“Those who has ears to hear let them hear” Mark 4: 9

Tonight again I realize what a poor messenger of the good news of the Gospel I was. I attended a St.Vincent De Paul Society meeting about the new investment of millions of dollars for a thrift store in the suburbs where it is not needed rather than a much smaller investment in a thrift store in North Central Milwaukee where it is really needed for the work of our Society. I got angry before the meeting when good Vincentians refused to look at the fact sheet I prepared from the mission statements of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) and from their own budget. They just did not want to hear the truth as I saw it, based on their own numbers and Rule of the Society. If their refusal to see or hear the “cry of the poor’ was not enough they presented at the meetings before any questions statements that were not in the mission of SVDP or SVDP thrift stores and half truths on information.

The African-Americans, three females and two men seem to understand what I was saying or trying to say. Most, white suburban persons, did not want to hear what I had to say and told me to sit down and “shut up”.

When my friend, 86 year old African American women of the civil rights asked about the advance of “racism” as represented by group’s decision to go to suburbs rather than poor with the thrift store there was no response. Another African American women in our group explained the refusal of a friend to admit the truth as he did not want to face up to racism I understood.

No one, including myself, wants to admit to racism. However, unless we face the reality of racism growing in our society we can now face it and overcome. The racism of the “New Jim Crow” might be less overt than racism of past but it is still racism. As one of the many persons, an Episcopal Bishop, arrested in and around St. Louis in protest of the killing of unarmed young African American males said: “My faith compels me to be here, I want to show solidarity and call attention to the structural racism of St. Louis.”

St. Louis ranks well down the rankings of the most racially segregated cities in the USA. Milwaukee is number one. Loving our friends and enemies requires us not to ignore them as they often do to us. However, at a certain point in time it is useless to try to dialog with persons hard of hearts and all we can do is to show our faith and expose the truth in acts of civil disobedience. If one of us is right the other is wrong. If someone does not have “ears to hear” or “eyes to see” Jesus of the Gospel tells us to move on. The truth will set us free. In the meanwhile we need to listen to advice of Mahatma Gandhi who said: “Agitation against every form of injustice is the breath of political life.” Mahatma , Volume 5, p. 225

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