I recently sent the draft of my essay Ending Racism Poverty and Violence in Milwaukee to the Mayor of Milwaukee and the County Executive Milwaukee County. After listing how Milwaukee makes the Top Ten Worst Cities List I thought I would write these specific suggestions of how to reduce racism, poverty and violence in Milwaukee. Normally the Mayor or County Executive ignore my suggestions but since they are both up for reelection I got responses.
The County Executive responded with an email from a constituent services representative: She said: “Thank you for taking the time to contact the County Executive office with your comments and concerns regarding Milwaukee County.” She said how my “email was comprehensive and thought provoking.” However she added: “We hope you understand that we are not in a position to offer you immediate or direct feedback on your comprehensive ideas.” Another “Thank You But”.
A ‘customer services” from the Mayor’s office called me on the phone. He thanked me for my thoughts and suggestions and how important they were. I starting to tell him that I sent the essays of specific suggestions to find out and what was the Mayor going to do or not do about them. However, I remembered from previous contacts from the Mayor’s office they are not in a position to discuss issues but are just calling to appease me. Another “Thank You But”.
There is a lot of talk about how Milwaukee is such a segregated city with increasing poverty in minority neighborhoods with high unemployment, high incarceration rates and substandard housing. These neighborhoods are predominately black or Hispanic neighborhoods yet the Mayor or County Executive do not call it racism and do little besides talk.
I love Milwaukee, home since birth 73 years ago. The violence, racism and poverty in particular segregated neighborhoods make me sad and mad. I am tired of talk and reading and writing about it but know alone I cannot change it or even get the Mayor, County Executives and political officials doing something about it. But I must try and work together with others who understand the concern.
Today is the extra day of Leap Year. Maybe before the next leap year, four years from now, people in Milwaukee can make the leap between talking about poverty, violence and racism to actin, doing something about it.
I was at the computer in our office yesterday when I happened to look thru the glass door to the Sun Room and thru the glass doors in the sun room to the garden in back. I saw what is in the picture on the side. I called my wife and when I told her where to look she saw it too. Later in the morning I went outside for a picture from the other side of the dead tree trunk and I could not see it. Here is a story that explains what I saw.
The Master says to his disciple, “Life is death if you walk through life asleep. Wake Up and death is life.” “How do I see life in death”, the disciple ask the Master? The Master says: “Do you see that branch sticking up out of the dead tree trunk?” The disciple says, “Yes”. The Master says “What do you see”? The disciple says “a branch sticking up from the trunk. The Master says, “Close your eyes, take a deep breathe, relax and then open your eyes and look carefully and tell me what you see”. The disciple does this and says “now I see an outline of a child in the branch sticking out of the tree. The Master says “Now you are seeing with eyes open and the branch from the dead trunk of the tree is sprouting the outline of a child. The dead tree is alive.”
The other day when there was a community justice meeting. When people were talking about responding to trauma a quote from Peter Maurin, co-founder of the Catholic Worker, kept coming to mind. It is here: “Our purpose should be to build a society where it is easier for people to be good” Instead of responding to trauma how about building a society with less trauma.
In searching for this quote I came across many more good quotes from Peter Maurin. Here are a few with comments. The first one speaks for itself.
“The world would be better off if people tried to become better, And people would become better if they stopped trying to be better off. For when everyone tries to become better off nobody is better off. But when everyone tries to become better everyone is better off. Everybody would be rich if nobody tried to become richer. And nobody would be poor if everybody tried to be the poorest And everybody would be what he ought to be if everybody tried to be what he wants the other fellow to be.”
If you have ever been called crazy as I have you will appreciate this quote.
“If we are crazy, then it is because we refuse to be crazy in the same way that the world has gone crazy.”
This one hits home to we Christians who look to government, Church, Social Agencies to do the works of mercy.
