4 Search Results for "10027"

• Bless the Hands that Prepare O Bless the Hands that Prepare Our Food!

  • From: agapejustice
  • Description:

    This blog was first posted on Sojourners God's Politics Blog. For more information please visit Justice at Smithfield-http://www.smithfieldjustice.com/

    During the BBQ Season of summer I attended the DC campaign kick-off for the Justice at Smithfield Campaign. "Smithfield Foods is the largest pork processor and producer in the world, the fourth largest turkey processor and fifth largest beef processor in the U.S." In the early 1990's Smithfield opened its Tar Heel, North Carolina plant, with 5,500 workers who slaughter and process 32,000 hogs per day. The Tar Heel plant is not unionized and overall only about 56% of Smithfield pork processing plant employees are unionized.

    Though raised in Brooklyn, NY, my family hails from North Carolina which makes this campaign of personal importance to me. At the campaign kick-off two young women testified about mistreatment at the Tar Heel plant. A 22 year-old woman spoke of developing such a serious case of carpal tunnel syndrome that she can no longer lift more than 15 pounds. The testimony of this woman had a profound effect on me because I saw myself in her face. At 22 years-old I was a recent college graduate excitedly planning my future. I did not have to worry about an injury that could leave me disabled for life. If my grandparents remained in North Carolina instead of migrating to Brooklyn, NY, I could have easily been one of the Smithfield workers. What separates me from the workers at Smithfield?

    Some of the tasks at the Tar Heel plant include cutting the skin off of frozen meat as it comes down the line, a task that is especially difficult when having to work at breakneck speeds. As stated in the Human Rights Watch report: Blood Sweat and Fear: Workers' Rights in U.S. Meat and Poultry Plants:

    Many workers have painful reactions to conditions, but they do not act for fear of losing their jobs. In this report one employee is quoted as saying 'I am sick at work with a cold and breathing problems and my arms are always sore. But I am afraid to say anything about this because I am afraid they will fire me.'

    Workers have also spoken of sexual harassment and racism. How can working conditions like this exist in our modern society? What is the role of race, class and economics in the Smithfield worker struggle?

    As I reflect on the Justice at Smithfield campaign I am reminded of a common request made during the blessing of a meal--"may God bless the hands of those who have prepared our food." As we continue this season of BBQ's let us remember the workers of Smithfield when we bless our meals by asking God to bless their hands and their struggle.

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  • 1 year ago
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• Christian and Democrat: Can Yo Christian and Democrat: Can You Be Both?

  • From: agapejustice
  • Description:

      For many Christians the 2008 Presidential Election was the first time they voted for a Democrat. Recently I heard a NYC pastor discuss the belief he held that to be Christian meant you were Republican, but while attending The Sojourners Mobilization to End Poverty  in Washington, D.C. (a non-partisan gathering of 1,000+ Christians from around the country who came together because their faith inspired them to fight against poverty) he realized that a Christian did not have to be Republican and he resigned from the party. With a focus on abortion and marriage (two very important issues) many Christians are bound to the Republican Party and do not question this allegiance. This summer Christian author, inner-city minister and activist Shane Claiborne admonished Christians to “pledge allegiance to the Lamb” instead of either political party on his Jesus for President nationwide tour. As Christians I think we should align ourselves with politicians and policies that most reflect the message of Jesus Christ who proclaimed in Luke 4:18: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me, to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind and to release the oppressed…”

    Worship at The Mobilization to End Poverty
    

      I am currently a fellow for Faithful Democrats  an online community of Christians who are members of the Democratic Party. I know some might find this sacrilegious but there have always been dedicated followers of Christ who we also Democrats. As an African-American Christian my community of faith has overwhelmingly been members of the Democratic Party because Republican policies do not speak to the needs of our community, yet African-Americans are also overwhelmingly pro-life. You may ask yourself how this paring can exist, well for me to be pro-life means I support life from the cradle to the grave. I work towards ending poverty because I know many poor women are pushed into abortions for economic reasons. I do not support the death penalty or war. I think it is interesting that Christians can advocate for children while they are in the womb but once children are born we do not advocate for them to have equal educational opportunities, or a life free from hunger, sickness and disease. Mother Theresa once said “I am so pro-life that if a woman does not want her child she can leave the child with me”; hence so many Children were given to her that she received the name “Mother Theresa”. She is an example of not just holding onto arbitrary pro-life or pro-family values but actually living them out in practical ways.

    Christians Lobbying in D.C.-Holding their elected officials accountable.

