The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Vets Kicked to the Side in L.A.

Sep 5, 2011

In June, the ACLU sued the department of Veterans Affairs and the director of the V.A. Greater Los Angeles Healthcare Systems for not providing housing to homeless veterans.

The ACLU pointed out that the U.S. government has the land. In fact, it was given 387 acres of land in Los Angeles as far back as 1888–with the express provision that the V.A. had to use it to provide housing for vets.

The V.A. has kept the land, but never put housing on it. Instead, it leases the land to Enterprise Rent-a-Car Company to store cars, to Marriott Hotels for a laundry facility, to a private school for its sports facility, to UCLA for a baseball stadium and for a dog walk.

Don’t let any U.S. official pretend they care about veterans. The 8,000 homeless vets in L.A., some of whom camp out every night on the sidewalk bordering V.A. land, know better!