This was posted on Left in Alabama before I was booted, I thought It appropriate to re post on Good Friday as a reminder to my Christian and non Christin brothers and sisters that we are all in this together.~RedEye
My family relocated from the big city of Huntsville to a small, rural Alabama town when I was eight years old because my Daddy was appointed the principal of a segregated K-12 school. We weren't rich, but we were better of than a whole lot of our new classmates and neighbors. My Daddy didn't want us to think we were better than anyone else because of who we were or how we lived, so one cold winter evening he and my mother bundled us up, loaded up the VW bus with brown paper bags of "government cheese, butter, powdered milk, rice, flour and cornmeal and set off on what my Dad called the Poverty Tour.
We were exposed to real, unfiltered poverty. We saw some of the worse living conditions imaginable. But we also saw the real people who lived under those conditions.
After we returned to our nice, warm comfortable home my siblings and I asked lots of questions. We wanted to know why there were no bathrooms inside the house? We wanted to know how so many people could fit into two rooms? Where did they all sleep? We wanted to know why they were burning wood and coal in the stove? We wanted to know why air was coming through the floor boards? We wanted to know why the chickens, dogs and cats were inside the house? We wanted to know why they didn't have a telephone or a television set? We wanted to know why the house smelled the way it did? We wanted to know why they offered us food when we were taking them food? We wanted to know why they were so happy to get some cheese and butter? We wanted to know why their clothes were ragged?
After answering our questions, my Daddy looked at us and said "By the grace of God go I". He explained the circumstances we witnessed could be either one of us, or someone in our family. He cautioned us never to look down on our fellow human beings, but to have compassion for them. To never think we were better than anyone else because their circumstances could be our circumstances. To always put yourself in another person's position, to walk a mile in their shoes because one day you could be in their shoes. The Poverty Tour taught us gratitude, humility, empathy and compassion.
Last nights annual board meeting of the Huntsville Housing Authority reminded me of the Poverty Tour. Young, old, black, white, Hispanic, men, women and children, residents of "public housing", shared heart wrenching stories of brain tumors, lost jobs, living in cars, calling DHR to come take the children because they had no place to go, divorce etc. They shared triumphant stories of honor roll students, college graduations and good jobs. They appealed to south Huntsville residents to not judge them, but to accept them as worthy and worth while beings. It was heart breaking to watch them recount their pain, and humbling to listen to their impassioned pleas to be accepted as human beings.
While the "public housing" resident's spoke of brain tumors, living in cars etc., with the exception of two women who welcomed the public housing residents, the majority of south Huntsville residents spoke of property values. Specifically, declining property values if "those people" were "allowed" to move into "their" neighborhoods. South Huntsville residents at the meeting talked about the prospect of increased crime if "those people" were "allowed" to move to "their" neighborhood. South Huntsville residents at the meeting spoke of lowering test scores if "those kids" were "allowed" to attend "their" neighborhood schools. South Huntsville residents at the meeting spoke of the government using tax dollars to devalue "their" property in "their" neighborhood. South Huntsville residents at the meeting don't want "their" neighborhood to become a "HUD" neighborhood. South Huntsville residents at the meeting talked about "their" investments and how comfortable they were.
None of the south Huntsville residents who spoke out against public housing thought about the fact they were just one Tornado away from losing everything and possibly needing public (government) assistance themselves. None of the south Huntsville residents who spoke out against public housing residents thought about the fact they were just one catastrophic illness, or one divorce, or one lost job away from needing public (government) housing. None of the south Huntsville residents who spoke out against public housing realized that , but for the grace of God, go they.
None dared call it racism.
It is racism to believe you own a particular neighborhood or a section of town and you can keep poor/black/brown people from moving and living there.
It is racism if believe all poor/black/brown people are natural born criminals.
It is racism if you believe poor/black/brown children are not as intelligent as white children.
It is racism if you believe one side of town is for poor/black/brown people and the other side is for white people.
