Author: Pat Liberty

Everything looks like a nail. It’s an apt analogy for yet another police shooting of an unarmed black man. In Atlanta, Georgia, Rayshard Brooks was shot by police outside a Wendy’s restaurant after falling asleep in his car due to intoxication.

When police tried to arrest him, he resisted. And who can blame him? He might have thought he was the next one to end up in a choke hold or with a police officer’s knee on his neck until he was dead. I can understand running from the police, especially if your brains are a little stewed on too much alcohol.

There are many things wrong with the shooting of this man. Granted, if Brooks went off randomly discharging a Taser at people just for laughs, it would have posed a problem. It’s far more likely he would have found some place to sleep it off.

The Taser posed a non-lethal threat. Responding with lethal force was overkill, pardon the pun. There was no danger of serious physical harm. The man was intoxicated, ran away and discharged the Taser backwards. The chances of doing physical harm were pretty low.

There were other options, even after Brooks grabbed the officer’s Taser. The other officer still had his Taser, why did he not use it? How hard can it be for two (presumably) sober police officers to overtake an inebriated man in a foot chase? Why were no other options offered? They could have offered a ride home, called a cab, contacted a family member or de-escalated the situation. All these options could have written a very different ending.

The police chief has stepped down and the officer has been fired. It’s a bit like locking the barn door after the horse is stolen. You can fire the whole damn department and Brooks is still dead. What is needed is a different paradigm for police intervention. Shoot now ask questions later is not a strategy that is working, especially if one has dark skin.

I have the greatest respect for law enforcement officers. I am grateful for what they do. The larger issue is that police are routinely asked to do things for which they are not adequately trained. They are put in harm’s way, having no idea what kind of situation they are walking into. Beyond that, they also are often dealing with people who have mental health issues, substance abuse issues and a host of other problems that are not the primary purview of law enforcement.  Yet, they are asked to intervene.

All of this doesn’t change the fact that black and brown skinned people are routinely profiled and have a greater chance of dying at the hands of law enforcement than those who are white. It’s just the way it is. There are geographic variables, but far too many people of color are killed by law enforcement, suggesting the systemic racism of our culture impacts police departments as well.

Another issue is the prevalence of a paramilitary paradigm in police training. According to an article in the Atlantic Monthly, Rosa Brooks noted that paramilitary training is a fairly recent development in the world of policing. You can read the entire article here.

In the Colonial period, policing was a communal responsibility. Ordinary citizens were routinely engaged and deputized for specific situations to keep the peace. According to Brooks, “By the mid-nineteenth century industrialization and rising income inequality and the growth of cities led to increases in personal and property crime. Policing ceased to be viewed as a community obligation and became instead the work of a permanent body of paid specialists.”

They were paramilitary from the beginning, using uniforms and military style rankings within the force. In more recent years surplus military equipment is made available to police forces. Interestingly, it is associated with decreased trust in law enforcement and increased police violence.

In some progressive police departments training now includes more skills in de-escalating situations, engaging other strategies before resorting to violence and prohibiting the use of certain restraint movements during an arrest. Sadly, such prohibitions do not always prevent the use of such techniques.

It may be that the greatest impetus to police reform is the invention of the cell phone video. More and more we are seeing the bad actions of a few police being widely exposed, which increases the calls for police reform. As in other situations, the actions of a few shape the opinion of the whole. The majority of police officers discharge their duties with respect and integrity. Many officers complete their entire policing career without ever discharging their weapon.

The need for honest reform, increased transparency and accountability, dealing with systemic racism and shifting the paradigm for police training is a monumental task. We who do not live the life of a police officer do not fully understand the role and responsibilities. This does not excuse us from calling for consistency, excellence and uniform treatment of all people, especially those with black and brown skin.

It is rare that Rhode Island makes the national news. As the smallest state in the union, lots of people think it is part of Massachusetts. Many people just have no idea where Rhode Island is located.

