Daily Archives: October 3, 2010

Sunday Roast: Homeless Children in America

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Did you know there are over 1.6 homeless children in this country?  I sure as hell didn’t.  To say I’m shocked to the bone is an understatement.

Rich German has an article at Huffington Post that talks about this issue, and these are some of the stats:

  • Over 50% of youth in shelters and on the streets report that their parents told them to leave or knew they were leaving and did not care.
  • One IN four homeless youth come from the foster care system
  • 33% of heterosexual homeless youth have been sexually abused
  • Less than one in four homeless children will graduate from high school
  • Every day 12 kids die on the streets of America

Parents are throwing away their children — quite literally, throwing them away — and many of those children wind up abused, uneducated, and dead.  These children are part of the future of this country (minus the 12 who die on the streets everyday).

At the One Nation Working Together rally yesterday, a young man said, “If my neighbor is hungry, then I am hungry.  If my neighbor is homeless, then I am homeless.”

Regarding that same rally, Glenn Beck railed against the people and groups involved, saying “All of these groups, and the president of the United States, want nothing short of fundamental transformation of America.”

You’re damn right we do, Glenn Beck.  1.6 MILLION homeless children in this country is a deafening call for a fundamental transformation of this country.  The United States of America is one of the richest countries on the planet, and as long as our neighbors are sick, hungry, and homeless, ALL OF US are sick, hungry, and homeless.

This is our daily open thread.  What’s on your mind?