UCLA Center for the Study of Women

On May 25, 1999, a 54-year–old homeless woman, Margaret Mitchell, was wheeling a shopping cart in an affluent neighborhood in Los Angeles. When two police officers came over to find out if she had stolen the cart, the 5´1˝ woman, obviously deranged, rummaged through her belongings, pulled out a screwdriver and began threatening the officers. One of the officers fired his gun and killed Ms. Mitchell. The reaction to the death catapulted the incident into national news, some argued because what happened was a raced event whose players were African American, Asian American and Caucasian. Besides the tragedy of such misdirected violence, the questions have to be asked: How do we tolerate so many homeless people on our streets and how can we ever find creative solutions?