It is racism you believe your property values will decrease if poor/black/brown people move into your neighborhood.
It just is.
The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.~Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D. MA)
My family relocated from the big city of Huntsville to a small, rural Alabama town when I was eight years old because my Daddy was appointed the principal of a segregated K-12 school. We weren't rich, but we were better of than a whole lot of our new classmates and neighbors. My Daddy didn't want us to think we were better than anyone else because of who we were or how we lived, so one cold winter evening he and my mother bundled us up, loaded up the VW bus with brown paper bags of "government cheese, butter, powdered milk, rice, flour and cornmeal and set off on what my Dad called the Poverty Tour.
We were exposed to real, unfiltered poverty. We saw some of the worse living conditions imaginable. But we also saw the real people who lived under those conditions.
After we returned to our nice, warm comfortable home my siblings and I asked lots of questions. We wanted to know why there were no bathrooms inside the house? We wanted to know how so many people could fit into two rooms? Where did they all sleep? We wanted to know why they were burning wood and coal in the stove? We wanted to know why air was coming through the floor boards? We wanted to know why the chickens, dogs and cats were inside the house? We wanted to know why they didn't have a telephone or a television set? We wanted to know why the house smelled the way it did? We wanted to know why they offered us food when we were taking them food? We wanted to know why they were so happy to get some cheese and butter? We wanted to know why their clothes were ragged?
After answering our questions, my Daddy looked at us and said "By the grace of God go I". He explained the circumstances we witnessed could be either one of us, or someone in our family. He cautioned us never to look down on our fellow human beings, but to have compassion for them. To never think we were better than anyone else because their circumstances could be our circumstances. To always put yourself in another person's position, to walk a mile in their shoes because one day you could be in their shoes. The Poverty Tour taught us gratitude, humility, empathy and compassion.
Last nights annual board meeting of the Huntsville Housing Authority reminded me of the Poverty Tour. Young, old, black, white, Hispanic, men, women and children, residents of "public housing", shared heart wrenching stories of brain tumors, lost jobs, living in cars, calling DHR to come take the children because they had no place to go, divorce etc. They shared triumphant stories of honor roll students, college graduations and good jobs. They appealed to south Huntsville residents to not judge them, but to accept them as worthy and worth while beings. It was heart breaking to watch them recount their pain, and humbling to listen to their impassioned pleas to be accepted as human beings.
While the "public housing" resident's spoke of brain tumors, living in cars etc., with the exception of two women who welcomed the public housing residents, the majority of south Huntsville residents spoke of property values. Specifically, declining property values if "those people" were "allowed" to move into "their" neighborhoods. South Huntsville residents at the meeting talked about the prospect of increased crime if "those people" were "allowed" to move to "their" neighborhood. South Huntsville residents at the meeting spoke of lowering test scores if "those kids" were "allowed" to attend "their" neighborhood schools. South Huntsville residents at the meeting spoke of the government using tax dollars to devalue "their" property in "their" neighborhood. South Huntsville residents at the meeting don't want "their" neighborhood to become a "HUD" neighborhood. South Huntsville residents at the meeting talked about "their" investments and how comfortable they were.
None of the south Huntsville residents who spoke out against public housing thought about the fact they were just one Tornado away from losing everything and possibly needing public (government) assistance themselves. None of the south Huntsville residents who spoke out against public housing residents thought about the fact they were just one catastrophic illness, or one divorce, or one lost job away from needing public (government) housing. None of the south Huntsville residents who spoke out against public housing realized that , but for the grace of God, go they.
None dared call it racism.
It is racism to believe you own a particular neighborhood or a section of town and you can keep poor/black/brown people from moving and living there.
It is racism if believe all poor/black/brown people are natural born criminals.
It is racism if you believe poor/black/brown children are not as intelligent as white children.
It is racism if you believe one side of town is for poor/black/brown people and the other side is for white people.
It is racism you believe your property values will decrease if poor/black/brown people move into your neighborhood.
It just is.
The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.~Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D. MA)
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