This past week, however, Rhode Island made several national news outlets when it’s iconic donut shop, Allie’s, stopped offering a courtesy discount to police and military personnel. Matt Drescher, owner of Allie’s donuts, made a decision to stop offering a complementary service provided as a courtesy. It was his decision to begin offering the discount and his decision to end it.

In a statement earlier last week, the donut shop owner said he wanted everyone to be treated equally and offering privilege to one group and not another did not treat all people equally. Since the announcement of the new policy, employees have received threats and many do not feel safe working there in the current backlash. Drescher is currently the only person working at the shop and is holding the positions of all employees open. Apparently his show of solidarity in the fight against police and military brutality is a little too much for some people.

In a widely released statement Drescher wrote, “We’re fed up. Until local police take action to solve problems with racism and injustice, Allie’s Donuts will choose to stand with the people of our great state.” The statement quickly went viral and received widespread support from Black Lives Matter activists as well as others. A line out the door was evident in the aftermath of the announcement. It seems there is as much support for the decision as against it.

What was most troubling was how the narrative quickly became a commentary about disrespecting the military, not honoring the sacrifice of military families and not supporting the police in their work. It was like a rebellion against God, mom and apple pie.

The same thing happened when Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem as a way of protesting policy brutality against unarmed black men. It’s repeated when people utter the mantra, “All lives matter” in response to “Black Lives Matter.”

There are several things wrong with these scenarios. In each of these situations the narrative is hijacked with a different narrative. First, the message of the protest ceases to be decided by those protesting. Second, privilege and the status quo are maintained. Third, by widening the point to all lives matter, the succinctness of Black Lives Matter is diluted.

Privilege always protects the dominant cultural voice for its own agenda and purpose.  It’s unfortunate that many people don’t realize they are being played.

It’s time to pay attention. When a narrative is hijacked with a different message, pay attention to what is being reinforced. Police and military are no more entitled to discounts than anyone else. Colin Kaepernick is free to use his notoriety to speak a message people don’t want to hear. Black lives matter amplifies the voice of a racist society that is too willing to keep the structures and systems of disenfranchisement firmly in place.

We need to stop taking the bait. We are perfectly good Americans when we stand with those who have less power and whose voices are systematically silenced in favor of the status quo. In fact, we are better Americans when we stop using our privilege to redefine the narrative in ways that stabilize the status quo. Systemic change begins when privilege is challenged.

No one deserves a donut discount. If you live in Rhode Island, go buy a donut or a dozen. Give them to people who need to hear the message. Petition the NFL to give Kaepernick a contract.  Challenge the retort of “All Lives Matter” for what it is—a nod to the status quo that needs to change.

The push back from last week’s blog on white privilege and racism was swift and in some cases, vitriolic. Bullshit was a common comment, as was inviting me to perform an anatomically impossible act. Vulgar GIFs were also common. Emoji responses were predominantly laughter, sprinkled with some anger and, gratefully, more than a few thumbs up. I wrote much of the negativity off as denial of the exact point I was trying to make. The fact that people are in denial about their privilege makes it no less real. It is part of what makes conversation on race so difficult. There is a deep seated assumption that being American means being white.

There were also some assumptions underlying the comments. Boot strap theology and the notion of rugged individuality were common.  Boot strap theology can be summed up by the phrase, “God helps those who help themselves.” It is the belief that everyone can raise themselves to a higher socio-economic standing with hard work and diligence. This combines with rugged individuality to reinforce the fallacy that successful people are self-made. The opposite is also true; if you are poor it is your own fault.

I discovered early on there was no point in arguing with these folks as they had no interest in another point of view. They were predominantly interested in belittling, judging and generally being rude. Some were quite good at it.

There was, however, another voice worth noting. These were people who took time to respond with something of their own truth; people who worked 2-3 jobs and were barely scraping by. These were people who never saw any privilege associated with their being white–people who lived in generational poverty. They defined privilege as opportunity that was not given to them, mostly education and employment.

I learned that my white privilege is not everyone’s privilege, my opportunities are not everyone’s opportunities and my educational access is not everyone’s educational access. It occurred to me that there is just as much anger in poor whites as in poor blacks. Giving more information to poor white people will not cause them to have a sudden epiphany. It will just piss them off.  Racism is not their issue, poverty is.

