Category Archives: Spirit Filled Network

Healthcare is a human right

The Forgotten Ones

The Forgotten Ones

Maria Gomez and Bibi Hidalgo
June 5, 2020

The majority of eligible Americans have now received stimulus checks through the CARES Act, except for the excluded workers — the forgotten ones — who we depend on in many facets of our lives. These forgotten — but essential — workers pick the ripe fruits we eat; they cook the warm meals at our favorite take-out restaurants; and they sanitize checkout devices at grocery stores late into the night so that we will be less afraid of COVID-19 when we shop. Regardless of their legal status, they disinfect our surroundings and feed us.

As one of the 1,400 Community Health Centers across the country that serves families below the poverty line, Mary’s Center in the Washington, D.C. region is on the frontlines of this crisis. We have seen the health and job insecurity that our nation now confronts through the eyes of the 60,000 adults and children we have served annually since 1988. Each day the people who reach out to us are seeking life-saving medicines, health care, shelter, food and income. Our telemedicine team ensures that line cooks and sanitation workers have access to hypertension and asthma medications. Our counselors talk with them when they experience emotional hardships. Thousands of people — 54,000 to be exact — had a total of 270,000 visits to our five centers in 2018 and that number is now growing significantly.

Across the U.S., community health centers serve 29 million people, which is close to 10 percent of the population. No hospital system in the U.S. serves a number that size. Yet as it stands today, millions of low-wage workers and their families are in danger of collapse, unless we can work together as a whole society — philanthropy and big business, local and state government, families and communities — to ensure everyone overcomes the COVID-19 crisis and that we build a more resilient society.

In the absence of a unifying government, we need to do this ourselves.

We can accomplish this by having federally qualified community health centers in major cities partner with business executives and philanthropies to create a national plan that will stem this crisis and help rebuild the country. Last week Congress passed another stimulus measure providing small businesses loans through the Paycheck Protection Program. It remains to be seen whether any of the small and micro-businesses in our community that hire our clients gain access to the program. Up until now that hasn’t been the case. In the meantime, their workers are facing the despair of day-to-day survival.

National nonprofits, foundations and government bodies are having urgent calls daily to determine how they can provide relief to community organizations in addition to any stimulus operating support. If the 2008 financial crisis is any lesson though, it is time we flip the script and have community organizations lead the national conversation about what is sorely needed.

Ten million families still lost their homes despite the 2.7 million families who benefited from mortgage modifications supported by the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program, which took a top-down approach to problem-solving. By the time resources arrived to community organizations providing housing counseling to Latinx and African-American families who had been misled by lenders to take out subprime mortgages, it amounted to table crumbs that did not leverage local knowledge of how to build trust, engage and serve the most economically vulnerable.

Community Health Centers across the nation are eager to collaborate with the private sector and state and local governments to find solutions. We can help large corporations track the patterns we see on the ground with the pandemic and the resources that are needed to rebuild communities and ultimately a robust economy. Pharmaceutical companies can ensure that frontline community health centers across the United States have a steady supply of diabetes, asthma and life-saving medications available. Health care distributors can ensure we have medical supplies, such as masks, bandages and thermometers.

Together with major grocery chains and wholesale companies, we can ensure that low-wage workers who did not receive a stimulus check have provisions to feed their families. By working together, we can create a stabilization supply-chain to feed, clothe and shelter the forgotten ones. The ones who are ultimately indispensable to you, me and all of us as a nation.

Maria Gomez is president and CEO of Mary’s Center, a Washington D.C. region Community Health Center, and Presidential Citizen Awardee @MarysCenter.

Bibi Hidalgo is co-founder of Future Partners LLC and served as an economic policy appointee in the Obama White House and U.S. Treasury @BibiHidalgo.

Originally published at TheHill.com.

What Can the New Deal Tell Us about our Future?

What Can the New Deal Tell Us about our Future?

