Remembering Howard Zinn

In teaching American history to university students who've taken classes here at Central Dallas Ministries, I've always used Howard Zinn's classic A People's History of the United States as one of my textbooks.

Zinn told the story of the United States from the "underside."

He wrote from the grass up, rather than from the top down, as is typical of most texts available to students and teachers.

To be sure, reading Zinn challenges many of our traditional assumptions and popular myths.

Howard Zinn died last week.

He will be missed. His footprints will continue to guide those seeking truth, justice and unity as a people.

Who Dat? Saints bring win home to New Orleans!

The New Orleans Saints won Super Bowl XLIV over the Indianapolis Colts 31-17. 

The game turned out to be a hard fought, entertaining affair for all who watched.  Both teams played well enough to win. 

As far as the game itself, I wouldn't have been too upset to see another son of New Orleans, Peyton Manning bring the trophy home for the Colts. While living in New Orleans, we'd see the Manning family eating at a local cafeteria after church on Sundays.  Peyton and Eli were just little boys at the time.  Archie quarterbacked the Saints. 

But, this Super Bowl was much more than just a football game. 

You could see it on the faces of all of the Saints players. 

Tears flowed all around. 

Grown men crying. 

The post-game comments quickly turned to bringing home a win to their city, a city badly in need of a boost, of a win. 

The Saints' owner declared that the win meant that New Orleans and all of Louisiana was back!  I'm not sure about that, but I do know that watching the game from start to finish hooked my emotions way beyond the game or the venue or the event.  I thought all the way from kickoff to final whistle mostly about a great American city still in need of my concern and richly deserving my devotion and loyalty. 

Something about that crazy, wonderful city. 

Once you've tasted its rich life, its wonderful people and its historic culture, you just can't get it out of your system. 

Thanks, Saints!  Your city needed that, and so did the rest of us who love it just like all of you do.

Dr. Jim's report from Haiti

Dr. Jim Walton, DO, is a dear friend.  We've been working together on community health projects since 1997.  As the Chief Health Equity Officer for the entire Baylor Health Care System, Jim devotes his life to health outcome improvements and driving disparities of care out of our community's health care experience.  Jim has been instrumental in helping Central Dallas Ministries build our Community Health Services division. 

Not surprisingly, Dr. Jim has been serving in Haiti in the aftermath of the horrible earthquake.  This message came from him on the last day of his trip.  It's worth sharing:

Yesterday, the number of people that visited the outpatient clinic increased dramatically....we think because of our "house calls" from the day before.

We saw multiple children who had suffered broken arms that had not seen a doctor since the Earthquake. The orthopedic physicians, working with anesthesia would put these kids to sleep and set their fractures before casting....we also one older woman who had a broken pelvis but hadn't gone anywhere to be seen until she heard there were US doctors near her village ( a shorter drive that all the way to Port-au-Prince). We had to send her into the main hospital anyway for surgical care....


The amount of fear in some of the people is very difficult to deal with....the idea of seeing a doctor after these painful injuries concerns them enough that some choose to stay home under their make-shift tents....their neighbors are very supportive as you might guess and the community support around victims is obvious everywhere I went in the villages.....the randomness of which house collapsed and which didn't is also fascinating....same with the severity of injuries of people who had walls or blocks of cement fall on them....the idea of random fate seems prevalent, but the community's response of supporting their victims is everywhere.


The Haitians are resilient happy people....while we cared for the post-op patients late at night, I got a chance to get to know them better, seeing their graciousness and gratitude for any measure of kindness that we showed to them...they sing together in the port-op ward at times, comforting one another (and the care-givers).


Teams of relief working continue to flow into Haiti. We will have another Austin Texas team replace us on Saturday. This was quickly arranged in the lasr 2 days by the mission here, with a focus upon changing the mix of medical providers from surgical to more wound management (surgical debridement, IV and oral antibiotics, dressing changes, etc). In another four to six weeks we will need to focus on cast removals and rehabilitation of weakened limbs.


One of the greatest needs Haiti will have in the intermediate phase of this disaster is the wound care for all of the amputees, fractures with open sores and lacerations that weren't suture due to infection, etc. Additionally, rehabilitation for all of the orthopedic trauma and prosthetics will be a huge opportunity for helping people (particularly the children and young adults) get back to their lives. We should all consider working with Haitian non-profits to build regional rehabilitation/prothsesis and wound management centers could be established in multiple locations around the capital and the countryside to help Haiti....along with rebuilding homes, schools, churches and hospitals with more stable and secure building techniques.


Let me close by saying that I am very excited to come home (we hope to leave this afternnon). The intensity of the work of immediate relief (not to mention the amazing sites, sounds and smells) is difficult to sustain for long periods....our team is exhausted (7 flew home yesterday on a hastily arranged flight) and waiting anxiously for the replacements to arrive. It goes without saying I think that I am leaving with the desire to return as soon as possible to help in these efforts during the long road to recovery.


The Haitian people love to sing about their love for God, and it is not uncommon to hear those sounds around here as well. They have taught me to be more thankful and to see God's hand even in suffering. It is these moments that can teach us all about how we might bring our faith into action.


See you soon,


Jim

Dan's blasted fish!

In June 2005, my best buddy, Dan Hopkins and I ran in the Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska.  What an experience!

For some stupid reason we planned our trip so that the race came at the end of our week.  Bad move.  Not good to board an airplane back to Dallas the day after enduring 26 miles. 

Among the week's activities was a fishing trip.  We were after big salmon and we found them.  We flew into the back country, landed on the river and stepped from plane to boat for a half-day of fishing. 

