Reflection May 6, 2012

Who Are These Children Dressed in Red? Nonviolent Resistance and the Cost of Conscience

Narayan Desai taught us about nonviolent resistance in Birmingham, a city notoriously known as “Bombingham” because so many churches and homes were bombed by the forces of racism. We saw the parallels between Gandhi’s embrace of the risks of prison and police attacks, and the courage of Birmingham’s civil rights activists.

News May 6, 2012

Massive Protest at Wells Fargo Exposes Corporate Misconduct of Big Banks

Thousands of marchers protested the unjust gap between rich and poor by nonviolently disrupting Wells Fargo’s shareholders meeting in San Francisco. They confronted bank executives about Wells Fargo’s role in the country’s financial crisis, the high number of foreclosures that reduce families to homelessness, and the bank’s investment in private prisons.

Advocacy News May 6, 2012

Spending on U.S. War Machine Creates Rising Poverty

The New Priorities Campaign protests military spending as a direct cause of increasing poverty and homelessness. National security needs to be defined by more than our missiles, ships, planes and drones. Our country has been turned into “fortress America” to protect the interests of the 1% at the expense of the 99%.

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Features May 6, 2012

New Director Revitalizes Street Spirit Vendor Team

J.C. Orton, the new director of Street Spirit’s vendor program, has revitalized the entire program and made remarkable improvements in the number of vendors working, the number of issues sold, and the overall morale of vendors. Best of all, vendors now feel they have someone truly cares about them.

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News May 6, 2012

Thousands March in May Day Protests in Oakland

More than 5,000 protesters marched in Oakland on May Day to call for economic justice, full human rights for immigrants and poor people, and to demand an end to corporate greed and bank bail-outs. Demonstrators represented Occupy Oakland, immigrant rights organizations, anti-war activists, faith groups and labor unions.

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Advocacy News May 6, 2012

How Mississippi Beat the South’s Anti-Immigrant Wave

When Republicans championed HB 488, an attempt to drive immigrants from Mississippi, many black legislators and labor unions spoke against it. Some objected to the term “illegal alien,” while others said it justified breaking up families and “ethnic cleansing.” Even many white legislators were inspired to speak against it.

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Reflection May 6, 2012

Everyone Matters — A Lasting Lesson from a Lost Brother

As one of Kurt Vonnegut’s characters in Slaughterhouse-Five says, “It’s a crime to be poor in America.” This is a truth my brother Larry experienced for decades. Larry taught me that everyone matters, and this lesson fueled a longing for a world whose policies and conditions reflected this basic fact.

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Advocacy News May 6, 2012

Federal Government Shreds Housing for the Poor

For hundreds of thousands of U.S. households, public housing, Section 8, and other HUD rental assistance programs are lifelines. These programs make the difference between having a home and being homeless. And yet, both Congress and the White House are now proposing significantly rent increases in these programs.

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Reflection May 6, 2012

Living in the Dark Ages in Modern America

There is no excuse for political leaders and for the wealthy people who influence them to allow widespread poverty, hunger and disease. The starvation and disease that continue in many places would not exist if the people who hoard most of the wealth cared about helping their fellow human beings.

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Poetry May 6, 2012

May Poetry of the Streets

someone’s dying/ in the gutter somewhere/ with nothing but their souls laid bare/ nothing but their souls laid bare/ homeless child eating/ outta garbage can/ and not one person sees/ not one person sees/ ol’ woman fell on da street/ cuz she’d had nothin to eat

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Reflection April 8, 2012

The Mississippi Delta: Birthplace of the Blues – “This Is Where the Soul of Man Never Dies.”

This is a story about how poverty, segregation and racial discrimination harm human beings. This is also a story about how beauty flowers from the fields of brutality. This is a story of the blues. “This is where the soul of man never dies,” as Sam Phillips said about Howlin’ Wolf.

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Advocacy News April 8, 2012

WRAP Occupies Abandoned Building in San Francisco

Housing activists entered the vacant, two-story building owned by the San Francisco Archdiocese. They planned to occupy it so it could serve as housing for homeless people. Occupy SF member Emma Gerould said, “There is no reason why any building should be vacant when people have no housing.”

News April 8, 2012

Young Artists Crusade for Healthier Communities

The beautiful mural created by the young artists of Youth Spirit Artworks promotes healthy living and exposes the huge disparity between the health and lifespan of low-income and wealthier residents in Berkeley. The mural makes a strong statement about social justice by showing how poverty jeopardizes public health.

Book reviews April 8, 2012

Gandhi’s Closest Disciple Shares Insights and Joy

Narayan Desai’s life has been a message of nonviolence to the world. He has worked side by side with Gandhi’s successors, Vinoba Bhave in the land-gift movement and Jayaprakash Narayan in the Shanti Sena (peace brigade). He was chairperson of War Resisters International, and founding director of the World Peace Brigade.

Advocacy News April 8, 2012

A Call to Join the Bay Area Walk Against Genocide

Those who come out for these Walks want all of humanity to live in a world where genocides and mass atrocities can be prevented before they begin. Although we may not realize this vision during our lifetimes, we make up the “permanent anti-genocide constituency” of the Bay Area.

News April 8, 2012

Berkeley City Council Moves to Privatize Public Housing

“The city and BHA promised to keep its public housing permanent to receive special funding from HUD to build housing for the poor. Now they are breaking their promise to current and future generations of the poor, who desperately need low-income housing to remain in their communities.” – James Vann

Book reviews April 8, 2012

The Prophets from Skid Row

Reading the book, Wisdom Under the Bridge, I re-learned that one can be saved by one’s guts, by the grace of God and pastoral helpers, by kindness, love, shelter in time of need and a good dinner — whatever it takes for a particular person and/or set of circumstances.