Two contrasting images

 

The couple above were living in their home on the Bayou Bourbeaux Plantation in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana in 1940 when this photograph was taken. The plantation was then operated by the Bayou Bourbeaux farmstead association, a semi-cooperative established through the auspices of the Farm Security Administration. The photograph was taken by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. Zoom in a little on the photograph and you will see that these are hard working people and that the man has a half-smile and that the woman and the child have that apprehensive look of people who are not used to being photographed. The child appears to be playing, or they are not working.

Natchitoches Parish has a history of free people of color, Creole, and mixed-race settlement. It is set in the historic Black Belt.

The photograph immediately above was taken in Greene County, Georgia and is also a Depression-era photograph. I do not remember who the photographer was, but I'm certain that this was also a Farm Security Administration photograph. I remember reading that this man was a plantation owner and this his operation had been in his family for many generations and that his property was heavily mortgaged at the time that this photograph was taken. He stood to lose everything that he had, I suppose.

I don't know much about Greene County, and the histories of working-class people, African Americans and Natives Americans there have not been recorded. I believe that the county has seen a loss of its Black population in recent decades.     

What stands out for me here are the different experiences and legacies captured in these two photographs. Those plantations were on stolen land. There remain the legacies of forced colonialism, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the changes that took place in the southern agricultural economies that increased production and caused dispossession of so many people, and the Great Depression. But the couple in the photograph have something to smile about and just a bit of security while the plantation owner who is facing the loss of ill-gotten generational wealth and public humiliation is clearly worried, and perhaps angry as well. The couple and their child do not stand in for all Black people, and neither does this worried and angry man stand in for all whites. The four of them are victims of a system, but they were experiencing their lives quite differently at the moments when these photographs were taken.

Semi-cooperative and cooperative agriculture would not solve every problem faced by farmers and tenant farmers. It will not, by itself, take up the questions of the theft of land and the genocide of Native American and Indigenous peoples. Restructured semi-capitalist or non-capitalist forms of agricultural production will not guarantee equality or security. No one said that they would. But I can't help but think that the plantation economy was bound to fail, and should have done so, and that semi-cooperative and cooperative government-sponsored agricultural programs had a necessary role in building up alternatives to the old ways. And within those alternatives greater possibilities were presented and made possible.

The tragedies that attended these programs were that they were not carried out to in greater scale and did not last longer and prevail against the old political and social systems. We are still fighting the hold-overs and hold-outs of the old planter aristocracy, and the threat of civil war is once again in the air. It is to our lasting shame that we have not yet found the ways to bring poor and working-class people of color and poor and working-class whites together in one mass movement to create good and lasting change.

Would you rather be the hopeful family with a chance at doing better with and within your community or the lone worried and angry man in the rocking chair?

      

     

‘It is a charity wrapped with dignity, my child.’

Treff Watts tells this story on the Appalachian Americans Facebook page:

An old man was on a corner selling his eggs when a woman stopped and asked how much he was charging.

The old man replied, '$0.25 an egg, Madam.' She said to him, 'I will take 6 eggs for $1.25, or I will leave.' The old man replied, 'Come take them at the price you want. This may be a good beginning because I have not been able to sell even a single egg today’. She took the eggs and walked away feeling she had won.

She got into her fancy car and went to a posh restaurant with her friend. There, she and her friend ordered whatever they liked. They ate a little and left a lot of what they ordered. Then she went to pay the bill. The bill cost her $45.00; she gave $50.00 and asked the restaurant owner to keep the change. This incident might have seemed normal to the owner but very painful to the poor egg seller.

The point is, why do we always show we have power when we buy from needy ones? And why are we generous to those who do not even need our generosity? My father used to buy simple goods from poor people at high prices, even though he did not need them. Sometimes he even used to pay extra for them. I got concerned by this act and asked him why he did so? My father replied, ‘It is a charity wrapped with dignity, my child.’

Some thoughts on where we come from

 Waiting for the northbound train in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1921

during the Great Migration.

Youngsters from Washington D.C. in the early 1940s.