Within half an hour I had landed a 26-pound fish.  I must say, I was feeling pretty good.  After about another 30 minutes of watching Dan try to catch something, I was beginning to feel sorry for him.  That is, until I watched him haul in the largest fish of the season to that point:  a 56-pound monster (pictured above--er, the fish is on the left!). 

I really was proud for him.  It was a thrill to watch! 

But, I must add, he keeps bringing up that blasted fish.  As a matter of fact, he sent me the picture again just last week.  I think he's afraid that I'll forget.  Not a chance.

Nice fish, Dan.  Real nice fish. 

Cornell West: Brother West--Living and Loving Out Loud

Gerald Britt turned me on to Dr. Cornell West's new book, Brother West:  Living and Loving Out Loud.

No doubt worth a careful read.

Income inequality, economic gaps and social dysfunction. . .

For a fascinating and very important interview Big Think interview with Dr. Kate Pickett, Epidemiologist, University of York, click here.  If you decide to watch the interview via the link, be aware that she is answering questions that appear on the screen during the interview and that break up her comments. 

The information shared here is extremely important as we think about income inequality and the urban centers of the United States. 

One takeaway:  whether we like it or not, we're all in this life together.
Here is a transcript of the conversation for those who prefer to read rather than watch and listen: 

Kate Pickett: I’m Kate Pickett. And I’m a Professor of Epidemiology at the University of York in England.

Question: What is the relationship between economic growth and life expectancy?

Kate Pickett: What we find is, in the rich developed market democracies, there’s no longer any relationship between average levels of income in a country and life expectance. So, you can have a country like the USA, or Norway, that’s twice a rich as another country like Greece for instance, and that doesn’t seem to affect life expectancy at all. And the same is true of happiness. Happiness isn’t related to average levels of income in a country either. Now, that’s not true of the developing world when you don’t have enough, when people are lacking food or shelter, or the basic material necessities. Then economic growth is really important. But in our rich, developed democracies, it no longer makes any difference. So, we seem to have come to an end of what economic growth can do for us in terms of life expectance, happiness, well-being and that sort of thing.

If you look at the United States, over the past few decades, you’ve become twice, three times a rich as you used to be, levels of happiness haven’t improved at all.

Question: How does social inequality affect our health?

Kate Pickett: I think this is where it helps that Richard Wilkinson, my co-author and I, we’re epidemiologists, and so we study levels of population health. And one thing we really learned over the past 30 years in epidemiology is the importance of psycho-social factors for health. Things like low social status, or social affiliation, social networks, whether or not you have friends, and the stresses of early childhood. All of those things have turned out to be really important for health. And we have quite a good understanding now of the biology of chronic stress. So, all of these things are working as stresses, low social status, lack of friends or social networks, stress in early childhood. And chronic stress affects our biology, our physiology in lots of different ways. It affects our immune system, our hormonal responses, it affects our cardiovascular health. And that’s quite well understood. And so we have also known for a long time that the people at the bottom of society, the poorer people in our societies, people living in the most deprived neighborhoods have much higher levels of stress and much worse health than those who are more affluent or have higher social status.

Question: Is there a threshold for when economic growth stops affecting life expectancy?

Kate Pickett: Yeah, it’s not so much about the threshold, the threshold changes over time. It’s really just seeing that although life expectancy continues to improve over time, that’s not related to average levels of income anymore in the rich countries. Instead, what we find is really important is the level of income and equality that is the gap between the rich and the poor. That’s what seems to matter these days for our health and social well being.

Question: Why are humans prone to developing unequal societies?

Kate Pickett: Well, I think we’ve lived in every kind of society. I mean, for a lot of our existence as human beings, we’ve lived in fairly egalitarian, hunter/gather societies. But we’ve also lived in very hierarchical tyrannies as well. We clearly can manage to exist in both and develop all kinds of different societies. Why hierarchy seems to matter, why status differences matter so much and so the gap between rich and poor matters, is because as human beings, we are very sensitive to social relationship. We have an evolved psychology that makes us very aware about how others judge us.

If you think about it, some of the most difficult things to do, or the most potentially embarrassing situations wherein, those where other people can judge us negatively. Rather like what I’m doing now, which might go out and been seen by hopefully thousands of people and they might think I’m doing a good job, or a bad job, and being aware of that can make us feel very embarrassed, be very aware of how others judge us, and that really affects our psychology and our biology in very profound ways.

So, if we’re looking at societies where the social distances between people are bigger as they are in unequal societies, there’s just more potential for all of us to feel we are judged negatively by others and to feel that our status really matters, that it’s really important.

Question: What is the Social-Evaluative Threat?

Kate Pickett: Social-Evaluative Threat that’s a term psychologist’s use. There are two psychologists who looked at all the studies that other researches have done on what kind of stresses most reliably raise our cortisol levels. What kinds of stress most reliably stress us? And they usually do this kind of work by inviting students into the laboratory and asking them to do unpleasant tasks. The might ask them to solve math problems or to write about an unpleasant experience, or be videotaped doing something. And the question these researchers asked was, which kind of stress most reliably raises our stress hormone levels? And they found it was ones which contained a social-evaluative threat. So, it’s not so much having to do math problems, it’s having to read out your real marks at the end and your scores and share them with other people. It’s tasks in which other people can judge you negatively, that most reliably make you feel stressed.

Question: How does status anxiety link with consumerism?

Kate Pickett: Well, in our modern societies, we don’t really need to consume more stuff for basic survival. We consume, we shop, and we want to earn more money to show our status. And so, owning things that demonstrate that we are keeping up, keeping up appearances that show we are a valued member of society, that’s why we consume so much. In more unequal societies that competition for status is more important. And so, in more unequal societies there is a stronger drive toward status competition and consumerism. All of those things matter more, matters more to earn more money, not because you need more money for basic things, but you need to show your status relative to other people in society.

