On February 18, NETWORK hosted a community conversation in honor of Black History Month. At the event, NETWORK members discussed racism in the Church and our role in naming it and ending it. Board member Leslye Colvin shared her reflection on racism in the Catholic Church. Watch the conversation below, and read more reflections from Leslye on her blog Leslye’s Labyrinth:
During this year’s Black History Month after a contentious election, we honor the Black women and men who organized and advanced Black voting power and political representation and recognize the ways white supremacy has shaped the U.S. political system to minimize Black votes and voices.
Following the 2020 election, which hinged on record-breaking voter turnout – especially Black voter turnout – in Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, multiple sitting Members of Congress refused to certify the Electoral College vote. President Trump’s claims of voter fraud in Detroit, Philadelphia, and Georgia were overtly racist, and even after the violent mob attack on the Capitol, when the vote to certify was held in the early hours of January 7, 2021, eight Republican Senators and over 100 Representatives held firm with former President Trump.
This challenge to Black voters’ power echoed our nation’s last challenge to the Electoral College in 1876 during the election between Samuel Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes.
1876: A Backlash to Black Political Participation during Reconstruction
Prior to 1876, there had been a surge of mobilization within the Black community. During the first two years of Reconstruction after the Civil War, Black people throughout the South organized Equal Rights Leagues and held state and local conventions to demand suffrage and equity. Congress granted Black men the status and rights of citizenship in the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and state constitutional conventions held in formerly Confederate states between 1867-69 were the first time that Black and white Americans participated in political life together. 265 African-American men were elected delegates to these conventions that re-wrote state constitutions, almost half in South Carolina and Louisiana.
Initially, under the protection of the 15th Amendment and because of the overwhelming majority of Black citizens in the South, Black voters had strong voting power during Reconstruction. In Congress, 16 Black men served during Reconstruction and more than 600 Black state legislators were elected, with hundreds more holding local offices across the South. The first Black men to serve in Congress were Senator Hiram Revels of Mississippi and Representative Joseph Rainey of South Carolina. (It was nearly a century from their elections in 1870 until voters elected Representative Shirley Chisholm the first Black woman in Congress in 1968.)
Challenging the Electoral College Results
The outcome of 1876 election between Samuel Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes was unclear from the beginning. When the electoral vote was received by Congress, Tilden held 184 votes and Hayes held 165 votes. However, claims of fraud, intimidation, and violence that had been used to invalidate votes in the South, and Oregon delivered two sets of conflicting electoral votes to Congress.
These conflicting results presented an opportunity for Southern Democrats who had lost power in the South after the Civil War. They wanted to restore their control of governments in the South and to remove the last of the federal troops whose purpose had diminished to protecting governments in small areas surrounding state houses in the capitals of New Orleans and Columbia. An agreement was reached for Hayes to pull out the remaining federal troops in the South in return for a pledge to uphold the civil and voting rights of Black and white Republicans. As a result, filibusters were ruled out of order and Southern Democrats forced through the vote, declaring Hayes the winner with 185 electoral votes two days before he was inaugurated.
White Supremacy Curtails Reconstruction
The Supreme Court had already begun to limit the scope of the Reconstruction laws and Constitutional Amendments, beginning with the Slaughterhouse Cases which limited protection of the privileges and immunities clause of the 14th Amendment of the United State Constitution. However, with the removal of federal troops following President Hayes’s inauguration, white political leaders in the South began suppressing Black votes as the pledge to protect voting rights was quickly abandoned. While the Reconstruction Amendments remained in the Constitution, a new web of laws and requirements made voting nearly impossible for Black citizens. Under new gerrymandered election districts which reduced Black voting power, the Jim Crow era swept the South, creating a framework of voter suppression that has continued to evolve in face of reforms.
White political leaders in Southern states put in place literacy tests, poll taxes, moral character tests, and grandfather clauses targeting Black voters. Black voters who could pass these barriers then faced the threat of violence or property or job loss in retribution for attempting to vote. Additionally, the disenfranchisement of felons blocked many black voters. Black people were often arrested in the South on false charges or for vague crimes, such as “crimes of moral turpitude”, and sent through a criminal justice system that profited from black prisoners’ free labor when they were incarcerated. The over-criminalization of the Black community meant that the disenfranchisement of felons disproportionately affected Black voters in the South. These strategies reversed much of the progress that had been gained since the Civil War, with Black voting power reduced to less than 1% and the upward trend of Black men elected to office from southern states quickly ended.
