You would think in the year 2023 we could all agree all people deserve a basic amount of respect.
Apparently not everyone thinks this way.
A San Francisco art gallery owner, Collier Gwin, is getting a lot of media attention for how he treated an unhoused woman outside on the sidewalk near his gallery.
The video, which went viral on Twitter, has been viewed more than 12 million times.
You can see the video here:
Many people came to the woman's defense in the comments, sharing their outrage.
Others were angry at the person who took the video for not stepping in to help.
When asked for a comment on his actions, Gwin blamed everyone else.
"The whole neighborhood is a part of this situation. The police force is a part of this situation. The city and the social services is a part of the situation. There have been repeated attempts to try to help this woman who is psychotic."
"I've been down here 40 years. I've seen tons of homeless people, we've helped the ones that we could, and I have not had any issues with people. But in this case, I was very upset, that the city could not help, and their hands are tied too."
"There's absolutely nothing that can be done. They'll take her to a shelter, and they will turn her out in two days. They will take her to the hospital, they will release her within a day."
Gwin continued by stating he understood what he did was wrong but somehow less wrong than her being on the streets in the first place.
"I totally understand what an awful thing that is to do, but I also understand what an awful thing it is to leave her on the streets."
"This woman is a very, very sad situation. She's very psychotic."
Gwin then stated that he couldn't justify what he did, and then later tried to justify what he did.
He also further reiterated he believed the woman needed psychiatric help.
In fact, he stated this over and over again throughout his interview as if that somehow excused what he did.
"I'm very, very sorry, I'm not going to defend myself, I'm not going to because I can't defend that."
"I said she needs psychiatric help. You can tell, she's pulling her hair, she's screaming, she's talking in tongues, you can't understand anything she says, she's throwing food everywhere."
"I'm out there once again cleaning her mess. Washing it down, trying to clean up stuff, and I just snapped. I was watering around her, and I just snapped, when she went off in her belligerent tongues and stuff. And I just snapped, and I pulled the hose up higher, and I sprayed her."
One comment summed up many thoughts on the situation well.
We can't believe we still have to say this, but the unhoused are still humans and deserve just as much respect and dignity as anyone else.
