Today my wife Liz gave a talk to a gathering at the Open Door Community in Atlanta. She talked about the history of the Catholic Worker Movement. (The Open Door is patterned after Catholic Worker Houses.) Liz noted there are some 200 Catholic Worker “Houses of Hospitality” around the country, some in urban settings, some in rural settings. Many of these houses take in the homeless. Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day once said that it was her vision that every parish would have a Catholic Worker House, and every home would have a “Christ room.” That is, a room for those on the margins (including on the streets)… Later this evening, I got in a rather lengthy discussion with Luke Wetzel, who is a second year student at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. While many college students were off to the beaches of Florida this week, Luke had taken his Spring Break to come to the Open Door Community to volunteer. Our discussion revolved, in part, around homelessness, Christ rooms… and the clergy. I said in all our extensive travels, rarely (if ever) had we come across a priest, minister or reverend who had put aside a room in their home — often spacious homes at that — for the homeless. “I mean if they’re not setting the example for people on this, who is?” I asked, rather rhetorically. Luke agreed with the sentiment. Note: However, I told Luke, that if there was anyone who was going to pick up the ball on this one, it would probably be a divinity student (soon to be a Methodist minister) who spends his Spring Breaks volunteering to help the homeless. He smiled.
they walk, and walk…
At the Open Door Community in Atlanta, Georgia, there is a “foot clinic” every Wednesday evening. Volunteer medical students, nurses and the like, give homeless people massaging foot baths, trim toe nails, medicate sores, cut out corns… It’s a modern day version of the Biblical ‘washing of the feet.’ One of the biggest physical problems for the homeless are their feet. They walk a lot. The day before, I’d talked to a homeless man who estimated he walked about 20 miles a day. (He’d just walked six miles one way from his camp near Turner Field for a meal at the Open Door.) And even when not en route to a specific place, the homeless are perpetually walking about as if they are en route to a specific place — because they don’t want to be perpetually rousted for loitering, and so on… At the foot clinic, I talked with Alice Tudor who has been volunteering here since 2006. (She now supervises here each Wednesday.) Ms. Tudor is a nurse who is originally from Romania. She said she volunteers simply because there is a need. In another part of the building each Wednesday, a volunteer doctor also attends to a myriad of other medical needs for those on the streets… And it is that helping spirit that our administration would attempt to tap into all across America when it comes to everyone having access to adequate health care. In a talk at the Open Door the day before, I said we’d researched the Marillac Clinic in Grand Junction, Colorado, during some of our cross country travels. The Marillac Clinic is a two-story hospital with volunteer doctors, volunteer nurses, volunteer townspeople who do janitorial, filing, intake work… And the clinic does local fund raising as well. The bottom line? If a resident in Grand Junction needs major surgery and doesn’t have health care insurance, they can get major surgery at the Marillac Clinic: for as little as five bucks. And not only does the person who needs the surgery benefit, but those volunteering benefit too, spiritually. Everyone wins. Note: For more on our health care platform, see…
sea of irrelevance
We continue our Georgia On My Mind Tour (Is that original, or what?) We are at the Open Door Community in Atlanta for this phase of the tour, as we continue to look at urban poverty issues. The last few days, I’ve had several talks with one of the staff members here. He’s tremendously concerned about the direction the country is going. He said this could be best expressed in the book Amusing Ourselves To Death. He said the book notes, for instance, that many people have lost the ability to do critical thinking because they’ve become addicted to the sound bytes and quick images coming at them on television. The book notes that George Orwell, author of 1984, feared those who would ban books. While what Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, was worried about is that there would be no one left who wanted to read a book. Orwell feared those who would conceal the truth from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a “sea of irrelevance.” As a modern day example, we get engrossed with movies, situations comedies, sporting events, reality shows… Meanwhile the real reality is that 4,400 babies go to their deaths from abortion every day in America, someone dies in the Sudan every 20 minutes, 24,000 people starve to death every day in the Third World… And this is all drowned out in a “sea of irrelevance.” Can someone please pass me the remote? Note: The Open Door Community publishes a monthly newspaper. In one of the Oct. 2009 articles, Eduard Loring writes: “Indulgence and over-consumption have become the easiest ways to deal with our emptiness. We use food, shopping, drugs, television and consumption in general — to fill the void that is created in the absence of deep meaningful relationships…”