The first centuries of Christianity the hungry were fed at a personal sacrifice, the naked were clothed at a personal sacrifice, the homeless were sheltered at a personal sacrifice… And the pagans used to say about the Christians, “See how they love each other.” In our own day the poor are no longer fed, clothed, and sheltered at a personal sacrifice, but at the expense of the taxpayers. And because of this the pagans say about the Christians, “See how they pass the buck.”
Finally Peter Maurin was famous for his “Essay Essays”. Here is one of my favorites.
Blowing the Dynamite
Writing about the Catholic Church,
a radical writer says:
“Rome will have to do more
than to play a waiting game;
she will have to use
some of the dynamite
inherent in her message.”
To blow the dynamite
of a message
is the only way
to make the message dynamic.
If the Catholic Church
is not today
the dominant social dynamic force,
it is because Catholic scholars
have failed to blow the dynamite
of the Church.
Catholic scholars
have taken the dynamite
of the Church,
have wrapped it up
in nice phraseology,
placed it in an hermetic container
and sat on the lid.
It is about time
to blow the lid off
so the Catholic Church
may again become
the dominant social dynamic force.
For more Easy Essays by Peter Maurin see Easy Essays by Peter Maurin
This morning was a good example of how my life has got so intermixed with digital devices that there can be a human digital breakdown.
This morning I had an appointment with my spiritual director as his place at 9am. I got there about 9am and went in gathering room to wait. He had said in his email confirming the appointment he was driving someone to airport but would be back. I waited and waited. Actually the silence and quite time was refreshing. About 9:30 I was thinking maybe I got the date or time wrong. I checked his email on my smart phone and sure enough it was 9am on 25th. So I waited. About 9:45 another person who lives in the house came by. We chanted a little and I mentioned I was waiting for this person returning from the airport. He was taking a car out and noticed there was no car out. He checked and found the person upstairs in his room. My spiritual director came down and told me that he had made the meeting for 9am on Wednesday, Feb. 24th. I told him that his email said today. We had a nice little talk but he had a 10am meeting so it was brief.
I left there and went to my friend’s place. She is an disabled and bed ridden and needed me to take her smart phone into phone store for three things. I had been to that particular store before but checked with my smart phone for the location. There was only one address of this particular cell phone store in the general area. I went the way I had taken before and when I got to an intersection where I thought the store was I pulled aside. I checked my cell phone again and it said the store I was looking for was some miles away. So I went on following the directions of the GPS map on phone. The directions took me to a store of same company but definitely not the one I had been in before. Since I thought all stores for this cell phone company were similar I went in and waited. I waited quite a while and finally a service rep waited on me. I told him the three issues with the phone. He said he could help with one of the issues only since this was not a repair store. The one I intended to go to was a repair store and was where I should be. So I had the one thing done and now must go to the right store next week for repairs.
These errors were human made but due to my dependency on email and GPS on phone. I blindly trusted the email date and the location data of the cell phone company on my phone. That is why I am calling it a Human Digital Breakdown.
At least the Ground Hog’s prediction on Feb. 2 of an early spring are coming true, at least in our area. I hope the Ground Hog never gets a digital device.
Today was long, diverse and good. It will take some time to digest and connect the day. This morning was a workshop by Community Justice Council on Violence and Crime in Milwaukee. The specific presentation was on the Trauma Response Team for children in one of the police districts. It was good presentation and team will do some good helping people respond to trauma in the City. But a response is doing little to prevent trauma.
I am a firm believer that to change a system, like reduce violence and crime we must make the living environment for persons easier to be good by providing good education, providing unemployment, getting the people basics like stoves and refrigerators and decent housing. I was surprised how many in the room resonated with this thought. I need to follow up.
I got home and almost forgot about a meeting with a friend who needs help moving out of poverty in Milwaukee to a city up north where she has family and a job waiting. I will miss my friend who has been a strong leader for civil rights for persons in need.
