We allow exploitation of the poor and accept letting powerful people get away with it

The story continues to unfold about Brett Favre, former QB of the Green Bay Packers (whose fans now insist he was QB of the Vikings last. Sorry, poor attempt at humor). He made sure funds were earmarked from the state to go to two pet projects of his. One was to the University of SouthernContinue reading “We allow exploitation of the poor and accept letting powerful people get away with it”

“Poverty” isn’t always about dollar signs.

Brian Flores was fired as head coach of the Miami Dolphins at the end of the season. He was still a hot commodity and was lined up to interview with several teams who had vacancies. Now, he has filed suit against the NFL for what goes unsaid but gets practiced all the time: The NFLContinue reading ““Poverty” isn’t always about dollar signs.”

We fear what we don’t know

It is so easy to pick on immigrants from a majority white congressional district. It is so easy to blame “the other” when you’ve never sat down with someone “in opposition” to you and had an actual conversation. These are the challenges… and too often we are not up to these challenges. (And social mediaContinue reading “We fear what we don’t know”

Book Review: I See You by Terence Lester

“Privilege has a way of blinding us to the realities faced by those society has made invisible, and in true incarnational fashion, Terence takes us with him on a journey to uncover the true experiences of our most vulnerable neighbors.” (Chad Wright-Pittman)

Confronting our misconceptions about “the poor”

We may have heard these generalizations about the poor, or held them ourselves. (Or, still hold them.) — They are lazy and uneducated.— They chose to be poor. They could pick themselves up by their bootstraps and get out of it if they really wanted. — The poor are the government’s responsibility. — It’s theirContinue reading “Confronting our misconceptions about “the poor””

Dealing with issues of poverty and broken systems

A couple of weeks ago the president raised the issue of immigration and where immigrants should come from in a meeting with Congressional leaders. What was just plain silly was the talk about his use of a particular word. It missed an entire conversation that needed to happen… but what am I thinking? We’re Americans! We’re good at avoidingContinue reading “Dealing with issues of poverty and broken systems”