OPINION
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The Chronicle
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Black church
can lead us
BY EMORY CURTIS .
In my area, another black church is packing up and following its
well-heeled parishioners to Ihe suburbs, where it will be housed in a
costly new edifice. As a result, the church leaves an area where the
black poor can Walk to its doors for an area where the black poor
need wheels to reach its doors.
Frankly, it won't make much difference to those poor who live
near the church. To them, the church was footsteps away but, in real
ity, in terms of non-religious services for the poor, the church was
miles away.
That's bad. As black middle-class residents who can afford to
leave the city for the suburbs, the institutions that serve them,
including churches, also leave and the problems of the left-out peo
ple in the area grows., '?*"
The new welfare rules with a time limit on cash assistance will
add to the problems of the poor. Being ptxir and living among the
poor leaves two outs for survival: take what you can when you can
or join with others in helping one another over life's humps.
Unlike many of you reading this column. I'm a child of the
Depression. During those times, being poor was the norm.
And in the communities I was familiar with, helping a family
over life's humps was the norm. Church on Sunday was always a
religious serv ice and an informal community meeting. In that infor
mal community meeting, people shared their experiences and word
about family successes and problems was passed around.
Historically, in hard times for us, the black church has served as
an internal and external lever. When needed, it brought us together
to focus on internal problems and it served as a megaphone to ampli
fy our words to the external world.
In the main, ministers were our leaders and they spoke out for us.
The white power structure couldn't shut them up by cutting off their
income, because they got their money from us.
During the 1950s and '60s. our churches and church leaders
were the solid rocks on which the Civil Rights Movement was built.
Ministers across this country were our spokespersons. After all,
churches were the only institutions that we had with facilities and
e leaders in every hamlet, town and city in this country.
t We don't need church leaders to speak out for us now: there are
plenty of us willing and able to speak clearly and loudly. However,
we do need for them to help make the areas where we live into
neighborhoods with a community spirit.
% Our churches are the only institutions under our control with that
?' capability. It won't happen overnight, but it can happen. We need to
. .start.
As a start, strange as ii may seem, a blueprint worth copying is
one of the services ihe Church of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons)
offers its members. The Economist (Feb. 16. 2002) reports how each
Mormon church has a welfare system that is operated and controlled
from that church, not by its hierarchy or (he government.
The system is simple and could be replicated by small churches
as well as by large congregations. There are two parts to their wel
fare system?collecting the money and dispensing it.
Each household in the church is asked to skip two meal month
and donate the cost of those meals to the church welfare fund for the
needy. Even a small church with about 2(X) families could amass a
tidy sum of almost $100,000 a year to help the needy.
The real key to the Mormons' local program for the needy is that
the funds are dispensed by a respected lay member of the church
who follows loose guidelines by the congregation.
Some church member may run into bad luck and need a week's
supply of food. That person sees the lay member in charge and gives
him/her a list of the items needed.
When the lay member approves the list, it is passed on to a local
supermarket to be filled at cut-rate prices or the grocery store may
fill the order as a donation. In any case, that family gets a week's
supply of groceries thanks to fellow church members.
A church member may have found a job. but can't take the job
because he/she has no transportation. Helping the member get a
used vehicle is a legitimate use of the needy-fund dollars.
Thai type of operation looks doable, even by small Churches.
Such an operation would help bond the church members together,
which is the first step in the making of a community.
Sometimes a member of the church wants to apply for a better
job but he/she doesn't even have decent clothes for the interview.
Certainly, members of the church could donate clothing for a clothes
closet where members could get clothes for an interview or even
wear to work until they get on their feet. If a few churches started
?such-an operation -in our areas, they would set a trend that could
bring helping people back into-style. -
Our black churches have led us through many years of trials and
tribulations. The increasing gap between those at the bottom of the
. economic laddef and those a few rungs up may be a harbinger of
tribulations ahead for us.
Emory Curtis can be reached at eccurtis@hotmail.com.
Correction \
A picture of gospel
singer Cynthia Wilson
Hollins was mislabeled in
The Chronicle's Black
History Month special sec
tion in February.
GOP BLESS.
Africa i
-foHEUWlTH i
era
Thank you for the
meaningful award
(Editor 's note: Philip Hanes
is one of the lifetime achieve
ment honorees for the upcoming
Chronicle community service
awards.)
To the Editor:
I want to thank The Chronicle
for recognition of my lifetime
association with - and admiration
for - its movers and shakers.
I am commissioner of cultural
affairs, whose position I am using
to finish my 50-year efforts to
rebuild our downtown. In this
redevelopment, many members of
the African-American community
have played leading roles - and
new players continue to pop up.
I'd especially like to credit a few:
? Walter H. Farabee. Doc
Farabee was director of work
force development when I asked
him if he would help me get major
funding from the Department of
Commerce EDA program for the
Stevens Center (which I saw as a
generator of nighttime activities in
our central business district). I
spent three days with Doc show
ing him Winston-Salem's per
forming arts scene. George Karas,
director of EDA, was so
impressed with Doc's presenta
tion on the arts of Winston-Salem
that he sat with his mouth open.
Doc finished his sales pitch with.
"Now. if you have any questions,
I'm sure my associate, Mr. Hanes.
can answer them." We got the
entire quota for the Southeast,
$2.25 million.
? Shedrick Adams was work
ing for (then-(Congressman Steve
Neal, who represented North Car
olina on the Appalachian Region
al Commission. We spent a lot of
time together and still get together
for lunch and political meetings.