Continued Voter Suppression
While the Voting Rights Act of 1965 changed the landscape of voting in the South for Black voters especially, voter disenfranchisement still continues throughout the U.S. With Black Americans still overrepresented in the prison population, bans on voting due to criminal history continue to impact Black communities more than any other. Since Shelby County v. Holder, struck down the requirements of federal oversight, many states have passed additional voting requirements that are only subject to litigation after the fact. State across the country have begun to redistrict, require stricter voter identification, shut down polling locations, and limit early voting. While on their face these changes may seem to be aimed at reducing voter fraud, the reality is that these new restrictionsdisproportionately disenfranchise voters of color and minority communities.
The rhetoric surrounding voting, amplified by former President Trump, has disguised the true effect of the changes to voting requirements. Government-issued photo ID requirements effect minorities more than white voters, as minorities are less likely to have the needed forms of identification. Despite the argument that voting roll purges prevent voter fraud, the real impact of these purges is that many valid votes cannot be cast because voters were unaware that they had been removed from the voter rolls. Polling location closures, overwhelmingly in communities of color, result in longer wait times or travel time. This makes voting much more difficult and in some cases impossible due to lack of transportation or working hourly jobs. The conversation surrounding voter fraud and the barriers that are put in place to “fix” this so-called fraud have strong ties to the compromise of 1876 which marked the beginning of the Jim Crow era.
But the fight to achieve true voting rights and equity remains strong and in the last two elections there has been a resurgence of energy to fight voter suppression. While a major struggle in 1876 was the end of Reconstruction in the South, the 2020 election was a demonstration of the power of Black people successfully organizing against the racial inequality still existent today. The result of the Jim Crow laws put into place after Federal troops were withdrawn still haunt our nation and dog communities of color with their pervasive legacies and new iterations. Despite this, representation of black communities has grown steadily over the past 20 years. In fact, the most recent Congress, was the most diverse Congress ever to be elected to office.
Black Voting Rights Advocates Continue Leading the Movement
This progress would not have been possible without Black organizers’ efforts to mobilize voters. Black-led movements to equip and encourage voters, especially in swing states, were spurred on by the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black communities and the nation-wide protests against police brutality. During the 2020 Nuns on the Bus tour, we met Black organizers like Rev. Tawanda Davis of Soul 2 Soul Sisters in Denver and the staff of BLOC by Bloc in Milwaukee who led successful voter turnout initiatives in key states.
While this was a national movement, the 2020 Senate run-off election in Georgia was one of the most historic. This success mainly came from the efforts of Stacey Abrams. Abrams founded Fair Fight to ensure all eligible Georgia voters could vote after her historic 2018 run for Georgia Governor ended with clear mismanagement of the election by now-Governor Kemp’s Secretary of State office. Stacey Abrams with other organizers worked to mobilize the vote and were met by Black voters in Georgia as trusted voices. Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock’s successful campaign makes him Georgia’s first Black Senator. This and other elections prove that the power that was seen in the Black vote during Reconstruction is just as strong, but still has not been fully released from the remnants of the Jim Crow laws that sprung up after the 1876 compromise.
Introduced and sponsored by Black members of Congress, the For the People Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act present an opportunity to correct injustices in our voting system. With the swearing in of the first woman of color as Vice President, Vice President Kamala Harris, our nation may have come a long way since the end of Reconstruction, but we must remember that the work is not done.
In the face of multiple crises, President Biden and Congress have a moral responsibility to quickly deliver another COVID-19 relief package to prevent more needless suffering. Nearly a year into the pandemic, the nation continues to face high unemployment rates, food insecurity, and limited access to health care and safety net programs, and it is clear that communities of color are hardest hit by negative impacts of COVID-19. The sinful legacy of structural racism has led to Black, Latinx, and Native American individuals disproportionately contacting the virus and dying. This racial disparity must be addressed in our legislation and our nation’s vaccine distribution. NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice calls on Congress to quickly pass the American Rescue Plan in order to support families, protect our communities, and revitalize our nation.
NETWORK applauds House and Senate Democrats for their February 5, 2021 vote to adopt a final budget measure, which will allow Congress to pass the next COVID-19 relief package through the budget reconciliation process by requiring only 50 Senate votes instead of 60. Using the reconciliation process allows Congress’s Democratic Leadership to push forward bold and urgent COVID-19 relief with or without Republican support.
