In July 1974, a police officer patrolling Omaha, Nebraska, in the central United States, encountered a problem. He wants to fine a homeless person, but finds no legal reason to do so. No matter, he goes through the municipal code and unearths a law that has not been applied for fifty years in Nebraska. The latter discourages people with “deformities” from appearing in public. Satisfied, the police officer arrests his man. The reason chosen: the clearly visible scars which crack his body.
This is the last time a person has been arrested in the United States under what has commonly been called “ugly law”. The homeless man is brought before a court of law, but the police officer’s case is dismissed. “The law is still activejustifies the prosecutor in charge of the case. In my opinion, this man simply did not meet the requirements.” The court in fact raises a major objection: how can we objectively distinguish what is “ugly” from what is not? Relaxed, the accused is returned to the street, while the general public rediscovers this obscure ordinance, buried for more than a century in American legislation.
“An unsightly or disgusting object”
Introduced in 1867 in San Francisco (California), the first ugly law stigmatizes “any person who is diseased, crippled, mutilated or in any way deformed to the point of constituting an unsightly or repulsive object”. It soon imposed itself on the legislators of other metropolises in the four corners of the United States, since similar decrees appeared in Portland (Oregon), Chicago (Illinois), Denver (Colorado) or New Orleans (Louisiana), inserted among ordinances prohibiting uttering profanity in public or shooting at one’s neighbor.
Two years after the end of the Civil War (1861-1865), which cost the young American nation tens of thousands of amputees, this body of legislation aims to rid the streets of beggars who proudly display wounds and amputations to attract the compassion of local residents. According to the text in force in Chicago, these tramps would constitute “a shame for the city, a nuisance for passers-by, a source of inconvenience for the businesses lining the streets”.
Several thousand arrests were made in major cities, raking the streets of their infirm. In Chicago, “they often had to be pushed, dragged, or even carried in a wheelbarrow to the police station”observes a historian.
There ugly law is therefore an anti-begging measure. It is no coincidence that it first established itself in California. A mythical land of opportunities, the latter also turns away many individuals whose hopes of enrichment were disappointed. Many of its destitute people end up haunting its streets, homeless and without resources.
What is the punishment imposed on individuals who violate this law? This can range from a simple reprimand to a prison sentence of several months. Several thousand arrests were made in major US cities, raking the streets of their infirm. In Chicago, “they often had to be pushed, dragged, or even carried in a wheelbarrow to the police station», observes a historian. Once the accused persons are released from their cells, their stays sometimes extend to the cold quarters of a hospice or asylum.
Out of sight, out of mind
The objective of the ugly law is clear: under the guise of helping the infirm, it rids the streets of beggars and vagabonds, who we prefer to confine rather than suffer their presence in public spaces. A form of urban and ethnic “purification” – because racial minorities are the most affected – disguised as a humanitarian measure. The eugenic motivations of the initiative are all the clearer since at the same time, the United States government is sponsoring a forced sterilization program which will cause 70,000 victims, mainly migrants or racialized people.
Chicago will be the last US city to repeal its ugly law. Deemed “cruel and insensitive”, it disappeared from the municipal code in 1974 and was in force for almost a century.
Fortunately, these orders will remain largely unapplied, because they are unsuitable for the circumstances on the ground and difficult to argue in court. Better yet: the stubbornness of the Omaha police officer in arresting a homeless person on the basis of this law will encourage the mobilization of activists to make it disappear. Their commitment was concretized in 1990 by the ADA law (Americans with Disabilities Act) which finally authorizes people with disabilities to appropriate public space. It was time.
Despite this victory, the marginalization of people experiencing homelessness or disabilities remains, today, more relevant than ever in the United States (and elsewhere), reinforced by growing precariousness. Chicago will be the last US city to repeal its ugly law. Judged “cruel and insensitive”it disappeared from the municipal code in… 1974. It will have been in force for ninety-three years.
