Preach, Doug
“Political. That’s my impression of the work of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, based on its executive summary. Especially the recommendations, which borrow heavily from the vocabulary of “progressive” politics… For all its pretense about taking a balanced view of Nov. 3, 1979, the commission embraced the social and political aspirations of the Communist Workers Party participants and turned its wrath on the city of Greensboro…”
“Nor do I think an official conspiracy brought this about. While the report states “no evidence” of such a plot has been found, “the majority of commissioners believe there was intentionality” anyway. Wasn’t the point of this exercise to support conclusions with facts?”
“What emerges more strongly is commissioners’ solidarity with the victims…”
“…no one with any responsibility for that day’s bloody blunders deserves to be made a martyr…”
OMG, y’all. What he said.
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In Memoriam: May 29, 2006
In Memoriam: May 29, 2006
In honor of those who have died in the service of the United States of America:
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13
“…I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.”
Jeremiah 31:13
A prayer for our troops, at home and abroad:
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the LORD, who is my refuge-
then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
Psalm 91
Listen: “You Have Made Me Glad,” Darlene Zschech
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Things Are Not Always As They Seem
Things are not always as they seem. My first impression of Jeff Phillips was that he was born on third base. Tall, blond, healthy, athletic, happily married, involved father, intelligent, educated, successful businessman, charming, funny, dedicated to serving others, and a committed Christian. But his all-American, affluent, happy, “together” life belied the childhood behind him, as he later shared with me, and which he shared publicly in today’s News & Record:
By the time Jeff Phillips was 17, his mother had been married seven times. One husband committed suicide, and another, an alcoholic, died in a car accident. Yet another went to prison for stealing cars. Phillips never met his own father until he was 12, and their relationship remains distant.
The article tells about MOVE, a men’s group that Jeff started: “We want to encourage businessmen to become better leaders at home, first with their wives and children, and from there, to become better leaders in their communities.” Jeff is also one of the leaders of the Night Watch street outreach ministry to the homeless in Greensboro, which is how we met and became friends. And I didn’t even know until I read the article that Jeff’s mom is now running a homeless ministry in Winston.
Jeff and I, and the Night Watch team members, share a love for the homeless and the hurting, and a deep faith in the power of Jesus to heal and restore broken lives. Like Jeff’s. (And like mine.) And we share a love of laughter. A lot of people don’t know that when you do homeless ministry, you have to learn to laugh a lot, so that you don’t cry all the time. Jeff makes me laugh. I’m thankful for Jeff.
“I thank my God every time I remember you… because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now…” (Phil. 1:3-4)
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Nov. 3 To Me
I was involved with the GTCRP for about a year or so, beginning in January 2003, as part of a grad class at UNCG, and this post on Ed Cone’s blog prompted me to go back and skim through the many related emails and papers I still have saved on my hard drive. Somewhere I also have a box full of handwritten notes and papers from all the meetings I attended.
I spent months reading, writing, discussing and thinking about November 3, 1979. I saw the documentaries and read the books. City Council member Florence Gatten met with our class in Professor Spoma Jovanovic’s living room to discuss Gatten’s opposition to the GTCRP. A few of us met with Mayor Holliday at Cup A Joe on Tate Street (now gone) to talk about Nov. 3rd and Holliday’s concerns about how the GTCRP’s plans might affect Greensboro. I interviewed Art League from GPD about his experiences on Nov. 3rd. I created the GTCRP’s first web site (no longer online.) And I first saw (but didn’t actually meet) Ed at a Task Force meeting and read his blog for the first time after receiving a (group) email from him. So I guess that was my first “blog” experience. 
I have a lot of thoughts and memories connected to the GTCRP. I learned a lot. About people. About Greensboro. About myself. I wish everybody well.
And on November 3, 1979? I was a junior high student in Greensboro, but honestly, I remember very little about it other than brief glimpses of the TV news footage, which my parents didn’t want us to see, and hearing kids at school say that “the Klan and the Commies had a shootout” and some people got killed.
[After reading the stories of Jim, Bill, Mike, Sandi and Cesar, and getting to meet Nelson and Paul and Sally and Signe, it feels disrespectful and weird to even write out my vague memories of “some people” getting killed, but I’m just being honest about what I remember.]
Related: Read the GTRC’s report here.