As COVID-19 deaths continue rising, all members of Congress expressing concerns about COVID relief should keep in mind that more than two-thirds of Americans support this COVID-19 response package, including strong support for $1,400 emergency payments and raising the minimum wage. Across the country, people navigating these unprecedented health and economic crises know what is needed for their families and their communities.
In the coming weeks, Congressional committees will be meeting to decide the specifics of the next relief package with the goal of bringing the package to the House floor by Monday, February 22. The latest extension of expanded unemployment benefits will expire on March 14, 2021, so it is of the upmost importance that the American Rescue Package is passed before the aid ends.
In order for the American Rescue Plan to uphold the dignity of each person, NETWORK asks that it:
Download the full list of NETWORK asks in the next COVID-19 relief package.
Don’t miss your chance to advocate for the American Rescue Plan with NETWORK. Text “JUSTICE” to 877-877 to sign up for NETWORK’s text alerts.
During Black History Month, we honor and celebrate the history and contributions of Black people in our country. Whether in politics, art, sports, or pop culture, Black people have continually overcome racism and bigotry to become national heroes and international icons. These films recognize the central role of Black Americans in U.S. history during Black history month and beyond:
American Masters: How It Feels to Be Free
This PBS documentary tells the stories of trailblazing Black female entertainers Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Diahann Carroll, Nina Simone, Cicely Tyson, and Pam Grier. The film explores how the women overcame racism and sexism in their careers and has commentary from contemporary Black entertainers such as Halle Berry, Lena Waithe, and Alicia Keys. Available for free on PBS until February 16, 2021.
Partly based on her memoir, Becoming is an intimate look at the life of former first last Michelle Obama. The documentary follows Obama on her book tour and features footage of her travels, talk-show appearances, and work during her eight years as First Lady. Streaming on Netflix.
Black Art: In the Absence of Light
Inspired by the 1976 exhibition “Two Centuries of Black American Art,” this documentary explores the erasure and exclusion of Black artists. Despite making some of the most captivating, conceptual American art, Black artists are rarely featured in major museums and exhibitions. The film includes interviews with artists and showcases their work and stories. Streaming on HBO Max.
This visual album by Beyoncé reimagines the morals from Disney’s The Lion King. The film tells the story of a young African prince who is exiled after his father’s death. The prince’s journey is an allegory for the African diaspora, reclaiming culture and heritage, and explores Black identity. Streaming on Disney+.
From director Spike Lee and producer Jordan Peele, Ron Stallworth, the first Black police officer in Colorado Springs, infiltrates the local Ku Klux Klan group in with the help of his Jewish counterpart. Together, they attempt to take down the hate group from the inside-out. Based on a true story. Stream on Hulu or Amazon Prime Video.
Based on the Marvel comics, Black Panther tells the story of T’Challa, played by the late Chadwick Boseman, who is crowned king of Wakanda after his father’s death and is challenged to abandon the country’s isolationism and begin a revolution. Black Panther earned seven Oscar nominations and is the third highest-grossing film by a Black director. Streaming on Disney+.
Filmmaker Raoul Peck looks at modern institutionalized racism through the lens of the James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript of a personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends — Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, I Am Not Your Negro connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. Stream on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Kanopy.
Starring Daniel Kaluuya, this film tells the story of the betrayal of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s by William O’Neal, an informant for the FBI. The long awaited Hampton biopic explores the themes of oppression and revolution with a stark relevancy to present day America. Based on a true story. Streaming on HBO Max.
Young lawyer Bryan Stevenson moves to Alabama to represent people who have been wrongfully condemned. One of his first cases is that of Walter McMillian, an innocent man on death row. Despite enduring racism in America’s justice system, Stevenson perseveres with the McMillian case and goes on to found the iconic Equal Justice Initiative. Based on a true story. Streaming on HBO Max, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. The Equal Justice Initiative also has a discussion guide for the film available to download.
Disney and Pixar’s Soul follows the journey of Joe Gardner, a middle school jazz teacher whose soul becomes separated from his body on the day he lands the gig of a lifetime. Soul explores what it means to be human and find your “spark” in life. This is the first Pixar film to feature a Black protagonist. Streaming now on Disney+.
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
Nobel-prize winning writer Toni Morrison reflects on her life and journey in publishing some of the most important books in history such as “Beloved” and “Song of Solomon.” The film features interviews with Angela Davis, Oprah Winfrey, Sonia Sanchez, and more. Streaming on Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.
