Emerging Women

Liza Peiffer sent us the following about an important issue affecting women and families worldwide.

The United Nations has designated the first Monday each October as World Habitat Day.

This year on Oct. 5 in Washington, D.C. and around the world, please join Habitat for Humanity in support of this global observance as we come together and declare that the lack of decent, affordable housing is unacceptable.

According to the United Nations, more than 100 million people in the world today are homeless. Millions more face a severe housing problem living without adequate sanitation, with irregular or no electricity supply and without adequate security.

Worldwide, more than 2 million housing units per year are needed for the next 50 years to solve the present worldwide housing crisis. With our global population expanding, however, at the end of those 50 years, there would still be a need for another 1 billion houses. (UN-HABITAT: 2005)

Raising awareness and advocating for change are the first steps toward transforming systems that perpetuate the global plague of poverty housing. World Habitat Day serves as an important reminder that everyone must unite to ensure that everyone has a safe, decent place to call home.

The U.N. further states that both developed and developing countries, cities and towns are increasingly feeling the effects of climate change, resource depletion, food insecurity, population growth and economic instability.

Rapid rates of urbanization cause serious negative consequences – overcrowding, poverty, slums with many poorly equipped to meet the service demands of ever growing urban populations.

With over half of the world’s population currently living in urban areas the U.N. believes there is no doubt that the “urban agenda” will increasingly become a priority for governments, local authorities and their non-governmental partners everywhere.

On this day, we reaffirm that adequate shelter is a basic human right, and we focus on the housing conditions of cities and towns around the world. We also use this day to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat.

On October 5, 2009, please join us in support of World Habitat Day, as we raise our voices and declare that the lack of decent, affordable housing is unacceptable.

What can you do for World Habitat Day 2009?

Educate yourself and your friends and family.

* Read Habitat’s World Habitat Day handbook to learn more about the importance of secure tenure and neighborhood revitalization.
* Take a virtual tour of the Capotillo informal settlement in the Dominican Republic.
* Read statistics and research about poverty housing in the U.S. and around the world.
* Link to our World Habitat Day 2009 resources page on your social media pages, personal Web site or blog.

Advocate for decent housing for all.

* Submit a photo of yourself holding a sign that says “It all starts at home” and submit it to Habitat’s photo petition on Flickr.com.
* Send a message to your members of Congress on World Habitat Day.
* Tell your friends and family to take action too!

Join a World Habitat Day event in your community.
Visit World Habitat Day events.

Donate to support Habitat’s efforts.
Donate online today.

By Onleilove Alston

During this Lenten season The Poverty Initiative is inviting you to join us as we reflect on the last week in the life of Jesus and the last year of Rev. King’s life. Though we are not placing the Rev. King on the same level as Jesus, by examining a modern day prophet such as the Rev. King we can gain encouragement and practical insight into how to live a life dedicated to Jesus’ message of Liberation, Justice and Prophetic Love. We will not be following the traditional lectionary schedule but will rather take each week of Lent to reflect on one incident in the last week of Jesus’ life. Be Blessed!

Luke 19:29-41 (New International Version) – Jesus’ Triumphant Entry

29 As he came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead. 30 “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying that colt?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”32 So they went and found the colt, just as Jesus had said. 33 And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?”34 And the disciples simply replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on.36 As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. 37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”

Martin Luther King Jr. “Nonviolence and Social Change” Trumpet of Conscience (1967)
“The dispossessed of this nation—the poor, both white and Negro-live in a cruelly unjust society. They must organize a revolution against the injustice, not against the lives of the persons who are their fellow citizens, but against the structures through which the society is refusing to take means which have been called for, and which are at hand, to lift the load of poverty…

“…There are millions of poor people in this country who have very little, or even nothing, to lose. If they can be helped to take action together, they will do so with a freedom and a power that will be a new and unsettling force in our complacent national life…”

