Are growing income disparities real?

For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. - Jesus

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics. - Benjamin Disraeli by way of Mark Twain

Economics are a hard thing.  Utterly dependent on statistics, economists defend theories ranging from laissez faire free markets to strictly regulated communist programs.  Entire think tanks and institutes are dedicated to advocating libertarian and socialist economic policies alike.  The truth is that, not unlike theology, once someone believes that they've gotten their mind completely around economics, they become dangerous.  Enter the politicians.

Americans in the 21st century, even in the throws of a major recession, enjoy the benefits of one of the richest economies in history.  As that economy has grown, the rich indeed have gotten richer, with the top 20% of wage earners significantly improving their lot while the bottom fifth have actually seen a decrease in their already dismal earnings.  However, Steve Horwitz argues below that such disparities are in fact deceiving, arguing that economic mobility actually discredits such disparities.

Horwitz's argument is convincing.  He shows a critical component of understanding poverty - that not all poverty is created equal.  Many who live below the poverty line are only temporarily poor, either just having entered the workforce in a low-paying job, or in-between jobs.  These poor are, as Horwitz argues, remarkably economically mobile - accounting for the lego man's movement all the way to the top earning strata by the end of the presentation.  Horwitz makes an excellent case for maintaining the US's free-market system, based on a utilitarian ethic of the greatest good for the greatest number.

Unfortunately, a Christian's call is not to utilitarian ethics.  We instead are called to care for the least of these, even at the cost of ourselves and our economic peers.  In his example, Horwitz neglects the long-term, permanently poor.  There is in this country a class of people who will never, despite their efforts to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, climb into an upper income bracket.

So many of the homeless men that Rachel works with are African Americans with crack-cocaine addictions.  Interestingly, the majority of these men don't try crack until they are well into mid-life, in their late 30s and 40s.  Most of them had manual or unskilled labor positions, and many of them were "productive members of society" until they decided to take their first hit.  They did what they were supposed to do - find a job and do it (it is funny how college-educated white folks like to remind us that "college isn't for everyone").  Many of them earned decent livings until the reality of their fate set in.  Regardless of their efforts, they would never move out of the lowest income bracket.  Economics are not completely to blame for their decisions - serious trauma is a common theme, and every recovering addict will confess his or her ownership in addiction.  But it is interesting how many of her clients are former members of the lowest 20% of earners.

It would be compelling to see how Horwitz's model would play out if he divided the income brackets into twentieths instead of fifths.  I trust we would see far fewer from the lowest five percent climb into the upper five percent - or even out of the bottom 20%.  Few of the permanent, generational poor have either the education or resources to escape that low bracket.  Add in structural discrimination and a touch of fatalism and you have yourself an economically immobile population.

If Horwitz broke down the statistics even further, he would show that the top 1% of earners in the US earned upwards of a quarter of the nation's income - far more than the bottom 50% of earners combined.  That percentage has increased significantly from the 8% that top percentile took in back in the 1970s.  I question whether even the most driven of the temporarily poor would ever enjoy a slice of that pie.

Treatment instead of punishment

Ten years ago, Portugal shifted its drug policy away from a punishment-based system to one of drug treatment.  The results have been encouraging, as users of both hard and intravenous drugs have dropped to half of what they were, as Molly McDonough of ABA Journal reports here.  This adds to the mounting evidence that US drug policy is in dire need of redirection in the face of overflowing prisons and a multi-billion dollar drug war being held on our southern border.  Props to Michael Stewart for passing along the link.

The complexity of Christianity in immigration politics

I know, I know, you are tired of reading my rants about Alabama's HB 56, but today I encourage you to read someone else's thoughts on the law - the North Alabama Bishop of the United Methodist Church.  Bishop Willimon enlisted our pastor, R.G. Lyons to compose an open letter to Governor Bentley, Senator Scott Beason and Representative Mickey Hammon.  The letter addresses the shortcomings of the law, according to the tenets of the Methodist faith.  As interesting as the letter are the comments posted below, revealing how troubling politics can be for members of a faith that must consider not only theology but also the machinations of their day to day life.  While the tone remains mostly courteous, the passions of the parishioners and pastors bleed through in between the lines.

A new church

For several years, I have talked a big game about wanting to address issues of race and poverty.  I have read articles and books on racism, sociology, theology and health.  I have engaged people in conversation and watched films on the issues.  But James tells me that my beliefs are manifested by my deeds, not my words.

