Читать книгу At the Roots, Reaching for the Sky - John Pachak - Страница 4

The key to the whole of life is to be able to put oneself in the second place.

Turgenev

I am a white guy. I have a Master’s Degree in Social Work. I was a member of the Catholic Church and still believe in the tenets of Christianity. I worked with families and children in neighborhoods in the city of St. Louis, Missouri for nearly 40 years. I don’t believe in a “colorblind” society. In fact, I think we should notice the color of our neighbors and celebrate our differences. I don’t think America is a melting pot where everyone blends together. I don’t think it’s a mosaic of many-colored tiles without a plan for the design. I think America is a vegetable stew, without meat, so no ingredientreceives more attention.All the many types of vegetables add their own flavor and color and the juice or gravy helps tie it all together as a unique dish. America is this dish of people of many colors, religions, origins, and languages and the sauce of America is democracy and hope. I tell you this so my story of people coming together to create a peaceful community has a context. Also, I describe myself because in America race and class are what most divide us.

WORKING TOGETHER

My wife Joyce and I had the opportunity to work in St. Louis, Missouri city neighborhoods for more than 35 years. North of downtown in Cochran Housing projects, far north in an oppressed and ignored neighborhood, or in a mid-city part of town, we were able to meet and be with families and children nearly every day of those years. We were very fortunate to have such an opportunity. It was what we hoped to do with our lives.

We graduated from St. Louis University School of Social Work. We received our Master’s degrees in Social Work and immediately went to work. I spent one year working as a VISTA volunteer--Volunteers in Service to America, the program before AmeriCorps--at the Missouri Public Interest Research Group. When Joyce graduated, she began at the agency where she had completed a practicum. We were excited to be “in the field” and truly tired of school.

After my year as a VISTA volunteer, I joined Joyce at the United Church of Christ Neighborhood Houses (UCNH) where we worked for more than 10 years. There we engaged children, teens and senior adults using social group work. The goal of our work was to help children and youth develop the social skills they needed to succeed in a world which would not be favorable to them. I spent some time managing and providing social services in a Section 8 senior and family housing complex called Lafayette Towne. I also helped open a new site for UCNH, in a near south St. Louis city neighborhood, where I returned to group work.

After 10 years at the “Neighborhood Houses” I left and found a job at Catholic Charities of St. Louis. I became director of an “outreach” center. A few months later Joyce joined me to provide social group work in this new community. Yes, we worked together at both agencies and spent our lives together sharing in the most wonderful of journeys.

Our time at the Neighborhood Houses was a valuable learning experience and we met hundreds of wonderful children and teens. Leaving that job to work at Catholic Charities provided an opportunity to develop our own approach to people, programs to address their needs and an opportunity to treat people as we believed they should be treated.

Love is the suffering

of making another person’s problems

more important than your own.

Anonymous

THE BEGINNING

The journey began as we worked with families and children in a Southern/Midwestern city--Southern in attitude, Midwestern by location. We were with mostly African American families and children in one of the most segregated and racist cities in America. We saw their daily struggles and their capacity to cope. We experienced the happiest of moments with our neighbors, and some of the saddest imaginable. Every day we saw what poverty and racism could do to people, but we also saw an extraordinary amount of resiliency, self-determination and grace. We found people living happy lives amidst the struggle to survive the violence of poverty. We met people who were able to find the strength to trust us, although they had been hurt so often by white people. We found anger and hostility, at times, but more often friendliness and generosity beyond belief.

I often gave a tour of the neighborhoods we served to new staff, students, volunteers and board members. The tour included a description of the neighborhoods, their demographic make-up and the way people of different backgrounds interacted. At the end of the tour I would tell the “tourists”, although poverty was prevalent and people came for help, lack of income and opportunity was but one aspect of their needs.

The people we met through our work carried two burdens. The first burden was whatever need was created by their level of income. The other, much heavier burden was how they were thought of by other people. Although it was hard for people to ask for help, it was even harder if the person they were asking did not see the second struggle. We had to see the second struggle! When people are blamed for the “bad” things happening in their neighborhood, when their neighbors avoid them on the street and when other people’s prejudice is their daily experience, it is hard to trust, anger simmers under the surface, and frustration is a justifiable feeling.