The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song
This series reveals the 400+ year history of the Black church and discusses its role as the bedrock of African American survival, resilience, and freedom. The series includes interviews with faith leaders such as Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. William Barber II, Pastor Shirley Caesar, and more. Premieres February 16, 2021 on PBS.
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
After sitting in the basement of a Swedish television studio for 30 years, some of the most iconic footage and material of the Black Power movement was recovered and compiled. The documentary contains some of the most candid interviews ever given by thought leaders such as Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael, Kathleen Cleaver, and Bobby Seale. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Based on the Angie Thomas novel, The Hate U Give tells the story of teenager Starr Carter, who lives in a poor, Black neighborhood but attends a mostly-white, wealthy prep school. The worlds collide when Starr witnesses her best friend get fatally shot by a police officer. Available on Hulu and YouTube Movie.
In 1942, a group of Black college graduates were selected to train as pilots in the Army Air Corps in Tuskegee. Despite facing racism and prejudice from their peers and the general population, the Tuskegee Airmen would go on to become the first African-American pilots in the US military, flying missions in Europe. Based on a true story. Available on HBO Max, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.
This documentary tells the story of the murder of Michael Brown and the Ferguson uprising. The film is composed of interviews with activists and community leaders who played key roles in the Ferguson protests and explore what needs to happen next in the movement for justice. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Kanopy.
Black Lives Matter and that includes the lives of Black immigrants. In the United States, the narrative around immigration usually focuses on Latinx people coming across the southern border from Mexico and Central America, but Black immigrants from these countries, from the Caribbean, and from Africa comprise a significant and growing part of the story of our immigration story. Black History Month provides an important opportunity to learn about stories and struggles of Black immigrants.
There has long been a large population of Black immigrants in this country since the sixteenth-century slave trade began. This should not be surprising to Americans. According to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World. Of the 10.7 million who survived the Middle Passage, 388,000 disembarked in North America. The rest ended up in the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Over time, many of the descendants of those enslaved persons migrated to the United States seeking asylum, family reunification, work, or higher education. Today, about 50% of all Black immigrants come from the Caribbean region, around 4% from South America, and nearly 45% from the African continent, particularly from sub-Saharan Africa.
Moreover, Black people are a growing segment of the immigrant population in the U.S. According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, in 1980 there were 816,000 Black immigrants. By 2000, the number of Black immigrants in the country had risen 71% to 2.4 million. Six years later in 2016, that number had increased to 4.2 million, meaning nearly 10% of all Black people living in the U.S. were foreign born . Such rapid growth in the Black immigrant population is expected to continue, especially in large metropolitan areas. According to the Census Bureau, by 2060 16.5% of all Black people in the U.S. will be immigrants.
But these statistics are not the whole story. With few exceptions, the lived experience of Black immigrants very much mirrors the experience of U.S.-born Black people. Black immigrants encounter anti-Black discrimination and racial prejudice because of the color of their skin. Similar to U.S.-born Black people, they are often subject to the same risks of poverty, lack of access to quality health care or affordable housing, over-policing, and increasing incarceration.
More than other immigrant groups, undocumented Black foreign-born people find themselves caught in the prison to deportation pipeline. In fact, Black immigrants account for a disproportionate number of criminal-based deportations. Guilt or innocence aside, 76% of Black immigrants are deported on criminal grounds compared to 45% of all immigrants. Like the prevailing experience of U.S.-born Black people, there is no other explanation for these statistics than that it is because they are Black. When they arrive in the U.S., Black immigrants are no longer Ghanaian, South African, Jamaican, Haitian, or Nicaraguan. They are simply Black, and in this society, their lives do not matter.
Anti-Black racism has been present in this country since its founding. Despite the fact that Black people were forcibly brought here, when it came time to answer the question ‘who belongs in this nation’, the country’s overwhelming answer was only white people. History and our founding documents show that anyone who was not considered white was not meant to be a citizen. This was quickly incorporated into the immigration system where it persists even today. Despite the words that are etched on the Statue of Liberty –“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”, the United States continues to demonstrate it is unwelcoming to Black people, citizen or not.
Whatever it was about the murder of George Floyd last year that opened America’s eyes, indeed the eyes of the world, about the enduring persistence of systemic racism, the fact is that there is no going back from that realization. As a people, we must deal with it. The fundamental question before the United States, indeed before the world since anti-Black racism is global, is what is to be done about it?