I learned something from my readers this week and I am both humbled and grateful. Seeking insight sent me off to my study and prayer closet. This is the fruit of that seeking and prayer. I may be way off, but that is a chance I am willing to take. I pretend no expertise in this area, just a series of observations about the last week’s blog post.

First, the privilege associated with being white diminishes with socio-economic status. It appeared that the poorer white people were the less privilege their whiteness afforded them. It speaks volumes to the economic inequities in our society. Poverty is no respecter of persons, skin color or gender, though women are more apt to experience greater income inequity than their poor male counterparts, regardless of ethnicity.

Second, there are disenfranchised people on both ends of the continuum of the ethnic divide. Poor whites and poor blacks feel they have no access to the means for upward mobility.

Third, there is an urgent need for reconciliation–true and deep reconciliation. This is a theological construct that is based in deep listening and understanding one another, without necessarily agreeing. It honors the differences in people’s experiences without judgement and seeks to build new relationships based on this new understanding. Both sides let go of their need to be right, their need to be self-righteous and their need to be the dominant voice, even if it is the voice of victimhood. Arguing about who has had it the worst is an exercise in frustration at best, deepening division at worst.

Learning to talk with one another and listen to one another are increasingly rare phenomena in our culture. Being right and being utterly convinced of the righteousness of a position makes conversation and insight impossible. As divisions in our culture grow deeper and more violent it makes the kind of conversation needed almost impossible. I have no idea what the answer is, but I feel sure that it has a strong root in a commitment to deep listening and reconciliation.

The pushback from last week’s blog on white privilege and racism was swift and in some cases, vitriolic. Bullshit was a common comment, as was inviting me to perform an anatomically impossible act. Vulgar GIFs were also common. Emoji responses were predominantly laughter, sprinkled with some anger and, gratefully, more than a few thumbs up. I wrote much of the negativity off as denial of the exact point I was trying to make. The fact that people are in denial about their privilege makes it no less real. It is part of what makes conversation on race so difficult. There is a deep seated assumption that being American means being white.

There were also some assumptions underlying the comments. Boot strap theology and the notion of rugged individuality were common.  Boot strap theology can be summed up by the phrase, “God helps those who help themselves.” It is the belief that everyone can raise themselves to a higher socio-economic standing with hard work and diligence. This combines with rugged individuality to reinforce the fallacy that successful people are self-made. The opposite is also true; if you are poor it is your own fault.

I discovered early on there was no point in arguing with these folks as they had no interest in another point of view. They were predominantly interested in belittling, judging and generally being rude. Some were quite good at it.

There was, however, another voice worth noting. These were people who took time to respond with something of their own truth; people who worked 2-3 jobs and were barely scraping by. These were people who never saw any privilege associated with their being white–people who lived in generational poverty. They defined privilege as opportunity that was not given to them, mostly education and employment.

I learned that my white privilege is not everyone’s privilege, my opportunities are not everyone’s opportunities and my educational access is not everyone’s educational access. It occurred to me that there is just as much anger in poor whites as in poor blacks. Giving more information to poor white people will not cause them to have a sudden epiphany. It will just piss them off.  Racism is not their issue, poverty is.

I learned something from my readers this week and I am both humbled and grateful. Seeking insight sent me off to my study and prayer closet. This is the fruit of that seeking and prayer. I may be way off, but that is a chance I am willing to take. I pretend no expertise in this area, just a series of observations about the last week’s blog post.

First, the privilege associated with being white diminishes with socio-economic status. It appeared that the poorer white people were the less privilege their whiteness afforded them. It speaks volumes to the economic inequities in our society. Poverty is no respecter of persons, skin color or gender, though women are more apt to experience greater income inequity than their poor male counterparts, regardless of ethnicity.

Second, there are disenfranchised people on both ends of the continuum of the ethnic divide. Poor whites and poor blacks feel they have no access to the means for upward mobility.

