Showing posts with label discrimination against the poor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discrimination against the poor. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 02, 2015
Friday, June 21, 2013
Man down
I'm boiling.
Yesterday out at "the Corner" I witnessed another example of the daily plight of the powerless who live on our very unforgiving streets.
As I sat in my car taking a phone call that lasted several minutes, an ambulance pulled up at the service station next door. I noticed the ambulance, but could see no one to whom the crew was attending. By the time I finished my phone call, the ambulance was gone, but I noticed that the patient remained.
A very ill Hispanic gentleman sat leaned up against the outside wall of the service station building next door to the old house where I sit on Thursday afternoons. He appeared to be semi-conscious and unresponsive. His friend and protector, Joe, informed me that he had just been discharged from the hospital, but was clearly in trouble. The ambulance had refused to transport him back to the hospital for reasons I couldn't understand.
I called 911 and requested that an ambulance return.
In a few moments, the ambulance with the same crew returned.
I insisted that they pick him up and take him back to the hospital. The man was diabetic and now lying down flat on his back on the concrete pavement.
The crew went to work, placed the man on a stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance and drove away.
As they left, my homeless friends were relieved and hurt.
Why hadn't the ambulance crew responded to their pleas on behalf of their friend?
Why did I get the needed action and not them?
Why had the man been discharged from the hospital?
Was his fate all about money?
Was he "uninsured," not even receiving Medicaid?
Was he undocumented and thus, fair game for being left to die on our streets?
The situation left us with so many unanswered questions.
God help us!
Are we to conclude that there actually are expendable people today in our community?
Is power concentrated in almost exclusively in the hands and voices of people like me, but not my friends who are simply poor even though experts on the subject of poverty?
I need answers.
I'm steamed.
Yesterday out at "the Corner" I witnessed another example of the daily plight of the powerless who live on our very unforgiving streets.
As I sat in my car taking a phone call that lasted several minutes, an ambulance pulled up at the service station next door. I noticed the ambulance, but could see no one to whom the crew was attending. By the time I finished my phone call, the ambulance was gone, but I noticed that the patient remained.
A very ill Hispanic gentleman sat leaned up against the outside wall of the service station building next door to the old house where I sit on Thursday afternoons. He appeared to be semi-conscious and unresponsive. His friend and protector, Joe, informed me that he had just been discharged from the hospital, but was clearly in trouble. The ambulance had refused to transport him back to the hospital for reasons I couldn't understand.
I called 911 and requested that an ambulance return.
In a few moments, the ambulance with the same crew returned.
I insisted that they pick him up and take him back to the hospital. The man was diabetic and now lying down flat on his back on the concrete pavement.
The crew went to work, placed the man on a stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance and drove away.
As they left, my homeless friends were relieved and hurt.
Why hadn't the ambulance crew responded to their pleas on behalf of their friend?
Why did I get the needed action and not them?
Why had the man been discharged from the hospital?
Was his fate all about money?
Was he "uninsured," not even receiving Medicaid?
Was he undocumented and thus, fair game for being left to die on our streets?
The situation left us with so many unanswered questions.
God help us!
Are we to conclude that there actually are expendable people today in our community?
Is power concentrated in almost exclusively in the hands and voices of people like me, but not my friends who are simply poor even though experts on the subject of poverty?
I need answers.
I'm steamed.
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Offended?
Interesting reading for this Sunday:
Jesus and John the Baptist
John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”
At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
"Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me"--that statement has always been intriguing to me.
Why would anyone "stumble" or take offense (meaning of the phrase) at someone taking care of the physical needs of people as a front-and-center, core proposition of one's faith vision?
I mean really, now.
Jesus' "action list" presents quite a resume of relief, doesn't it?
Blind people regaining sight.
People who can't walk now able to walk on their own.
Those with no hearing now able to receive and process sounds.
The dreaded lepers now cleansed of their physical and social maladies.
Even those who've passed on and over brought back to life.
And, get this, good news is being proclaimed to the poor.
The list ascends to the most surprising outcome of all that Jesus did: he included the poor at the center of his mission and his kingdom.
Hmmm.
Maybe now I'm understanding this idea of "taking offense" or stumbling over the acts, agenda and engagement of Jesus.
You can still see the "offense," the "stumbling" today, can't you? Much of the time the most deeply offended claim to be followers of the person who creates the surprising offense.
For some it is downright offensive to make or to regard "the poor" as a priority. It's too social, too worldly, too "liberationist" to understand that the heart of God's program contains a radical commitment to those who are poor and, as a result, left out, marginalized, kicked aside and easily forgotten. Forgotten, and not just by secular forces, but also by people who
claim to follow Jesus, the great offender.
Surely, this is not what Jesus made central to his life, work and teaching? So it seems, and just there we face up with the offense!
So, today around the world, preachers will call out his name, the name of Jesus.
I wonder, will anyone be offended? Will anyone stumble over the real nature of his life and work? I hope the spokespersons today will be clear enough to create some much-needed tension in the heart of the church.
Jesus and John the Baptist
John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”
At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
Luke 7:18-23
New International Version (NIV)
"Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me"--that statement has always been intriguing to me.
Why would anyone "stumble" or take offense (meaning of the phrase) at someone taking care of the physical needs of people as a front-and-center, core proposition of one's faith vision?
