[HPN] The fight against social injustice

[Coalition on Homelessness, SF]

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Sorry for the bounced posting of this last night. The original 
message was sent "To" Rev. Amos Brown of our board of supervisors, 
with "Bcc"s to a host of other folks. It bounced from the list 
because I used the 'chance martin' identity instead of COH-SF. I just 
wanted to make it real clear to Amos that this little early Valentine 
came directly from my heart to his.

peace,
chance

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http://www.bergen.com:80/home/break320000210c.htm

The fight against social injustice

Thursday, February 10, 2000

By REV. WAYNE HOLCOMB

When a family, with both parents working, enters a family shelter
because they could not afford to pay the rent and also repair their car,
we can sigh in relief that such a shelter exists.

Most of us will also be thankful that our situations are not as close to
the edge as theirs. And many of us will be prompted to reach into our
pockets to contribute to the shelter or to a similar charitable program.

But a closer look at this and like situations, from a biblical
standpoint, should prompt us less toward a response of charity and more
toward a response of repentance.

The response of charity is a needed "Band-Aid" when circumstances go bad
for someone. But if a society's way of operating regularly causes such
circumstances, then the problem is really one of injustice.

By itself, charity does nothing to transform social injustice; it helps
maintain it. It relieves -- but only momentarily -- both a hardship for
those experiencing it, and the pang of dismay, guilt, or denial you and
I may feel when we come face to face with those who are hungry or
homeless. The practice of charity can mask the real nature of the
problem.

Persistent homelessness and hunger in our society and world is a mark of
injustice, a mark of social or corporate sin. It is sin because it is a
form of robbery, even if a socially sanctioned robbery. And it is a sin
in which you and I take part, even if unknowingly, and which we endorse
if we don't pursue restitution of the stolen goods. It is a sin, also,
for which we are already being judged.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

The biblical picture of a just society is reflected in passages like
Isaiah 65: "Never again will there be ... an infant who lives but a few
days, or an old man who does not live out his years. ... They will build
houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and
others eat."

Although the context of this passage looks toward a future time of God's
action, it is incorrect to assume that the just society will come only
when it is supernaturally imposed from the outside.

In Deuteronomy 15, the Israelites, on entering their promised land, are
told by God, "There should be no poor among you, for in the land the
Lord your God is giving you ... he will richly bless you, if only you
fully obey the Lord your God and be careful to follow all these commands
I am giving you."

The people's faithfulness and obedience to God's commands would result
in a just society where poverty would be eliminated. These commands
include:

Fair economic exchanges: the use of fair weights and measures (Leviticus
19:35-36; Deuteronomy 25:13-16).

Adequate and timely payment of wages: "Do not defraud your neighbor or
rob him. Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight" (Leviticus
19:13; see also Deut. 24:14-15).

The right of the poor to access the means to survive (Leviticus 19:9-10,
23:22; Deuteronomy 23:24-25; 24:19-22).

Prohibition against taking collateral necessary for a debtor to work or
survive (Exodus 22:25-27; Deuteronomy 24:6, 10-13,17).

Generosity in charity when an individual or family is in need (Leviticus
25:35-38; Deuteronomy 15:7-11).

Although the faithful practice of these commands would not eliminate the
need for occasional charity, it would eliminate systemic poverty.

Our American society does not measure up against these standards. A
minimum wage earner has an annual income below the poverty level. And
yet there is enough wealth in our society to assure workers a livable
minimum wage, allowing them to pay for housing, food, and the means to
survive.

Reporting on a study titled "A Decade of Executive Excess," an Aug. 30,
1999, article in The Record states, "if U.S. workers had seen their pay
rise at the same 481 percent pace that ... industry captains enjoyed
during the 1990s, the minimum wage would be $22.08 and not $5.15 an
hour. ... The minimum wage hasn't kept pace with inflation for 30 years
and hasn't increased since 1996 despite economic expansion.