The place we spent more than 25 years was called MIDTOWN. There we were able to build an organization dedicated to helping people--always with dignity and respect. We were able to help our neighbors begin to understand everyone had something to contribute. We worked hard to help people trust their contribution was just as important as anyone else’s. We helped people overcome the fear that other people were more important. We constantly pronounced--if you had a college education or were trained on the streets, if you grew up in the country in Mississippi or lived in a city, if you are white or black, male or female, everyone’s experience was valid and sharing a wide range of experiences made life better.

Through our work we tried to discover what is important in the lives of people. We wanted to be with people who had different backgrounds and experiences and try to learn how much that mattered. Because of this, the status quo was always called into question. Should we expect people to behave differently than what was normally expected? Should we challenge people to live out a Christian perspective on relationships? Should we help people with their material needs because they were poor? Ultimately, I think the norms of American society are like Jesus answer to the question about paying taxes—he basically seems to be saying, who cares about taxes, that’s not what’s important, pay them if you must, but remember I am teaching how to love God by loving your neighbor.

THE NEIGHBOR

One way we communicatedwith neighbors and supporters was through our newsletter called The NEIGHBOR. The newsletter was produced about ten times per year from 1993 to 2016. I wrote feature articles challenging thoughts and ideas. The newsletter included an update on programs to inform neighbors of upcoming activities and the results of past efforts. Good News from the Neighborhood told of positive happenings in families, with volunteers and donors. This included births, weddings, college admissions, new jobs, new donations and volunteer efforts. Upcoming events told neighbors and others about special activities such as the annual Family Fun Fair or monthly health luncheons. “Perfect” attendance in social growth and development groups was listed each month for children, teens and adults. This page of names was key to getting everyone to read the newsletter. Each month, children, teens and adults searched for their name in the attendance columns.

The NEIGHBOR was distributed to families involved in programming, taken on home visits to new families, placed in local churches and made available to supporters. Articles reminded everyone about our mission, gave people new ways to think about each other and provided hopeful reminders of all the good things we found in our neighbors. The NEIGHBOR was a key element in reflecting what our neighbors brought to our community. The newsletter was a way we connected to each other and provided hope. Throughout this book articles from The NEIGHBOR will be used to illuminate our story.

This article from The NEIGHBOR reinforces this thought and talks about how oppression can be overcome.

The NEIGHBOR UNTO CAESAR SEPTEMBER 2006

The “zealots” of Jesus’ time wanted him to be a revolutionary leader who would throw off the yoke of the Roman Empire. They expected Him to be political and militant because the Jewish people were oppressed by a ruthless military government. The question is, “did they get the revolution Jesus was offering?”

Between the Vietnam War and the War in Afghanistan, what have we learned? Knowing war is wrong, torture is evil and people can be corrupted has not transformed us. Corresponding actions such as protests, letter writing and voting have not helped us be more human. The nation is at war with terrorists instead of communists, torture is being used as a weapon and war profiteers are stealing the people’s money...again. Would Jesus have protested, or continued to heal, preach and live among the poor and oppressed?

When Jesus taught about loving God and neighbor, he was not speaking in the abstract. Jesus loved his apostles, laid hands on the sick, blessed and shared food with thousands and went door to door spreading good news. The revolutionary power of love was intended to change hearts and minds.

Sharing the energy of the Spirit of Jesus with each human being we meet is really hard to do. Positive results require a long-term commitment to a very slow process. It is not exciting, front page news, to care for each other—but it is what makes us most human.

Who knows where we would be if between the Vietnam War and the War in Afghanistan energy and focus had been on changing communities by being compassionate neighbors? If churches again became places of Christ and had doors open to all, blessed and shared food as much as prayer, healed the sick and went door to door spreading the Word, what would be different?

Caring for our brothers and sisters directly, and every day, could lead us to a just society and world. Other approaches have not moved us forward. We must decide between fighting against war or moving toward love of God and neighbor. Revolution of the heart can bring peace to us all.’

I can help you accept and open yourself mostly by accepting and revealing myself to you.