When I got home today there was barely time for to check email and make some phone calls before Pat and I were off to see our monthly Film at the Milwaukee Film Festival. Today’s film was dramatic documentary on Janis Joplin, the great blues singer of the 60’s. It was well done using audio of letters Janis wrote her family, mixed with footage of her life and music and interviews with family and friends. One overwhelming impression was how present Janis was to her life and how true to herself she was. She felt deeply and it came out in her music. Feeling the pain of life drove her music but also drove her use of alcohol and drugs. People in her life pointed out how she needed something to cover the pain and suffering that is living for sensitive person. I need to reflect more about this and my own life.
Tonight I mostly sat in front of TV watching my favorite basketball team, Wisconsin, take on my brother’s, who lives in Iowa City, true team the Iowa Hawkeyes. The game was in Iowa City and Iowa is a top ranked team in basketball but, at the end, Wisconsin won.
Putting the day together will be hard but there are some hints in each of these experiences: creating an environment where it is easier to be good; finding an environment where one can start anew; staying at peace in a life full of pain and suffering; struggling for victory. Any hints on putting it all together?
I have been meaning for some time to change the Featured Article on the front page. My friend, Father Emmanuel McCarthy of the Center for Christian Nonviolence came through using the death of Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia as a teachable moment in the article: Antonin Scalia’s Death and the Death Penalty This provocative article raises questions about Gospel Values and role of Christian to stand by them.
Play the Pope says game. Below are 10 quotes attributed to Pope Francis? Six of them are direct quotes from Pope Francis and four of them are not. Can you tell the difference? Answers below.
1) Pope says: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel,”
2) Pope says: “People who manufacture weapons or invest in weapons industries are hypocrites if they call themselves Christian”.
3) Pope says: “People who taken money intended for poor and spend it on investment that do not benefit the poor are not living according to Gospel.”
4) Pope says: “The true strength of the Christian is the power of truth and love, which leads to the renunciation of all violence. Faith and violence are incompatible.”
5) Pope says: “Whatever you do for poor and marginalized you do for Jesus.”
6) Pope says: “Among our tasks as witnesses to the love of Christ is that of giving a voice to the cry of the poor.”
7) Pope says: “Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society? Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money: money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood. In the face of this shameful and culpable silence, it is our duty to confront the problem and to stop the arms trade.”
8) Pope says: “Catholic Universities should not teach war and killing on campus”.
9) Pope says: “… War is madness. Whereas God carries forward the work of creation, and we men and women are called to participate in his work, war destroys. It also ruins the most beautiful work of his hands: human beings. War ruins everything, even the bonds between brothers. War is irrational; its only plan is to bring destruction; it seeks to grow by destroying.”
10) Pope says: “God will judge nations on how they care for poor, weak, ill and marginalized.”
Answers:
1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9 are direct quotes of Pope Francis
3, 5, 8, 10 are not.
The point of this game is to show how consistent the Pope is about following the Gospel. All quotes are in the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and could have been quotes of the Pope.
“I am the Way the Truth
and the Life. No One comes to the
Father except through me.”
Jesus in the Gospel John 14:6 When Pope Francis was on a plane going from Mexico back to Rome he was asked about Donald Trump’s remarks about immigrants, building a wall along the border and deporting immigrants here illegally. He said: ““A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel,” Trump, his opponents in the presidential race and leading Christian were quick to criticize the Pope. Even Jed Bush who criticizes Donald Trump and is a Catholic said”: “I don’t question anybody’s Christianity because I honestly believe that’s a relationship you have with your creator and it only enables bad behavior when someone from the outside of our country talks about Donald Trump,” The Catholic Bishops were silent in this difference between the Pope and Donald Trump.
I say wait a minute: Pope Francis was not speaking about Donald Trump’s personal relationship with God but about Gospel values. Is not a Christian a person who follows Gospel values, the Gospel of Jesus Christ who Christians claim is the son or ‘heir” of God. Jesus, was God made human, to show us the way the truth and light of God. The Pope, just like when he condemned arms dealers, was speaking of Gospel values and how someone who only thinks about building walls to keep people out not about building bridges is not a Christian.
