Not All Homeless Are Criminals

Re “Hometown Hero” (Jan. 31): Refusing to concede the sidewalks and streets of Little Tokyo to predators and criminals is just--and laudable.

Intimidating homeless people who survive by foraging through trash cans (rather than by breaking into cars) and harassing homeless people who seek only a night’s sleep on some of the city’s safer sidewalks is not just--or laudable.

Cruelly stereotyping all homeless persons as criminals and predators may assuage the conscience of Little Tokyo’s business community just as stereotyping all Japanese as potential enemies made possible their internment in the 1940s. It does not excuse it.

Moreover, distributing meaningless lists of homeless shelters that are already filled to capacity does not help the homeless rousted out of Little Tokyo.

ALICE CALLAGHAN, Director

Las Familias del Pueblo

Los Angeles

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I know that crime, addiction and violence are real problems that face us as Americans today, but it is naive and uncompassionate of us to blame only the poor and the marginalized people of our society for these problems.

The homeless people of our cities lack the means to hide their addictions in the comfort of their own homes. They do not have socially acceptable ways of stealing, unlike our government or certain high level businesspersons.

CHRISTOPHER KIDD

Los Angeles