Anonymous

No One can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Eleanor Roosevelt

UNDERSTANDING OPPRESSION/ENDING OPPRESSION

While I understand white privilege has created a society which is oppressive to African Americans, I believe African Americans have shown us a way through oppression to a just society. To become like the oppressor, only leads to more oppression. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others who struggled for civil rights knew this. Over and over again, MLK, Jr. preached how “violence begets violence”. Choosing a nonviolentapproach for the movement meant African Americans would work toward justice by treating their oppressors as human beings. No matter what white people did to black people during the struggle, members of the movement would not return it as “an eye for an eye”. Dogs, hoses, batons and vile language used to attack nonviolent protestors, were met without physical, verbal or spiritual violence¹. People in the movement had to agree to this.

In Ferguson, Missouri, the protests against the murder of an unarmed teenager by the police, reminded everyone what happens with even the appearance of violence. Peaceful protesters were associated by police with others who started fires and were looting. The police responded as if the protesters were doing something wrong--the tear gas flew and tanks began to roll. The protesters had every right as Americans to protest the overstepping of the state. Instead, they were treated like people we have seen in other countries, who do not have these civil rights. To be afraid to be killed by the police because of the color of your skin, “hands up, don’t shoot” --is a stain on liberty and justice. To have to proclaim, “Black Lives Matter,” is a measure of where African Americans stand as citizens.

The civil rights movement was about more than the fair treatment of African Americans. MLK, Jr. and others knew they were about the radical change of American society. As Christians, they believed in the commandments of Jesus—to love God and love your neighbor. In the way they responded to their oppressors, they represented not only how they should be treated as human beings, but how all Americans, and people across the world should be treated. This message became clearer to many Americans. I believe this message lead to the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.--a horrifying way to preserve the status quo.

Many of the families we served were led by mothers and grandmothers who had moved from the south during the Great Migration² . While living in the south, people had learned to avoid or negotiate with the people who might hurt them. After moving to northern industrial cities, they had to learn this all over again. The cities were places where there were so many more people who could hurt them. They found institutions had incorporated racism into their business. However, people found ways to cope with prejudice and racism and still live happy lives.

Many, if not most white people, feel very little guilt about slavery, nor do they want to take responsibility for the trauma it has caused nearly 45 million Americans. White people do not understand how poverty, Jim Crow, lynching, and “hands up, don’t shoot” have affected people who are their neighbors. This is how oppression continues. When one group of people does not learn or care about another group, who are treated as if their value is not the same, two societies develop. As long as the oppressor is able to maintain their comfort, they are satisfied. When threatened, things happen to put people back in their place.

SOCIAL MOBILITY

Social mobility is the concept of individuals making progress in society through education, economic opportunity and social experience. Throughout this story I will talk about how we believed individuals who understood how to cope with a society fraught with endemic racism would have a stronger presence in the communities in which they lived. This was the way we sought to build stronger communities. This is how we believed social mobility would become possible for those we served. Poverty limited not only opportunity, but its companion, experience.

We knew we had to help our neighbors learn what their grandparents knew about prejudice and racism. It was helping children learn in youth programs to sit up straight, wait for a turn, follow directions, get along with peers and respect teachers. If they did, they would have a better chance to learn in failing schools. To not be able to do these things meant teachers would stop teaching them and blame them for not learning. In our work readiness program, we had to help African American participants learn to get along with white people in a work setting. We had to talk about conforming to the expectations of work in a mostly white environment. Whether that was changing appearances to fit expectations or learning how to get along with white interviewers, bosses and co-workers, we wanted people to be prepared upon entering this predominantly white work world.

The opportunity to move from poverty to the working class, or from the working class to the middle class, has been in decline for decades. This economic mobility, which began in the 50’s, is in decline because wages have not kept pace with the cost of living. In the 1950’s and early 60’s, soldiers coming back from World War II and the Korean War could find factory jobs or those in manufacturing to support their family. With the help of unions, these jobs provided the income needed to move from the working class into the middle class. My wife Joyce’s family is an example of this. Her father worked in factories in Cleveland, Ohio, all of his life. Joyce and her six brothers and sisters experienced a middle-class upbringing.