Lee Morrow
May 18, 2020

We are at a national turning point. The coronavirus pandemic has decimated our economy, creating an unemployment level not seen since the Great Depression. We know that there will be long term impacts from this crisis, but we’re at a juncture where we have to choose: do we solve the problems of the past or double down on an economy that kills? To create an economic system that values all of our workers and provides for all in need, we will need a far-reaching legislative agenda. This is necessary and within reach. There will be a national struggle to create structural change. In order to better understand the obstacles that social justice advocates will face as we work for change, we must learn from past historical struggles that led to critical social justice legislation.

In the 1930s, our nation faced struggles that mirror our own today. In the Great Depression, unemployment reached 25%. There was collective agreement that federal policy could bring the economy back from the brink. The Democrats won the presidency and majorities in the House and Senate on a platform of relief, recovery, and reform. This platform became the New Deal. This vast package of legislation passed between 1933 and 1939 included laws that created the Social Security Administration, put people back to work through the Civilian Conservation Corps and Public Works Administration, invested in low income regions through the Tennessee Valley Authority and Rural Electrification Act, and reformed banking and labor through the Glass-Steagall Banking Act, National Labor Relations Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, and Securities Exchange Act which created the Securities and Exchange Commission. New Deal laws provided financial relief to individuals, employed millions, built nation infrastructure and public housing, protected labor, and regulated an out of control finance industry.

In hindsight, these massive legislative changes seem like common sense given the scale of the Great Depression. But at the time, there was push-back. Republican legislators were against the New Deal because of conservative anti-welfare ideology, but their influence was small due to Democratic majorities. In order to pass his legislation, President Roosevelt spent more time building coalitions of support within the Democratic Party. That included appeasing populist Democrats who wanted more wealth redistribution and labor protections, as well as joining forces with racist Southern Democrats who supported segregation. FDR’s choices have had far reaching consequences.

The President answered challenges from his left by proposing tax reform and supporting protections for labor unions. This pressure had a profound impact on federal policy, and to this day the right to organize labor is protected by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that FDR created. The President also chose to work with Southern Democrats to pass his signature New Deal policies, allowing segregationist legislators to include local control of new programs. This led to many of the most important New Deal programs being unavailable to people of color in Southern states. The impact of this choice can be seen today in our generational racial wealth gap.

FDR’s biggest obstacle to his New Deal was the Supreme Court. In 1935, the conservative majority court struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act and its Public Works Administration. In 1936, the justices struck down the Agricultural Adjustment Act and its ability to adjust crop prices. These laws were signature achievements of the New Deal, and the President initially attempted to pack the courts in order to nullify the threat. This backfired spectacularly, with bipartisan rebuke. These losses forced FDR to redouble his efforts to pass legislation that could withstand scrutiny by a conservative Supreme Court.

There are many lessons to learn from the New Deal era. The most obvious is that this historic package of legislation could not have passed without single party control of the government. Negotiations were still needed to gain support for the New Deal, but it never could have happened without Democratic majorities and a national mandate from the voters. Elections have consequences.

The second important lesson is that negotiations have long term impacts. By giving into the demands of Southern Democrats, FDR left people of color out of the New Deal recovery and set them back for generations. Progressive pressure also forced FDR to go further than he originally planned, with positive consequences for all working people. Deals with the devil must be fought against, and progressive pressure can make a difference.

The third lesson is that a conservative Supreme Court will attempt to stop legislation they believe goes too far. FDR’s initial plan to change the composition of the court was a failure. The only way around this threat is carefully crafted legislation and a strong legal defense.

These three lessons – that elections are critical, negotiations have consequences, and conservative courts will be an obstacle – are important learnings for our current moment.

We are months away from a national election in which control of the Presidency, House, and Senate are on the line. Depending on who wins that election, legislative negotiations will make or break our ability to protect vulnerable communities and respond to the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. And any legislation that is agreed to will have to pass the legal tests set by conservative courts.

It is our duty to learn from the past, work for the common good, and rebuild our nation for all people. To end this crisis and create an economy that reflects Catholic Social Justice, we need to embrace this challenge. We have the power to create a society that promotes justice and the dignity of all in the shared abundance of God’s creation.

