For the last couple of years, many tent cities have arrived at the outskirts of American towns. While European media outlets have widely reported on those modern-day Hoovervilles, the mainstream American press mostly ignored them. Why? It obviously did not want to address the chronic problem of homelessness in the United States.
Now the Oprah Winfrey Show went west to Sacramento, California, where a tent city has emerged over the last couple of months. It generated a media firestorm. Even the New York Times writes about it. Finally it’s news fit to print.
As with so many thorny issues, it takes Oprah to bring them to the American forefront. Sad but true.
Read photographer Stefan Falke’s and my feature story on Camp Hope in Ontario, California, in German, and in English.