My grandchildren and my work. . .

My grandchildren occupy an extraordinary place in my life, better, my heart.

Gracie turned 6 at the end of March. Wyatt celebrated his fourth birthday early in April. Owen blew out his candles in early May for the second time.

Wow, do I love these kids! Words don't work for me when it comes to these three little ones. Nothing is better than being with them, listening to them, playing with them, just watching them.

I think about them all of the time, for obvious reasons related to family and my love for their parents.

But, I also think of them when I consider what every child needs and deserves.

My grandchildren will grow up with every advantage imaginable. They will be given a huge headstart in the game of life.

What they have, all children should have.

I have to admit that much of my vision for my work is formed by what I know about these three little people, their blessings, their imaginations, their needs.

I also know and understand at a deep level that my feelings for my grandchildren are shared by parents and grandparents across the city, no matter what their socioeconomic standing or their current possibilities.

Working hard to see opportunity and possibility offered to every child seems like a good thing.

March, April and May have become very special to me and my family. It's a season about the kids. I choose to believe that same thing is true of what we are trying to accomplish with our work in the lives of children and their families who just happen to be lacking in so much that my family takes for granted.

Happy birthday, little ones. Granddad loves you more than he can say.


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Chasing donors. . .

Here's a must read for anyone involved in the non-profit sector, anyone who works with donors or any donor who cares about the work of solid non-profit organizations. Written by Donald G. McNeil, Jr., I picked it up from The New York Times (Tuesday, April 22, 2008, p. D6).
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Donor Attention-Deficit Disorder? Phony Press Release Is Joke, Sort Of
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

Since it was issued on April 1 by the Center for Global Development, an antipoverty study group, a mock press release titled “Road to Health: Paved With Good Inventions” has been circulating among global health experts. Though it drones on in admin-speak, it elicits rueful laughter.

“Officials from 50 of the world’s poorest countries announce the pre-launch of a new initiative to fight one of the greatest scourges in global health,” it begins. “The Global Partnership to Battle Donor Attention Deficit Disorder (to be known as GloPBADD) will develop preventive and therapeutic drugs and devices to increase the ability of those in the global health community to sustain their attention for up to two decades.”

The release envisions a new drug that stretches donors’ attention spans and contains an antidepressant in case of “exposure to negative headlines.” Research would be financed by the airfare saved by canceling endless meetings with donors.

“It’s funny because there’s more than a grain of truth here,” said Chris Hentschel, president of the Medicines for Malaria Venture, who read it on his BlackBerry two weeks ago. “We all ratchet up appalling carbon footprints attending such meetings.”

The mock release added that the World Bank’s ability to “write the same things again and again for more than a decade” was “proof of concept” that donors could be strung along.

The author of the release, Ruth Levine, says people have taken the joke “in good spirits.”

“I’ve worked in global health since before it was cool,” Ms. Levine said. “This was an occasion to poke fun at some of its zanier tendencies.”

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Seriously now, I can relate! Any other non-profit folks or donors out there who relate to this? Let me hear from you.

Here's the link to the essay: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/health/22glob.html?_r=1&sq=


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Liberation Theology. . .

Had someone told me this time last year that CNN, Fox News and other major media outlets would be discussing the ideas of liberationist thinkers as a part of the current presidential campaign, I would have thought such a person to be completely out of touch with reality. What a difference a few weeks can make!

Most people have never heard of the concept, nor considered the tenets of the theological perspective offered by liberation theologians.

Of course, once you go there to investigate, if you are serious, you immediately recognize that you face a bit of a challenge, thanks to the fact that the concept, as reflected in the literature, takes off in so many different directions and is related to so many different people groups and issues. Further complicating any basic understanding of this particular theological point of view are the many ways the interpretive tool has been used and abused by countless and vastly different groups.

In summary, Liberation Theology recognizes the clear commitment of God and of God's various earthly representatives to the plight of suffering and oppressed peoples in every age and everywhere. The interpretive perspective of Liberation Theology will not allow one to read past the hundreds of scripture passages that fill our bibles dealing with the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, the victimized and the abused.

The liberationist "school of thought," broadly understood grew out of circumstances where extreme poverty, oppressive politics and organized resistance to any meaningful social/political change to improve living conditions for the impoverished intersected the world of faith, especially and initially as understood by poor Roman Catholics and their priests in Third World nations. The epicenter for the initial emergence of Liberation Theology was Latin America, though its influence now extends around the world.

Liberationists believe that God in both the Hebrew and the Christian bibles expresses and exercises a "preferential option for the poor" and the marginalized. This preference can be traced out in an unbroken line from the Law of Moses, through the historic narratives of Israel and Judah, on to the hymnology and wisdom literature of Judaism and culminating in the prophetic literature spanning the period from the 8th to the 5th centuries B. C. E.

For Christians, this same line can be picked up again from the birth of Jesus on through the gospel narratives, into the first community of Christians, in the early writings of the church and finally on to the Apocalypse.

An epistle like the book of James, for example, exemplifies the combination of Hebrew prophetic tradition and the influence of the life and teachings of Jesus on subjects that are very much bound to everyday human experiences such as work, wages, compassion, wealth and fairness in the marketplace.

Once scripture is held up to this thematic measure--God's commitment to those who suffer injustice, oppression and systemic marginalization--a broadening of one's understanding of salvation, redemption, community and mission sets in logically. Eyes are opened to what has always been present in the literature of faith, but blocked in various ways by other choices as to priority and interpretive weight or importance.

