Susan Sarandon shares eye-opening video of California homeless crisis
Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon shared a disturbing viral video showing dingy makeshift homeless settlements along a California street — as the Democrat-run state grapples with a homelessness crisis.
The eye-opening clip shows an encampment, reportedly in Oakland, with squalid tents and dwellings cobbled together with tarp, plywood and other items.
The “Dead Man Walking” and “Bull Durham” star tweeted out the video Monday, which appears to have originally been posted by TikTok user Jeffrey Long last year.
Discarded mattresses and trash cover the ground in the undisclosed industrial neighborhood.
Sarandon shared the now-viral clip without commentary from the account of another Twitter user, T Long.
“This isn’t a shanty town in India,” he wrote. “This is Oakland, CA. The crisis of our generation. #homelessness”
Many of her followers were shocked by the squalor.
“The richest country and its moral leadership of the world,” a Twitter user said.
“Hard to believe this is US,” said another.
“I needed to read the comments, I thought Susan was visiting Argentina. This image is typical in my country,” a South American fan chimed in.
Meanwhile, others took political shots at the progressive actress.
Sarandon, an outspoken advocate of left policies, supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in his 2016 bid for the Democratic Party nomination for president.
“I don’t think this makes the point you think it does. You’ve voted for the same policies over and over and you expect a different outcome,” one critic hit back.
“Democrat run,” another simply said.
California has more than 161,000 people experiencing homelessness daily, according to estimates by the US Interagency Council on Homelessness.
The Golden State’s homeless crisis has only gotten worse since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Sacramento seeing a record jump in homelessness in its borders.
Los Angeles County officials recently questioned local data that showed 69,000 homeless in February — demanding an audit as it was viewed as a possible undercount that didn’t show the breadth of the crisis.
Earlier this month, a 24-year-old woman was stabbed in the head with a pair of gardening shears in an unprovoked attack by a homeless man while she was walking in North Hollywood.
The gruesome broad daylight attack has left her recovering from a traumatic brain injury.