Third, there is an urgent need for reconciliation–true and deep reconciliation. This is a theological construct that is based in deep listening and understanding one another, without necessarily agreeing. It honors the differences in people’s experiences without judgement and seeks to build new relationships based on this new understanding. Both sides let go of their need to be right, their need to be self-righteous and their need to be the dominant voice, even if it is the voice of victimhood. Arguing about who has had it the worst is an exercise in frustration at best, deepening division at worst.

Learning to talk with one another and listen to one another are increasingly rare phenomena in our culture. Being right and being utterly convinced of the righteousness of a position makes conversation and insight impossible. As divisions in our culture grow deeper and more violent it makes the kind of conversation needed almost impossible. I have no idea what the answer is, but I feel sure that it has a strong root in a commitment to deep listening and reconciliation.

The exercise cited in “Being White in America” is originally the work of Jane Elliot. Her videos are easy to find on YouTube. I saw it in multiple places and neglected to cite my source. Thanks to a reader for calling this to my attention.

I write as an ordained minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I stand in the full authority of my office and say with holy rage, how dare you? How dare you co-opt the sacred text of Christians and Jews for a cheap photo op? How dare you insinuate that your rhetoric bears any resemblance to the Christian faith that is revealed in the bible you so cavalierly brandished? How dare you violate a constitutionally protected right to peacefully protest so you could trespass on church property for your little publicity stunt? Your role does not allow you unlimited access to whatever you want whenever you want. How dare you further denigrate the faith by your sudden need to visit the memorial to the pope John Paul? How dare you further blur the line of separation between church and state by pandering to your extremist base with a thin layer of religion? How dare you?

I am outraged. Your behavior is an abomination to the Christian faith. You blaspheme the name of the Holy God of Abraham and Sarah and the heavenly parent of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with your empty gesture. I abhor your attempt to cheapen the Judeo-Christian tradition through your ongoing boorish and cavalier behavior, while pandering to extreme fundamentalists because they support you politically.

I cannot judge your heart, but I can and I do judge your behavior. Everything you do and everything you stand for is to benefit the rich and further marginalize the poor. If you actually read the bible you flash around, you would see that every page of scripture is filled with witness to a God who cares for the poor and disenfranchised and desires to construct a just society. Read Isaiah and Jeremiah and then move on to the gospels. I am available for private tutoring.

In the name of all that is holy and just, stop misusing faith for your tawdry political agenda.

If you are a white American you are steeped in a culture of white privilege.

Imagine for a moment that you are in an auditorium filled with people of all ages, women and men, mostly white. The lecturer comes onto the stage and asks you all to close your eyes. He waits for the crowd to become quiet, eyes closed. He then asks people to rise, keeping their eyes closed, if they would like to be treated like a black man in America. After a moment he tells people they can open their eyes. Not one person is standing, including you, including me, including everyone we know in the crowd.

At some level we all know that privilege is ours because we are white. Pretending we don’t know or don’t understand is no longer an option.

Standing around wringing our hands and lamenting that nothing can be done is no longer an option.

Here are a few resources that help challenge our privilege and understand how we participate in and benefit from it.

• Pyramid of White Supremacy
• White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
• Dismantling White Privilege by Shannon Sullivan
• White Privilege Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
• Anti-Racism Resources for People of All Ages
• Dismantling Privilege: An Ethics of Accountability by Mary Elizabeth Hobgood
• America’s Original Sin by Jim Wallace
• White Privilege Unmasked by Judy Ryde
• Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen
• Textbook Racism: How Scholars Sustained White Supremacy by Donald Yacavone
• How to Be an Antiracistby Ibram X. Kendi
• White Anti-Racism Must be Based in Solidarity and Not Altruism by Jesse A. Myerson

Christianity is a religion that should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Instead, we have become yet one more institution more concerned about our buildings and the status quo than the mission to which we are called.

We cannot be the people of faith we are called to be and not deal with our inherent racism.  It’s just that simple. The God we worship, the God of resurrection ushers in a new way of being in the world, showing us what is possible when we stand in solidarity with the oppressed.