In Luke 19:28-41 we read the familiar but unusual passage about the “Triumphant Entry” from which we derive our Palm Sunday celebrations. Jesus does not enter Jerusalem in the same way as the religious and political leaders of his day; instead he enters on a donkey. To spite this extremely humble entry the people crown him their King and praise God for him. Though Jesus was not declared King by the Roman Empire, peasants bestowed this title on him, and every Palm Sunday thousands of years later in churches across the world we echo their words. This short but powerful passage gives us important insight into the agency of poor people to name themselves, and to claim for themselves dignity outside the confines of the principalities and powers of their day. Throughout history we have examples of poor people who arise and claim dignity for themselves . Could the Triumphant Entry be but one example of the many instances in which poor people organized themselves-peasants in Jerusalem organized around Jesus their declared King, slaves organized in hush harbors, and in 1968 poor people of all races from across America organized around the Poor People’s Campaign-beginning with a Mule Train from Marx, Mississippi (sound familiar). The Poor People’s Campaign was the last project of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and much like the poor of Jesus day who risked persecution by proclaiming Jesus as their King because they had nothing to loose but bondage to the Roman Empire, the poor of Dr. King’s day risked it all to converge on the nation’s capital to challenge the American empire; because they had nothing to loose but bondage to an economic system that robbed them of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. God places the desire for freedom within all of his children, and just as he provided the donkey for Jesus’ triumphant entry, if we step out in faith with the freedom and power that Dr. King prophesied about in 1967, we too will have everything we need to obtain the liberation provided by our creator. As the gospel songs of old declared-“God is no respecter of persons what he did for others he can do for you too.”

Questions for Reflection

What do these stories of triumphant entries tell us about the nature of God and his desire for justice and liberation?

Do you see a connection between the donkey in Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and the mule train in
MLK’s Poor People’s Campaign?

In what ways do we allow our fears of not being enough or having enough (money, talents, etc)
stop us from doing God‘s work of justice? This Lent what is one small way can you step out on
faith and trust that God will provide you with what you need to be an advocate for justice?

Prayer: God, give me the faith and courage to step out and stand for justice trusting that you will
provide me with all I need to do your work. In the name of Jesus our liberator-yesterday, today
and forever, Amen.

Onleilove Alston is a former Beatitudes Society Fellow at Sojourners. She serves on the Servant Leadership Team of NY Faith & Justice, is a nominated Poverty Scholar and a Faithful Democrats Fellow.

By Onleilove Alston

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence
Delivered April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City

On Tuesday January 20th, 2009 I was blessed to be in Washington, D.C. to witness history. As a descendent of one of the largest slave holding families (the Alstons of North and South Carolina) it was surreal to realize that less than 200 years after the Emancipation the first African-American president was sworn in on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible. I have been overwhelmed with emotion and still cannot believe that the new first family looks like my own. I am very proud of how far African-Americans have come towards freedom and though a major part of Dr. King’s dream was realized we are still not at the Promised Land. Many leaders from the Civil Rights movement have alluded to fact that it has been 40 years since Dr. King’s assignation. This fact has made me think about the Exodus story which has given African-Americans encouragement and a framework for their experience in America. The Exodus story is the foundation of the Black Church and I think it can provide important insights for how we as an American people can make it to the Promise Land Dr. King preached about in his Mountain Top sermon given the night before his death.

Though the Exodus account ends with the Children of Israel entering the Promised Land, not everyone was able to enter. Moses himself had to be left behind, and some from the older generation passed without entering the Promised Land. As a nation if we truly want to enter into the Promised Land Dr. King preached about, we have to continue to challenge the three ills Dr. King discussed: Poverty, Militarism, and Racism. We have to hold our president accountable to addressing these ills through his policies. In my opinion we need to have a revolution of values, a revolution that places the least of these at the top of our agendas. The time has passed for the Greed is Good ethic that has characterized the last twenty years, the time has passed for patronizing charity, and the time is now to reignite Dr. King’s Poor People’s Campaign. The Poor People’s Campaign brought poor African-Americans, Whites, Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans together to converge on the nation’s capital to challenge our government to address the needs of the poor. As people of faith we must challenge this new administration to deal with the scourge of poverty once and for all. With the current economic crisis the ranks of the poor are growing to include not just the homeless or the welfare mother, but to include the former Lehman Brothers employee, or our suburban neighbor. Now that the issue of poverty is at the forefront we can begin to address issues of sexism, racism, and militarism; which all feed into poverty. Now is the time to challenge President Obama to continue the unfinished work of the Poor People’s Campaign, least we are left behind like Moses and the Children of Israel who did not completely yield to God’s call and missed entering into the Promised Land. Will we yield to Christ’s call to “preach good news to the poor” or will we be left behind?

Organizations dedicated to ending poverty:

The Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary
Sojourners Mobilization to End Poverty
Micah Challenge
New York Faith & Justice
Domestic Workers United
Christian Community Development Association

Onleilove Alston is a former Beatitudes Society Fellow at Sojourners. She serves on the Servant Leadership Team of NY Faith & Justice, is a nominated Poverty Scholar and a Faithful Democrats Fellow.