by
Walter Brasch
A few million Americans may be thinking
about it, but won’t be celebrating Memorial Day. For them, there’s not much to
celebrate or to remember.
They’re the low-wage employees who may
have to work all three days, without overtime; about three million workers earn
the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Many work 30 to 35 hours a week,
just low enough that their employers don’t have to pay for insurance, holidays,
or sick leave. The corporate CEOs, of course, will be enjoying the long weekend
at their alternate vacation homes in the mountains, or along the coasts, or at
off-shore islands where they have found banks willing to hide their money and
avoid U.S. taxes.
Almost 600,000 persons are homeless on any
given night. They are homeless for any number of reasons, but whatever reason,
the reality is they are homeless—and the wealthiest nation in the world cheers $10
million a year pro athletes, but discounts social workers who have graduate
degrees and are paid an average of about $46,000 a year.
The homeless live beneath bridges, in
subway tunnels, on the streets, or if the shelters aren’t filled, in protected
areas with cots for beds, and grocery carts for what few possessions they have.
In Atlantic City, the homeless live beneath the boardwalk, unseen by hundreds
of thousands who go into casinos, buy expensive dinners, and think nothing of
dropping a few hundred or a few thousand dollars at gaming tables and slot
machines. In urban cities, those with jobs and families walk by the homeless,
as if they are invisible, sometimes erroneously thinking that even if the
homeless get a dollar or two, they’d rush off to buy beer, liquor, or more
drugs.
About 50,000 of the homeless on any given
night are veterans, according to the Department of Housing and Urban
Development. Overall, more than 150,000 veterans are homeless during the year. The
reasons for veterans being homeless are because of “extreme shortage of affordable housing, livable income and
access to health care . . . lingering effects of post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) and substance abuse, which are compounded by a lack of family and social
support networks,” according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. Under the Obama administration, which has
focused upon assisting veterans, the number of homeless veterans on any given
night has come down from about 80,000 six years ago, but even a few dozen homeless
veterans are far too many.
Hundreds of thousands of veterans won’t be
able to march in Memorial Day parades, or stand and salute the flag. They don’t
have limbs, their muscles have atrophied because of extensive bed confinement,
or they have other debilitating illnesses. About 2.2 million American veterans
were injured during their service; about 1.7 million of them were wounded in
combat, according to a Pew Research Center summary and analysis. About 200,000
military personnel who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars suffer from post-traumatic
stress disorder of have major depression, according to a study done by the Rand
Corp. About 285,000 of the veterans of America’s most recent wars have suffered
from traumatic brain injury. Among other injuries, according to the VA
are chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, fibromyalgia, hearing difficulties,
hepatitis, malaria, memory loss, migraines, sleep disorders and tuberculosis.
More than
120,000 Americans won’t celebrate Memorial Day; they died in combat during the
Korean, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, and Iraq/Afghanistan wars.
During this
three-day weekend, Americans will grill steaks, burgers, and hot dogs; they
will travel to relatives’ or friends’ houses, or take mini-vacations. The
nation’s politicians—from small town council members to presidential candidates—will
go from picnic to picnic, from rally to rally, and deliver poignant speeches
about how much they care about the veterans who were injured or died for their
country, and how much veterans mean to the country, while delivering the
underlying message to vote for them in the coming election.
But, it is these
politicians who, without hesitation, will quickly send American youth into war,
and claim that killing people a half-world away somehow protects American
citizens. And once Americans are in combat, these same politicians will
complain about the cost of war, and vote against providing adequate funds for decent
medical and psychological treatment for those who come home damaged.
[Dr. Brasch, an award-winning journalist and the author
of 20 books, is co-founder of the Northeast Pennsylvania Coalition for the
Homeless.]
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