Question: What is the link between greater inequality and public health?

Kate Pickett: We look at more and less equal countries, and let me describe what I mean by that. We use income equality as a measure of how hierarchical a society is, how unequal it is. And so we’re comparing – we’re looking at countries and looking at how much richer the top 20% of the population are compared to the bottom 20%. It’s ratio of the top fifth to the bottom fifth of incomes. And in more equal countries like Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the top 20% earn about 3 ½ to 4 times as much as the bottom 20%. And in the more unequal countries like the UK, where I’m from, the USA, Portugal, Australia, Singapore, it’s 7 ½ to 9 times as much. So, that’s the scale of inequality that we’re looking at.

And what we do in our book is take that scale of income differences and look to see how it affect a range of health and social problems in different societies. And we find that more unequal societies have lower levels of trust, higher levels of mental illness, worse physical health, more obesity, their children do less well in schools, there are more teenage births, more violence, as you just mentioned, a greater percentage of the population is in prison and social mobility is lower as well. So, everything seems to get worse in more unequal societies. This is a general social dysfunction. And because this is politically quite sensitive, we thought we’d test it all out again in separate setting. So, we compared the 50 states of the USA as a sort of independent test, and again, we look at levels of income and equality in the 50 different states and compare that tot heir level of health and social problems. And it’s a remarkably consistent picture. So that all those health and social problems are worse in the more unequal states.

And we think this human sensitivity to social relationships is the underpinning cause of all of those problems. You asked about violence, and in a more unequal society, of course, there are more people who don’t have access to the kinds of things that give us status, money, jobs, cars, employment, those sorts of things. And in a society where social judgments can be harsher, those at the bottom are going to be much more sensitive to threats to their status. And we know from the work of prison psychiatrists, for instance, that being disrespected, or humiliated, or potentially losing face is the most common trigger for violence of all. So, I think that’s the link between greater inequality and high levels of violence.

And the differences are huge. If we compare, for instance, the American states and Canadian Provinces, in the more equal of those, there are about 15 million, sorry, 15 murders per million residents per year. And in the more unequal, it’s about 150. So that’s a ten-fold difference, ten times the murder rate in the more unequal places than the more equal ones.

Question: What is the connection between sustainability and equality?

Kate Pickett: Yeah. I mean, I think this goes back to the idea I was talking about earlier that, in a sense, in the rich developed countries we’ve come to the end of what economic growth can do for us in terms of better quality of life. We also know that we’ve got to constrain economic growth to deal with the challenges of climate change. And we need to develop more sustainable economies. And we think that equality has an important role to play here in several different ways. The first is the increased status competition that I talked about in more unequal societies. That drives consumerism. And we know that high levels of consumerism are a major cause of high levels of carbon emissions and that we need to rein in consumerism to cope with climate change. So, I think more equal societies will be better places to be able to do that because there will be less drive to consume.

Also because we find that levels of trust are much higher in more equal places, social cohesion is better. People are more willing to act together for the common good, there’s a greater public spiritedness and people are less out for themselves. And we see that in more equal countries, this translates into the way the population acts with respect to the planet and with respect to other countries. For instance, more equal countries donate more in foreign aid. A greater portion of their national income is given in foreign aid and they do better at recycling across a whole variety of waste goods. And in more equal countries, business leaders are more likely agree that their government should comply with environmental regulations. So, there are all kinds of ways in which more equal societies seem better able to act for the common good.

But there’s a third thing as well, and I think this is really important because I think a lot of people have thought in the past that we need a certain level of inequality to drive aspirations and creativity. And we’ve actually found that using a sort of proxy measure of innovation, we use the number of patterns grounded per head of population, sort of a measure of innovation and creativity, and we find that there is a significant tendency for more equal countries to have a higher level of patterns grounded per capita than the more unequal ones. Probably because in more unequal societies educational achievement is lower and social mobility is lower. So, they’re wasting a much higher proportion of their potential human capital.

So in terms of consumerism, acting in a public spirited way, and being creative and innovative, it looks as if greater equality might be a very necessary precondition as far as coping with climate change.

Question: What practical steps can countries take to enhance equality?

Kate Pickett: I think the first thing to note is that not only do we find that inequality is related to a whole range of social problems, we also find that it affects the vast majority of the population, and I think that’s really key to getting greater support for measures that would make our societies more equal. Greater equality won’t just benefit the poorer in our society; the benefits seem to extend all the way up the population so that even among the wealthier, more educated, affluent sections of our populations, they are healthier and do better in a more equal society. So, I think that’s really key.

But we also find that it is the level of inequality that matters for all of these health and social problems and it doesn’t seem to matter how that greater equality is achieved. So we often point to the contrasts between Sweden and Japan, for instance. Both of them are at the more equal end of the spectrum and they do very well in terms of health and social problems. But they achieve their greater equality in very different ways.

Sweden has quite large income differences to start with and redistributes through taxes and benefits, whereas Japan has smaller income differences to start with. And that doesn’t seem to matter, it’s the level of inequality of equality that they achieve that matters. And we find the same contrast actually among the U.S. states. So, we have two states bordering each other, Vermont and New Hampshire, culturally very alike, but New Hampshire has very low levels of state expenditure and taxation and Vermont much higher. So, New Hampshire looks a bit more like Japan and Vermont a bit more like Sweden. But because they are among the more equal states, they do very well in terms of health and social problems.