NETWORK Activists Build Support for Mend the Gaps Agenda

NETWORK Activists Build Support for Mend the Gaps Agenda

Alex Burnett
May 12, 2020

During Congress’s February recess, over 100 NETWORK members visited 85 Congressional offices in 28 states. The purpose of these visits was discussing their Representative’s performance on NETWORK’s 2019 Congressional Voting Record. The 2019 Voting Record evaluated whether Members of Congress voted in accordance with Catholic Social Justice and NETWORK values. While we scored 10 votes in the House, we were unable to score the Senate, which took no substantive votes on Mend the Gap issues in 2019.

Many NETWORK members met and spoke directly with their Representative about their score. These justice-seekers emphasized the importance of federal legislation in advancing racial, economic, and gender justice. Additionally, they highlighted NETWORK’s work to mend our nation’s gaps in Washington, D.C. and across the country. In-district meetings like these help NETWORK members build relationships with their Representatives, which are critically important for NETWORK’s advocacy.

As a token of gratitude, Members of Congress who scored over 90% on our Voting Record received a congratulatory certificate. NETWORK members delivered these certificates to 72 Congressional offices in 27 states, marking the largest number of in-district visits organized by NETWORK in the past five years.

We are proud to celebrate elected officials who consistently demonstrated integrity in turbulent times. For Representatives with lower scores, NETWORK members urged them to prioritize their most marginalized constituents in 2020 and attempted to find common ground in our values moving forward.

Though NETWORK’s inability to score the Senate was frustrating, I felt beyond grateful for our members’ dedication and energy. I corresponded with 46 NETWORK activists in 10 states and felt frequently moved by their moral clarity.

NETWORK members across the country understood the importance of Congressional action, spoke urgently about the need for change, and relished visiting their Representative’s office. Your passion for justice gives me hope!

Alex Burnett is a 2019-2020 NETWORK Grassroots Mobilization Associate.

Sr. Johanna Rickl, CHM, Sr. Lynn Mousel, CHM, and Roberta Shadensack (CHM Associate) meet with Representative Loebsack (IA-02)

NETWORK member Karen Menzie spoke with Matthew Key, a staffer in Representative John Carter’s office (TX-31)

Sister Bernadine Karge, OP and Sister Benita Coffey, OSB with 100% voter, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09)

Gloria Romero Roses presents a 100% certificate to Raul Martinez Jr., Deputy Chief of Staff for Representative Donna Shalala (FL-27).

In Wisconsin, Margaret Wood presents Rep. Ron Kind (WI-03) with a 100% certificate.

100% voter Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) meets with Srs. Jeanie and Elaine Hagedorn, CHM and other constituents and justice-seekers.

Sister Phyllis Tierney, SSJ congratulates Rep. Joseph Morelle (NY-25) on his 100% voting score

Essential Workers Bill of Rights

Essential Workers Bill of Rights

Sister Emily TeKolste, SP
May 11, 2020

Gerri DiLisi, a NETWORK member in Lansdale, Pennsylvania wrote this Letter to the Editor which was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

As Pennsylvania reopens, we must protect anyone whose job makes them vulnerable to the coronavirus. The Inquirer reported that Philadelphia unions called for new city regulations, but we also need national laws. Our essential workers kept us going during this shutdown, leaving their homes so trash is collected, grocery stores are stocked, and children of other workers are cared for. But most essential workers aren’t being paid a livable wage and can’t access health care.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.) have introduced an Essential Workers Bill of Rights to ensure these workers access to health and safety protections, robust compensation, and paid leave. On behalf of the Southeastern Pennsylvania NETWORK Advocates Team, I call on Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey to support the Essential Workers Bill of Rights. Our workers have sacrificed for us, and it’s time for us to give back.

Gerri DiLisi, Lansdale

This Letter to the Editor was originally published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

COVID-19 Illustrates and Amplifies Racism

COVID-19 Illustrates and Amplifies Racism

Alex Burnett and Colleen Ross
April 24, 2020

NETWORK’s advocacy is rooted in ensuring all have what they need to live healthy, dignified lives. COVID-19 is a new, global challenge to this mission. Both the health dangers as well as the economic ramifications of COVID-19 are very real threats to human life, but these threats do not affect everyone living in the United States the same way.