everyone has enough…
I gave a talk to some 40 people at the Open Door Community in Atlanta, Georgia, today. The gentleman who introduced me, prefaced the talk by reading from Proverbs 30: 7-9. The crux of the passage was “…let me be neither rich nor poor.” I, in turn, said that that was the essence of our platform. That is, many Americans have the wherewithal to cut back lifestyle wise and help much more than they do. And it’s about tapping into that spirit of sacrifice… After the talk, our family volunteered helping serve a meal to the homeless here. I was assigned to the front yard where I picked up coffee cups among those waiting to get in. I also struck up a number of conversations. One was with “John” who renovates houses, but had fallen on hard times because of the bursting of the housing bubble. He hadn’t worked for awhile, lost his own place and was staying in a homeless camp underneath a cloverleaf of highways. “It’s a way to stay dry,” said John, who sleeps in a sleeping bag below a tarp he turns into the wind… Then there was James, who was volunteering here this morning. He grew up in a Black ghetto in Atlanta (“Close to where Martin Luther King Jr. grew up,” he said.) and was a good high school basketball player. Out of high school (1963), he was drafted. “Drafted or not,” he said, “the military was one of the few ways out of the ghetto.” James went to Vietnam where he saw fighting, developed a case of post traumatic stress syndrome, and a drug habit. Back in Atlanta, there was little work and the drug addiction persisted. He eventually ended up in prison. When he got out, there was still little work and he found himself homeless, sort of. Engineering students at Georgia Tech University here designed and built small 6ft. by 8ft. wooden “huts,” complete with small, vented fireplaces. James lived in one of a cluster of eight huts. (He said these hut encampments don’t exist anymore in Atlanta, simply because almost all of the land has been developed now.) James would often come to the Open Door for help. Some 11 years ago he got into recovery. And as his life started to straighten out, he began regularly volunteering here. And he still does… Note: Another of the volunteers approached me after my talk on everyone having enough. She said there was an author speaking tonight in nearby Decatur, Georgia, who I might be interested in hearing. The title of her book: Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide (‘Cause I need more room for my plasma TV).
the streets of Atlanta
We have come to the Open Door Community near the heart of urban Atlanta, Georgia, to look at poverty issues. The Open Door is a Catholic Worker Community that takes in the homeless and also provides regular meals and showers for those on the streets. (In a week, they may serve up to 1,000 people). During the course of the day, I talked to a number of “guests” staying at the Open Door. One of the people I talked to was Ralph (not his real name), who has been living at the Open Door for several years. He had been on the streets prior to that. Ralph grew up in Florida and got a high school degree. However, he wasn’t able to afford college and started working at an uncle’s small farm about 10 miles outside of Gainesville. He worked there several years, but the small farm went under — as more and more corporate mega-farms squeezed the small farmer out. Ralph heard there was work in Atlanta and took a bus here. He got some short term, low-paying jobs out of temporary services. Then had several fast food restaurant jobs. But just could never get ahead because of the cost of living here, he said. Ralph went from staying in small rooms in boarding houses to the desperation of the streets. He started coming to the Open Door for meals and when a room opened up here, he took it. He’s been at the Open Door several years now, working the meals for his brothers and sisters on the streets and doing various jobs around the house. Note: Ralph, who was totally content living off the land at his uncle’s small farm, is just one of many who have been displaced by the tremendous greed that drives corporate farming in America… Later while talking with a staff member of the Open Door, I learned downtown Atlanta has a “Tourist Triangle.” And a series of city ordinances have been enacted to keep as many homeless people out of this area as possible.
