Kalamazoo, Mich., has decided to decriminalize public urination, defecation, and littering, as well as other crimes, in the name of “equitable changes.” Last Monday, the Kalamazoo City Commission unanimously passed amendments to two dozen components of the city code of ordinances. Six crimes that used to be prosecuted as misdemeanors will now be charged as civil infractions.
City attorney Clyde Robinson tried to alleviate concern over the changes, saying, “They are still a violation of our ordinances; it just no longer carries a criminal sentence.”
Many businesspeople in the city of about 73,000 residents are staunchly opposed to the decision. Monte Janssen, owner of local restaurant Youz Guys Dogz, told WWMT Channel 3: “I think it would probably allow people to think they can do what they want and not get in trouble for it. I think it’ll take away the consequence and that’s the concern.” Cherri Emery, the owner of a coffee and chocolate shop in Kalamazoo, told “Fox & Friends First” what she has experienced as a result of lax enforcement of the law in the city: “One day, we kept smelling something in the back of the store . . . and it was human feces.”
This move mirrors the actions of other left-wing cities with leaders who believe public safety must be sacrificed in the name of “equity.” Both San Francisco and Los Angeles have been facing a public defecation problem for years. This is exacerbated by the homeless problem plaguing both cities. San Francisco has more than 8,000 homeless people, and tent cities have been set up throughout the city. According to a July 2022 report, Sacramento County had 9,278 homeless people in February 2022, a 67 percent increase since 2019. Of course, a surging homeless population leads to more public defecation, urination, littering, and drug use.
The idea that it is “equitable” to cease criminalizing certain offenses, and thereby incentivize more crime, is farcical. In no way does decriminalizing these offenses help homeless people in Kalamazoo. Encouraging this behavior will make Kalamazoo look more like San Francisco and Los Angeles, which no one wants.
This goes back to the problem with the social-justice warriors’ crusade to achieve equity in every corner of American life. Equity, which has replaced “equality” in the woke vocabulary, focuses on equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity. Moreover, it declares that all inequality can be chalked up to racism, sexism, or discrimination of another sort. It is impossible to achieve “equity” without taking radical government action that tramples on individual freedoms. The logical endpoint of equity is to burn down all of the institutions. The policies necessary to fulfill the far Left’s equity agenda are unpopular with Americans, as former San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin’s recall last month shows. If Democrats continue down this path, they will come to regret it.