Rachel and I started looking for churches together when she moved to town last winter.  We visited congregations across the denominational spectrum, looking for a home that prioritized our values of racial reconciliation, social justice and the redeeming gospel of Jesus.  And what we found is that these are really hard things.  Most churches do some things well, but almost every church seemed to fall either to one side or the other.  Some where committed to the importance of the gospel while only including issues of race and greed as an addendum, while others delivered soft-serve Jesus while advocating for social issues.  The struggle is real in my life, and when you multiply it to a church-wide level, things get messy fast.  Through our search, as well as a range of conversations with smart people, we began to recognize that if we wanted to participate in racial reconciliation, we would have to step out of our position of majority and into a place where church was not done the way that best fit our preferences.

A few months ago I came across Community Church Without Walls while researching a class project on West End Community Gardens.  Though we didn't know much about the congregation, we decided to visit.  What we found was certainly out of the realm of our preferences.  Our friends Mikey and Lindsay joined us that first night, and I was thankful they came with us as we looked for a house church on Tuscaloosa Avenue in Birmingham's notoriously poor (and thus, in my mind, dangerous) West End.  The first word that came to my mind that night was chaos.  Aside from the four visitors, the only other white person there was the young, soft-spoken pastor, R.G.  I have always attended churches with rich music; here the songs were a capella versions of "This Little Light of Mine" and "Sanctuary."  The service was regularly interrupted by irrelevant questions.  But in the chaos, there was something good.

We have been attending now for a few months, and for the first time in years I feel settled at a church.  CCWW certainly has its issues, and sometimes the chaos is a bit maddening.  But the people in that community know God in different way than I have known Him.  I think the honesty has been most refreshing. One evening during the message and discussion about "turning the other cheek," a woman provided a real-life example of smacking her daughter.  Teen pregnancies are regular announcements.  Last week, during prayer requests, someone said he had recently learned that there was a hit out on his life.  I don't know how to react in those situations, mostly because I've never seen them in church before.  Who are we kidding?  I've never seen them anywhere before.  I don't know what will come of our experience at our new church, but I know this - I'm seeing God in a whole new way.  So maybe I will remain a big talker when it comes to race and poverty.  But at CCWW, I am hoping to see my words sprout into actions.

A Letter to My Legislators

Jim Wallis at Sojourners God's Politics Blog has posted today an entry entitled "Woe to you, legislators,"  where he employs a scathing verse from Isaiah that seems remarkably pertinent.  In it he offers a link to a form letter written to representatives regarding the current budget.  I've rarely been one to write a congressman.  In fact, I don't really know anyone who does write their representatives, save for my postally-prolific Aunt Nancy.  Anyway, I decided to give it a shot.  Modifying their message a bit, here's what I sent:

Subject: A request regarding the federal budget


I find the current tone and direction of the conversation regarding the federal budget concerning.  From the plan offered by Congressman Ryan to the strict cuts made to the current fiscal budget, the choices being discussed by Congress are morally lacking.  Lawmakers seem to be sacrificing proven, essential programs that benefit low income earners, seniors and the international community while maintaining corporate subsidies, tax loopholes and a military budget that dwarfs the combined budgets of all combined foes.

As your constituent, I urge you to oppose any budget proposal that cuts domestic and international programs that benefit the poor, especially children, including:

1. Critical child health and family nutrition programs
2. Proven work and income supports that lift families out of poverty
3. Support for education, especially in low-income communities
4. International aid that directly and literally save lives.

I know that the political climate in Washington is challenging, and I am aware that difficult choices must be made.  I recognize too that political affiliations can limit a lawmaker.  But I pray that you will have the courage to defend the afflicted in the face of opposition.

Sincerely,

Frank Williams

Juan Crow

Last week, the Alabama State House passed a comprehensive immigration bill patterned after the controversial Arizona law enacted last summer.  The Senate is expected to take up a similar bill later this spring.  Tough economic times generally coincide with harsh views towards immigrants, and Alabama lawmakers are rallying their constituents by making undocumented residency in the state a crime of trespassing, punishable by a year in prison.  Like the Arizona law, Alabama's version will require law enforcement officials to demand papers on those whom they deem suspicious (read: Hispanic), and the law promises a boon to Alabama's overpopulated prison system.


Birmingham News blogger John Archibald discusses the measure here, where he points out that all but one of the names co-sponsoring the bill have a common denominator: English heritage.  Perhaps this is an opportunity to learn from our governmental predecessors -- get tough on immigration now, or the immigrants will engage you in an unjust war, commit genocide against you and force you to march to Oklahoma.  If the Creeks, Choctaw, Cherokee and Chickasaw tribes had passed some tough, "don't tread on me" legislation, maybe they wouldn't be dealing with an influx of Latinos right now.