So we don’t advocate any particular way of achieving greater equality. There are big state interventions that could work such as higher tax rates on higher incomes, or raising minimum wage levels. But there are sort of small state solutions as well that are around institutions, how companies decide to set their salary structures. And it does seem that where there is more economic democracy, more employees on the board for instance, or promotions from within a company, more employees owning shares in a company. Income differences within those institutions are kept smaller. So, there are lots of different ways that greater equality can be achieved

Question: Why do Cubans live longer on average than Americans?

Kate Pickett: Sure. If you look at the international rankings of life expectancy, yes, the U.S.A. does particularly badly among the rich developed countries, which is fairly recent. You used to be one of the high performers in terms of life expectancy. And it’s interesting; actually, that the U.S.A. and Japan have rather swapped places after the Second World War and Japan was a very unequal country with very poor levels of life expectancy, whereas America was very equal and performed very well internationally with life expectancy. And since that time, you’ve swapped places. So that America has become much more unequal and slipped down the rankings of life expectancy and Japan has become much more equal and now has the highest life expectancy in the world, and crime rates have come down, etc. And there are countries that are much poorer. You mentioned Cuba, but we can also look at Costa Rica, and some of the other Latin American countries and some of the poorer European countries, such as Greece that achieve life expectancies as high, or higher than the United States without that higher level of affluence.

Question: Is the U.S. inherently unequal?

Kate Pickett: Although the U.S.A. does come very near the top in terms of income inequality today among the rich capitalist countries, only Singapore does worse in our dataset. This isn’t a sort of fixed American problem. In the past, after the Second World War and right up through the 1970’s, you were one of the more equal of the western developed countries. And so, it’s not anti-American to suggest that American society might become more egalitarian, more equal. That’s actually very characteristic of your fairly recent past. And it’s certain true of the founding principles on which your country or society is based.

And so, although I think Americans have perhaps gotten used to high levels of inequality in the very recent past, you do have a long tradition of a more egalitarian ethos and of smaller income differences in your society. And so, I think the American Dream isn’t dead, although levels of social mobility are much slower here, educational performance is suffering, you can look to your past, I think, to recover that hope and that optimism and see it as a very true American ambition to have the kind of society that offers a fair opportunity for everybody.

So much for Calvinism, positive mental attitude and class hatred. . .

Tomorrow, my friend Randy Mayeux will present a synopsis of Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich at this month's installment of the Urban Engagement Book Club, a CDM public policy initiative. 

Ehrenreich authored the remarkable book Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America.

In her new book, she suggests that “positive thinking” is not always all that positive. At least not in all circumstances. Here is an excerpt from the last page of the book:
For centuries, or at least since the Protestant Reformation, Western economic elites have flattered themselves with the idea that poverty is a voluntary condition. The Calvinist saw it as a result of sloth and other bad habits; the positive thinker blamed it on a willful failure to embrace abundance… But the economic meltdown should have undone, once and for all, the idea of poverty as a personal shortcoming or dysfunctional state of mind. The lines at unemployment offices and churches offering free food include strivers as well as slackers, habitual optimists as well as the chronically depressed. When and if the economy recovers we can never allow ourselves to forget how widespread our vulnerability is, how easy it is to spiral down toward destitution.

The threats we face are real and can be vanquished only by shaking off self-absorption and taking action in the world. Build up the levees, get food to the hungry, find the cure, strengthen the “first responders”!

Ehrenreich gets it. 

We should listen.

[If you live in Dallas, join us for the Urban Engagement Book Club from noon until 1:15 p.m. at the Highland Park United Methodist Church located on the campus at SMU.]

Poor folks as "stray animals". . .say what?

Jesus:  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor" (Luke 4:18).

Jewish Wisdom:  "By insulting the poor, you insult your Creator. . . . the Lord blesses everyone who freely gives food to poor" (Proverbs 17:5; 22:9).

South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer:  "My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed! You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that."

Children's Bookstore inside Roseland Towne Homes--a CDM product

Katrina Hobbs "grew up" and went on to college from Central Dallas Ministries. She now serves as a member of the CDM AmeriCorps team. Her assignment is working to encourage children to develop a real love of reading.

One secret to her success is selling books!

Check out this "feel good" story:

Ever hear this in church?

Religion and Poverty: God and the Poor, By Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary, National Council of Churches

For the 45 million persons who attend congregations related to member communions of the National Council of Churches, poverty ministries are not a sideline. They are at the very heart of our faith.

Even a casual reader of the bible, including those familiar with the Psalms and Proverbs, is immediately struck by the sheer volume of references to God’s concern for the poor. The theme is repeated relentlessly in all holy writ, including the Torah, the Qur’an, the Bhagavad Gita, the words of the Buddha, and in millions of lines of religious verse.

The message is clear: God has an unabashed focus on persons living in poverty.

For Christians, the message is unmistakable, and Jesus makes the point with varying degrees of subtlety. In Luke 4, he asserts that God has anointed him “to bring good news to the poor,” which is nice, but in Matthew 19, he is unnervingly direct. When a rich young man asks him how to get to heaven, Jesus tells him to obey God’s commandments and “sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor.” For two millennia, we have blanched at this radical suggestion and convinced ourselves Jesus is being hyperbolic. But I doubt it. I think he’s making it unmistakably clear how much God loves the poor.

Given all this evidence, it boggles the mind to consider how little attention we have paid to poverty. The one bright spot in our long history is the emphasis churches placed on giving alms to the poor, but principalities felt no such largesse. Less than a century ago in our own country, few politicians felt government had any obligations to help the poor, and people without means were left to fend for themselves. As the industrialization of the world intensified, the rich got richer at the expense of the poor. At the turn of the 20th century, workers – including their young children – were forced to labor in unbelievably degrading conditions while their employers luxuriated in extravagant homes.