    

     I am critical of both major parties and personally want to see our country move past the two party system that dominates because more choices will ensure that we have a true democracy. At the end of the day if a candidate is dedicated to those who Jesus calls “the least of these”, than that person will get my vote whether they are a member of the: Democratic, Republican, Green or Independence Party. As Christians we cannot let our dedication to a political party, or even the American flag surpass our dedication to the Gospel of Christ. Our true citizenship is in the Kingdom which includes: Black, White, slave, free, male, female, rich, poor, American, Mexican, undocumented, citizen and anyone else who is born-again.  I think Lisa Sharon Harper author and co-founder of NY Faith & Justice put it best when she stated: "Evangelical Doesn't Equal Republican or Democrat”. 
    

    A Book to read:
    I would encourage all of you to read Matthew 25, review the platforms of the different political parties, and then prayerfully ask God who you should align yourself with, the answer may surprise you.

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  • 1 year ago
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• Madoff, Anti-Semitism and Gala Madoff, Anti-Semitism and Galatians

  • From: agapejustice
  • Description:

    Since December 2008 when Bernie Madoff turned himself over to authorities for pulling a massive $65 billion ponzi scheme I like most of you have read the countless stories of victims and reporters trying to make sense of it all. In my reading of the Madoff story I have noticed a very disturbing trend of playing into anti-Semitic and class stereotypes implying that Madoff’s ethnic group and humble beginnings in Queens were the cause of his scheming.

    As much as things change, they stay the same....
    
    

    In New York Magazine’s Bernie Madoff, Monster Mensch cover story the question is posed: What made Bernie Madoff, a man who helped revolution Wall Street and built a completely legal billion-dollar business, perpetrate the greatest fraud in history?(Steve Fishman, pg. 18 New York Magazine March 2^nd 2009). Some of the reasons given were: “His grandparents had made their lives on the Lower East Side. He lived with them for a while, and that evening, he recalled how poor and rundown their neighborhood had looked”. He still had, as one observer put it, a whiff of Queens about him. He didn’t look like a leader of Wall Street…. Bernie Madoff’s story begins as that of the classic Jewish outsider, storming Wall Street gates in pursuit of fortune. He entered the financial business through a dirty disgusting outback” (Steve Fishman, pg. 18 New York Magazine March 2^nd 2009). Entitling the article Monster Mensch is a play on the Yiddish (A Jewish Dialectic) term. One Vanity Fair author reported that: “Bernie was poor and from Queens…She said Bernie and Ruth (his wife) still had a Queens’s accent, adding playfully you could tell they weren’t from Switzerland” (Mark Seal Vanity Fair April 2009, pg. 129). When Palm Beach Post reporter Jose Lambiet started writing Madoff stories “the anti-Semitic messages started immediately” (Seal Vanity Fair, April 2009, pg 134).

     

    Each racial or ethnic minority group has stereotypes that they have been striving to overcome. Jewish people have had to struggle against stereotypes related to money. Sadly, Madoff has hurt his own people the most; he stole from mostly Jewish charities and institutions. A Palm Beach resident who lost millions due to Madoff stated “what Hitler didn’t finish, he did! (Seal, Vanity Fair April 2009, pg. 134)”. An area hardest hit by Madoff was the Jewish Palm Beach Country Club, some in the area were resentful of Jewish people moving in. Palm Beach Post writer Lambiet stated: “It took decades for the Jewish community to get past this thing, and now…The anti-Semites are ecstatic, said one resident. Supposedly, there was a crack made at a local club: This is terrific now maybe we’ll get our land back. These people were not pleased at the way Jewish wealth has come into this community…” (Seal Vanity Fair pg. 134 April 2009). Sadly the Madoff case hasn’t just brought to light anti-Semitic sentiment but has shed light on Hispanic prejudice and classism as well-in the same April 2009 issue of Vanity Fair there was an article about a Swiss Brazilian family that worked closely with Madoff and the stereotypes abounded: “loud Brazilian Women in the family, brash, new money, inconsiderate, hugging and kissing everyone…” and it appears that there is a “logical” conclusion being made that of course this Latino, new-money family would work with a thief like Madoff. What can we expect when we let “those people” in our neighborhoods and financial firms?

    I do not think a certain ethnic group or class is to blame for the Madoff scandal I think that out of control free market capitalism is to blame. As Christians we cannot play into anti-Semitic stereotypes realizing we worship a Jewish savior. We should pray for the Jewish community and everyone who has been hit by this crisis. I am a student at Columbia University and the law school lost 7 million to Madoff. Elie Wiesel famous Holocaust activist and author of Night was robbed by Madoff as well. Let us pray that prejudice does not lead to the scapegoating of minorities and the poor for this crisis. As minorities our greatest desire is “to be judged not by the color of our skin (or our religion or class) but by the content of our character” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

     

    As a Christians we know that Galatians 3: 28 states: ^“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Let us remember this as we speak out and pray against stereotyping and scapegoating.

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  • 1 year ago
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• agapejustice

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