Solidarity means, in part, that we

• don’t speak for people, but stand with them as they speak for themselves;
• use our privilege for the benefit of Blacks, Latinos, and other oppressed groups;
• stop appropriating the cultural celebrations of Blacks, Native Americans and others and using them for our own purposes;
• do the hard work of educating ourselves and looking into our very core;
• vote in the best interests of those with the least power; and
• keep up with the changing lexicon regarding race.

Check out new music recommendations here and here.

All of the resources listed above are hyperlinks that will take you directly to the site. They are filled with information and practical ways we can transform ourselves into people who stand in solidarity with our black and brown sisters and brothers.

Your insipid twaddle is tiresome. You are not being oppressed.

• Oppressed are people of color who, every day, face a double standard and do not have access to the same opportunities you have because you are white. While you flash the confederate flag around you show your intent to keep hatred and prejudice alive.
• Oppressed are the poor who bear a disproportionate burden of this public health crisis. Traditional low wage workers were barely making it before this disaster. They don’t have the option of working from home. They may not even have a home.
• Oppressed are the six million Jews sent to the gas chambers during World War II because some lunatic decided they were an inferior race. It is tragic on every level, including the level that had thousands of people blindly following a crazy despot.
• Oppressed are GLBTQ persons in this country who don’t meet your standard for how someone should look or who they should love.

Wearing a mask does not quality as oppression. Privileged, selfish, spoiled, entitled small human beings are far more apt descriptors.

You think that your individual “rights” are more important than the well-being of our nation’s people. There are hundreds of thousands of grieving family members whose loved ones died without them by their side who would beg to differ. Just. Stop. Get. Over. Yourselves.

Your self–righteous, self-important assertions are not becoming. Your rights are not being violated. Your right of free association is not impinged. You can gather with whatever group of nut jobs you choose. You should know, however, you are being played like a cheap kazoo. Your so-called protests are, in many cases, bankrolled by those who have political motivations. Yeah, it’s not that there are that many people who agree with you. They are being paid by high rollers to take up your “cause” for the political favors they will call in down the road. It’s called astroturfing, and the solidarity they show with you is as phony as the grass after which it is named.

Lest you think in error about how your rights are being violated, let me clarify. According to Civil Rights attorney Peter James, “the Supreme Court has long upheld time, place and manner of public gatherings.” The current restrictions are within well-defined parameters and are perfectly legal. According to James, “Public health and safety, especially where it comes to highly infectious diseases, has been upheld as a compelling governmental interest that can override fundamental rights including the right to free exercise of religious beliefs.”

It is also perfectly acceptable for store owners to set limits on what can be purchased and when. They are free to set their own policies and determine how these policies are carried out. For example, store owners have the right to limit your purchase of toilet paper for your whole town, should everyone get dysentery at the same time. Store owners also have the right to deny you entry into their store if you refuse to wear a mask. Deal with it. Don’t go to a store jonesing for a fight and start recording so you can demonstrate how oppressed you are. It makes you a laughing stock. Don’t go to a store and spit in a cashier’s face because you refuse to wear a mask. It is a disgusting behavior under any circumstances, all the more now as it might be deadly. You might take heed that someone who recently did this has been charged with a felony.

What is curiously absent in your whiny assertions about your rights is a moral conscience. During World War II people willingly (for the most part) lived with rationing. It was for the good of the war effort and people were united around it. Currently, we need to be united around a common cause–saving lives and stopping the spread of the Corona virus. If you are utterly unable or unwilling to see this, you are indeed a sad human being.

The limits you are being asked to obey are for the good of people as a whole–social well-being over individual “liberty.” You are simply being asked to “take one for the team.” It is in the best interest of our country for you to get off your self-righteous soap box and follow the rules. Put on the damn mask. The loved one you save may be your own. The longer you insist on your silly little protests, the longer this virus is going to spread unchecked.

You should know that blathering on about your “rights” makes you look arrogant and unconcerned about anyone other than yourself. No one wears that look well. I would like to believe that you are better than that, but your behavior suggests otherwise. Prove me wrong, please. I dare you to put forth a better self. I challenge you to subvert your own self-centeredness with gestures of magnanimity that benefit everyone.