Conditions were, to state the obvious, sinful. It was amid the squalor of early 20th century America that churches and persons of faith came together to right these terrible wrongs. In December 1908, at the founding of the Federal Council of Churches, Methodist cleric Frank Mason North delivered a report on poverty in America that evolved into the Social Creed of the Churches. The Creed called for safe working conditions, the abolition of child labor, a living wage for all workers, at least one day off per week, and for “the abatement of poverty.”

Considering the ample evidence of God’s prejudice for the poor, it’s hard to believe that the Social Creed was regarded as a radical document, but labor conditions in the U.S. began to improve.

A century later, in 2008, the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches and Church World Service unveiled an updated document called “A Social Creed for the Twenty-first Century.” Among other things, the new creed calls for:

· Abatement of hunger and poverty, and enactment of policies benefiting the most vulnerable.

· High-quality public education for all and universal, affordable, and accessible healthcare.

· An effective program of social security during sickness, disability, and old age.

· Tax and budget policies that reduce disparities between rich and poor, strengthen democracy, and provide greater opportunity for everyone within the common good.

· Just immigration policies that protect family unity, safeguard workers’ rights, require employer accountability, and foster international cooperation.

· Sustainable communities marked by affordable housing, access to good jobs, and public safety.

· Public service as a high vocation, with real limits on the power of private interests in politics.

Amid the strains of the current economic downturn, many of the proposals have become political hot potatoes as politicians in both parties fret that they will beget programs that the nation cannot afford or that will benefit persons who do not deserve them.

The fact that the abatement of hunger and poverty or the provision of universal healthcare or the assurance of just immigration policies are subject to political debate is, to put it mildly, sinful. And God has gone out of God’s way to make that clear to us.

A decade ago, the United Nations proposed Millennium Development Goals that call on the nations of the world to pool their resources to accomplish many of the objectives cited in the Social Creed for the 21st century, including the elimination of the level of poverty and hunger that kills millions of people around the world.

Many social scientists, most notably Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, believe we have the means of doing just that.

Of course, there are many critics who believe the elimination of killing poverty will never happen, and some of them suggest with dark Malthusian tones that it would not be worth the effort.

That’s the kind of reasoning that breaks God’s heart. God has been trying to get our attention since the dawn of creation, and in written scripture for millennia:

“Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth,” the Lord said, “I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’” (Deut. 15:11, NRSV).

Working together, we can accomplish the abatement of poverty worldwide.

But even if we fail, it is clear God is commanding us to make the effort.

God is not on the side of social scientists, politicians, or cynics.

God is on the side of the poor.

[The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon is General Secretary of the National Council of Churches.]

.

Urban Connection--San Antonio making progress!

Central Dallas Ministries planted a sister organization in San Antonio, Texas almost 8 years ago.  We fly under the banner Urban Connection--San Antonio.  Under the able direction of Leslie Grubbs, UC-SA is really making a huge difference in the Westside community where it is located. 

To check out more evidence of real progress, click here.

More on health care debate from T. R. Reid (Final)

Here are the final collection of quotes from The Healing of America:  A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care:

There are useful approaches, ideas, and techniques we could learn from health care systems that are fairer, cheaper, and more effective than ours (pp. 44-45).

Most nations try to drop the Out-of-Pocket Model as they grow richer (p. 151).

In the process (of trying different reforms), the basic moral question that should drive reform --- do we want to give everybody access to health care? – gets swept aide… “The Clinton defeat,” argued political analyst Ezra Klein, “taught many that health care is simply too big, too complicated, and too dangerous to touch” (p. 163).

Both countries (Taiwan and Switzerland) decided that society has an ethical obligation – as a matter of justice, of fairness, or solidarity – to assure everybody access to medical care when it’s needed. The advocates of reform in both countries clarified and emphasized that moral issue much more than the nuts and bolts of the proposed reform plans. As a result, the national debate was waged largely around ideals like “equal treatment for everybody,” “we’re all in this together,” and “fundamental rights” rather than on the commercial implications for the health care industry… President Clinton emphasized economics. The moral issue that drove major change in Taiwan and Switzerland never got really moving in the USA (p. 182).

Whereas all other nations work from the time the line turns blue to introduce a healthy new person into their health care system, the United States first attends to its poorest mothers and newborns in the hospital on delivery day… Until we adopt a health care system that encourages it, preventive health care will remain largely inaccessible to far too many Americans (p. 202).

Which inequalities will society tolerate? Is it acceptable that some people are left to die because they can’t see a doctor when they get sick? That question encompasses a more basic question: Is health care a human right?... Is medicine a commodity to be bought and sold, a product like a car, a computer, a camera?... The creation of a national health care system involves political, economic, and medical decisions, but the primary decision to be made is a moral one (p. 212).

Twenty two thousand Americans (USA) die each year from treatable diseases (because they do not have health care) (p. 217).

Does a wealthy country have an ethical obligation to provide access to health care for everybody? Do we want to live in a society that lets tens of thousands of our neighbors die each year, and hundreds of thousands face financial ruin, because they can’t afford medical care when they’re sick?... Every developed country except the United States has reached the same conclusion: Everybody should have access to medical care. Having made that decision, the other nations have organized health care systems to meet that fundamental moral goal. . . .

At the start of the twenty-first century, the world’s richest and most powerful nation does not have the world’s best health care system. But we could… We can heal America’s ailing health care system – and the world’s other industrialized democracies can show us how to do it (p. 239).

(Though there is legitimate debate re. the health care rankings of countries, this is clear and not in dispute): there is a coterie of developed countries that are providing quality health care, distributing it fairly and equitably – and doing all that for much less money than the United States is spending (from the conclusion, at end of appendix – p. 256).