I mean really, now.
Jesus' "action list" presents quite a resume of relief, doesn't it?
Blind people regaining sight.
People who can't walk now able to walk on their own.
Those with no hearing now able to receive and process sounds.
The dreaded lepers now cleansed of their physical and social maladies.
Even those who've passed on and over brought back to life.
And, get this, good news is being proclaimed to the poor.
The list ascends to the most surprising outcome of all that Jesus did: he included the poor at the center of his mission and his kingdom.
Hmmm.
Maybe now I'm understanding this idea of "taking offense" or stumbling over the acts, agenda and engagement of Jesus.
You can still see the "offense," the "stumbling" today, can't you? Much of the time the most deeply offended claim to be followers of the person who creates the surprising offense.
For some it is downright offensive to make or to regard "the poor" as a priority. It's too social, too worldly, too "liberationist" to understand that the heart of God's program contains a radical commitment to those who are poor and, as a result, left out, marginalized, kicked aside and easily forgotten. Forgotten, and not just by secular forces, but also by people who
claim to follow Jesus, the great offender.
Surely, this is not what Jesus made central to his life, work and teaching? So it seems, and just there we face up with the offense!
So, today around the world, preachers will call out his name, the name of Jesus.
I wonder, will anyone be offended? Will anyone stumble over the real nature of his life and work? I hope the spokespersons today will be clear enough to create some much-needed tension in the heart of the church.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Take a long look at Permanent Supportive Housing
Recently, Dallas Morning News columnist, Steve Blow "investigated" Central Dallas Ministries' (and Central Dallas Community Development Corporation) housing development at 511 N. Akard in Downtown Dallas. His column hits the streets in this morning's edition of the paper.
Of course, I love what he found, what he reports and what our neighbors, both inside and outside the building, have to say.
The recent controversy over the Cliff Manor housing plans put forward by the Dallas Housing Authority for their building in North Oak Cliff seems small and foolish in view of our on-the-ground experience with formerly homeless persons who live with the same sorts of challenges.
I wish the Oak Cliff folks would come over and check out what we're doing here. We've made an effort to reach out to the folks concerned about redevelopment along Fort Worth Avenue, but they informed us that they weren't interested in a "sales job" and that they knew all about Permanent Supportive Housing. Hopefully, a more open approach will eventually surface over there.
Here's what Steve Blow had to say. . .
Downtown condos could allay Oak Cliff residents' fears about 'formerly homeless' living in Cliff Manor
04:43 PM CDT on Wednesday, June 30, 2010
One afternoon last week, I found a shady bench across the street from 511 N. Akard St. in Downtown Dallas. And I sat awhile, watching the activity there.
You know what I saw?
Nothing.
Oh, there was a little bit of coming and going from the building. But none of it was the least bit out of the ordinary.
And I suspect the view outside Cliff Manor will be very much the same, assuming that apartment building also becomes a home for the formerly homeless.
We have certain images in our heads when the word "homeless" is mentioned. None of them are pretty.
But that building I watched – CityWalk@Akard – is working hard to give us some new mental images to go with the phrase "formerly homeless."
"Quiet," "orderly," "inviting" – those are some of the words to describe what I found when I visited inside CityWalk the next day.
CityWalk is a project of Central Dallas Ministries. The 200-unit apartment building opened in April. It has 50 apartments set aside for the formerly homeless. The other 150 are for low-income tenants.
It's a home, but it's also a demonstration project.
To read the entire essay and to access links to recent, related stories click here.
Of course, I love what he found, what he reports and what our neighbors, both inside and outside the building, have to say.
The recent controversy over the Cliff Manor housing plans put forward by the Dallas Housing Authority for their building in North Oak Cliff seems small and foolish in view of our on-the-ground experience with formerly homeless persons who live with the same sorts of challenges.
I wish the Oak Cliff folks would come over and check out what we're doing here. We've made an effort to reach out to the folks concerned about redevelopment along Fort Worth Avenue, but they informed us that they weren't interested in a "sales job" and that they knew all about Permanent Supportive Housing. Hopefully, a more open approach will eventually surface over there.
Here's what Steve Blow had to say. . .
Downtown condos could allay Oak Cliff residents' fears about 'formerly homeless' living in Cliff Manor
04:43 PM CDT on Wednesday, June 30, 2010
One afternoon last week, I found a shady bench across the street from 511 N. Akard St. in Downtown Dallas. And I sat awhile, watching the activity there.
You know what I saw?
Nothing.
Oh, there was a little bit of coming and going from the building. But none of it was the least bit out of the ordinary.
And I suspect the view outside Cliff Manor will be very much the same, assuming that apartment building also becomes a home for the formerly homeless.
We have certain images in our heads when the word "homeless" is mentioned. None of them are pretty.
But that building I watched – CityWalk@Akard – is working hard to give us some new mental images to go with the phrase "formerly homeless."
"Quiet," "orderly," "inviting" – those are some of the words to describe what I found when I visited inside CityWalk the next day.
CityWalk is a project of Central Dallas Ministries. The 200-unit apartment building opened in April. It has 50 apartments set aside for the formerly homeless. The other 150 are for low-income tenants.
It's a home, but it's also a demonstration project.
To read the entire essay and to access links to recent, related stories click here.
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