The "economic expansion," though, has benefited few. The authors of "A
Decade of Executive Excess" point out the gap between the incomes of
executives in Fortune 500 companies and that of their workers.

In 1980, CEOs in these companies earned, on average, about 45 times what
their workers made. In the late 1990s, "a big-company CEO [makes] 419
times what U.S. workers [make]."

In our society, it seems clear that the value of one person's hour of
work is very different from another's. To some degree, this is how it
should be. But when a double standard is used to make these decisions
and when the process employed favors the stronger over the weaker,
unfair "weights and measures" are being used, and injustice and
oppression occur.

Increased income, for most of us, is tied to the growth of the economy.
Minimum wage, on the other hand, is an arbitrary policy decision made by
Congress. Even those earning wages above the minimum but well below the
median income for their area are caught in a dynamic that works against
them, but not against higher-income earners. That dynamic is called
inflation, and it works against low-wage earners, especially, in a
couple of ways.

The "booming economy" actually hurts low-wage earners. One study points
out that during a 20-year period ending in 1992, the median income in
New Jersey rose 73 percent, but rental costs rose 400 percent. According
to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the fair-market rental
price for a two-bedroom apartment in Bergen County is $878 a month.

Although that may make it tight for many middle-class families, 45
percent of Bergen County residents cannot afford such rent, and a person
earning minimum wage would have to work 131 hours a week to pay for it.

Inflation's effect on low-wage earners is quantitatively different from
its effect on higher-wage earners. It is not simply a matter of degree.
For higher earners, an increase in prices means a few less choices. For
the low-wage earner, it can be a matter of survival; it could mean the
loss of shelter. This quantitative difference is also reflected in how
public policy manages inflation.

Last November, the Federal Reserve raised the interest rate largely
because the unemployment rate, at 4.1 percent, remained below 6 percent,
a minimum threshold analysts believed necessary to avoid inflation in a
robust economy. In other words, zero unemployment and livable wages are
not to the advantage of the country's economy.

Consequently, we have established a permanent underclass in our society,
but our moral traditions and sensitivities do not allow us to own up to
that fact. Instead, we convince ourselves that everyone has equal access
to the American Dream, and have developed welfare programs for those
"temporarily" in poverty.

Many welfare programs might be unnecessary if livable wages were paid to
workers. However, preferring to deny culpability in establishing an
underclass, we not only create limited stop-gap programs, we make
demands on those in poverty that are not only unnecessary, but
counterproductive. In New Jersey, for instance, we begin taxing incomes
at a threshold below the poverty level. Thankfully, steps are in place
to change this, which may free some households from the need to apply
for welfare.

A just society can be created by establishing just institutions and just
social and economic practices. The failure of social justice, on the
other hand, is a disease that affects not only those in poverty, but all
of us. God's judgment may not come as cataclysmic events, but by simply
allowing us to follow our current scenario to its conclusion.

Even now, presidential candidates are vying to articulate a vision and
direction to voters, of whom only about a third went to the polls in
1998. An article in the Oct. 17 New York Times Magazine noted, "More
than ever, Americans are looking out for No. 1. ... But they say they
feel bad about it."

The lack of direction and causes for confusion, the breakdown of "family
values" and moral decay, the drugs and crime -- these are not the causes
for God's judgment; they are the effects of it. God may have given us up
to pursue our own ends.

This does not need to be where it ends. Recognizing our obligation to
God and each other, we can pursue justice through our actions and
lifestyle in our homes, our neighborhoods, at work, or in school.

We can pursue justice through promoting public and economic policies for
a livable wage and the development of affordable housing. We can pursue
justice so that none among us is robbed of the gift of life, of their
place in community, of a place to call home.



The Rev. Wayne Holcomb is outreach coordinator for the Interreligious
Fellowship for the Homeless of Bergen County.

Copyright © 2000 Bergen Record Corp.  

**In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.**


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**In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.**



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