Several of the books that we have read thus far discuss in great detail what life on the streets is truly like for the homeless. One of the issues with living on the streets that is most frequently discussed is that of harassment and brutality from the police. A recent incident regarding this topic that has received international attention is the horrific murder of James Boyd, a homeless camper in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The notion of a homeless person being harmed by the police is a not a new one, but this particular case has caused so much controversy because the entire thing was caught on tape.

James Boyd had been illegally camping in the city’s mountains and had received numerous warnings to vacate the area. The interactions between the Albuquerque Police Force and Boyd show that he was expressing his dissatisfaction with having to be forcibly removed from what had become the only home he knew. He had a small knife on him, but the footage proves that he never used it to the threaten the police or presented them with any indication that he was going to harm them. After refusing to get on the ground, the police fired six shots, instantly killing James Boyd. This cruel and unnecessary bloodshed is an indication of how homeless people can be regarded as second class citizens by law enforcement members. If he was living in a home with a family, would they have hesitated to shoot him or was it an easier decision to make because he was not a “productive member of society?”

This tragedy has been met with outrage from people all over the world. An infamous activist group of Internet hackers, “Annoymous” threatened to hack the Albuquerque Police Department website to publicly express their anger about the unfair death of James Boyd. Last Saturday, the group was successful in causing the APD website to crash. What they did was illegal, but I cannot criticize the hacker group for standing up for what they believe is right and lending a voice to a member of society that was completely ignored until he was brutally murdered by the very people we look to to keep us safe. Was this part of the APD’s job description ignored because James Boyd was homeless?

This is all particularly troubling to me, because after watching the video footage, it was clear to me that Boyd was posing no legitimate threat to the policemen and therefore, his death was completely uncalled for. Just because someone is lacking a home it does not mean that their rights as a citizen are forfeited. Boyd did not deserve to die just for camping in the foothills of a New Mexico city. I am comforted, however, that so much action has been taken to hold the APD accountability for committing a crime and taking an innocent life.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/03/29/Feds-looking-into-deadly-shooting-of-homeless-camper-by-Albuquerque-police/3771396125996/?spt=mps&or=5
*Warning: This video is incredibly graphic as it is the actual footage of Boyd’s death

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/30/anonymous-takes-down-albuquerque-police-website-to-protest-shooting-of-homeless-man/