This attack is horrific, but I would be remiss if I didn't address the way this story is being reported.

https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/crime/2020/09/16/victim-library-scissors-attack-daytona-make-full-recovery/5817574002/ https://twitter.com/LISNews/status/1306960514111635465

There is an unjust focus on the fact that the attacker was homeless.

This bothers me not just because they always point this out (why, we don't specifically say other people have homes) but the way they talk about homeless people using libraries.

As if libraries are somehow not for homeless people.

"Homeless people are known to hang around and use the library. In hotter weather, library employees have helped by allowing the indigent to come inside for water and to use the restroom, Capri said."

Allowing. ALLOWING? WTF?

Shock and awe. Homeless people, like every other member of our community, sometimes use the library.

Would you say that you are helping a patron who has a 6-figure job if you allowed them to come inside during normal business hours to get some water?

Some libraries have a real problem where they view homeless patrons as different from the "regular" patrons. They hold homeless patrons to different rules, different standards. They are quicker to throw them out, or enact policies that discriminate against them.

Yes, the attack on this librarian is a tragedy. I'm grateful that she is expected to be okay.

But it could have just as easily been some yuppy white kid as a mentally ill homeless man.

Libraries aren't doing the homeless a favor by allowing them to use the facilities. Because libraries are for EVERYONE.