This moment in our history invites us to finally address the issue of pervasive, instututionalized anti-Black racism. It calls us to transform our society, our laws, our systems, including the immigration system, to ensure that all lives matter equally. No exceptions. Time will tell if we are up to the challenge.
Sources:
Trans-Atlantic Database, https://archive.slavevoyages.org, David Eltis, David Richardson, ed.
U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey, March 2016
US Immigrant Population Projected to Rise Even as Share Falls Among Hispanics and Asians, Anna Brown, Pew Research Center, 03/09/2015; “Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850-2000” and 2014 population projections, U.S. Census Bureau
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Yearbook and Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, 2000
Last week, on the 28th anniversary of the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act, Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) officially re-introduced the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act. The FAMILY Act would establish a national insurance fund to provide workers a portion of their wages for up to 60 days, or 12 weeks. States such as California, New York, and New Jersey already have successful personal medical leave programs in place to protect and support their workers. The FAMILY Act provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave annually for self-care, the introduction of a new child into a family, care for an ill family member, and care related to military deployment. NETWORK supports the passage of the FAMILY Act to support and sustain working people and families, and work towards a just and equitable economic system.
The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the need for investment in workers and families in order to keep our nation healthy and keep people employed. Paid leave protections are essential in crises like global health emergencies. In order to ensure long-term economic and health security, a national paid leave program must be implemented. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ final 2020 job report, over 5 million women lost their jobs in the last year, and accounted for 100% of job loss in December. Job losses were even steeper for women of color. To help reduce disparities in our workforce and the continued existence of the racial wealth and income gap, people need a guarantee of paid family and medical leave.
NETWORK has joined our partner organizations in advocating for emergency paid leave in President Biden’s American Rescue plan and supporting a permanent paid leave program. Our organization signed on to a letter urging Members of Congress to ensure strong paid leave protections. A portion of the letter read,
“We cannot safely return to in-person learning, reopen businesses and public spaces, or end this pandemic without the guarantee that workers can stay home with pay when they are sick or when they need to care for loved ones. Even before the pandemic, workers and their families lost an estimated combined $22.5 billion in wages each year due to a lack of paid family and medical leave. The lack of access to paid leave also leads to higher costs in unemployment, health care, and compounding financial losses. We must act now. Paid leave is one of the best and most cost-effective solutions we have for our public health and economic recovery and there is a path to finally pass paid leave for all in this country. We needed it the last time we faced a pandemic. We need it now. And we need it permanently.”
Last week, President Biden signed three new executive orders on immigration, actions critical to respecting the rights and dignity of immigrants in our nation, and respecting and honoring family unity.
The first executive order he signed creates a task force to reunite children in the U.S. with their parents who were deported under the Trump administration.
Another order directed newly sworn in DHS Secretary Mayorkas to “promptly review and determine whether to terminate or modify” the Migrant Protection Protocols program, which forced asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while waiting for court proceedings. With a backlog of thousands of cases, this policy forced immigrants and asylum seekers from many countries to spend months or years in dangerous and inhumane conditions waiting for court decisions. The order also includes the review of the misuse of Title 42 public health authority, and the third-country transit ban. The Title 42 public health authority has enable ICE and CBP to expel asylum seekers and unaccompanied children without any due process. While we welcome this review we would ask that the use of Title 42 be suspended while the review is being conducted, just like the MPP.
Finally, in his third executive order, President Biden instructed heads of agencies to review the public charge rule, which the Trump administration changed to effectively impose a racially-motivated wealth test on immigrants, punishing legal immigrants who use public benefits by hurting their chances to receive green cards.
These actions build on the executive orders signed two weeks ago, on the first day of the Biden-Harris administration. Previously, President Biden fortified DACA (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program), which was under constant threat during the Trump presidency, reinstated DED (Deferred Enforced Departure) for Liberians, halted funds to Trump’s border wall, and ended the travel ban on Muslim-majority and African countries.
President Biden’s acting DHS Secretary issued a 100-day moratorium on deportations on January 20, 2021, however, a Texas federal judge barred enforcement of the moratorium until February 23. This stay on the moratorium only affects Texas.
However despite the acting Secretary’s stay order ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) continued carrying out deportation flights, including flights to Jamaica, Honduras, Guatemala, and Haiti.