I have no idea what your political affiliation is and I do not care. What may interest you, however, is that there is wide bi-partisan support for not opening everything too soon. According to the Atlantic Monthly, roughly sixty percent of Americans are concerned about opening too soon.  You are not in the majority.

There is a need for social unity over individual assertion of rights and liberties. People everywhere are counting on every one of us to put forward our best selves.

Around the nation, and indeed around the world, people are missing out on celebrations.

• Graduates are missing the pomp and circumstance that acknowledges the work they have done to finish a particular part of their education.
• People who have had loved ones die as a result of the pandemic are denied a traditional funeral gathering.
• Our Muslim sisters and brothers are not able to celebrate Ramadan in traditional ways. (This Saturday marks Eid al-Fatr, a celebration marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.)
• Our Jewish sisters and brothers are unable to celebrate bar and bat mitzvahs.
• Baptisms/child blessings are on hold.
• Corporate worship during the Passover and Easter season was cancelled, as is weekly worship even now.
• In the Hispanic community, there are no Quinceanera celebrations marking a young girl’s transition to womanhood.
• In the Amish community, Rumspringa is being marked in a different way. Rumspringa is the time when young people are encouraged to go and enjoy all that life has to offer outside the Amish community. Then, if they return to the community, it is believed they make a more conscious choice to live in the Amish tradition.
• Wedding celebrations have been changed, postponed or drastically changed to meet social distancing and safety rules.

There is a combination of religious and cultural events that traditionally happen in the spring. For adolescents these rituals signify the transition from childhood to adulthood. For the grieving, these rituals signal the end of life as it is known and the transition to whatever comes next. Funerals also give a toe hold into grief, a socially marked time to express the sadness of a loved one’s death. For those getting married it signals a transition to a new and mutual partnership through life.  Weekly worship both encourages faith and expresses faith.

As all these life cycle rituals are put on hold, there are some amazing and creative ways people are celebrating. It is heartening to see all the ways graduations are being marked in communities across the country. Drive-through-weddings are now a thing…who thought that would ever happen? What’s next, drive through baptisms with a super soaker?

Joking aside, what all these rituals have in common is that they are more than the sum of their parts. They are not just words that are said in front of a bunch of people, followed by a party. Ritual is what gives us a place to stand for a moment, to mark a specific moment, as time inexorably marches on. Rituals punctuate time and proclaim the moment as significant.

Rituals also need people to bear witness. While some people may show up just for the party after the ritual, most people acknowledge that being present for life cycle rituals is important. The gathering of people who witness various rituals is a symbol of the present and the past. Saying the words of ancient history in a present moment, with a gathered community, connects us to our ancestors. We are reminded that we stand at a specific moment in history that is longer and larger than our lives in the moment.

We become vessels for tradition when we participate in the ancient rites of our particular people.  We embody the past and ground ourselves in the cloud of witnesses that has gone before us, saying the same words and promising the same things. They surround us and are there to remind and encourage us when we falter in the promises we have made. Rituals bear witness to the promise that we are never alone.

Rituals also touch something deep within us. As we punctuate time with a celebration and mark our place in history, we are internally grounded in a moment that is more than a moment. These rituals change us and acknowledge a new chapter in our lives. Rituals are not a magic switch that is flipped and we suddenly become someone else. Rituals, however, give us a new identity to live into and new expectations to live up to going forward. Rituals stand as a reminder that we stood in front of people, and in the midst of our ancestors, and pledged to do certain things and be a certain way. Such commitments are not to be taken lightly.

The loss of ritual in this time of global pandemic represents a kind of unmooring from the things which normally ground us. Grief and sadness are understandable responses to these losses, even if they are not fully articulated. We are created to be people of community. When that community is taken away we are bereft of a significant part of who we are. When ritual is absent from our lives, we are separated from the moments that solidify our identity, remind us who we are and what we have promised to do.

