| Heartbreak. And anger. Those were my experiences while reading Stephen Lock's "Neighbourhood Threat" ("Drugs and hookers are making the inner city a dangerous place to live," Viewpoint, October 14-20, 2004). Lock presents a situation of substance abuse and sex trade, and how it negatively affects him. Obviously these issues are significant, but Lock does or proposes nothing to make actual change.
People involved in sex trade and/or who are abusing drugs or alcohol are victims of their situations. Calling such people "addicts'," "drug-addled hookers" or "crack whores" isn't going to help anyone. It's disrespectful. It's dehumanizing.
I live in the same neighbourhood as this Stephen guy, and I don't see "crack whores" as my problem; I see people with unmet needs and an unhealthy community that would rather give humans a label, and get the police to haul them off somewhere, than deal with the actual issues. First of all, give people dignity, take away the hateful labels. Second, support agencies that are attempting to address the issues these people in need face, like CCASA or EXIT. Third, work to create cohesion in your neighbourhood, start a block watch. There are a lot of things that can be done that will be a lot more productive than complaining to anyone you think would listen to you, or writing (or publishing) a full-page hateful article in Fast Forward.
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