More on health care debate from T. R. Reid (Part 3)

The following from T. R. Reid's important book, The Healing of America:  A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care:

Even if we found good ideas in other countries, could the United States find the political will at home to use them? One basic political truth about American health care is that our system is strongly resistant to change. The vested interests that are doing well in the health business now – insurance companies, hospital chains, pharmaceutical companies – have blocked significant restructuring of our system (p. 22).

All the developed countries I looked at provide health coverage for every resident, old or young, rich or poor. This is the underlying moral principle of the health care system in every rich country – every one, that is, except the United States (p. 23).

Every country on earth faces difficult problems in providing medical care to its people. Nobody’s system is perfect. There are health care horror stories in every wealthy country – and they’re true… But for all of their problems, the other industrialized countries tend to do better than the United States on basic measures of health system performance: coverage, quality, cost control, choice. What are we doing wrong? (pp. 26-27).

When it comes to the essential task of providing health care for people, the mighty USA is a fourth-rate power (p. 28).

How many people go bankrupt because of medical bills? In Britain, zero. In France, zero. In Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland: zero. In the United States, according to a joint study by Harvard Law School and Harvard Medical School, the annual figure is around 700,000.

For all the money America spends on health care, our health outcomes are worse on many basic measures than those in countries that spend much less (p. 31).

The United States is the only developed country that relies on profit-making health insurance companies to pay for essential and elective care. . .

All the other developed countries have decided that basic health insurance must be a nonprofit operation. In those countries, the insurance plans – sometimes run by government, sometimes private entities – exist only to pay people’s medical bills, not to provide dividends for investors… The U.S. private insurance industry has the highest administrative costs of any health care payer in the world (pp. 36-37).

If insurance companies have to cover everybody who applies, they need to have everybody in the insurance pool to cover the costs. All other developed countries require both “guaranteed issue” and the “individual mandate.” The United States has neither (p. 38).

More on health care debate from T. R. Reid (Part 2)

As promised, here's more from the important book, The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, by T. R. Reid:

Our nation's healthcare system has become excessively expensive, ineffective, and unjust. Among the world's developed nations, the United States stands at or near the bottom in most important rankings of access to and quality of medical care. (pp. 8-9).

The thesis of this book is that we can bring about fundamental change by borrowing ideas from foreign models of health care. For me, that conclusion stems from personal experience. I’ve worked overseas for years as a foreign correspondent; our family has lived on three continents, and we’ve used the health care systems in other wealthy countries with satisfaction. But many Americans intensely dislike the idea that we might learn useful policy ideas from other countries, particularly in medicine. (p. 11).

Anyone who dares to say that other countries do something better than we do is likely to be labeled unpatriotic or anti-American… The real patriot, the person who genuinely loves his country, or college, or company, is the person who recognizes its problems and tries to fix them. (p. 13).

Eisenhower’s strategic plan envisioned months of painful slogging across a shattered German countryside. But then his forward commanders reported an amazing discovery: a broad ribbon of highway, the best road system anybody had ever seen, stretching straight through the heart of Germany. This was the autobahn network… “I decided, as President, to put an emphasis on this kind of road-building.” (President Eisenhower – which led to the “Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways” – the Interstate Highway System). Eisenhower, the pragmatic commander, was willing to borrow a good policy idea, even if it had foreign lineage. (pp. 14 & 15).

Each nation’s health care system is a reflection of its history, politics, economy, and national values. (p. 16).

More to come. . .

A book to read. . .

Over the next few days and posts I intend to share quotes from a rather remarkable book, The Healing of America:  A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care [New York: The Penguin Press (2009)] by T. R. Reid. 

The subject of the book has grown in importance to me as this past week I learned of a young man who is my friend who is facing brain surgery and has no health coverage, public or private.  Unless something changes, after any treatment he receives his "pre-existing condition" will end any chance of coverage going forward. 

T. R. Reid is not afraid to bring a moral argument to this discussion.  I appreciate that about him. 

Here's the first installment:

Government and academic studies report that more than 20,000 Americans die in the prime of life each year from medical problems that could be treated, because they can't afford to see a doctor. That doesn't happen in any other developed country. Hundreds of thousands of Americans go bankrupt every year because of medical bills. That doesn't happen in any other developed country either. Efforts to change the system tend to be derailed by arguments about “big government" or “free enterprise" or “socialism" -- and the essential moral question gets lost in the shouting (p. 2).

All the other developed countries on earth have made a different moral decision. Countries that are just as committed as we are to equal opportunity, individual liberty, and the free-market have concluded that everybody has a right to health care -- and they provide it. One result is that most rich countries have better national health statistics -- longer life expectancy, lower infant mortality, better recovery rates for major diseases -- than the United States does. Yet all the other rich countries spend far less on healthcare than the United States does.

The primary issue for any healthcare system is a moral one (p.3).

[Note:  this book was the subject of our discussion at CDM's monthly Urban Engagement Book Club.]

Central Dallas Ministries and students' garden

Recently, ABC television WFAA Channel 8, picked up on our students' garden at Central Dallas Ministries' After School Academy at Roseland Towne Homes.

Enjoy and pass along to your friends!

"Who Dat Nation" prevails!

After 43 years of frustration, many during which fans learned to wear brown bags over their heads, the New Orleans Saints won a trip to Super Bowl XLIV with a 31 to 28 win over the fairly amazing Minneapolis Vikings. 

We lived in New Orleans for five years while I attended seminary (New Orleans Baptist) and graduate school (Tulane University).  We learned what a great city New Orleans truly has been, was and is. 

Saints fans take loyality to the outer edges of reality!

Now they have their champions. 