There are no easy answers, or even hard answers, about how to remedy this. A friend of mine is fond of saying that “The only way out is through.” We don’t have much choice except to get through it as best we can. Acknowledging our losses along the way and the sense of disconnection we feel in the absence of our usual rituals is an important part of validating some of the malaise and ennui we feel in this time.

Be gentle with yourselves, dear readers, be gentle with yourselves.

It is high time we stopped measuring the health of the economy by the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P and the Nasdaq no more represent the health of the economy than a duck represents the Mona Lisa.

Since the Great Depression, the stock market has been used as the gauge of economic wellbeing in the United States.  According to a recent article in the New York Times, the difference between then and now is the stock market’s distance to the reality of most Americans. In the market collapse of 1929 the S&P fell 86% and was viewed by many as the precipitating event of the Great Depression.  The privation of the American people and the crash of the stock market were forever connected in American consciousness.

Today the stock market does not represent what is happening in the lives of the average American. In April over twenty million people lost their jobs, even as stocks kept rising. The largest corporations in America tend to be multinational, have huge stores of cash and wide access to bond markets. This makes them far more resilient to the changes in economic health than small businesses and the average American. In addition, stock ownership is held primarily by the richest segments of the population who have greater resources to bring to times of social change.

Whenever people are one or two paychecks away from needing a food pantry, rental assistance, utility forbearance and increases in unemployment insurance and SNAP benefits, it is a sure sign that the economy is not working. The health of any economy is actually measured by how the poorest people are doing, how the most vulnerable are cared for and what social safety nets are in place all the time for low wage workers.

While the nation’s largest corporations continue to receive billions of dollars in bailouts, the poorest of the poor are facing homelessness, loss of health care, unemployment and in some cases the very real possibility of starvation. This is happening in the United States of America in the year 2020.

If the Corona virus has taught us anything, it is that our health care system is fundamentally broken and our financial system is rigged to benefit the rich. The lesson is driven home when we realize that those who have kept this country going are NOT the CEO’s and shareholders, but health care workers, grocery store clerks, sanitation workers, housekeeping staff and other traditionally low wage workers who often depend on social safety nets under the best of circumstances.

There is no place in the United States where a minimum wage worker can afford to rent an apartment, much less pay for food, medical care and other life needs, all the while putting something away for retirement. They often have nothing to put away for weekly groceries. Under the best of circumstances many people choose between paying their rent and eating, paying the light bill and buying medication.

The pandemic continues to disproportionately impact communities of color, elderly and communal living facilities and Native American communities. These are the undervalued and under-represented populations of our country. Their plights are often invisible and their cries for justice go unheeded. Racism, ageism and all the other “isms” that make us into “us” and “them” are widening the gap between what is needed and what is received.

In Liberation Theology, a major premise is the preferential option for the poor. It takes from Scripture the message that throughout both Testaments, God is primarily concerned for the well-being of the poor. Further, it postulates that the gospel can only be truly understood through the eyes of the poor. Therefore, the poor must be empowered economically and politically to participate in the structures of society and to help reshape them into something more just and equitable. Liberation Theology had its birth in South America but its premises are applicable to the United States as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

In the first Testament, every fifty years was to be a year of Jubilee; debts were cancelled, property was returned to its original owners and the balance of society was restored. In the second Testament, Jesus spoke more about the poor and needy than he did any other group of people. And the powers of his time would not tolerate it. He posed too great a threat to the status quo. Jesus wasn’t crucified for blessing babies and bouncing children on his knee, he was put to death as an enemy of the state because he was too radical and people were starting to believe his message. It was only a matter of time before the poor rose up and claimed a more equitable distribution of goods and services. The power brokers of the time made sure he was put to death before that happened.

We would do well to adopt the principles of Liberation Theology as a statement of protest against the powers and principalities of which Paul spoke in the eighth chapter of the book of Romans. Standing with the poorest and most vulnerable members of society is a benchmark of the faithfulness of the Christian tradition. American Christianity has a moral responsibility to be a prophetic voice for the poor and disenfranchised, not just during a pandemic, but every day.