When our present President sends killer drones to kill persons, authorizes major arms deals or grows the atomic weapon supply in the USA he is not acting on Gospel values and not acting like a follower of Jesus, a Christian, who follows the Gospel should act. How can a person that does not follow the primary Gospel value of “love your enemies” be a Christian?
What I think has happened in American Christian experience is that we have watered down and rationalized the Gospel so much that it is has little meaning. It is not just Donald Trump or the President who ignores Gospel values yet considers themselves a good Christian. It it is most Americans, including myself. Hypocrisy seems to be the order of the day.
The St. Vincent de Paul Society, a Catholic lay organization would consider itself Christian but when the Society in Milwaukee fails to follow the mission of the Society, to make home visits to people in need practicing the works of mercy, people are afraid to criticize it. Rationalization , ‘like we are going to help the poor by investing millions of dollars in a store in the suburbs so it can day provide money to serve the needy”, even where it true or possible, runs contrary to everything the Society stands for and what the Gospel compels to do toward God’s blessed ones, the poor.
Jesus meant what he said and did in the Gospels. Christianity is a lot more than a personal relationship with God. It is about practicing the Gospel, which show us, in the life of Jesus, the Way of God. Donald Trump, all his Christian supporters, the Catholic Bishops who keep silent and the St. Vincent de Paul Society and all of us need to practice Gospel Values. It may be hard and we cannot always live up to way of Jesus but to be Christian we must try to live the Gospel.
Today I got two reports of how the poor are suffering due to the Milwaukee St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) Society investing millions in a suburban store. One disabled woman, who was fortunate to live in one of the neighborhoods SVDP served, needed a refrigerator and some furniture. The home visitors said the woman had to choose between a refrigerator or a couch or chair. When I was a member of that same conference the choice was two of three major items, beds, furniture and stove. It was explained to me that was because of limited funds. Now that the central council office budget has grown to over three million dollars the amount of that budget distributed to conferences, less than 1% of total budget. The conferences income remains the same.
Another Mom who needed some basic furniture to get her children back was told by the intake person at the central office she lived in an area, poor as it may be, that was not covered by a SVDP conference. There are 55 conference and 800 volunteers in Milwaukee SVDP yet, due to limits of Central Office of what areas Vincentians can make home visits, many of the low income neighborhoods are not covered. Reports of rejections by SVDP central office are increasing.
Despite this injustices of money belonging to the poor by rule of SVDP going for a venture in the suburb that instead of making money for serving the poor is losing money that could be used for persons in need to have basics, like beds, furniture, stove or refrigerators.
This misuse of funds directed to people in need may be legal but it is immoral. Yet is so hard to get members of the Society, so many good people, or the public to do something about it. Members of the Society often agree with our position but say “There is nothing we can do about it.” Members of the public say we do not want to get involved in a Catholic Church thing. Poor understand right away but feel helpless. Staff and members in control of SVDP in Milwaukee find it easier to blame the messenger and ignore the message.
If I was not so old maybe I could organize the poor to stand up against this injustice. Only a few in the media will raise the issue, and when they due are quickly quieted. What to do? I cannot think of doing anything but to keep on trying to get the message out, suffer the attacks on character, or even harder yet, having the message ignored.
Jesus said there were some injustices or demons that can only be driven out by prayer and fasting. So speak out, a voice of voiceless, research and dialog when possible but most of all pray and fast. I believe eventually the truth will get out and the poor will be blessed.
I wrote an essay on Ending Racism, Poverty and Violence in Milwaukee. The draft is done and a few parts have already been published on this site. Here are some more Problems with some more “What can be Done”. There are many other problems and many other what can be done on these problems and others. Check the draft essay out at Ending Racism, Poverty and Violence in Milwaukee.