Because of a lot of nationwide advocacy and activism. a deportation flight with immigrants from Cameroon, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo was cancelled. However other flights especially those to Haiti have continued and this is having a devastating effect on Black Haitian communities. We are working with several advocacy groups to ensure future deportation flights are cancelled until all cases can be reviewed. A majority of immigrants who are being deported post inauguration are those who have been expelled under the Title 42 order and therefore they have not been given any due process rights.
As President Biden signed the executive orders, he said, “I’m not making new law. I’m eliminating bad policy.” In the coming weeks and months, President Biden and members of Congress plan to pass a new law (or laws) to reform our immigration system. Some legislation is familiar – the Dream Act, the Dream and Promise Act, and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act have been introduced in previous congresses – but President Biden also seeks to pass broader reform. This will be a critical opportunity to build our immigration system anew, and we will keep NETWORK members updated on how to support this legislation.
On January 25, 2021, amid the flurry of activity in his first week in office, President Joe Biden’s administration also moved forward with the stalled plans to put Harriet Tubman’s image on the $20 bill. Within the hour, friends and colleagues alike vied to be the first to tell me this news, because for weeks I had been adamant that, along with a COVID-19 rescue package and immigration and criminal justice reform, we needed Harriet Tubman.
Tubman would be the first African-American on U.S. currency and the first woman on a bill in wide use. The public chose her for this honor from among a number of candidates — suffragettes, abolitionists, politicians, and activists — as part of a campaign to put a woman on the $20 bill to commemorate the centennial of the 19th amendment in 2020. It was to be the beginning of a larger movement in currency redesign that would include women and people of color on other denominations. In 2019, the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced years-long delays for these plans.
I had voted for Harriet Tubman to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, because I admired her, and because although she appears larger than life, she embodies all the pain and promise of our country. Born into slavery, she escaped to freedom — and then risked it repeatedly in order to save scores of others. During the Civil War, she became a Union nurse, scout, and spy, and after the war became a champion of equality for both African-Americans and women. She made the world she was born into a better one, and we built on that legacy. Her heirs in the struggle ended segregation, secured the vote, and opened up economic opportunities she may never have thought possible.
But her accomplishments, like ours, were not the end of the story. She spent most of her life living in poverty, working a number of jobs to support herself and her family, including her elderly parents. The government repeatedly refused to acknowledge her contributions to the war effort and compensate her accordingly. And for all she did for the cause for freedom, she was never eligible to vote. We have also faced setbacks, for despite the progress we’ve made since her death in 1913, the income gap is staggering, and Black women in particular have been left behind, earning only $.62 to the dollar that white men earn.[1] Legal means of voter suppression, such as poll closures, voter identification requirements, and gerrymandering have proliferated. Black and Brown communities are at an increased risk of infection and death from COVID-19 due to chronic discrimination, lack of access to healthcare, inadequate housing, and underemployment.[2]
Putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill is not going to change any of this — that is up to us. It is a symbol, but symbols are powerful. What matters is that, along with all of the other social, environmental, and economic priorities of our nation, her appearance on the $20 was among them. This sends a powerful message about where we’ve been and how we’re going forward. It means that we will be reminded every day as we go about our business at toll booths and grocery stores and ATMs, that this is our country, that we come from more than just the patriarchs. That for every Thomas Jefferson there is a Sojourner Truth; for every Alexander Hamilton, a Rosa Parks; for every George Washington, a Fanny Lou Hamer. And to know, every day, that we as a nation acknowledge and rejoice in this as we struggle to live up to it.
[1]National Partnership for Women & Families, “Black Women and the Wage Gap,” NationalPartnership.org March 2020. https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/resources/economic-justice/fair-pay/african-american-women-wage-gap.pdf NationalPartnership.org
[2]Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Health Equity Considerations and Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups” ccdc.gov 24 July 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/health-equity/race-ethnicity.html
Two weeks ago, our nation’s 46th President Joe Biden woke up and, with our first woman Vice President Kamala Harris, brought our nation’s Congressional leadership – men and women of both parties, of various religious backgrounds – to a morning Catholic mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C. From that private, socially distanced mass, President Biden went on to take the oath of office on the balcony of the Capitol in a ceremony imbued with themes of Catholic Social Justice.
With so many challenges facing our nation, I cannot think of a more important time for Catholic Social Justice to take center stage, inviting people of all faiths or secular backgrounds to come together in this critical work of rebuilding our nation and guiding our way forward together. For too many years, racism, sexism, and growing economic inequality have been promoted by White House policy. In Congress, we’ve maintained the status quo with harmful repercussions for Black people, Native Americans, Latinx and AAPI communities, women, families and individuals on the economic margins, and all those with intersecting identities.
