should be owned by the people
living in it. Every person should be seen as living in a world truly his.
All persons should be seen as living in a world truly theirs.”
Signature
Name printed Address
City/State/Zip Code Date
1.
2.
3.
4.
Please send signed petitions to
the Ad Hoc Committee for Housing--A Basic Human Right, 170 Second Ave.,
Suite 5D, New York, NY 10003 or fax to:
(212) 243-5580
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