Due to centuries of systemic injustice, people of color in the United States are experiencing additional hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our federal government’s response must take this into account and prioritize assistance for communities of color in ongoing legislation.

Higher Rates of Infection and Death for People of Color

Across Washington, D.C. and every state that has collected coronavirus data by race and ethnicity, people of color are suffering and dying from COVID-19 at higher rates than white people.

For the Black community especially, the number of people who have been infected with COVID-19 and died as a result of COVID-19 is vastly disproportional. Majority black counties have three times the rate of infections and nearly six times the rate of deaths as majority white counties, according to analysis done by the Washington Post. Data collected from the states by Mother Jones further illustrates the disparity for the Black community:

  • In Wisconsin, Black people represent 6% of the population and nearly 40% of COVID-19 fatalities
  • In Louisiana, Black people make up 32% of the state’s population but almost 60% of fatalities
  • In Kansas, 6% of the population is Black and yet Black people account for more than 30% of COVID-19 deaths

These higher rates of COVID-19 infection and death for the Black community are a direct reflection of the systemic racism present in our nation’s healthcare, housing, workforce, and society. Centuries of denying Black people access to quality health care, as well as other social determinants of health, have led to more Black people having chronic illnesses or underlying health conditions that lead to negative COVID-19 outcomes. COVID-19 is putting a spotlight on the deeply embedded racial inequities that impact health and well-being in the United States with or without a pandemic.

Workers of Color: Increased Risk, Cuts, and Unemployment

While many white professionals can work remotely during this crisis, a disproportionate number of people of color continue working public-facing, “essential” jobs. The Labor Department reported 30% of white workers and 37% of Asian American workers could work from home in 2017 and 2018, while 20% of Black workers and only 16% of Latinx workers could do so.

Despite anti-discrimination legislation, the U.S. labor market remains highly racially segregated, with more people of color in low-wage positions in health care, food service, childcare, public transportation, and shipping. Because these industries sustain the U.S. economy, “stay-at home” orders haven’t applied to their largely Black and brown workforces, meaning “essential” workers of color face heightened danger. According to a March 2020 report from the Economic Policy Institute, 80.3% of Black workers and 83.8% of Latinx workers cannot practice safe social distancing by working from home.

Within two months, the coronavirus crisis has left thousands of workers of color sick, dead, unemployed, and uninsured. In New York City, Black and Latinx people are dying from COVID-19 at twice the rate of whites, partially because many cannot work remotely. In majority Black cities and on Native American reservations, employers are firing workers of color at skyrocketing rates, leaving thousands without health insurance and income amidst a global pandemic.

Despite these circumstances, workers of color are leading movements for occupational safety and improved benefits. In Rhode Island, frontline healthcare workers, who are largely women of color, have repeatedly rallied for higher hazard pay, better personal protective equipment (PPE), and safer staffing levels. Amazon warehouse workers, who are primarily Black and Latinx, have organized numerous walkouts since the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, demanding safer working conditions. These movements demonstrate that workers of color are actively pressuring lawmakers and employers to mitigate COVID-19’s racist impact. As justice-seekers, we support these efforts and call for elected officials and business leaders to value people over profits.

Greater Economic Losses for People of Color

The COVID-19 virus is both a public health crisis and an economic one, and people of color are disproportionately affected on both counts. NPR found the U.S. March jobs data showed worse rates of unemployment for people of color, with the share of white people who are employed falling by 1.1%, while Black people had a 1.6% drop, Asian Americans 1.7%, and Latinos 2.1%.

Long term economic fallout from this crisis will likely hit communities of color hardest, expanding the already-significant racial wealth and income gap in the U.S. Hispanic, Black, and Native American families lost the most in wealth and income during the Great Recession, with homeownership and wealth never fully rebounding for these communities.

Now, the effects of economic downturn will impact communities of color again, both in the long term as well as the short term. In these uncertain times, families, especially families of color, are struggling to stay housed as well as put food on the tables.

For immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants and mixed-status families, the federal government’s response to COVID-19 has left them out. The CARES Act stimulus checks for individuals and families do not accept an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number), which prevents up to 20% of Latinx people from receiving this assistance, according to Orson Aguilar, executive director of UnidosUS Action Fund. NETWORK is advocating for Congress to extend this assistance to taxpayers using ITINs, and to include them in future financial assistance.

Both the short and long-term economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic must be taken seriously, and the racial realities must be addressed to prevent further growth of the racial wealth and income gap.

Escalation of Anti-Asian Racism and Prejudice

Following the emergence and spread of the COVID-19 illness, there has also been a rise in anti-Asian racism in direct words and actions. In the United States, racist incidents have been reported across the country. At the same time, President Trump and his administration have deliberately used incorrect, racist terms to refer to the virus. Using incorrect, racist terms instead of the official name for the virus: COVID-19 or the coronavirus, creates undue hardship and diverts attention and energy that needs to go toward protecting all people from illness and additional suffering.

This anti-Asian racism is not new, but a re-emergence of long-standing racism and xenophobia toward Asian Americans, many of whom have lived in the U.S. for centuries. Now, faith leaders and elected officials, as well as actors and athletes have stepped in to renounce this racism and call our nation to a more just, more inclusive way of being during this difficult time. Anti-Asian racism, whether from an average person or from the President, have no place in our response to this global pandemic.

Serious Risks for Incarcerated and Detained Individuals

Because coronavirus spreads through touching, coughing, and sharing close physical space, the pandemic is wreaking havoc on U.S. prisons and detention centers, where Black, Latinx, and Native American people comprise over 60% of the population. In many prisons, including the Federal Correctional Complex in Oakdale, Louisiana, administrators have not released people or implemented social distancing measures, putting incarcerated people at considerable risk of contracting COVID-19. Such inaction, combined with already widespread medical neglect and unsanitary conditions, caused hundreds of incarcerated people across the country to contract and die from coronavirus in March and April.

As of early April, in federal prisons, seven inmates have died of COVID-19, and almost 200 more inmates, as well as 63 staff, have been infected. Migrants detained in San Diego’s Otay Mesa Detention Center feel particularly afraid of dying from coronavirus-related medical negligence, citing lack of testing kits and soap, according to Buzzfeed News.

Disturbed that COVID-19 is exacerbating already unsafe medical conditions, incarcerated people and their allies are organizing for freedom, justice, and safety. In Michigan and Arizona, hundreds of cars rallied outside of prisons, demanding the immediate release of every incarcerated person. In Illinois, Pennsylvania, and California, incarcerated people and detained migrants launched hunger strikes to advocate for their release from medically unsanitary conditions. Thankfully, some of these activists have won victories. After a staffer at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts possibly contracted COVID-19, Mario Rodas Sr., an incarcerated migrant, worked with the ACLU to secure his release. The ACLU is litigating similar cases in Maryland, California, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

Additional Reading:

To learn more about the impact of the coronavirus on communities of color, we recommend the following:

Stop Blaming Black People for Dying of the Coronavirus
By Ibram X. Kendi published in the Atlantic April 14, 2020

4 reasons coronavirus is hitting Black communities so hard
By Eugene Scott, published in the Washington Post April 10, 2020

Latinos disproportionately dying, losing jobs because of the coronavirus: ‘Something has to change’
By Marco della Cava, published in USA Today April 18, 2020

How the coronavirus is surfacing America’s deep-seated anti-Asian biases
By Li Zhou, published in Vox April 21, 2020

The Economic Fallout of the Coronavirus for People of Color
By Connor Maxwell and Danyelle Solomon at the Center for American Progress, April 14, 2020

Mass incarceration could add 100,000 deaths to US coronavirus toll, study finds
By Ed Pilkington, published in the Guardian April 22, 2020

Understanding VAWA’s Importance for Native Communities

Understanding VAWA’s Importance for Native Communities

Laurel J. Robertson, Odawa Tribal Member
August 26, 2019

For a long time, I was really unaware of the severity of Indigenous missing, murdered, and abused women and girls in the USA and Canada until it hit close to home.

