Unity and leadership of the poor

Photo: Wylly Suhendra, Unsplash.

I’ve been helping to organize a homeless union where I live in Albany, N.Y. This was prompted by some anti-homeless rhetoric and legislation from local politicians. At a weekly community breakfast, I started talking with homeless neighbors about it and heard their stories. Sometimes I can help them access resources, but more often I tell them I can’t, that what they need doesn’t exist, but that maybe together we can do something about it. 

In our extremely individualist society, the idea of collective action is hard to get our heads around, let alone act upon. Doubly so for those of us who are struggling daily just to survive. But over time, some folks expressed interest in the union and seeing what was possible if we worked together. We started meeting weekly after breakfast.

I’m a Mennonite pastor and community organizer. Since 2017, I’ve been part of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, as well as the Nonviolent Medicaid Army and the National Union of the Homeless. 

While different in emphasis, these formations share a common analytical understanding, drawn from Martin Luther King Jr.’s original Poor People’s Campaign, but also taking inspiration from movements of the poor and dispossessed, including what we read throughout the Bible.

This analysis says the poor and dis­possessed are the leading social force of our time, with the least investment in our oppressive economic and political systems and the most to gain from a transformation of those systems, what King called “a revolution of values.”

This revolution can only be brought about by the organization and leadership of the poor to take action together. This is evident throughout the scriptures and made especially clear in the Gospels. 

For those of us in the United States, this can be hard to understand. We live in the wealthiest and most powerful country in the history of the world, but the Jesus we follow was a poor man from an oppressed people. 

The Gospels and other scriptures were written by poor and oppressed people for poor and oppressed people. In the U.S., we’ve been taught to think of “poor in spirit” rather than material poverty and oppression.

Detroit labor leader General Baker (1941-2014) said, “Our task is to make thinkers into fighters and fighters into thinkers.” Often, folks at our meetings will talk about their ideas: their solutions to their own and other people’s problems. This is good and reinforces that poor and homeless people, so often dismissed and ignored, actually know what we need. 

“This is going to sound harsh,” I’ll say, “but our problem isn’t that we don’t have good ideas. It’s that nobody in power cares what we think.” Then we’ll talk about what we’re going to do about that. 

Sometimes people are angry, and rightfully so. The daily abuse, humiliations and shame heaped upon our people are infuriating. While some politicians and wealthier suburbanites complain about visible poverty making them feel unsafe, every day I hear from people on the streets about how they are victims of violence. Our people are tired of being treated like they don’t matter. Sometimes that looks like lashing out — at bureaucrats who deny help, “charities” that degrade and dehumanize, do-nothing politicians and even one another. We talk about how to forge that anger, collectively, and wield it against the systems that are oppressing us.   

Our work is political but nonpartisan. We know there is no politician or party coming to save us. The day after the election, someone made a comment about it. I don’t remember if it was favorable to the winner or not. “I’ve been coming here since three presidents ago,” I said. “More people keep showing up, and things keep getting worse. What do you think we can do about it?” Two more people joined the union meeting that morning.

When Jesus invites the disciples to be “fishers of men” I don’t think he’s making a cryptic invitation to evangelism. He’s identifying, and later developing, the people who will be leaders in a new movement — a movement of poor and oppressed people. 

The disciples are often poked fun at, as confused and clueless, but we should admire their commitment and consider their development. Just like us, they were not born knowing all the answers or even knowing how to work together. Their development took time, practice and collectivity. Our leadership development practices must do the same. 

Many today don’t believe it is possible for poor and homeless people to do anything, let alone organize and lead a movement for social transformation. Yet that’s exactly what we see in the Gospels. We need to learn to practice the same if we’re going to overcome the oppressions we face.  

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