Note: Nov. 3rd and the GTRC’s report is such a huge issue right now locally — in the news, on blogs and in conversation — that it was kind of hard to not blog about it, so I did. And indirectly, it’s related to homelessness (my blog theme.) During my involvement with the GTCRP, I also met the folks who were preparing to open the Beloved Community Center’s Hospitality House for the Homeless, which has now been open for a while and offers breakfast and free hot showers to homeless folks in Greensboro. 
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Epiphany Over Coffee: One Rock At A Time
Weary of warring opinions, frowning and frustrated over the diametric conclusions reached by the audience of experts I’d consulted in the day’s study of homelessness and poverty, I dropped the offending texts on the cold metal cart and escaped to the sanctuary of the library coffee shop with a bookish friend, to whom I bared my grrrr-ridden soul.
And somewhere in our discussion about homelessness and outreach and solutions and plans, I felt my own perspective shift slightly, and thinking out loud, I said:
“We need to stop calling it homelessness. We need to get rid of that umbrella term, ‘homelessness,’ and just address the core issues, because it’s different for different people. When I see an addict with bipolar disorder, I tell them they’re never going to stay sober until their illness is addressed, because the mental illness is the core issue. And it’s the same thing with homeless people. I know that a homeless person is never going to stay housed until their core issues are addressed, whatever those are for them. Homelessness is not the problem. Homelessness is just a symptom of some other larger problem or problems. We need to start labeling it by the core issues — mental illness, substance abuse, criminal history, domestic violence — whatever it is, and stop just saying homelessness, because it’s not about just not having a home. It’s about why they don’t have a home or why they can’t keep one.”
Now, this might not seem like much of an epiphany to you. And really, the thoughts I expressed were not new to me. But somehow, just verbally and publicly acknowledging that this thing called “homelessness” is NOT really about not having a home has made me feel a little lighter somehow. Like breaking the mountain down into rocks makes it more manageable if you need to move the mountain from here to there. So, you know, one pebble at a time, right?
And if I sound a little ferocious in this post, it’s because I’m kind of feeling that way today. I do homeless outreach because I LOVE the homeless folks I minister to. This fight, to end homelessness, is a passion for me, but it’s REAL LIFE for my friends on the street. I study and learn and go and do and try and fail and regroup and keep going because there are still homeless people sleeping on the street tonight. They are there because of serious, overwhelming issues in their lives. But I believe that we are all connected, and their fight is my fight and your fight, too. And their issues are our issues. So one rock at a time, until we move this mountain.
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Experts Divided… Me, Too
Doing research today, at the library. Reading a collection of scholarly articles entitled Poverty: Opposing Viewpoints. Experts divided. No easy answers. Just like real life.
* * * * *
:: Poverty stems from a lack of individual responsibility.
:: Work is not enough. Wages are not high enough and housing costs too much, which leads to poverty.
* * * * *
:: Homelessness is a serious problem for the poor and leads to poor health, hunger, anxiety and depression.
:: “Homeless” is just a euphemism for lazy, addicted or insane. “Bums will not become model citizens if they are suddenly presented with the keys to a home.” [Read the original article online here.]
* * * * *
:: Hunger is a serious problem for America’s poor. A 2000 USDA study says that 1 in 10 households don’t have enough to eat; 1 in 5 kids go hungry; emergency food requests are increasing and people are having to choose between food and rent or medical care.
:: A DHHS survey says that 96% of American families say they have enough to eat, 3% say they sometimes don’t and just 0.5% say they often don’t have enough to eat. Nearly half of the people who claim they lack food are overweight, and the average poor 10-year old boy is an inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than a middle class 10-year old boy in the late ’50’s. Most poor Americans’ diet-related problems are from over-consumption. Half of poor adult women are overweight vs. just 1/3 of non-poor adult women. Obesity is most common among poor children.
* * * * *
It’s no surprise to me that people don’t agree on politics or religion. But I do find it frustrating that even the experts can’t agree on the basics of poverty and homelessness. Does everything have to be controversial and complicated? (Yes, that’s rhetorical…) It’s hard to find a solution when you’re still stuck defining the equation. With no end in sight. 
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Homeless Scam: Women Collect Millions from Deaths of Homeless Men
From CNN:
“The ties between two elderly women and a homeless man killed in a hit-and-run were strong enough to raise police suspicions five years ago, but it took a second death with eerie similarities for police to make arrests. Helen Golay, 75, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 73, were charged last week with eight counts of federal mail fraud for collecting more than $2 million from policies they held on the two homeless men, Paul Vados and Kenneth McDavid.”
Hearts of darkness.
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