I was aware and appalled, as most are, by the large number of women and girls of all races who are affected by this tragedy. Then, my husband and I were invited to a walk in support of these women and girls on a nearby reservation. Under a canopy, pictures and stories were displayed of a few of the victims, both survivors and murdered. But most disturbing was the fact that most of these cases were unresolved. A short time after that, a friend of ours’ granddaughter was raped, beaten, and killed. Because our friend is a well-known and famous person, the killers were finally apprehended. But for average Indigenous families, the prospect of finalization and justice for their loved ones is not as certain.

So I started to study and read what I could find on the subject. As it stands, almost every Native woman will experience violence: 8 in 10 Native women will be raped, stalked, or abused in the course of a lifetime. Prosecuting these crimes is difficult. The vast majority (96%) of crimes against Native victims are committed by non-Natives. Due to a complex web of federal laws and statutes, tribes have long been unable to prosecute non-Natives who commit their crimes on tribal land.

The 2013 Violence Against Women Act reauthorization changed that — to some extent — by restoring tribal jurisdiction over non-Native perpetrators of domestic violence and dating violence. However, the 2013 bill excluded tribes in Alaska and Maine from this expanded jurisdiction and excludes non-domestic violence related crimes from tribal jurisdiction including child abuse, sex trafficking, rape, or murder.

I can go on with the statistics and numbers, but my emotions start to get involved. Tribal nations must also have the ability to advocate for their citizens living in urban areas. This courtesy is extended to all other sovereign nations. When a citizen is killed while living or traveling outside their nation, the nation is notified of their death and can advocate for their citizen’s case. This basic respect must be afforded to tribal nations. Currently, this is not extended, and rarely is a tribe notified or given access to the data regarding their tribal citizens.

All of these facts and numbers are accessible online from the National Congress of American Indians. The emotion is from the real life stories that have been lived and shared with me over the years.

I hope that drawing attention to the violence will help bring change.

Legislative Update

In April 2019, the House of Representatives passed an expanded Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). This VAWA reauthorization legislation would strengthen protections and expand access to justice to even more victims of abuse.

Key provisions of the 2019 House VAWA bill include: increased protections for unmarried victims from dating violence, expanded access to justice for Native victims of all crimes committed by non-Native perpetrators, and finally closing the “boyfriend loophole.” This legal glitch fails to extend for dating partners or former partners the prohibition on the purchase or possession of guns that is enforced for domestic abusers who are (or were) married, living with, or co-parents with the victim of abuse.

Unfortunately, partisan politics in the Senate has stalled further legislative action for this expanded VAWA reauthorization, placing victims in undue danger.

 

Mrs. Laurel J. Robertson is Secretary of the All Nations Veterans Council of Detroit, Treasurer of Turtle Island Dream Keepers of Monroe, Michigan, and a member of the Monroe County Community College Diversity Committee. Her tribal affiliation is Odawa.

This story was originally published in the July 2019 issue of Connection magazine. Read the full issue.

Building a New Vision for Our Democracy: The Importance of Voting Rights

Building a New Vision for Our Democracy: The Importance of Voting Rights

Senator Tom Udall
April 17, 2020

This reflection is part of our 2020 Lent Guide: Becoming Spirit-Filled Voters.

This season, before an incredibly important election, we must reflect on the state of our democracy. Democracy represents more than a system of government. It is the sacred affirmation that each voice matters equally in one nation — and that a representative government must be of, by, and for the people.

But today, the American people are losing faith in our democracy. They see the evidence with their own eyes as the wealthy purchase influence in political campaigns and drown out the voices of the people. Voting rights are under assault, foreign adversaries interfere in our elections, and so-called public servants use their offices to help themselves and their friends — instead of the people they are supposed to work for.

Our voices do count. Our voices count when we vote in each election, especially this year. And they count when we organize, march, and speak out about injustice.

