Three Things

 Get Together

This Song Elicits Three Things for Me

First:  I heard a Trumpian from Iowa tell people like me, "We couldn't possibly be  Christian because we're too liberal." Yeah, well, I think people who put up barriers couldn't possibly be Christian because they are too willing to exclude when we're supposed to love everyone, no exceptions. But then I think I'm being too harsh by excluding them.

Second: We are so much more effective when we are working together. There can be common ground if we are united in the commandment that we love our neighbor. Together we can find solutions that lifts people up and freely offers them the dignity they deserve.

Third: We need to change our opinions about the poor. They have not brought this on themselves. Blaming the poor vilifies them and justifies hard heartedness. By doing so, we've created an us vs them mentality. 

Getting Beyond Charity

It is the unfair distribution of wealth and holding back our gifts that results in a world that is now more divided than ever. Almost a billion people go hungry every night. 16,000 children die from hunger related causes every day. 37 million Americans rely on foodbanks and soup kitchens. We can find solutions that transform and last. Our efforts need to go beyond charity to mutual aid. In mutual-aid systems, people work cooperatively to meet the needs of everyone in the community. It’s different from charity, which features a one-way relationship between an organization and recipients, and often responds to the effects of inequality but not its causes. Mutual aid is an act of solidarity that builds sustained networks between neighbors. As prison abolitionist Mariame Kaba explained to the New Yorker: “It’s not community service — you’re not doing service for service’s sake. You’re trying to address real material needs.” -Amanda Arnold/ The Cut.com

Am I a hippy? I never thought so, but if that is what you want to call me, I'm okay with that. I am inspired by verses like this, ”And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:16 NIV)  It shows the importance of serving and helping others, especially vulnerable people who do not have enough to eat.

 

Strangers at Our Door

Policy Misses the Point

Politicians in this country like to blame each other for the increase in the movement of people in the world. Worldwide, migration and immigration continue to rise. Instead of looking for the root causes for immigration, the policies proposed are all about keeping people out, fueled by a heightened fear of people of color.

Donald Trump and his imitators are stoking the flames of hatred and fear with incendiary language. They call those wanting to come here; Invasion. Aliens. Killers. Criminals.

Our solutions are draconian. We put them in camps. We send them back to Mexico where gangs prey on them. We build walls. We tell them they are not welcome. The worst of it is targeting children by separating families. The new plan is to expel children of immigrants born here. 

I think that's unconstitutional. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizenship at birth to almost all individuals born in the United States or in U.S. jurisdictions, based on jus soli. But Trump bought three justices to go with three other conservatives. Nothing in the constitution or settled law through precedent is safe anymore.

Why Migrate Here?

According to the UN, Some people move in search of work or economic opportunities, to join family, or to study. Others move to escape conflict, persecution, terrorism, or human rights violations. Still others move in response to the adverse effects of climate change, natural disasters, or other environmental factors.
https://www.un.org › global-issues

The root causes of immigration have not changed, and the policies we employ do not address these issues. The solutions we employ are all about punishment based on demonizing  people in search of a better life. 

The demonization of "The Other" is something we have struggled with since our colonial days. It was also baked into our constitution. The Three-Fifths Compromise was reached among state delegates during the 1787 Constitutional Convention. It determined that three out of every five slaves was counted when determining a state's total population for legislative representation and taxation. Something learned from the compromise is that the Constitution could be changed for the better. Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) later superseded Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 and explicitly repealed the compromise. Is that safe anymore?

For one nation under God, immigration should be a moral issue. Foreigners or refugees are not to be oppressed.

Israelites were to call on their empathy for refugees because they had been treated cruelly as refugees when they were made into slaves in Egypt. They were instructed not to cheat foreigners or take advantage of them in any way. Most Christians know Jesus’ instruction to “love your neighbor as yourself” but may not be aware that Mosaic Law has the same instruction for how to treat foreigners. The command to treat them as “native-born” would have been shocking to people in Moses’ day. World Vision 

And what did Jesus think about all this? I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Matthew 25:35

The question becomes, do policies of oppression and denial make us a nation of hypocrites? 

What I've written seems a little dark. Let me offer the following as an offering of hope. The City of Immigrants by Steve Earle. 

(Photo by Katie Moum)