The GI Bill gave soldiers the opportunity to go to college. My father was the first in his family of immigrants to attend college. After he graduated, he was able to attain a job in middle-management at a women’s clothing manufacturing company in Kansas City, Missouri. His job allowed him to provide an upper-middle class lifestyle for me and my brother and sister.

The closing of factories in the U. S., and the efforts to lessen the strength of unions, made economic mobility for new workers practically non-existent. With the downsizing of companies in the past two decades, middle-management jobs have all but been eliminated. Families are forced to survive with lesser income.

Social mobility has suffered the same setbacks. Some groups of people are socially unacceptable. They may be new immigrants who are trying to make their way into and through a new culture. Primarily, though, the group excluded from social mobility is African Americans. Our primary goal was to help our neighbors practice behaviors which would help them overcome some of the prejudice they faced.

When we discussed how white people felt about others washing their cars on the street in front of their homes, or groups of people hanging out on the stoops (stairs) in front of their houses, we were not trying to say white people were right. We were suggesting that making a choice to do these things would satisfy their neighbors and show them how the “better” person behaves. It is unfortunate and wrong that African Americans have to bear the burden of prejudice and racism.

Our work was not about telling African Americans they needed to be “like white people,” but discussing the reality of America. We let people know we did not agree with this reality, nor did we accept how people were treated. We wanted the people coming to MIDTOWN to know we believed in loving our neighbors and would do the best we could for anyone who came to us.

SOCIAL LIBERATION

I met thousands of African Americans over the nearly 40 years I worked in St. Louis. I would have to say there is something special about the people I met. They were more generous, patient, concerned about their neighbors, non-judgmental and willing to work with white people than I ever expected. Maybe the pain of slavery and its aftermath has made them a different kind of people. I know they are willing to forgive this American “original sin” and move forward as complete members of our society. I think there is much more African Americans can teach other Americans about life and living. What we as white people must do is repent the sin of slavery, seek forgivenessand repair our relationships with the descendants of slaves.

I learned this about African Americans through nearly forty years of relationship-building and nearly 20 years of community organizing and development. Although initially our goal had been to work with our African American neighbors to help increase opportunities for social mobility, our efforts changed to include working toward Social Liberation. Unlike social mobility which requires conformity, social liberation goes to the root of our divisions: class and race. This would mean our neighbors could work on the issues most directly causing the stagnation of social mobility.

The efforts to fight gentrification in two neighborhoods, where neighbors and staff stood together against the sponsors of redevelopment, helped the people we served find their voices and use them with great strength. Staff had the opportunity for solidarity with our neighbors. Small business development and the formation of two non-profit, community-based corporations, helped our neighbors become the controlling partners of efforts in their own neighborhoods.

NOTES

98% of the guests who visited MIDTOWN were members of African American families. In no way do I consider the experience of all African Americans to be the same. Nor do I believe African Americans and white people who live in poverty have the same experiences. I did find the experience of people who are poor limited by their income and opportunities. In this book I talk about and tell stories of the people I met and with whom I developed positive human relationships. Almost all of these relationships were with African American neighbors in mid-city St. Louis.

When I use “people”, “neighbors” or “guests,” I am speaking of low-income individuals and families who came to MIDTOWN. 89% of the people who came to the agency had incomes under $12,000 per year. Everyone who received help and support had an income below the federal poverty guidelines which currently puts poverty for a family of four at slightly more than $25,000 annually. I do not like to use the words “poor people” to describe our neighbors. Although everyone struggled financially, I would not describe people as “poor” whose culture, tradition, resilience and generosity were expressed daily.

Although I developed MIDTOWN’S program ideas and plans, I certainly did not implement anything without the help of Joyce, staff, volunteers and our neighbors. The words “I,”“we,”“staff” and “MIDTOWN” can almost be interchanged in any description of our work. Input from our neighbors, Joyce’s agreement and staff involvement all came together to create the work. No one was more important than another in making programs work, creating an atmosphere of support or doing their job.

In our neighbor, we should observe only what is good.

St. Jane Frances de Chantal