Our application to the commis
sion generated $500,(XX) for the
Sawtooth Building and $83().(XX)
for the Stevens Center. Adams is
one of the most versatile folks I
know. One day he's helping Tom
and Almeta Poole of Meta's
' Restaurant as a busboy in apron
and shirt sleeves, and the next
night we are schmoozing in coat
and tie at John Davis' home with
senatorial aspirant Erskine
Bowles or presidential aspirant
Sen. John Edwards.
? Patrick Hairston. When he
was a leading officer of the Team
sters and president of the NAACP,
he, along with Don Elijah, head of
the Urban League, wrote two
marvelous letters to the editor of
the Winston-Salem Journal which
1 used in D.C. to raise over $4.25
million for the Sawtooth Building.
Winston-Square and Stevens Cen
ter. Hairston has helped me on
other projects as well - and Char
lotte and I won't forget the night
he cooked chitlins for us in his
home.
Over the years I have worked
on many projects with some won
derful friends whom I'd like to
list, hoping I don't forget too
many: Inez Davis. T. Diggs. Vir
ginia Newell. Velma and Roland
Watts. Adam and Gerald Scott.
James Shaw. Tom and Almeta
Poole, Don and Giselle McMil
lan. Rev. Jerry Drayton. Nigel
Alston. Harold Martin. Richard
Davis. Mel Tomlinson. Kenneth
Williams. Sam McMillan. Mar
lowe Foster, Joycelyn Johnson.
Larry Leon Hamlin. Bill and
Vivian Turner. Marshall Bass and
Annie Brown Kennedy.
I see new leadership joining
the old in our downtown and look
forward to working with them:
Harold Martin. Joycelyn Johnson.
Virginia Newell. Rev. Jerry Dray
ton, Marlowe Foster. Shedrick
Adams, and Lafayette Jones.
All of these see the impor
tance of the arts and entertainment
effort to bring life to our down
town.
What's most impressive is that
most of the projects we've
worked on together have involved
no real committees or "powers
that be" in the accomplishment.
We just set about it and did it.
Thank you gain for this most
meaningful award.
Best regards,
R. Philip Hanes Jr.
Congratulations
on going online
To The Editor:
Congratulations on going
online with The Chronicle.
Although we still get The Chroni
cle in the Dallas Metroplex, it's
nice to be able to log onto the
computer during the day and read
The Chronicle. Reading The
Chronicle is the source we count
on to eliminate our homesickness.
It's almost as though we are still
there every week wnen we read
The Chronicle. I suspect the mail
carriers read our Chronicle too
because sometimes when we get
it. it looks like it's been read
already. We're doing well in Texas
but still miss all our friends in
Winston. We talk to the Biggs
weekly and I talk to Rev. (John)
Mendez once a month, so we're
still part of the Emmanuel family.
Anyway, congratulations on
going online.
Willie and Yvonne Booker
McKinney, Texas
'John Q'and health care revisited
Jesse Jackson
Guest
Columnist
While I do not condone
committing crimes in order to
receive needed health care. I
applaud the central message
in the movie "John Q." I
believe this message illumi
nates the plight of uninsured
and underinsured Americans.
Too often we believe that
those persons who do not pos
sess health insurance are lazy
and are not looking for work.
Although America should pro
vide universal health care for
all citizens, this movie dis
cusses the lack of health care
for persons who are between
jobs and those who are
employed but underinsured.
How many readers of this arti
cle possess- -catastrophic
health care insurance, let
alone standard health insur
ance?
According to the Centers
for Disease Control, United
Network for Organ Sharing
and The National Transplant
Assistance Fund:
? 16 patients die in the
United States each day while
waiting on a potentially life
saving transplant operation.
? 5.000 patients died in the
United States in 2000 waiting
for an organ transplant.
? 80.000 people become
disabled each year as a result
of a catastrophic brain or
spinal cord injury.
? 5.5 million people in the
United States live with a dis
ability caused by a brain
injury.
In the United States there
are 45 million uninsured peo
ple. Of the 45 million people
without health insurance, 36
million people are in families
with one or more workers.
The National Center for
Policy Analysis reports that
"although it is common to
think of the uninsured as hav
ing low incomes, many who
lack insurance are solidly
middle class. The largest
increase in the uninsured in
recent years has occurred
among higher-income fami
lies. Ahout one in seven unin
sured persons lives in a fami
ly with an income between
$50,000 and $70,000."
All of us have the potential
to be John or Jane Q.
It was within our country's
means to provide health-care
insurance for every man,
woman and child in America
when we had a trillion-dollar
surplus. But what did we do
with it? We gave it to the rich.
U.S. Rep. John Conyers
has sponsored Medi-Access
Plan H.R. 2426, which would
provide health insurance to
most uninsured Americans by
expanding, amending and
strengthening Medicaid. It
takes a critical first step in
ensuring that all uninsured
low-income Americans have
reasonable amounts of health
care protection.
The lack of health care in
America is broadening the
divide between the haves and
have-nots. The lack of health
care in America is not about
black and white. It is about
understanding the true mean
ing of "compassionate-conser
vative." Clearly, it means hav
ing compassion for our
nation's economic elite, rather
than the mass of America's
working class and middle
class that lack basic health
care.
The Bush administration
must understand that honor
and value are determined by
how we treat the least of
these.
Do we lift hoats stuck at
the bottom of (he sea or add
luxury items to yachts'?
Keep hope alive!
Jesse L. Jackson Sr. is
founder and president of the
Chicago-based Rainbow/Push
Coalition.
w . . ... , , *" Photo courtesy of New Line
Kevin Connolly, Kimberly Hue and Denzel Washington in "John Q." '