not everyone is free yet
In remembrance of the anniversary of Bloody Sunday 1965, which was honored today in Selma, Alabama, my son Jonathan and I went to the King Center in Atlanta. A tribute to the life of Martin Luther King Jr., the Center is highly interactive, with a series of montages and a set of videos about King and the Civil Rights Movement. In one video it was explained that in the South “separate but equal was a myth.” What’s more, segregation sent a strong psychological message that Black people were inferior to Whites and should be kept separate. There were “colored” restrooms, “colored” drinking fountains, “colored” motels, “colored” diners… And even after segregation ended (at least some of it), there was still a tremendous financial disparity between many Blacks and Whites. King Jr. recognized this and stridently took on poverty, calling for a “radical redistribution of wealth.” Yet that chasm still exists today and is poignantly displayed on the walls of the Open Door Community in urban Atlanta, where we are staying for the next few days. The Open Door is a Catholic Worker House of Hospitality that attends to the homeless and others on the margins here. On the wall are some 70 random photographs of various homeless people, and of other urban poor in the area. Some 90% of the pictures are Black people. We still, indeed, have segregation in our cities, as we still have slavery. That is, many of these people have been caught in trans-generational poverty loops and are ‘slaves’ to the streets. President John F. Kennedy, in addressing segregation, once said that we can’t have true freedom in this country until “…everyone is free.” Not everyone is free, even yet. Not by a long shot… Dr. King grew up going to Ebeneezer Church in Atlanta, a Black Baptist Church. His father was a preacher. I interviewed another Black preacher at the Open Door Community today. Rev. Ron Lister and his wife Ann are on staff at the Open Door. Ann is also working on a degree in theology at nearby Emory University. When she graduates, the Listers are planning to open the Center for World Spirituality. Rev. Ron told me this would be an “ecumenical inter-faith collaboration,” with a commitment to enhancing one’s faith and social justice outreach. One component will be in-depth studies of various world religions in order to break down stereo-types, look for common denominators, etc. As an example, Rev. Ron said that in the Muslim faith the work “jihad” has been co-opted by extremists to justify terrorism and war. Rev. Lister said, based on his studies, that the word “jihad” is really meant to connote the ‘war’ between the “spirit and the flesh.” The same consistent theme, for instance, that is expressed in Christianity.
road blocks and ant hills
I met with Alterna’s Anton Flores one more time before leaving LaGrange. (Alterna, again, is a small community of Hispanic immigrants living in a cluster of homes on one block here.) As part of Flores’s work with Alterna, he is an advocate for Hispanics at the local court house. He said one of the biggest problems in the town for immigrants, as he sees it, are the frequent police “road blocks.” There were a phenomenal 190 road blocks set up in LaGrange last year. Flores said while the police indicate their intention is to look for things like open containers, drugs, and the like… What happens often at these road blocks is that illegal immigrants are caught driving from the factories at shift changes (when the road blocks are often set up) without a driver’s license. If caught, the fine is a staggering $987. Flores said this is a significant revenue earner for the city of LaGrange. (LaGrange, incidentally, doesn’t have a property tax.) Flores said he sees this as tremendously exploiting. Speaking of the road being blocked… We left LaGrange on Friday afternoon and headed toward the Open Door Community in the heart of Atlanta. On I-75, about 10 miles from the Open Door, we ended up in a massive , rush hour traffic jam. It took us a good hour to go about 10 miles. There was no accident(s). Just cars inching along at a snail’s pace on a multitude of lanes converging all over the place. People metaphorically refer to it around here as ants streaming to an ant hill. And it’s a quite apt description. What’s more, our daughter Sarah (who once won an Earth Day award for an essay about global warming) pointed out that many of the cars had just one person in them. Note: During World War II, people in America were rationed four gallons of gasoline a week. And billboards went up saying: “If you’re riding alone, you’re riding with Hitler.” People sacrificed for the war effort then. We now, I believe, have an all out ‘war on the environment’ that requires a tremendous amount of sacrificing as well.