On Inauguration Day, the whole country witnessed speech after speech testifying to the value of caring for one another, especially those members of our community facing the most difficult circumstances. We also heard about the critical importance of caring for our planet, being active participants in our communities – what Pope Francis calls “meddling in politics,” and more. These values, inspired by principles of Catholic Social Justice, call us to put the common good above the benefit of any individual or small group. This is what is needed in our nation right now.
In his inaugural address, President Biden said, “Let us listen to one another. Hear one another. See one another.” In his own words, President Biden called us to what Pope Francis has been promoting for years – a culture of encounter. This is the culture fostered by Nuns on the Bus, traveling to different cities and states, meeting people and families and just listening to their stories. I invite you to listen to these stories, which we’ve shared over the years.
In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis writes, “The ability to sit down and listen to others, typical of interpersonal encounters, is paradigmatic of the welcoming attitude shown by those who transcend narcissism and accept others, caring for them and welcoming them into their lives. Yet today’s world is largely a deaf world…” As we move forward we must do whatever we can to change from being a world closed off from listening and meeting one another. We are called by our faith and patriotism to create something new. We are challenged to create a culture of encounter out of a culture of indifference. As President Biden said, “We must end this uncivil war… We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.”
However, it was quickly evident that for us Catholics the “uncivil war” does not just refer to the insurrection in the Capitol on January 6, 2021. It was also evident in the attack by Archbishop Gomez, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, on President Biden before he was inaugurated and then on Inauguration day itself. Archbishop Gomez’s actions were not endorsed by the Bishops’ conference and, in fact, have been criticized by many of its members. Pope Francis recently affirmed the Archbishop’s work on immigration reform. With the specific reference, it seems to me that there is an implicit critique of his attack on our new president.
In order to end this “uncivil war,” I believe that we at NETWORK need to continue our effort at encounter and listening. I know from listening to women across the country that the focus of some of our leadership on the criminalization of abortion does nothing to respond to many of their real needs. Let’s begin working to end the uncivil war by lifting up women’s stories and their real needs.
In her powerful inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb,” Amanda Gorman, our nation’s youngest inaugural poet and a young Black Catholic woman, declared, “We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.”
Now, we must come together to face our history and build anew. In the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic, economic crisis, and acting out of white supremacists, the time to boldly respond to the needs of the common good is now. We must ensure that all have access to health care. All people need to be able to feed, clothe, and house their families. We must dismantle structural racism and end white supremacy. This is the building anew that is called for.
We need a new imagination to create a way forward in these unprecedented times. What is old is not working and something new needs to emerge. But I have hope that we can meet this challenge. As Ms. Gorman concluded, “There is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”
Last week, during NETWORK’s January 2021 Legislative Webinar, Government Relations Associate Gina Kelley introduced NETWORK’s new policy agenda, the Build Anew Agenda.
The Build Anew Agenda is a response to NETWORK’s direct encounters with people and families as well as the direction of the country overall over the past several years. Year in and year out, we’ve seen how our society in the United States has been deliberately organized to benefit white people over people of color. This structural advantage occurs at all levels: the political, social, and individual.
The growing economic disparity and increasing individualism that results from maintaining our current racial hierarchy and economic inequality must end. As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, we are all connected to one another and our health, wellbeing, and lives depend on one another.
The Build Anew Agenda is our pathway forward to realizing our vision of a just and inclusive society.
Four cornerstones, based on the principles of Catholic Social Justice are the foundation for building our country anew in 2021 and beyond.
In meeting and listening to people and families across the country – engaging in what Pope Francis calls “a culture of encounter” – we at NETWORK have come to know that we must find a way to realize our vision of a just and inclusive society where all can thrive. This includes especially those most often left out: women, people of color, people on the economic margins, and those at the intersections of these identities.
Despite our divisions, we proclaim the truth that all people in the United States, together, make up one single community. Pope Francis says, “Hope would have us recognize that there is always a way out, that we can always redirect our steps, that we can always do something to solve our problems.”
I invite you to join in the work of supporting NETWORK’s Build Anew Agenda by advocating for federal policies that dismantle systemic racism, eliminate the wealth and income gap, improve the well-being of our communities, and allow all people to thrive. We must build anew across sectors, and across divides, to address injustice and disparities in our country