Or maybe they would.  In truth, we know the story.  And regardless of how hard the locals resisted the immigrants, the story did not change.  It's time for Alabamians to get the message: immigrants are here, and more are coming.  Alabama saw a 7.5% increase in population from 2000 to 2010 (this Interactive 2010 Census Map is really cool), but the increase in Hispanics was 145%.  No amount of unfriendly legislation is going to slow that wave, especially legislation that cannot reasonably be enforced.  While passing a law like Arizona's will serve to perhaps deter a few, it will moreso drive the current Hispanic population further into hiding.  Kids won't go to school because of their parents' immigration status.  The oppressed group will become more isolated, creating a haven for an underworld of gangs and mafias, bringing with them drug and human trafficking.

Every state has issues with immigration, and the federal government stays away from it like the plague.  Alabamians who pride themselves on their morality and hospitality need to re-examine their attitudes regarding immigration, perhaps looking to Utah as an example of how church and state can come together to create an environment that realistically deals with the challenges of immigration into the future.

For another perspective, Jake Olzen of God's Politics blogged about the burgeoning Immigrants Rights Movement here.

The Souls of Black Folk

"HEREIN lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader; for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line." - W.E.B. Du Bois

A cornerstone of African-American studies, The Souls of Black Folk is a series of essays spanning from religion to economics, and from politics to music.  W.E.B. Du Bois had a unique perspective of the meaning of being black in America at the turn of the century.  Raised as the lone black child in a New England town, Du Bois claims he didn't realize the significance of his skin color until he was an elementary student barred from a playmate's home.  His higher-education opportunities were limited by that same skin color, and thus he headed south to study at Fisk University in Nashville.  He spent time teaching in rural schools for a time before moving back north to become the first African-American to graduate from Harvard.  He studied at the University of Berlin and held teaching positions at Wilberforce and UPenn before returning to the South to teach at Atlanta University.

Du Bois writes in a style that will strike today's reader as remarkably humble regarding his race.  His ideas at the time, however, were far from mild.  Booker T. Washington was the leading black voice of his day, and he advocated social policies of "separate but equal" standing among the races, working to ensure blacks had access to trade schools and agricultural policies that would provide the race an opportunity to accrew financial and social standing before moving towards integration.  Du Bois, however, was adamantly opposed to Jim Crow and segregation, challenging that equal rights are essential to the progression of African-American, and ultimately American, society.  The Souls of Black Folk laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement that ensued a half-century later.

The book is well-written, and provides insight into the challenges afflicting African-Americans in the South over a century ago.  Sadly, many of the same issues remain.  While legislated racism fell during the civil rights movement (Though some are pointedly calling the wave of Arizona-style immigration legislation "Juan Crowe"), racism and disparities still remain a blight on our country.   The overt, explicit racism of a generation ago is slowly dying away, but it is being replaced with a much more insidious implicit racism that is often imperceptible by its perpetrators.  Implicit racism occurs in subconcious attitudes that we hold that affect the way we treat other races.  For instance, while I would never use an ethnic slur (I am far too P.C. for that), I will (unconsciously) apply an unfair stereotype to an obese, slightly unkempt African-American patient with a chief complaint of "abdominal pain."  While I may not perceive my racism, the patient suredly will.

Du Bois's topics range from reconstruction to education, and he does a masterful job of using story to convey injustice.  The book also details some history I find interesting, none more than the last chapter which provides an anthropological history of the "Negro Spiritual."  Another essay details the conflicted grief he suffers in the death of his child, whom was denied entry to an all-white hospital before succumbing to illness.  Importantly, Du Bois introduces the concept of "the Veil" through which blacks separated from the general population and a common symbol employed in African-American discourse.

Poverty Tax

Alabamians complain that their taxes are too high.  According to Bob Blalock of the Birmingham News, for the most part, they are right.  Despite Alabama having the lowest per capita state and local taxes, the lower and middle classes bear an unconscionable portion of that burden.  In fact, according to the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy, that portion of the population pays 2.5 times as much of their income as the wealthiest families.  Alabama, in essence, has been an exercise in conservative taxation strategies - and has abysmal results to show for it.  It is time for tax reform in Alabama, including important changes like eliminating taxes on groceries.  However, with total governmental control by the Republicans, you can count on more policies that protect the assets of the wealthiest Alabamians at a continued cost to the poor.

The Elephant in the Sanctuary

Mimi Haddad, the founder and president of Christians for Biblical Equity, has a great post at the Sojourners blog regarding domestic violence and the church.  You can check it out here.

A moral budget

For years in church, I have heard that if you want to see where your priorities lie, look at your budget.  Hannah Lythe, blogging at Jim Wallis's God's Politics Blog, comments here on budget cuts proposed by the House on international development and public health programs.  The head of USAID suggests that scaling back current programs for malaria, vaccinations and provision of skilled birth attendants will result in the death of 70,000 children.  70,000.  How can Republicans, the chosen party of the "religious right," be allowed to even suggest such cuts without a deafening outcry from the church?  Is maintaining tax cuts really our chief priority?  If these are where our priorities lie, may God have mercy on our souls.