Most oppressed communities resonate naturally with this emphasis. Those who reside closer to and benefit from the centers of power that most often perpetrate the oppression, express bewilderment, concern, disdain and, at times, outrage at the ideas espoused by those who employ a liberationist lens to interpret the biblical texts.

Liberation theology resists the typical impulses of religion and the traditional religious to spiritualize out of the biblical narratives any real concern for the material world and its pain. While heaven or afterlife is a component of liberation thinking, the matters of here and now, of the earth, of the material, the economic and of the socio-political assume a central place in liberationist worldviews. As one writer once put it, "There is no way to heaven but through the earth." Sounds a lot like Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation who once wrote, "If I knew Jesus was returning to earth tomorrow, I would still plant a tree today."

Liberation Theology refuses to allow a system of personal salvation, redemption or justification to block or to wall off the faithful from their responsibilities to do justice, to love mercy and walk humbly with their God in the here and now of this present reality and life.

For the adherents of liberation thinking, no understanding of the faith that relieves believers from responsibility regarding the plight of the poor, the oppressed, the captive, the shut out and the marginalized can be considered a legitimate theological paradigm. No interpretive framework can be regarded as acceptable that places a concern for the poor at the margins of personal or corporate mission or that considers such concern as in any way optional for the person of faith or the larger community of faith.

Reading the gospels through this interpretive lens can be quite an experience, especially when coupled with a day-to-day experience of working and living among people who know and experience poverty.

[Note: the logo above is that of Orbis Books, one of the leading publishers of Liberaton Theology.]

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People want to move forward. . .

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I should just stop typing right here!

Inner city residents want to advance. They want to work at decent jobs that offer a fair return for their labor.

These photos were taken recently at the Charlie Mae Ransom Technology Learning Center, Central Dallas Ministries' neighborhood workforce development center located in the Roseland Homes neighborhood.

The center is named for Ms. Charlie Mae Ransom (pictured last below with Lenora Holmes, CDM staff member), a resident of Roseland Homes for almost 65 years! Ms. Ransom is also my boss due to the fact that she serves on our Board of Directors.

The photos were taken during a visit by MicroSoft, our biggest supporter of the center.

"A slow motion Katrina. . ."

Paul Jargowsky, professor at the University of Texas at Dallas and author of the immensely important book, Poverty and Place: Ghettos, Barrios, and the American City, made this statement at our last Urban Engagement Book Club:

"Poverty in Dallas is like a slow motion Katrina."

He is so right.

Why is it that we find it so easy to respond to the dramatic, the spectacular, the disastrous, the obvious, but can't see what occurs on an everyday basis in our own backyards?

Not long after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and blew away the Lower Ninth Ward, the Dallas-based Foundation for Community Empowerment and the J. McDonald Williams Institute produced a research report that compared that New Orleans community with our own Frazier Neighborhood here in South Dallas. By every single measure the Dallas community was worse off than its counter part in New Orleans prior to the storm.

I suppose it takes a disaster to get us concerned. Of course, in the case of New Orleans we have been far from concerned enough, but that is another matter for another time.

Week before last an immigrant from East Africa was killed while trying to cross one of our freeways here in Dallas. Tragic story and loss. Front page story in our local newspaper.

I've received a number of calls about this man's family from people wanting to help. Great of them to call and to help.

But in the ghetto neighborhoods of Dallas slow motion car wrecks claim innocent lives, one bit at a time, every single day. Some how, we act as if we don't believe the reality is anywhere near us. Like unless we come and see it every day or read some shocking report about human pain, we feel as if it is not there, as if it is not going on at all.

Dr. Jargowsky is right. A "slow motion Katrina" at work in a neighborhood very near you, much closer than you think.

What will you do about it?


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If you are in or near Austin, Texas next Tuesday. . .

If you are going to be in or near Austin, Texas next Tuesday, May 13 at 5:00 p.m., you ought to head to the Capitol building to take part in a rally to be led by Jim Wallis, best-selling author and editor of Sojourners magazine.

To learn more, simply click on my title line above and read the story in yesterday's Austin paper.

If you attend, I'd love to hear from you with a report on your reactions.

Wallis has a new book out: The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America. You can order a copy by going to Amazon.com via the link on this page.

Bread and faith

National Public Radio's "This I Believe" segments always seem to touch me, usually deeply.

My good friend, John Siburt made me aware of this piece--check it out: http://www.thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=44482&topessays=1.

Sara Miles really "gets it."

You can hear her at the link above, but here are her words just in case you'd like to read. . .



Strangers Bring Us Closer to God

As heard on NPR's All Things Considered, May 5, 2008.

Until recently, I thought being a Christian was all about belief. I didn’t know any Christians, but I considered them people who believed in the virgin birth, for example, the way I believed in photosynthesis or germs.

But then, in an experience I still can’t logically explain, I walked into a church and a stranger handed me a chunk of bread. Suddenly, I knew that it was made out of real flour and water and yeast––yet I also knew that God, named Jesus, was alive and in my mouth.

That first communion knocked me upside-down. Faith turned out not to be abstract at all, but material and physical. I’d thought Christianity meant angels and trinities and being good. Instead, I discovered a religion rooted in the most ordinary yet subversive practice: a dinner table where everyone is welcome, where the despised and outcasts are honored.