Two weeks from today they will take the field in Miami against the Indianapolis Colts led by Peyton Manning, son of Saints' legendary quarterback, Archie Manning.  I'm sure Archie will pull for Peyton.  I also bet there is a special spot in  his soul that can't turn loose of a hope that the Saints prevail.  In a sense, Archie Manning can't lose in this game. 

While living in New Orleans, I spoke in the Saints' chapel service.  Archie Manning was in attendance, as was head coach, Hank Stram.  It was the thrill of a lifetime for a young minister (25 years old). 

I have a regulation Saints helmet hanging on my wall.  It will always be with me.

You see, there's a code among Saints fans. Once a member of "Who Dat Nation," always a member.

Way to go black and gold!  Who dat?!

A deal with the Devil?

Week before last, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune published a letter from Satan to evangelist Pat Robertson, responding to his comment that Haiti 's persistent troubles, including the earthquake, are due to a pact the nation made with the Devil.  Hard to understand the theology back of such a notion, but then, I've never understood Robertson, nor his appeal. 

Actually, it wasn't Satan who wrote the letter but Lilly Coyle of Minneapolis writing in the persona of the hellish one.  I'll let you judge for yourself Ms. Coyle's assessment of the celebrity preacher's idea.  For me, she's dead on right. 

Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action.

But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher.

The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle.

Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"?

If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox -- that kind of thing.

An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it -- I'm just saying: Not how I roll.

You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings -- just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad.

Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best,
Satan

Where the streets have no names

. . .opening track from U2's 1987 album, The Joshua Tree.

In a 1987 interview, Bono said of the song:

"Where the Streets Have No Name is more like the U2 of old than any of the other songs on the LP, because it’s a sketch - I was just trying to sketch a location, maybe a spiritual location, maybe a romantic location. I was trying to sketch a feeling. I often feel very claustrophobic in a city, a feeling of wanting to break out of that city and a feeling of wanting to go somewhere where the values of the city and the values of our society don’t hold you down. An interesting story that someone told me once is that in Belfast, by what street someone lives on you can tell not only their religion but tell how much money they’re making - literally by which side of the road they live on, because the further up the hill the more expensive the houses become. You can almost tell what the people are earning by the name of the street they live on and what side of that street they live on. That said something to me, and so I started writing about a place where the streets have no name."

Of course, Bono's on to something that we all recognize in our own cities.  What if we lived in a community where the value of the human capital was not linked to nore judged by place of residence, income level, race, religion or educational attainment?  What if we all began to recognize the inherent worth, in real world terms, of every single person living in the city we call home?  What if status was determined by generosity, commitment to neighborhood and one's fellow citizens?  What if the names on the street signs simply told us our geographic location in our increasingly smaller world? 

I think I get this song.  How about you?



I want to run
I want to hide
I want to tear down the walls
That hold me inside
I want to reach out
And touch the flame
Where the streets have no name

I want to feel sunlight on my face
I see the dust cloud disappear
Without a trace
I want to take shelter from the poison rain
Where the streets have no name

Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name

We're still building
Then burning down love
Burning down love
And when I go there
I go there with you
It's all I can do

The city's aflood
And our love turns to rust
We're beaten and blown by the wind
Trampled in dust
I'll show you a place
High on a desert plain
Where the streets have no name

Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
We're still building
Then burning down love
Burning down love
And when I go there
I go there with you
It's all I can do

Our love turns to rust
We're beaten and blown by the wind
Blown by the wind
Oh, and I see love
See our love turn to rust
We're beaten and blown by the wind
Blown by the wind
Oh, when I go there
I go there with you
It's all I can do

President Obama on living through our winter. . .

President Obama spoke last Sunday to the historic Vermont Avenue Baptist Church in Washington, DC. His sermon, like most all of his speeches, was very good. He pointed to the challenges of our day and looked back at a sermon that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. presented to the congregation a generation ago.

While the entire message is worthy of your attention, the last two minutes of the sermon reveal a great deal about this president's personal faith. Very open. Very honest. Very inspiring.

Staying on mission

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stayed on mission. . .always.

His brief acceptance speech upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize illustates King's ability to stay on task no matter what his setting or context. 

Powerful words from a prophetic and heroic world leader. 

Moral obligation to speak

The speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. have been published broadly since his terrible death. Of course, his most famous speech, "I Have a Dream," occupies its rightful place in the "hall of fame" of American rhetoric.

Yet, other powerful, prophetic addresses by King have been set aside, at least in the popular mind of the nation. This week we celebrate his birth. It seems a good time to recall his controversial address on the war in Vietnam.

King regarded the war as a "war on the poor."

We live in a time of war again today, though most of us have no direct contact with its costs or sacrifices. King's words may not be easy to hear. You may not agree with his analysis or judgment. But the speech needs to be heard and not forgotten.

A knock on the door. . .

Dr. King and his family paid a price to secure justice for millions and to liberate both oppressed and oppressors.

In the following clip we witness his own inner struggle with the work he had been called to perform.

Powerful.

Can our religion come to grips with our world today?

Thanks to Emmitt Smith Family

Our AmeriCorps National Day of Service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. turned out to be extra special this year. 

Dallas Cowboys legend and NFL super star, Emmitt Smith, along with his wife, Pat and their four children, showed up to work with a portion of our AmeriCorps team on Congo Street. 

Here are a couple of photos with more to come along with a full report in days ahead.

Bending toward justice. . .our work, our service

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a way of putting things, didn't he? 

He asked tough questions. 

He provided courageous answers. 

The same struggle he faced and battled continues.  The struggle for justice and peace changes, it adapts, it hides, only to surprise us again and again with its hatred, setbacks and disappointments. 