Death and Taxes

For the past few months, we have been participating in a book club at the home of Mikey and Lindsay Hannon, where we have had the great fortune of getting to know Shelly Douglass.  Shelly is wonderful, a bona fide hippie who has spent her life trying to live a life consistent with her reading of the New Testament - sharing what she has with those who need it, loving her neighbor as herself and going to jail for protesting nuclear weapons.  Shelly and her husband, Jim, run a Catholic Worker hospitality house in Ensley, Alabama called Mary's House.

In a couple of weeks, Rachel and I will participate in Mary's House Lenten Retreat.  Shane Claiborne is the guest speaker, and he will be talking about The Gospel in the Empire: Consistent Living in the Belly of the Beast (As you can probably guess from the title, Shane's reading of Revelation most likely does not line up with that of John Hagee or Tim LaHaye).



Anyway, I didn't know much about Shane Claiborne before I heard about the retreat, but recently I have read a little bit of his stuff, and he seems pretty smart.  He's a staunch opponent of what he would call an empire characterized by an ethic of death.  He's not wild about military spending, and he is advocating this year for Christians to engage in civil disobedience on one of the two sure things (taxes) in response to it's role in precipitating the other (death).  You can read his interesting post here.

As a good hippie, our friend Shelly and her husband intentionally make just below the taxable income so that they don't contribute to the military industrial complex.  Given that you (like me) are not interested in cutting income to below that of the poverty line, what do you think?  How do you feel about withholding from the government a small amount in protest of their use of your funds?  As tax day approaches (April 18, for those who share my gift for tardiness) and in the wake of the most recent US military action in Libya, would you be willing to engage in what he calls the "third way?"

Dialogical Film Club

When Rachel was in Seattle, one of her classmates named K.J. Swanson decided that talking about movies while you watch them is better than watching them alone.  Thus came to be the Dialogical Film Club.  DFC would watch thought provoking movies together, establishing the rule that at any point during the film, any member could call for a pause.  Rachel had a great time at DFC, watching pop-culture wonders (Twilight) and thoughtful indie films.

Since we have a lot of interesting friends with unique perspectives, we decided to invite them over for the first ever Birmingham chapter meeting of Dialogical Film Club.  For our first film, we chose Demand, a documentary highlighting the role that men play in perpetuating the sex trade. The movie is intense, but the group tackled it head on with candid insight.  Discussion was great, ranging from pornography to strip clubs and from sex education to discussing sex with kids.  I loved the varied perspectives in the room - we had voices from the fields of medicine, public health, counseling, law, education, graphic design, engineering and the non-profit sector.  The first edition of DFC was all in all a success.    In maintaining our democratic nature, we are always open for suggestions for future films.  I hope you will join us for the next one.

Why was Martin Luther King so Great, Anyway?

I vaguely recall the audacity it took in my eleventh year of life to ask my teacher what, exactly, made Martin Luther King, Jr., worthy of a holiday.  And while I can look back with shame at my ignorance, I can also offer the admittedly insufficient defense of situational factors.  I was indeed born nearly 20 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became the law of the land, and I was growing up in a predominantly white suburban community, where the largest minority was Indian.  My school was diligent about recognizing Black History Month, though the celebration in most classrooms extended mostly to bulletin boards.  Fourth grade was a bit different for me, in that I had, for the first time, been assigned one of the school's handful of African-American teachers.  Almost everything about me set her off, and I think that question sealed the deal for my exclusion from the prestigious Safety Patrol.

Thankfully, in the subsequent years I have done a bit more research and I have come to realize why Dr. King was so great.  He was, as most will attest, a brilliant orator.  But  he also brandished an incredible theology, one which challenges the white, middle-class, All-American theology that makes me comfortable.  He had the courage to appeal to Calvin's principle of General Revelation in seeking out the wisdom of non-Christian Mohandas Ghandi.  He preached non-violence in the face of brutality, he cried for justice when justice was not offered as an option.  Dr. King was a prophet.  That is why he was so great.

The Speech from the Lincoln Memorial

Traffick

A few weeks ago, Rachel and I sat in on a viewing of Demand, a documentary on sex trafficking and those who participate in it.  The film, screened by Freedom to Thrive, was a great introduction into the dark world of pimps and prostitution, and the practices we engage in to support it.  Honestly, most of my perspective on "pimps and hos" has been informed by popular culture.  Thanks to the film, my paradigm has begun to shift.  Last week, NPR did a two part story this week on sex trafficking:

Part 1
Part 2