The following was written by Bobbie Rutledge and appeared on the Appalachian
Americans Facebook page:

I knew a man, he was a poor man but an honest and hardworking man. He pulled corn for $.25 cents a day. He graduated from high school in a time, where most young people did not. He wanted to go to University of Georgia to become a Soil Conservationist since he came from sharecroppers. He wanted to import their lives and see that they could own their own land. However he got a letter from Uncle Sam that he was needed. This man, who had never gone any further than 25 miles from Georgia went to Texas, California, Florida, France, and Germany. He drove a tank. When he got back he farmed along side his parents. He picked cotton from sun up till sundown with no complaints. He married a beautiful black haired lady. They had a child that was their world. The year the child was born his cotton crop made $50 and the hospital bill was $48. He finally decided that farming wasn’t gonna get since child any future. So he went to work driving he’s y equipment for the county he lived in grading roads thru the farm land he used to farm. That broke his heart. But life goes on. One day he was driving with his son in law , in the SIL new trick when they turned wrong and the SIL got on ONSTAR to find their way back. The man listened to the directions given and when they were back home, he turned to my hubby and said that was nice of that man to stay in the phone with us. Hubby laughed and said it was a computer. Daddy said well I swear, this came from a man, who walked to school, did his homework by lamplight and saw electric light come into his house. Saw TV come into it’s on. Finally got a telephone at the age of 40. This man who went without dinner so his child could eat. This man. Is who Americans have to thanks for being what we are today. This man is my Daddy, thanks Daddy, I sure miss you.

A Victorian street scene

From Journey of a Mountain Woman:

When I was growing up when a person was near death, the Drs would say 'call the family in' and in most cases no matter where they were they would go back to the old home place in the mountains. It was a duty and a thankfulness, and A loving grateful opportunity to say goodbye. we all dreaded to hear those words...call the family in. Things have changed but us old folks remember...we remember the goodbyes, the casket set up in the living room, us sitting up all night, drinking strong coffee, that last time. The house smelled of flowers and fried chicken and the table was laden with food brought in by neighbors. Many of us will grieve this Christmas for those who have left us. Many of us are the only one left of a large family and we will smile through the tears as we remember those sad words...call the family in. Have a good night and God bless.

Coming soon to a country that is yours...

 

Our Obligation to the “Least of These”---A Necessary Word From Bishop William Barber

Dear Movement Family,

We live in the richest nation to ever exist since God created the earth, yet many in power use a false Christian narrative to blame poor people and abdicate responsibility for economic justice. But we know that their talk about scarcity and their justifications for serving rich corporations over poor communities are lies. The continuous feeding of the war economy, proliferation of weapons, and notions of peace through military strength give far too many a false sense of security, no matter what curious and twisted attempt at moral justification is tried. Too many politicians raise no question when it comes to funding war, tax cuts for greedy corporate interests, and pornographic sums of money to subvert democracy while at the same time using every excuse to block spending that would lift people out of poverty. This is one of the greatest moral contradictions of our time, and we must be clear that it threatens democracy and civilization itself.

In the Bible, Matthew’s Gospel tells us plain as day in Chapter 25 that a true nation under God must lead by caring for the vulnerable and welcoming strangers. “All the nations will be gathered before [God],” Matthew says, and God will “separate the people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Who are the least of these today, and what are the public policies that must change to care for them?

In a nation plagued by hidden poverty, what makes us most vulnerable is the basic moral contradiction of poverty, which we have tried to ignore for the past 40 years. 140 million Americans– 43% of adults and 52% of children–are poor and low-wealth, suffering in plain sight. As pandemic relief programs like stimulus checks, expanded unemployment insurance, and expanded CTC payments have expired, we can expect these numbers to rise. In 2021, the Urban Institute estimated that without these programs, these numbers would have gone up to well over 150 million - nearly 50% of all adults. Yet we have watched billionaires make nearly $2 trillion during that same time.

As long as America ignores these realities and refuses to fully address them, we all live in an impoverished democracy. This requires a warning–not a one-day event, but a demonstration and declaration that the time to act is now. Why?

Because not ignoring the least of these today requires that we address the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the denial of health care, militarism and the war economy, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism. It is time to heal the wounds of our society and declare a moral revival across the land.

Because our politics are trapped by the lies of scarcity. These politics turn us against each other and blame the poor for their poverty, even though we live in a time of abundance. We have the resources to meet the needs of everybody! The only thing our politicians lack is the moral conscience to lift the least of these and the political will to make it so.

Because for far too long poor people, people of color, Indigenous nations, immigrant families, women, children, the disabled, and LGBTQ communities have been under attack, pitted against each other and blamed for society’s problems. Please take 5 minutes today to consider the pain of poverty in America.

Because we must put a face and voice on the shameful conditions confronting this nation and for the least of these we must speak and nonviolently force the nation to hear the truth and to see the faces.

We must have a moral meeting in the public square that takes the social blinders off and puts a face on the realities that can and must be changed. We must become a nation that fulfills our moral obligation to care for the least of these. We must break through the lies that have hidden poverty in America. Poor and low-income people and low wage workers are determined to stand together on Pennsylvania Avenue, Saturday June 18th, gathering at 930am, to make the nation see and hear their pain. Together, we will lift a Third Reconstruction moral agenda for the healing of the nation that can end poverty and low wealth from the bottom up. We need everyone who can to stand together and join us.