I came to believe that God is revealed not only in bread and wine during church services, but whenever we share food with others––particularly strangers. I came to believe that the fruits of creation are for everyone, without exception––not something to be doled out to insiders or the “deserving.”

So, over the objections of some of my fellow parishioners, I started a food pantry right in the church sanctuary, giving away literally tons of oranges and potatoes and Cheerios around the very same altar where I’d eaten the body of Christ. We gave food to anyone who showed up. I met thieves, child abusers, millionaires, day laborers, politicians, schizophrenics, gangsters, bishops—all blown into my life through the restless power of a call to feed people.

At the pantry, serving over 500 strangers a week, I confronted the same issues that had kept me from religion in the first place. Like church, the food pantry asked me to leave certainty behind, tangled me up with people I didn’t particularly want to know and scared me with its demand for more faith than I was ready to give.

Because my new vocation didn't turn out to be as simple as going to church on Sundays and declaring myself “saved.” I had to trudge in the rain through housing projects, sit on the curb wiping the runny nose of a psychotic man, take the firing pin out of a battered woman's Magnum and then stick the gun in a cookie tin in the trunk of my car. I had to struggle with my atheist family, my doubting friends, and the prejudices and traditions of my new-found church.

But I learned that hunger can lead to more life—that by sharing real food I’d find communion with the most unlikely people; that by eating a piece of bread I’d experience myself as part of one body. This I believe: that by opening ourselves to strangers, we will taste God.

Sara Miles is founder of The Food Pantry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. A former restaurant cook, Miles is a journalist who writes about military affairs, politics and culture, and is author of the memoir Take This Bread.

Independently produced for NPR by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman with John Gregory and Viki Merrick.
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Your feedback would be helpful. . .


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Watch WFAA Channel 8 News Tonight!

Catch an update on our community organizing efforts at Turner Courts in the Rochester Park neighborhood in far South Dallas.

Tune in to the 10 o'clock news tonight on WFAA Channel 8 to get a firsthand report from our team as the community celebrates the return of public transit to the neighborhood!

Way to go everyone!

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Poverty, Place and Public Responsibility. . .

At our May edition of the Urban Engagement Book Club, we looked into Paul Jargowsky's very important book, Poverty and Place: Ghettos, Barrios, and the American City (1997). We were very fortunate to have Professor Jargowsky as a guest and he handled our "follow on" session following our book synopsis.

Jargowsky traces the demographic realities of poverty and the affect of poverty when concentrated in inner city neighborhoods. His original research, and his updates since the book first appeared, has been very helpful to urban planners, public policy officials, economists, business leaders and leaders of inner city renewal efforts.

Jargowsky demonstrates that when somewhere between 25% and 40% of a neighborhood's population falls into poverty, that community "tips" in a way that makes it impossible to renew without serious public policy change accompanied by large scale public engagement.

Over the weekend, I had occasion to be driving through far North Dallas and into Collin County, one of the wealthiest areas in the United States. As I drove along immaculately manicured, tree-lined boulevards and as I noted the incredibly upscale housing stock and more retail options than anyone could have imagined just ten years ago, a question hit me hard.

What impact does such a wealthy environment have on the psyche, the choices, the worldview and the behavior of the people who live here?

My little tour of "silk stocking street" reminded me of Malcolm Gladwell's statement in his best-selling book, The Tipping Point. Gladwell sites research that says a child reared in a good home in a bad neighborhood has less chance of "making it" than a child raised in a bad home environment in a good neighborhood.

Wealth and what it can produce, no, what it demands in terms of neighborhood environment and options, acts as a guarantee of sorts for success, stability and wellness. Life, its choices and its outcomes generally works better where resources are adequate.

Duh.

But, our actions as a community don't warrant such a casual dismissal of a telling and instructive reality.

Development of all kinds--economic, educational, housing, health care, transportation, public infrastructure and services--follows after and serves wealth. On the private sector side, development rushes toward available capital because that is where the profit margins are found. On the public side, development moves naturally where persons with wealth and political power/influence live and act collectively.

Development just doesn't come naturally to low-income areas. The traditional magnets of wealth just don't exist in such neighborhoods. While human capital and social capital, when organized, can and does exert some influence, without a public commitment to compensate for the lack of material wealth, no impoverished community can ever recover.

The neighborhoods where I work are located a world away from the route I drove over the weekend. There is no chance whatsoever that the residents of poor communities will ever experience the environment created by wealth until wealth is channeled in their direction. I'm convinced that the role of public policy makers involves the creative use of community capital to insure that distressed and marginalized neighborhoods have a chance to thrive again. Ironically, wealthy communities often receive the added benefit of such creative public involvement in exchange for certain development activities. What works for the well off will work for the not so well off, but only if the political will exists for such action among the poor.

Unless and until communities make a collective commitment to see renewal jump-started in very poor communities, we can not reasonably expect to see these communities or their populations change much at all.

I have a feeling that Dr. Jargowsky agrees.

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Success story from Turner Courts!

Needing some good news?

Check out Janet Morrison's recent post about a real victory for the Turner Courts housing development located in the Rochester Park neighborhood in South Dallas: http://janetmorrison.blogspot.com/2008/05/slow-down-breathe-deep-and-let-bus-come.html.

To get more of a sense for how the victory feels at the community level visit Ms. Sylvia's blog at: http://www.lovethyneighbors.blogspot.com/.

