while with my brother to address his health issues, i went out to visit some relatives in their new home in the retirement community where they now live. while there, they took me on a tour of the housing development in which they live and of the small town of which it is a part. the contrast between their area and the town itself was stark. the "city-within-a-city" that is now their home is filled with beautiful homes with manicured lawns, walking and bike trails, an elaborate community center with indoor and outdoor pools and tennis courts. once we left their area and went into the town proper, we saw a large county courthouse, a huge county jail, more bail bondsmen than i ever saw in one location, a few pretty historic buildings, a huge library (more about that later), and what seemed to be hundreds of squalid homes packed together on neglected streets.
as we drove past the homes of people who obviously lived in extreme poverty, the husband of the couple that took me on the tour commented that "there were probably ten illegals living in every one of them" and later said, "you can see where all our tax money goes." i was appalled that, rather than seeing the injustice that had consigned the town's original residents to such deplorable living conditions, he saw moochers living off government welfare and criminals who had entered the country by clandestine means, even though i had not seen a single hispanic person in the area. his comments echo the thinking of so many in our country now: "i'm well off because i worked hard and am reaping the benefits of my hard work, while those who live in poverty choose to do so in order to collect money from the government--money they don't deserve."
the reality of the area that has produced this poverty is that this was a former cotton farming area, dominated by large plantations on which the ancestors of those who live in the town labored for low pay in order to enrich large landholders. most likely, there was a large slave population before the civil war that fared little better after the war freed them. the beautiful huge library was funded by and named after one of these wealthy families, as is a catholic community center in the poor part of town. this family continues to hold much of the land surrounding the town, but they and others like them appear to have done little else to improve the living conditions that they created for most of the town's residents.
there is obviously a high rate of crime, given the size of the county jail and the plethora of bail bondsmen that surround it. this is typical of many areas of our country, and those of us who live in more affluent areas forget that such situations still exist. it is the product of our roots in condoning the vile practice of slavery that continues to stain our culture and our propensity for blaming the victims of our social system rather than recognizing the forces that made them victims. we continue to ignore the growing income equality here at our peril. a day of reckoning will come unless we take steps to address the situation soon, and i hope that we use the power of the ballot box to put people in office who see a vision of our nation as one in which all people should have the opportunity to pursue happiness and where none go hungry or live without proper shelter and medical care.
may we see our own culpability in the creation of the current state of affairs. may we do what we can to set things right and to help those who are powerless. may all of our people have access to the resources that are now controlled by a few. may we treat all people with compassion and respect, recognizing that there are many of us who live well because others have been impoverished. shalom.
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