The week of May 2nd – May 5th was “Spirit Week” at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science. When Senior Class Officer Ayana Love (who was not responsible for the suggestions for Spirit Week and, to my knowledge, only sent the email) announced that Wednesday was Hobo Day, it caught my attention. While it was announced eight days later that Hobo Day would be replaced with Tacky Day, this still seems like a good time to start a conversation on the usage of the word “hobo.”

Hobo is defined as a “vagrant or a homeless person” according to vocabulary.com, however vocabulary.com makes clear in large font that this word is “offensive” and should be used with caution. This makes having a day celebrating our school spirit named this already an issue.

However, the greater trouble with Hobo Day is that it trivializes the struggle of homeless people everywhere. To clarify a bit more, homeless means that some person is living his  life with no home. Struggling to find jobs and an income with no home to shower and get ready from, struggling to sign up for help with no address and sometimes no phone to receive information from, struggling to find help when the constant stigma of the label “hobo” following them everywhere, and, most importantly, struggling to find a home.

The current homeless population in Mississippi stands at 2,979. There are almost 600,000 homeless peoples in the United States at whole. This means that homeless is a serious, life threatening issue for as many people. It is, in no way, an appropriate theme for a school spirit day. I hope that, in the future, students keep in mind the connotations of the words they use, and the impression they give others of the student body.