Community leader, Michael Davis also posted some good words at his blogspot: http://www.dallasprogress.com/.

Sweet, sweet progress!


Thanks to Dallas City Council Member Dwaine Carraway for his involvement and leadership and to the neighbors at Turner Courts who refused to give up about bus service into their community at night.

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People always ask. . . follow up

Here's something to consider in view of my last post, you know the obnoxious one on your money!

What do you plan to do with your tax rebate check that either has been deposited to your checking account or will be coming through the mail? You know, the $600 or $1,200 windfall that the federal government is giving back to help "stimulate the economy."

Why not donate part or all of it to Central Dallas Ministries or to some other effective charitable endeavor?

Here's my "challenge level" lineup for you to consider:

Compassion gift 10-49% of your rebate

Community gift 50-75% of your rebate

Commitment gift 76%-100% of your rebate

If you choose to make an investment in the work we are doing in Dallas in the inner city, we will be grateful. And, I can assure you your help will stimulate the lives of our neediest citizens.

I'd love to keep a running total on the gifts given. So, if you make such a contribution to CDM, please note it is part of "Larry's Rebate Challenge."

If you give to another organization, please let me know where and how much you are giving either here or by email to ljames@CentralDallasMinistries.org.

Contributions can be mailed to CDM at P. O. Box 710385, Dallas, Texas 75371-0385 or online through our website at http://www.centraldallasministries.org/.

Thanks for considering my challenge. I hope you'll accept it.


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People always ask. . .

It happens everywhere I go.

In countless ways and in all sorts of circumstances, good-hearted people ask me again and again, "Larry, what can I do to help?"

More and more, I find myself responding with a very simple and clear reply: "If you really want to make a difference, give me money, and do so on a regular, planned basis."

People don't expect that response, but I feel it is appropriate.

Most who ask me how they can help have money, many have quite a bit of money.

Usually, folks look to me to figure out how they can have a hands-on experience, and we are glad to make those attempts. And, we will continue doing so.

But, the best thing people with money can do to help us is give us money.

For many, making money, amassing capital is a gift, a talent. Not to say it is their only talent, but it is clear that it is a fundamental gift.

Years ago, one of my dearest friends who served on our advisory board at the time complained of his frustration with trying to help me. He worked hard at numerous "hands-on" jobs.

He attended countless meetings, which he hated!

Finally, in a very honest conversation, I just told him, "Here's what I need you to do. Go back to work. Pray for us. Make all the money you can. Then, give me all you can."

He seemed relieved by my counsel. He reminds me of it still, though it was 11 years ago that we had "the talk."

It's a bit amusing when people say things to me like, "Well, you can't solve problems by simply throwing money at them!"

Really?

Frankly, I wouldn't know about that since I've never been caught in a "money storm" where lots of it was flying around inside my world. I'd love to test the theory though. Let's begin with someone stepping up and starting to throw!

The fact is, not everyone needs to come down to the inner city. Not everyone is needed. When Nehemiah had finished rebuilding the wall around the ancient city of Jerusalem, he had the people draw lots to determine which 10% would live inside the walls. The remainder had the freedom to live outside the walls in the freedom of the countryside. Not everyone was needed in the inner city. So it is today. There's just not room.

I visited a prominent non-profit organization in another city not long ago. The Director of Development told me that the walls in a certain area of their complex had been painted 15 times in the past year!

Come on. Can we get real here?

Don't get me wrong. Volunteers are great and we use lots of them.

But many, many people can really make a huge and lasting difference by simply funding that which they believe in.

People who say to me, "We want to do more than just give money," make me want to ask the question, "So, how much money are you currently giving?"

I suppose I've belabored the point long enough.

It takes money to feed the poor, house the homeless, treat the sick, educate the children and enhance workforce skills.

I need your dollars to get the job done.

Please don't apologize if that's all you have to offer.

Most of the time it is the very best and most efficient thing you can do to really move things in the right direction for the most people.

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Arizona faces the facts and Cinco de Mayo

Did you see the news from Arizona last week?

So many undocumented immigrants have fled the state of Arizona since its crackdown and heightened enforcement policy of immigration laws that the economy is suffering markedly. The report I saw noted that millions of people had left the state.

Arizona industry leaders and business owners are now crying for help and complaining about the loss of millions of dollars in business revenue due to the absence of workers and the businesses' inability to respond to a demand for work and production. The state has lost and will continue to lose billions of dollars in productivity thanks to the shortsighted policy changes that went into effect last year.

Even one of the most vociferous elected officials and the leading advocate for harsh enforcement of immigrant laws was calling for a different approach. Many lawmakers in the state are promoting a plan that would permit employers to register undocumented workers, provide them with documents that would allow them to stay in the country and work through a criminal background check and finger printing process. The goal: provide a way for these workers to stay in the United States and stay in our labor force.

Sounds like a practical, workable plan. The current situation is actually not surprising. Sometimes we just aren't facing reality with our more extreme public policies.
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[What follows is a post from one year ago today. I thought I'd put it up again as a reminder of the significance of this day to us here in the USA.]

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

This is a special day across the United States and Mexico.

Numerous neighborhoods across Dallas are celebrating the famous Battle of Puebla, Mexico on May 5, 1862, the day on which Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín, outnumbered 2 to 1, routed the French army.

