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This was my reply on facebook a few hours ago when I was dealing with another person who was repeating lies about Syrian refugees being terrorists and claiming we need to help homeless veterans before we let any more refugees into the country:
As for helping veterans, great! Contact your local VA office to see what they need most, and raise funds/support government funding of housing first programs, which have since President Obama prioritized them reduced the number of actual homeless veterans by 50%. But we are a big country and we can work on multiple issues at the same time.
It is a slightly less polite version of my most recent post on my YASC blog (written there because I wanted to link it to facebook and still have my lj semi separated from my formal name: http://serviceandstories.blogspot.com/
And the real comment I wanted to leave was something more along the lines of: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. The only time half of you talk about helping veterans, or any other group facing issues of homelessness, is when you want to use them as an excuse to avoid helping any other out group you currently despise more. If you really wanted to help them you'd be voting for things like increases to the VA budget, or funding for housing programs, or donating some of your own time and skills to helping homeless people get into stable housing so that they could then rebuild the rest of their lives.
Really people, stand by your beliefs and your words. If you don't want to help refugees and say that you think we should be helping our own citizens first, you had better be able to back it up with specific actions you have taken and will be taking to help said citizens. Do not haul them into the line of fire just so you can pretend that it's not xenophobia and racism motivating your current attacks.
As for helping veterans, great! Contact your local VA office to see what they need most, and raise funds/support government funding of housing first programs, which have since President Obama prioritized them reduced the number of actual homeless veterans by 50%. But we are a big country and we can work on multiple issues at the same time.
It is a slightly less polite version of my most recent post on my YASC blog (written there because I wanted to link it to facebook and still have my lj semi separated from my formal name: http://serviceandstories.blogspot.com/
And the real comment I wanted to leave was something more along the lines of: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. The only time half of you talk about helping veterans, or any other group facing issues of homelessness, is when you want to use them as an excuse to avoid helping any other out group you currently despise more. If you really wanted to help them you'd be voting for things like increases to the VA budget, or funding for housing programs, or donating some of your own time and skills to helping homeless people get into stable housing so that they could then rebuild the rest of their lives.
Really people, stand by your beliefs and your words. If you don't want to help refugees and say that you think we should be helping our own citizens first, you had better be able to back it up with specific actions you have taken and will be taking to help said citizens. Do not haul them into the line of fire just so you can pretend that it's not xenophobia and racism motivating your current attacks.