the other side of the tracks…
Three young couples from Texas, Iowa and Ohio, respectively, have come to LaGrange, Georgia, as part of a MissionYear Project. They are volunteering for the Alterna Community here, which is a cluster of homes set up for immigrant families in the area. These couples have set up a community garden for Alterna, help with after school tutoring for immigrant family youth, help out with house repairs, etc… In addition, these young couples are active in the community volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, coordinating a church youth group, working at a home for single mothers… One of the volunteers, Dustin White, has become a vocal advocate for better housing among the low-income throughout the community. As part of his advocacy work, he takes people on tours of the town’s ‘other side of the tracks,’ literally. During a tour he gave me, White said primarly low-income Blacks and Hispanic immigrants, for generations, have lived in rough housing settlements on the south side of the tracks. He took me down hardscrabble street after street of small, one-story, run-down houses. Patches of missing roof shingles, peeling paint, single pane broken windows, clap board walls with no insulation, rusted appliances (many not working)… Dustin took me in one small home where the floor tile was broken up, an old rusty bath tub lay on it’s side, many of the appliances didn’t work, a window was broken… “This one is advertised as ‘ready to rent,”‘ White scoffed. He said while seemingly totally unsuitable to live in, a new immigrant family (because of finances) would be forced into such a dwelling — and might well live in it with another family. Close by this home is the rather bare bones Williams Griggs Recreational Center. We took our kids there to play some hoops. We, it turned out, were the ‘token whites’ there this day. Dustin White had told me that although the “Colored” signs have been taken down on the third gas station bathrooms, and the like, here, the community was still fairly segregated. Note: White told me there was a non-profit organization in LaGrange called DASH, which helps renovate homes. White, and his wife Jamie, have recently published a book called Disguised in their Eyes. It’s about the inner city poor. They suggest at one point in the book that those more well off convert their garages to apartments and take the rent money to fund programs like DASH, so more people can have access to adequate housing. Good idea.
changing the structure…
I met with Hispanic social activist Anton Flores for a second time Wednesday in LaGrange, Georgia. He said a key to the immigration issue is looking at the systemic issues behind the poverty and violence that drives many people to flee Mexico and Central America. Flores said this is often “structural.” That is, the wealth in many of these countries is concentrated in the hands of a few with much of the rest of the populace living in abject poverty. This in turn, spawns gang wars, drug violence and other forms of civil unrest among the poor. So the answer then becomes an intense focus on these secondary issues — as opposed to looking at plans for a redistribution of wealth so that everyone has enough. Flores said that if he was involved with helping make U.S. policies toward these countries south of the border, he would work to end NAFTA, CAFTA and U.S. military aid to these countries. Correspondingly, he would try to help mobilize more humanitarian help into these countries to help people become as sustainable as possible. LaGrange’s Bruce Krieger would agree… I gave a talk at LaGrange College the night I talked to Flores. During the “town hall meeting” format, Krieger said it makes absolutely no sense spending billions of dollars “killing people” in Afghanistan and Iraq, when we could be “bombing people” all over the Third World (and in poor areas of America) with humanitarian aid, in order to help them become more sustainable and to cut down on potential hot spots worldwide… During the talk, a reporter for the Troup County News asked me about the economy. I said there is currently a 10% unemployment rate in the country. Our administration would work to make it 0% (or a reasonable facsimile thereof), quick. How? Job sharing. That is, we’d create incentives for some businesses to go to “job sharing” formats. (Some companies already do this.) One template would be for one employee to work two and a half days a week, with another employee coming in at 1 p.m. Wednesday afternoon and working the other two and a half days. This would entail some people coming up with creative ways of cutting back on their lifestyles with things like house sharing, cutting back on energy use, on transportation, on entertainment, on non-nutritional junk food… As an addendum, I also said the job sharing would free up more time for faith, family and community.
let’s just blow the world up: once
I was interviewed by the LaGrange Daily News the other day. I said to reporter Joel Martin that in some areas I would be viewed as quite liberal, while in other areas I would be viewed as quite conservative — like with abortion. And speaking of abortion… I just read in the New York Times that Utah has legislation pending that would criminalize “illegal” abortions. For instance, a 17-year-old pregnant girl in Utah paid a man $150 to beat her up with the hopes of inducing a miscarriage. The Utah bill’s sponsor, Representative Carl Wimmer, said: “A woman going out to seek any way to kill her unborn child, no matter how heinous or brutal, couldn’t [currently] be held liable.” Heinous? Brutal? In a “legal” abortion, the baby is dismembered and suctioned out of the mother’s womb. Have we as a society gone mad? I mean, the whole abortion thing — both legal or illegal — is absolutely insane! As is this nuclear weapons thing. I told Mr. Martin that our daughter Sarah posed to me one day. “Dad, America has enough nuclear weapons to blow the world up 200 times. Why not have enough nuclear weapons to just blow the world up: once.” Good question.