So, why Cinco de Mayo?

Under Emperor Napoleon III, the French invaded Mexico with designs of staying in order to challenge the United States, at the time involved in its own Civil War.

Napoleon's Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City about 100 miles to the west. The French believed that if the Mexican Capitol fell, the nation would be theirs.

Under the innovative and daring leadership of Zaragoza, the Mexican army more than prevailed. The outcome of the battle on United States history is often overlooked. The victory prevented the French from supplying the Confederate rebels in the U. S. for another year.

As the American Civil War wound down, following the Union victory at Gettysburg, U. S. General Phillip Sheridan traveled to the Mexican border to bring materials needed to expel the French completely. At this time American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico, City.

Almost 100 years later, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces. As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight another war for America.

Cinco de Mayo is a community party! It is a day to celebrate liberty and freedom. It is a celebration bringing together the United States and Mexico. It is a day for remembering our common heritage and our connection as people. It is a day and an event that I remember almost every morning as I drive by Ignacio Zaragoza Elementary School in my neighborhood!

It seems to me that it's a party we all need to join, now as never before.

What do you think?

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Unchanging wisdom

The date inscribed inside the front cover of my copy of Ron Sider's classic, volume, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: A Biblical Study reads "8/9/77" right there beneath my name and hometown at the time I purchased it--New Orleans, Louisiana.

Thirty-one years ago!

Where has the time gone?

As I thumbed through my paperback copy of the first edition last week, I came across this passage:

When God selected a chosen people, he picked poor slaves in Egypt. When God called the early church, most of the members were poor folk. When God became flesh, he came as a poor Galilean. Are these facts isolated phenomena or part of a significant pattern?

. . . There is a sharp contrast, nonetheless, between God's procedure and ours. When we want to effect change, we almost always contact people with influence, prestige and power. When God wanted to save the world, he selected slaves, prostitutes and sundry other disadvantaged folk. . . .

Again we must oppose the view that God never uses rich, powerful people as his chosen instruments. He has and does. But we always choose such people. God, on the other hand, frequently selects the poor to carry out his most important tasks. He sees potential there that we do not. And when the task is done, the poor and weak are less likely to boast that they deserve the credit. God's selection of the lowly to be his special messengers of salvation to the world is in striking evidence of his special concern for them. (pages 69. 71)

When I came to Central Dallas Ministries fourteen years ago, I had no idea just how true Sider's insights would turn out to be in our work here in Dallas. Since the moment Josefina Ortiz walked into our world, the poor have found their voice among us all (for more on Ms. Ortiz use the "Search" tool above and read more about her).

What I find strange is how important my new context would be in allowing me to discover, firsthand, the truth of Sider's wisdom. Of course, he drew his insights from the ancient biblical texts.

Somehow though, rich people like me can't see the truth of things without an experience with and among the poor, the true champions and people of God. Praxsis precedes theology.

[In 2005, Sider published a revised version of this book: Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity. Order it from this page at Amazon.com (scroll down in the margin to the right and find the thumbnail) and help Central Dallas Ministries in the process!]
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Race in America--Part Six: Appropriate and Effective Responses

John E. Stapleford's essay, "A Torturous Journey: The Condition of Black America," (Christian Scholar's Review, XXXVII:2, Winter 2008, pages 231-251) is very important work that deserves our serious attention. If you've been following his page, you've seen my attempts to summarize his extensive research. I've put it up here in hopes that it would further a conversation beyond this space out in the real world we all occupy.

Much of the research is downright depressing. A number who have taken the time to comment have asked questions about what to do and how to respond.

Stapleford ends his essay with a short section he calls "What Might Be Done." He writes from the perspective of a churchman, so his suggestions relate to communities of faith and their possible responses to the unique challenges facing African Americans in the United States.

Here's part of what he suggests as possible responses for the church:

1) Be a prophetic voice by making congregations aware of the reality facing black Americans and by speaking this truth into the larger society. People and institutions of faith should use their human capital to invest in and work for social and systemic change. Blacks and whites should be working together, side by side in efforts to create new partnerships, drive forward funding reform and by engaging in initiatives to work for real change.

2) Whites should support the efforts of blacks to build a better future. Commitment to working together to see improvements in public education, housing, health care, wage levels, employment skill enhancement and access to equal opportunity.

3) The 21st century should be the century of multiracial congregations. Work must be done to change the fact that 90% of blacks attend predominately black congregations and at least 95% of whites attend predominately white churches. All sorts of obstacles exist, but a change in behavior and mindset is called for here.

4) Whites should work hard with blacks to see significant human, social and educational capital growth in our national community.

I would add that whites simply need to open their minds and eyes to the unique and challenging positions that African Americans occupy in the United States. Listening with a new set of ears, learning the benefit of arriving at new understandings by simply hearing people out no matter how frustrating, challenging or new the ideas may sound. Seeking first to understand, rather than to be understood will be a key principle for achieving authentic community and informed attitudes.

Honesty and candor will be essential to any progress. Patronizing attitudes, flights of white guilt and continuing adversarial postures share the same debilitating character and should be avoided.

We must keep talking. We must learn new skills grounded in patience and a long-term commitment to breakthroughs, progress, community and reconciliation.

God help us to never give up. The cost of doing so will only continue to add to a national tab that we simply cannot afford to pay. Much work remains to be done.

I'd love to hear about your experiences. I'd appreciate your responses.