In a sermon I once preached on Matthew 25, I said to the Christians sitting in the sanctuary:

So in this season we must say, “America, listen! Hear yourself in the voices of the least of these. Don’t turn away. Recognize that the hope of the nation is in how we treat the least of these.” Remember Rabbi Heschel. Let me paraphrase what he once said: “We as a nation forfeit the right to even worship God until we do right by the least of this nation.”

Brothers and Sisters, we won’t be silent or unheard anymore. In this season we are saying, “If you have been rejected, it’s time on moral authority to challenge policies that create social murder, and we must do it not as Democrats or Republicans but as human beings and moral agents.

It’s time to work together to save the soul of this democracy and the world. Together, we must show the nation that healing is in the very people who’ve been rejected leading a moral revival.

One scripture in the Bible says,

“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, and He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”--Acts 10:38

Those of us who believe in this Jesus have to help the poor and looked over, the left out and hurting, the harmed and broken, to get up! Looked over get up! This is God’s way. No wonder the hymn writer said:

If I can help somebody, as I pass along,

If I can cheer somebody, with a word or song,

If I can show somebody, how they're traveling wrong,

Then my living shall not be in vain.

If I can do my duty, as a good man ought,

If I can bring back beauty, to a world up wrought,

If I can spread love's message, as the Master taught,

Then my living shall not be in vain.

My living shall not be in vain,

Then my living shall not be in vain

If I can help somebody, as I pass along,

Then my living shall not be in vain.


Forward together,

William J. Barber, II


PS- In my update last week, I noted the moral contradiction of a Congress that can find money for more weapons to fight Russians in Ukraine but will still not invest in poor and low-income people here at home. Some people have misconstrued my words as an endorsement of continued military escalation in Ukraine. I want to be clear: nothing could be further from the truth. We need to do everything possible to get negotiated peace, not the death of more people. We also have to do even more on the front end, before war ever starts. All this death, killing one another, and blowing up cities will lead the human race to its own demise.

I’ve stood for 30 years with organizations that challenge the militarism of our war economy. I have had this position as a pastor in a military town, and members of my church who serve in the military have thanked me for my deep commitment to challenging all this war and the influence of the war economy in our world. The Poor People’s Campaign names the war economy as one of the interlocking injustices we must confront in order to have a Third Reconstruction. We must be determined to continue to work together toward a negotiation of peace in Ukraine and an end to policy violence here at home. Every day I pray and sing this hymn, and I quoted it to the nation when I was asked to deliver the inaugural sermon:

God of grace and God of glory,

On Thy people pour Thy power.

Crown Thine ancient church’s story,

Bring her bud to glorious flower.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,

For the facing of this hour,

For the facing of this hour.

Lo! the hosts of evil ’round us,

Scorn Thy Christ, assail His ways.

From the fears that long have bound us,

Free our hearts to faith and praise.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,

For the living of these days,

For the living of these days.

Cure Thy children’s warring madness,

Bend our pride to Thy control.

Shame our wanton selfish gladness,

Rich in things and poor in soul.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,

Lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal,

Lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal.

Set our feet on lofty places,

Gird our lives that they may be,

Armored with all Christ-like graces,

In the fight to set men free.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,

That we fail not man nor Thee,

That we fail not man nor Thee.

Save us from weak resignation,

To the evils we deplore.

Let the search for Thy salvation,

Be our glory evermore.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,

Serving Thee whom we adore,

Serving Thee whom we adore.

Forward together, not one step back!

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II
President and Senior Lecturer
Repairers of the Breach

“The way to heal the soul of the nation is to pass policies that heal the body of the nation. It’s the just thing to do. That’s how we as a nation can together move forward.”

-Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II

"How Much Further Are We Going to Keep Going Back?"---Strong Testimony From Bishop Barber & People Who Live Poverty

 

Challenging Messages For The Church Today

 

Richard Rohr: "One could be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish, and vain in most of Christian history, and still believe that Jesus is one’s 'personal Lord and Savior', or continue to receive Sacraments in good standing. The world has no time for such silliness anymore. The suffering on Earth is too great."

Some real soul here: Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers - "Readin', Rightin', Route 23"

 

WATCH NOW: National Mobilization All-Call & Rally

 

The Poor People's And Low-Wage Workers' Assembly

 

I know that the Bible says that we should love our enemies, but I also know that workers have nothing in common, objectively speaking, with our employers. ..