But there is no doubt that our democracy is in a crisis.  Since coming to Congress in 1999, I’ve seen firsthand the corrosive influence that big money is having on our political system. The influx of unlimited contributions and secret donations into campaigns has fueled the hyper-partisanship we see across the nation, including in Congress.

Special interests try to dominate the political agenda, to the detriment of the common good. This has obscured the fundamental values that should define our work. Values like social justice. Feeding the hungry. Helping the poor. Making peace. And caring for our earth.

The money in our politics fuels a disconnect between what people in our democracy want and what Congress is giving them. The people want action on climate change. The people want universal, affordable health care. Economic justice and food security for families. Commonsense gun safety laws. And they demand that we welcome the stranger and treat immigrants as human beings.

These are priorities for the vast majority of Americans.  And there is a direct link between Congress’s inaction on these issues and barriers to the ballot box and our broken campaign finance system.

We live in a representative democracy. But Congress is not representing the people. The 1% are heard, while the other 99% are not.

In Congress, we are fighting for reforms to make our democracy work: increasing access to the ballot box, putting an end to the influence of secret money in elections, and raising the ethical bar in government.

The For the People Act (H.R.1) makes it easier to register to vote and to cast a ballot. In a society where special interests artificially widen and sustain our divisions, it has never been more important to ensure that each and every voice is heard. H.R.1 also returns our campaign finance system to the hands of the people, shining a light on secret campaign contributions and empowering small donors.

We need to put an end to the idea that money equals speech and reign in an out-of-control campaign finance system. And the only way to do that is to exercise our most fundamental and sacred democratic right — the right to vote.

Our democracy cannot be fully realized unless we, the people, vote. We deserve a representative democracy, with elected leaders who understand our concerns and are committed to fight for all voices to be heard. For our common values. And for the future of our democracy in this election and all the elections to come.

Senator Tom Udall represents New Mexico, and is a champion of restoring voting rights to marginalized groups for a more equal and just democracy. 

Pope Francis’s Easter Message of Hope and Dignity

Pope Francis’s Easter Message of Hope and Dignity

Colleen Ross
April 14, 2020

On Easter Sunday, in light of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis stated “this may be the time to consider a universal basic wage.” His message to members of social movements encourages those who are organizing at the margins, thanks them for this work, and calls attention to the inequality and disparities that already exist and are worsened by COVID-19.

We must do the same, underscoring the ways that coronavirus is increasing persistent racial and economic disparities in the U.S and calling for solutions.

In the past several weeks, we have seen a stark separation between those who can afford to “stay home and stay safe” and those who are forced to endanger their health by continuing to work to put food on the table for their families. We have seen coronavirus cases and deaths disproportionately affect Black and brown communities as a result of a combination of factors (access to health care, pre-existing medical conditions, poor air quality, and more) caused by racial segregation and discrimination in the United States.

Pope Francis’s Easter message to the world calls us to re-evaluate our economic response to this crisis and put human life and dignity at the center. Beyond that, he encourages us to reimagine our world after the pandemic, to renew and transform life for marginalized people and communities. He calls us to “shake our sleepy consciences” and “put an end to the idolatry of money.”

We know that all people have dignity and worth, regardless of income, race, or immigration status. At the same time, we see and hear the many ways that our economic system, systemic racism, lack of health care, housing, nutrition, and other basic necessities deny the dignity and life of our neighbors and family every day. Pope Francis’s call to consider Universal Basic Income is a prophetic call to value human life over profit.

May we be bold enough to follow this call, re-imagine our world, and re-order our communal life in the United States.

 

Read Pope Francis’s full Easter address to popular movements of the world.

A Holy Week Prayer for New Life

A Holy Week Prayer for New Life

Lisa Sharon Harper
April 6, 2020

As we journey through Lent, NETWORK members and supporters are reflecting and acting to become Spirit-filled voters in preparation for the 2020 Election. Lisa Sharon Harper contributed the following prayer to our Lenten toolkit.

We Pray

Holy God, hear our prayers.

We enter Holy Week wading through the disequilibrium of unknowing, the grief of friends and family lost and the terror that we could be next.

Righteous rage rises each day as primal screams greet televised propaganda telling us all is well when all is not well!

