This Morning 2/15/12

Poverty and inequality were the topics of a conversation with Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. at Moravian College yesterday.  It was a full house in the auditorium in Johnston Hall, brimming with students, teachers, business people, grammas and grampas, and even a seven-year old or two.  The sunny day made it even more welcoming.

Joining Rev. Jackson onstage for the "conversation" was Grace Ji-Sun Kim, Ph.D. Moravian Theology Department and author of The Grace of Sophia, James Braxton Peterson, Ph.D., Lehigh University English professor and guest on MSNBC, ABC and other networks for his work and research exploring urban and youth cultures, and Obery Hendricks Jr., Ph.D., noted author of The Politics of Jesus  and an Affiliated Scholar in the "Faith and Public Policy Initiative" at the Center for American Progress.  An impressive group of religious and sociological scholars, their role was to ask questions of Rev. Jackson to lead a discussion of poverty and inequality in this country as well as to address how it relates to the university setting.


Jackson's opening statement was focused on the historical frame of poverty in relationship to African-Americans.  The litany of "broken promises," beginning with the Emancipation Proclamation, which was followed by another 100 years of degradation to African-Americans helped fuel the Civil Rights Movement as we know it, led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  King and his followers were organizing an event highlighting economic inequality, called the "Poor People's March,"  when he was shot in Memphis in 1968.  Jackson then went on to recite the devastating statistic that one in six Americans- 53 million - are "food-insecure."   This statistic represents households not knowing if there will be enough food available to them and whether they will have access to it.  For an audience of students attending a $35K per year university, it is an important statistic to digest for those whose parents are paying out-of-pocket or re-mortgaging homes to help their kids get ahead.  I would also guess that many of these students at Moravian who receive financially-based grants come from families in the "food insecure" category.  Jackson couldn't help but mention the high cost of tuition which is creating an exclusivity in education.  An exclusivity which eliminates opportunities to find the diamonds in the rough; the brilliant ones who cannot afford education because of their circumstances, yet they may possess the potential to cure cancer, or create a  movement which will forever change the world.


Jackson was full of teaching stories book-ended by phrases out of a liberal's library, tinged with preacher-ease.  He quoted Jesus more than once referring to society's marginalization of the poor - "how do we treat the least of these?"  He spoke of how the "religion of the poor has been co-opted by the right-wing radicals."  Calling the Occupy movement the "canary in the mine," Jackson lauded the necessity for perseverance within the movement because "if the rich have no ceiling, the poor have no floor."  Ultimately, however, no specific solutions were offered, although his call to "revive liberality" and to build coalitions was tantamount to his underlying message.  


Jackson had a tremendous potency as he spoke.  He was soft-spoken, unlike how those of us who have grown up with him, remember him in the 70's, 80's and 90's.  He is 70 years old now; his demeanor that of an elder and statesman of sorts.  

The significance of the event was not only the sharing of Jackson's breadth of experiences shaping the past 50 years, but the sense of collective presence brought forth by him and these three scholars of social relevance.  These three African-American men and one Korean woman created an amazingly balanced, non-competitive panel; almost symphonic in their volley.

I take three specific lessons away from this "conversation."  The first is to always ask for what you want.  The second is to never give up going toward what you know is right.  ("We did not let one bullet stop our movement.") Lastly, poverty and inequality are our shared problems and we all have to choose our response to these conditions.