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Save the date for Clint Black!

Mark it down today!

Save the date!

Monday evening, September 29, 2008!

In the beautiful Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in the Downtown Dallas Arts District!

It will be here before you know it and I need your help to make "A Night to Remember 2008" a giant success!

Country music star and award-winning song stylist, Clint Black (http://clintblack.com/) will join us as we celebrate our 20th anniversary of inner city ministry in Dallas, Texas. Funds raised during this wonderful event will all be used to support our work in the inner city.

Here's what I'm asking you to do right now:

1) Place this date on your personal calendar.

2) Forward this information to your network of friends to let them know.

3) Plan now to make it a special night and purchase tickets when they go on sale later in May--you'll be among the first to know when the tickets are about to go on sale.

4) If you are able, consider becoming a sponsor for the event (call me for details at 214.823.8710 ext. 116).

5) Begin thinking of ways that you can help promote this special event at work, church, school and in your community. We'll be happy to provide everything you need to spread the word!

It will be another great evening, truly A Night to Remember!

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Race in America--Part Five

A convergence of numerous, mostly negative, factors—economic, historic, and social—have merged in our nation’s history to produce a significant underclass populated by a disproportionate number of African Americans. To understand race in America, one must come to grips with this often harsh and crushing reality.

“With the declining presence of middle-class blacks, inner city black neighborhoods during the 1980s and 1990s grew increasingly impoverished and dysfunctional. Role models, civic leaders and vital job contacts (most jobs are filled through personal connections) diminished. A black underclass emerged. Crack cocaine, crime and the code of the street became invasive. Young black urban males had little incentive to graduate from inferior public schools into a job market with falling real wages and little career opportunity. Selling crack for $3.50 to $7.50 an hour, with a slim chance at bigger money and a 25% chance of being killed, was still more attractive than the labor market. Young black women, meanwhile, saw little logic in marrying young men with no future. Yet having a baby was the singular means to establish a sense of self-worth and meaning for impoverished young black women. So the black out-of-wedlock birth rate soared. These are logical decisions given the structural circumstance.

“Such are the intertwined consequences in the second half of the 20th century of the legacy of human capital and wealth deprivation experienced by America’s blacks emerging from the post slavery South. This is a social injustice, exacerbated still by lingering discrimination across markets. Structural conditions endured by many blacks as a result of these deficits and continued discrimination lead to rational choices that better-endowed whites view as suboptimal. Nearly three-fourths of white evangelicals believe that the black-white socioeconomic gap is the result of black culture and lack of motivation and initiative, or both. ‘Blacks need to get off their butts’ it is claimed. Being born on third base, many whites think they have hit a triple.

“This is not to deny the exercise of free will by blacks. We must recognize, however, that in the past for blacks, ‘common human responsibilities—getting an education, owning a home, raising a family—where often touched by futility, defeat and pathos’ (quote from Shelby Steele). Poor ethics, defects in character, or lack of morality may impair some blacks in America today and these may be facilitated by guilt-ridden whites who see any assignment of personal responsibility as ‘blaming the victim’ and as racism. However, lack of access to quality education and centuries of being shortchanged of the fair market return to their labor, together with persisting discrimination, are real and significant current constraints to black possibilities. This is social injustice and it begs for appropriate remediation” (243-245)

[The material above drawn from the research of John E. Stapleford, “A Torturous Journey: The Condition of Black America,” (Christian Scholar’s Review, XXXVII, No. 2, Winter 2008, pages 240ff). You can read my previous posts on his work by backtracking a bit (April 15, 18, 24, 28, 2008).]

Next: Race in America--Part Six: Appropriate and Effective Responses

Solid jobs

Nothing beats a good job.

Not just work, but a decent job, a job you enjoy, a job that pays a living wage for a hard days work.

Take a look at this group.

Talk about happy!

This is Central Dallas Ministries' latest construction trade skills training class at their graduation celebration upon the completion of 13 weeks of hard work and focused, hard-skills training.

CDM's WorkPaths initiative joins forces with OAI and the Construction Education Foundation and Brookhaven College to provide this training.

The result: most, if not all, our 18 graduates in this class will go to work immediately for contractors that will pay them between $12 and $16 an hour to start.

Happy, happy faces!

Accomplishment that counts. You should have seen the faces of the family members who witnessed the graduation.

Solid jobs.

That is real hope.



By the way, a huge thanks to the folks at the Riverside Church of Christ in Coppell, Texas. The brand new work clothes and boots that our students are sporting were provided by this great group again this class. Thanks so much!

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Race in America--Part Four

I’ve been breaking down the research of John E. Stapleford that is reported out in his very insightful essay, “A Torturous Journey: The Condition of Black America,” (Christian Scholar’s Review, XXXVII, No. 2, Winter 2008, pages 240ff). You can read my previous posts on his work by backtracking a bit (April 15, 18, 24, 2008).

Our nation is involved in a new and serious conversation about race as we head for the general election in November. Stapleford’s work is important for any meaningful conversation based on hard data and genuine understanding of the issues facing the nation and, more particularly, African Americans.

To conserve space, I have summarized much of what he presents, but all of what follows comes from his work.