 
I pay dues to three unions. This is something that I do voluntarily, not because I want or expect something from my unions but because I want something good for all of us and because I think that we can win better lives for everyone by having those hard fights with the employers and the government---fewer hours, better wages, control of production and distribution, an industrial policy that puts people first, safe and healthy workplaces and communities, support for people from cradle to grave. If we're on organized, we can't win.  

I know that the Bible says that we should love our enemies, but I also know that workers have nothing in common, objectively speaking, with our employers. Loving one's enemies becomes possible when each side in a conflict becomes authentic people, people who know who they are and live out who they are and take responsibility for themselves and others. People who can place themselves as inheritors of history and who can pass on to future generations something better than the past. The very act of becoming authentic people who God will use for justice and mercy requires such deep levels of change within us that, once that change is made real, reconciliation becomes possible. I think that unions, at their best, help working-class people define who we are and help us redefine who and what we want to be. The moral and political power of a mass justice-centered movement will force others to redefine themselves.

"May we all grow in grace and peace, and not neglect the silence that is printed in the center of our being, It will not fail us."

~ Thomas Merton

"Reproductive Justice is Justice for All" w/Rev. Barbara Prose & Rev. Marlin Lavanhar

 

A Salem Memorial For Luke Kagey, Jowand Beck, Joe Posada III, and Rochelle Zamacona...

Our houseless neighbors who died on March 27. They ranged in age from 21 to 54. At least two others were injured, and a driver of the car who allegedly ran into the camp is in jail pending trial. Could all of this not have been avoided had the police not rousted houseless people recently and if we had housing and services for everyone on the streets and affordable housing and healthcare for all?

 

The Other America---Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Prepare To Meet God and "Great Big Hand Of God" and "The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore"

 

A Simple Truth

 

"Peacemaking doesn't mean passivity..."

From St. Alban's Episcopal Church on Facebook.

These are points worthy of discussion. My response is that if oppressed people determined a course of action that rested on confrontational honesty with our oppressors and if we were able to somehow disarm our oppressors by honestly insisting on social justice then they would be forced out of power and love could prevail. That would be so different then what we know that it is hard to imagine or plan for. In all honesty we would have to give up our self-loathing, self-deception, distractions, and all that the ruling class puts in our way to block and distract us. "Love your enemies" would have meaning a be applicable because the preconditions for love---equality, need, patience, kindness, honesty, common interests, sustainability, vulnerability, shared priorities---would be available to all. Until then there is no basis for enemies loving one another and antagonism is often an expression of dysfunction; We aren't so much building a new society in the shell of the old as we are playing roles and using socially acceptable means that don't lead to lasting wins for the oppressed. That is a "third way" as mentioned above, but it is also a fight. And I believe that Scripture may support my view. 

Two videos with Yara Allen, a great teacher and organizer

I always deeply appreciate the patience of great organizers like Yara Allen and the willingness of people in the Poor People's Campaign to reach beyond the usual spaces and engage and teach. I also appreciate the Jewish community of Temple Emanuel in the video above for being open to Sister Allen and be learners. I'm sorry that reaching across the chasms of race and experience is so difficult, but we need this.

 

From Fratelli tutti by Pope Francis

15. The best way to dominate and gain control over people is to spread despair and discouragement, even under the guise of defending certain values. Today, in many countries, hyperbole, extremism and polarization have become political tools. Employing a strategy of ridicule, suspicion and relentless criticism, in a variety of ways one denies the right of others to exist or to have an opinion. Their share of the truth and their values are rejected and, as a result, the life of society is impoverished and subjected to the hubris of the powerful. Political life no longer has to do with healthy debates about long-term plans to improve people’s lives and to advance the common good, but only with slick marketing techniques primarily aimed at discrediting others. In this craven exchange of charges and counter-charges, debate degenerates into a permanent state of disagreement and confrontation.

16. Amid the fray of conflicting interests, where victory consists in eliminating one’s opponents, how is it possible to raise our sights to recognize our neighbours or to help those who have fallen along the way? A plan that would set great goals for the development of our entire human family nowadays sounds like madness. We are growing ever more distant from one another, while the slow and demanding march towards an increasingly united and just world is suffering a new and dramatic setback.

17. To care for the world in which we live means to care for ourselves. Yet we need to think of ourselves more and more as a single family dwelling in a common home. Such care does not interest those economic powers that demand quick profits. Often the voices raised in defence of the environment are silenced or ridiculed, using apparently reasonable arguments that are merely a screen for special interests. In this shallow, short-sighted culture that we have created, bereft of a shared vision, “it is foreseeable that, once certain resources have been depleted, the scene will be set for new wars, albeit under the guise of noble claims”.[12]

Yara Allen sings in remembrance of Middle Passage --- "Oh Freedom!"