Dr. King always found a way to offer a word of encouragement.  I listen to him whenever I'm tempted to let up or give up.  The piece that follows is among my favorites. 

Hait Update

Paul Farmer, Partners in Health, appeared on 60 Minutes.  To watch the interview click here.

Haiti

Click here to read Tracy Kidder, author of Mountains Beyond Mountains, reflect on the earthquake disaster in Haiti, as well as on his important work of bringing preferential health care to the poor on the island for the past 20 years. 

Important work.

Urgent need.

A leader for justice who will  not disappear. 

Enough

I'm really liking what Todd Bouldin writes in a recent blog entry.

Here's a taste of how he begins:

Over the past two days, I’ve seen numerous Tweets and Facebook messages vilifying Pat Robertson for his comments about the disaster in Haiti that he alleged was the result of a pact Haiti made with the devil. Of course, Pat also must have made some deal with the devil to even espouse such comments in the wake of enormous human suffering. These posts were right to point out his evil ways, but is anyone really paying attention to Pat Robertson anyway? Some of my more progressive Christian friends were outraged, but in all fairness, I hope they understand that most evangelicals are not even listening to Pat anymore. Katrina put the nail in his coffin when he blamed the hurricane on voodoo, homosexuals and feminists.

Pat Robertson is not the problem. Rush Limbaugh is.

To read on click here.

Haiti. . . how to help

At the invitation of president Obama, former presidents Clinton and Bush joined forces earlier this week to lead US citizen efforts to bring much-needed disaster relief to Haiti. 

Here's what President Clinton said yesterday. 



To lend a hand visit these sites:

The Clinton Foundation (a number of options linked at this site)

World Vision

Partners in Health 

UMCOR

All of us should act today. 

I'd love to hear stories from folks who've done something in response.

Dr. King and Dallas 2010

Here' information on an event that has become annual and has assumed considerable importance in the larger Dallas community.  Hope you'll plan to attend!

Contact: Bill Pemberton/Mandy Mulliez, Forté PR
Phone: (214) 890-7912, (214)701-8005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 6, 2009

THE DALLAS INSTITUTE TO PRESENT 5TH ANNUAL MLK SYMPOSIUM FEATURING AUTHOR DR. MICHAEL ERIC DYSON

DALLAS, Jan. 6, 2009: The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture will present the Fifth Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium, “I Have Dream: The Promissory Note,” on January 18, 2010, 6PM-8:45PM, at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas. Keynote speaker is author Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, who was named by Ebony magazine as one of the hundred most influential black Americans. ALON USA is the presenting sponsor.

“The Institute's Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium, held annually on the MLK National Holiday, aims at examining the depth and breadth of Rev. King's achievement and legacy, each year from a different perspective,” said Dr. Larry Allums, director of The Dallas Institute. “This 5th annual Symposium will focus on one of the most pressing and relevant questions of our day: what does the election of President Barack Obama signify in terms of Rev. King's lifelong struggle to realize equality for all people in America?”

In Dr. King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., he said, “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.” The program title draws on this speech for its reference to “the promissory note.”

Keynote speaker Dr. Michael Eric Dyson is the author of sixteen books, including “April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Death and How It Changed America,” “Holler if You Hear Me,” “Is Bill Cosby Right?” and “I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr.” He is currently University Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University and lives in Washington, D.C.

The evening will begin with a reception and light buffet at 6PM. The program will begin at 7 PM with Dr. Dyson’s keynote address, followed by a discussion until 8:45 PM.

The MLK Symposium is open to the public, but attendance is by reservation only. Admission is $20; admission for teachers and students is $10. Group rate for 10 or more is $15 per ticket. To register, call the Winspear box office at (214) 880-0202 or go to www.attpac.org. For more information, call (214) 871-2440 or visit www.dallasinstitute.org.

Corporate sponsors include: ALON USA (Presenting Sponsor); Baylor Health Care System; On-Target Supplies & Logistics; AT&T; and Oncor.

Individual sponsors include: Mr. and Mrs. Albert C. Black, Jr.; Mr. and Mrs. John R. Castle, Jr.; and Mr. and Mrs. J. McDonald Williams.

The program is also supported by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs.

Community partners include: Central Dallas Ministries; E.K. Bailey Ministries, Inc.; Foundation for Community Empowerment; and the African American Museum.

Members of the MLK Advisory Council for The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture include: Albert C. Black, Jr., president and CEO, On-Target Supplies & Logistics; John R. Castle, Jr., attorney and current chairman, Dallas Foundation Board of Governors; LaQuita Hall, AT&T vice president, Southwest Core Network; Shirley Ison-Newsom, director of Learning Communities, Dallas Independent School District; Veletta Forsythe Lill, executive director, Dallas Arts District; Dr. Nancy Cain Marcus, community leader and adjunct professor of humanities, University of Dallas and Southern Methodist University; Jeff Morris, president and CEO, ALON USA; and Ellen Williams, community leader.

The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture is a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational organization with a 20-member Board of Directors comprised of community leaders. Created in 1980, The Dallas Institute is Dallas’ only center for creative and intellectual exchange that provides enriching programs for the public that are grounded in the wisdom of the humanities, laying the foundation for Dallas to realize its full potential for cultural excellence. The Dallas Institute is located at 2719 Routh St., Dallas, Texas 75201. For information, call (214) 871-2440, or visit www.DallasInstitute.org.

Note to Editors:
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson will also be the keynote speaker at a special Teen Symposium at 3:30PM that afternoon at The Dallas Institute. His audience will be select junior and senior high school students from local public and private schools and the session will be aimed at encouraging the next generation to engage in the conversation that will continue to affect their futures.