The way out of the economic hole facing blacks in the United States was found in access to “the job growth centers and quality education available in the suburbs of our older metropolitan areas. But their wealth deficit, among other factors, prevented ordinary black families from participating in the wave of suburbanization. As sons and daughters of sharecroppers, small farmers and laborers in the South as late as the 1940s, blacks not only had a human capital deficit but had little opportunity to accumulate wealth. Sharecropping and farm labor continued a post-slavery version of white supremacy over blacks. . . .There was little or no opportunity for the accumulation of wealth” (242).

Other key factors that excluded our African American neighbors from the wealth and progress of the nation include:

During the 1950s and 1960s, blacks were excluded from both Veterans Administration (VA) and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage products.

Numerous (“a wave”) of discriminatory deed restrictions.

The removal of these roadblocks did not offset the lost opportunity for the accumulation of wealth via the rapid appreciation of suburban housing values from which blacks were systematically excluded.

Fact: during the 1990s, nearly 50% of all white families who bought homes got their down payment from family or sources other than their own savings, whereas only one out of 8 African Americans enjoyed such positive options.

Each year a $225 billion intergenerational transfer of wealth occurs in the U. S. For every $1 available for transfer among whites, there is only 10 cents available for transfer among blacks.

The median inheritance of white households is almost 13 times that of black households.

Less than half of black households are homeowners, for whites the number is ¾. Empirical research indicates that renter-dominated urban neighborhoods have a negative impact on health, personal development and school outcomes.

Blacks lack needed transportation to outlying job centers—24% of blacks own no car (7% for whites); this number rises to 70% in high-poverty, inner city neighborhoods; the median value of black-owned vehicles is 42% that of white-owed cars.

From 1960 to the late 1970s, over 22 million whites moved into suburban communities and the white population in central cities declined by 4 million. During the same time frame, black population rose by 6 million in the central cities and the suburbs gained only 500,000 blacks.

Key factors in the creation of the reality we all face today.

[Next: the impact of the decline of urban communities]

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My friend Frank

If you haven't seen the report, be sure and read Adam Liptak's piece, "Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations" that appeared in The New York Times on Wednesday, April 23, 2008. Here's the opening paragraph:

"The U.S. has less than 5 percent of the world’s population but almost a quarter of its prisoners. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners. Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations."

I plan to work through more of the content here in the near future.

If you want to read the full report, go to:

http://www.nytimes.
com/2008/04/23/us/23prison.html?_r=1&sq=
prisons%20and%20the%20U.%20S.&st=nyt&
adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&scp=1&
adxnnlx=1209056856-5mBssQBFH1NIjySZbyqD1w.

But for today, consider my friend Frank.

Years ago, Frank was arrested for burglary of a building. Bad mistake.

He served time for his felony, including a fairly long period of probation which he completed in 2002--six years ago. Since that time, Frank has not had so much as a parking ticket. He has been clean. Never arrested again. No problems with law enforcement of any kind.

Problem is Frank still can't lease an apartment or get a job or function as a productive member of our community because of a mistake he made over a decade ago.

He is stuck.

He's been "living" out behind one of our buildings for some time now. Homeless. No where to go.

Until now. . .he moved into one of our apartments yesterday, thanks to our staff and members of our AmeriCorps team.

He has been working on obtaining Social Security disability due to several rather severe and chronic health issues, including congestive heart failure to name just one of the most serious issues. Life on the street leads down this health path so often. He recently received those benefits.

Frank's case reveals that our criminal justice system is not working, not if we want to maximize productivity among those who really want to do better with their lives.

Read The New York Times' article.

But, more importantly, don't forget Frank.

He has lots of company out there today.

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Our landlords and our formerly homeless friends

Yesterday afternoon, I met with the owners of the two apartment complexes in North Dallas where we provide housing for formerly homeless, disabled neighbors via our growing "Destination Home" program.

"Destination Home" is funded by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through our local area continuum of care. Our effort fits in with the local 10-year plan to end homelessness.

The purpose of my meeting with the property owners was to explore the possibility of our leasing 55 more units of housing thanks to our most recent grant award from HUD.

Here's the wonderful news.

As we discussed our next agreement, one member of the management team of the company said, "You know, when we started this arrangement, I thought the whole thing was crazy. But, now I have to tell you, we are eager to take anyone you refer to us."

Another team member chimed in, "The formerly homeless tenants not only are not a problem, they are fitting in well with community here. We are grateful that they live on our properties."

Just more confirmation. Housing first as a strategy for cutting deeply into homelessness in the United States works, and big time.

We cut a deal to place 55 new friends in permanent suppotive housing. It won't be a problem. It will be one more step toward a solution.

One more time: how do we solve the problem of homelessness?

Homes.


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Race in America--Part Three

The significant research of John E. Stapleford provides content for a meaningful conversation about race in America. As in previous posts (April 15 and 18, 2008), what follows is taken from his important paper, “A Torturous Journey: The Condition of Black America,” (Christian Scholar’s Review, XXXVII, No. 2, Winter 2008, pages 240ff).

Stapleford argues that African Americans entered the 20th century with both human capital and wealth deficits created by their experience of slavery and Jim Crow segregation.

Human capital is measured in part by educational benchmarks.

In 1910, 3% of white adults were illiterate, compared to 30% of black adults. By 1920, illiteracy rates had dropped to 2% and 23% respectively for the two groups. However, “black illiteracy was concentrated spatially, ranging in 1920 from 26% in the South to 7% in the Northeast and Midwest. By 1940, 63% of black adults had a sixth grade education or less, in contrast to 17% of white adults. Seven percent of black adults had a high school education or better in contrast to 29% of white adults” (240).