We see the sick and hungry and imprisoned, the immigrant, the naked and the thirsty waved off and told to fend for themselves.

We see our federal government investing in body-bags and refrigerator trucks for “the least of these”—not ventilators and hospital beds.

We are tempted to believe the kingdoms of men are too much for us — too much for you — God. But, the Resurrection… new life… breath… new bone… new muscle… a new way of being in the world… Resurrection is your promise.

If we do not believe in your power to raise the dead, then we have no faith at all.

God, gird us for the coming days. Set our faces toward the ballot box where your people might lift the only weapons we have in defense of the least of these—our votes.

Amen.

Lisa Sharon Harper is the Founder and President of FreedomRoad.us, an Auburn Theological Seminary Senior Fellow, and a speaker, writer, activist, and artist. Find her on Twitter at @lisasharper. 

 

Read the full Lenten toolkit “Becoming Spirit-Filled Voters”

Revisiting the History of Irish American Progressives

Revisiting the History of Irish American Progressives

Timothy Meagher
March 16, 2018

On this St. Patrick’s Day, when Republicans in Congress named Ryan and McCarthy mutter darkly about the corruption of the poor by big government, it is important to remember that for most of their history in America, most men and women with such names, Irish Catholics, embraced government and what it could do for them and others.  It was not because Irish American Catholics were unwilling to work hard, they were; or to live frugally, and put money in the bank, they did.  Yet as a people so poor, with no useful skills or capital, and confronting discrimination in the private marketplace (“No Irish need Apply”)  work and frugality alone  were often not enough for them to survive, much less prosper in America.  Private philanthropies, run by hostile elites, offered them little help: only “charity scrimped and iced,” as John Boyle O’Reilly, the editor of the Boston Pilot, wrote, “in the name of a cautious, statistical Christ.” Empowered by their voting numbers, many Irish American Catholics thus looked to government for jobs, and pushed politicians to provide the small services they needed to tide them over crises: coal in the winter; a place to live after a fire.

By the 1890s, however, as the second major depression in twenty years rocked the American economy, immigration escalated into the tens of millions, and festering slums spread throughout cities, politicians’ petty handouts and charities’ cautious penny pinching was no longer enough.  Reformers, bearing the new name “Progressives,” began to insist that the government address the problems of workers and the poor. These Progressives are often described as enlightened middle or upper class, WASP women and men awakening to the crises of the city.  Many of them were, but Irish American Catholic people and politicians became involved in this struggle too.  Newly powerful Irish American Catholic representatives in the New York New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Illinois legislatures fought for causes such as: a minimum wage, worker’s compensation, factory safety, and public housing.  In Oregon, Irish American Catholic settlement worker, Caroline Gleason, teamed with Fr. Vincent O’Hara to pass a minimum wage and maximum hours law for working women, the first in the country.  Meanwhile Irish Catholic women like Mary Shinnick and Elizabeth Moloney were in the forefront of fights for “mothers’ pensions” in Illinois and Massachusetts.

Twenty years later, more than fifty Irish American Catholics served in the House of Representatives at the high point of the New Deal and the vast majority consistently delivered strong support for the Roosevelt administration’s government relief, social security, public housing, and federal minimum wage legislation.  Meanwhile, veterans of Catholic Charities services, Jane Hoey and Mary Irene Atkinson worked in the Roosevelt administration, as Head of the Bureau of Public Assistance and Director of Child Welfare services respectively

This tradition would not end in the 1930s, but has endured among many to our own time.  It has drawn inspiration from Catholic Social Justice, from people like Monsignor John A. Ryan, for example, called “the Father of the Minimum Wage,” and from common good and anti-aristocratic themes in American and Irish republicanism.  For the most part, however, Irish American Catholics eschewed theories of left or right.  They were looking for practical solutions to concrete needs.  They had no fear that government help would somehow sap their commitment to work or self-improvement, but they could remember when a government’s failure had left a million of their relatives dead on the hillsides of a Famine-stricken Ireland.  They saw no reason, then, why a democratic government like the United States, should not help its people when they were in need.