“Southern black children received. . .fewer days of schooling than southern white children. In Mississippi in 1940, for example, white children spent 136 days in school while black children, in inferior facilities, spent only 96 days in school. Per-pupil spending that year in Mississippi was $513 per white child and $89 per black child. This was the human capital that black migrants brought to the industrial Northeast and Midwest” (240).

“By the 1950s, in spite of these educational deficiencies, African Americans were finding manufacturing jobs in urban centers that allowed them to support their families. The black middle class grew as a result. Then came major shifts in the American economy producing market forces that 'whipsawed' black labor (See William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor, Vintage Books 1997), including:

*The decline in manufacturing in the U. S. economy. Manufacturing dropped from 31% of non-farm labor in 1950 to 11% in 2005.

*The suburbanization of manufacturing and low skill service jobs. Between 1967 and 1987, Philadelphia lost 64% of its manufacturing jobs; Chicago lost 60%; New York City, 58%; and Detroit, 51%, a disappearance of over 1.1 million jobs, Similarly, between 1970 and 1985, the total jobs requiring less than a high school degree declined 33% in New York City and 44% in Philadelphia.

*The globalization of new manufacturing jobs.

*The structural shift of employment growth into services where education was the major determinant of the level of earnings.

*Changes in technology produced occupation bifurcation, separating service workers by education into the haves and have nots.

*The surge of married (and educated) females into the labor force. The labor force participation rate for married women jumped from 25% in 1950 to 61% today. . . .

*The decline of unions. In the 1950s, unions included 32% of all wage and salary workers and today include only 13%. Typically, unions raise the wages of less skilled workers.

*The second Great Wave of immigration. . . .

“The result of all this was a decline in the real wages of low-skill workers that began with the recession of 1973-75 and still exists today. . . .In today’s service economy, formal education is the path to an income that can support a family, to health care coverage (most particularly preventive care), and to the accumulation of retirement benefits. The working poor have none of these things, and a disproportionate share of American blacks is confined by a deficit in human capital to the ranks of the working poor” (241-42).

Reactions?

[Next: Race in America, Part 4—the way out, no way]

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Impressions

Monday

As I arrive at my office, I watch a man, several years younger than I, get out of his car.

Nothing remarkable there, right?

Wrong.

He “stepped out” of his car and down onto his heavily padded knees. Both legs had been amputated just below his knee. He “walked” on his knees around to the other side of the car, removed his wheelchair and started my direction. He had seen me arrive and noted that I was still talking on the phone before getting out of my car.

As he approached, I noticed that his right arm had also been amputated just below his elbow and that his only hand was in fact half a hand.

Here was a man with challenges.

As he drew nearer, I introduced myself and took his shortened right arm in my hand to shake. I learned that his name was Dennis, that he lived in Tyler, Texas and that he had come over for an appointment at Baylor University Medical Center, located a stone’s throw from my office. He needed some help with a room for the night. He made it clear he needed to “clean up” before making the doctor’s appointment.

I did my best to “expedite” our typical processes for him.

My overall impression?

Amazingly positive!

He encouraged me with his attitude, demeanor and ability to engage me and everyone else in his environment.

Take away: never count anyone out.

Take away #2: I've got a lot to learn.

Tuesday

I’m on the road to Chicago.

Interesting assignment comes with this trip.

Friends at Bank of America in Dallas asked me to testify at a Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago hearing regarding the acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corporation by their bank. The public meeting is a part of the normal procedure whenever mergers and acquisitions such as this occur.

All I can do is speak to my experience with Bank of America Dallas. It has been very positive, but I feel a bit caught between. I know there are a number of regulatory issues going forward that must be addressed, not here, but in and by the U. S. Congress so that we can avoid future situations like the current sub-prime crisis that disproportionately affect middle and low-income working people who desire more than anything to be homeowners.

Jesse Jackson spoke to the panel before it was my turn. I wish I knew what he had to say, but I arrived later in the day.

As I interact with folks in attendance, it becomes clear that the criticism is directed at the business practices of Countrywide and the hope for new, more equitable practices resides with Bank of America and its management style.

I rode the Orange Line from Midway Airport downtown for the hearing.

Chicago is a real city!

As I stepped off the CTA train and walked down the steps from the track platform to the street, I encountered a beggar holding a paper cup. He must have been in his sixties. He asked for change. No one paid any attention. Being an outsider, I stopped to visit. And, yes, I made a contribution. Debate that all you want, I enjoyed talking to him, and I figure he earned his money by putting up with me!

Walking down the street in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the downtown offices of Bank of America, I felt overwhelmed by the wealth and the power that attends such financial capacity.

Between the two giant financial institutions I meet a “Streetwise” vendor. “Streetwise” is the homeless newspaper for Chicago. Again, I stop to talk and purchase a paper. The guy thanks me and volunteers that "This is the hardest job I’ve ever had!”

I answered, “I’m sure that is right, but you know what, you do have it, don’t you?”

He flashed me a big grin and replied, “Yes, I do!”

The stark contrast is everywhere I go. I can’t avoid it.

The rich, the poor—the amazingly wealthy and the devastatingly poor. It is clear the gap is widening, especially in our major urban areas.

The contrast drives me forward.

How about you?

What do you see? What are your "impressions