Author: Alan Bean

Talking politics in church

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By Alan Bean

When four year-old Abigail Evans burst into tears for no apparent reason, her mother asked what was making her so sad.  “I’m tired of Bronco Bama and Mitt Romney,” Abigail wailed between sniffles.  Mamma Evans didn’t switch off NPR, but she assured her daughter that the election would soon be over.  And so it will.  But the intense polarization generated by a particularly nasty election cycle is sure to linger on.

For strongly liberal or conservative churches, culture war politics isn’t a huge problem.  Virtually every member of the congregation votes for the same party.  But churches in the moderate middle have a hard time negotiating the minefield of American politics.  Preachers know that the slightest hint of political partisanship could alienate a significant swath of the congregation.  Sunday school etiquette places political references off limits.  Sunday school is supposed to be therapeutic, not traumatic.  So we make nice and stick to safe topics. (more…)

Crossing lines to fight mandatory minimums

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It is extremely encouraging to see progressive, libertarian, and evangelical organizations agreeing on the need for sentencing reform.  Mandatory minimum sentences force judges to sentence defendants to sentences that are totally out of proportion to the seriousness of the crime.  Friends of Justice congratulates Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) and the Prison Fellowship for working together on this important issue.  I have met with the leadership of both organizations and I know they disagree on many things; but that didn’t stop them from coming together on an issue where their views coincide.  It is also heartening to see the Southern Baptist Convention weighing in.  The video below comes via the Prison Fellowship; the article by Craig DeRoche and Molly T. McGill originally appeared in the Huffington Post.  AGB

Steps Ahead of Most on Capitol Hill

 

An evangelical, a Southern Baptist, and a Catholic walk into the Capitol Hill Visitors Center together …

Though it sounds like the opening line of a joke, it happened at a joint Congressional staff briefing on October 11 sponsored by Justice Fellowship, the advocacy arm of the late Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministries, and FAMM, a nonprofit, nonpartisan sentencing reform organization.

At the briefing, speakers from the National Association of Evangelicals, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops put theological differences aside to discuss how Christian voters feel about crime and punishment policies, and what the Bible and Jesus Christ might have to offer for improving them. They found a remarkable amount of common ground. (more…)

Why smart politicians talk gibberish

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By Alan Bean

In a surprising eleventh-hour move, Michael Bloomberg has endorsed Barack Obama.  This doesn’t mean the New York mayor is happy with the president’s performance; but Obama’s tepid embrace of the global warming issue seems to have tipped the balance.  Bloomberg agrees with the Democrats on most social issues and generally sides with the Republicans when the conversation shifts to economics.

Until recently, Bloomberg has been critical of both Obama and Mitt Romney for substituting soundbites for a substantive discussion of the burning issues.  He was particularly enraged by the non-answers both candidates produced in the second debate when asked for their thoughts about assault weapons.  Bloomberg accused both men of talking “gibberish” because they feared the political consequences of addressing the issue honestly.

But the mayor should cut these guys a little slack, and so should we.  I have been extremely frustrated by Barack Obama’s policy response on a number of fronts.  He has avoided the distressing state of our criminal justice system, he refuses to issue pardons and grant commutations, and his policy of mass deportation is nothing short of disgusting. His handling of the economy has generally been sensible, but too many of the people who created the mess in the first place have been recruited to deal with its consequences.  We needed a new approach but, fearful of offending big donors on Wall Street, Obama stopped short of genuine reform and ended up offending the entitlement-addicted financial sector anyway.  He has talked a lot about green technology, but has been largely silent (especially during the current campaign) on the frightening issue of global warming.  All of this has been terribly disappointing.

That said, none of Obama’s moves have particularly surprised me.  The man is a politician, and that means his bottom line is re-election.  All the positions (or non-positions) I criticized in the last paragraph were based on shrewd political calculation.  Why tell the truth about assault weapons, mass incarceration, immigration and climate change when it would spell political disaster?

Left-leaning pundits have been appalled by Mitt Romney’s etch-a-sketch reinventions.  It is common, of course, for politicians to play to the base during the primary season, then shift to the center for the general election.  But this is normally a matter of emphasis and tone; rarely do you see a politician swap Tea Party convictions for the moderate middle, but that’s essentially what Mr. Romney has done.

The Economist, a British news magazine with a moderate social slant and a fondness for conservative economics, just released their own half-hearted endorsement of Barack Obama, largely for the same reasons Mr. Bloomberg stated.  Barack might be a bit liberal on economic issues, they say, but Mitt is too inconsistent to be taken seriously.

But why is the Republican candidate lurching from left to right and back again?  Because he must.  First, he had to toss the Tea Party a little “severe conservative” red meat; now he must assure center-right independents that he will do nothing crazy.  I doubt Romney derives pleasure from all this shape-shifting; but it’s his only path to electoral success.

In short, the two presidential candidates are unapologetically political.  And can you really blame them?  Mayor Bloomberg is New York mayor because his blend of Wall Street-friendly economic views and moderate-to-liberal social opinion is the perfect fit for his environment.  Did he adopt this mix of opinions in order to get elected?  Who knows?  But he owes his political success to his carefully selected mix of opinions.  If he had to dodge and obfuscate to stay in office, he’d do it.  You know he would, because he’s a politician.

Politicians are not free to speak their minds.  Neither are you and I, for that matter.  Most of us are ideological chameleons who take on the political hue of our surroundings.  Those who harbor dreams of social advancement, in business, religion, or politics, keep their political opinions to themselves.  When you run for president the stakes rise exponentially.

We would all like to vote for the woman who calls it like she sees it, the man who “tells it like it is” (as we used to say in the innocent 1960s); but in the political game, there is a name for people like that: losers.  By the time a politician is positioned to even think about higher office, the realities of the political world pretty much dictate the acceptable range of belief.  Way deep down, you are free to think what you will; but your public persona must adapt to the realities of the political marketplace.  It isn’t long before the way-down-deep part of you conforms to the political facade.  You get to choose your political party, but even that decision is largely dictated by circumstance.  Like virtually every other smart Democrat in Texas, Rick Perry switched sides–if he wanted to get elected, what was the alternative?

Eventually, the Republican stance on immigration issues will soften.  It has to.  For the time being, the GOP gains more from demagoguing the immigration issue than they would get from courting Latinos.  At least, that’s their political calculation.  As the political influence of Latinos rises, Republican candidates will adapt.  The alternative will be political suicide.

For the time being, Democrats can win minority support by positioning themselves just to the left of the Republicans, but as the red party shifts Romney-like to the center, Democrats will be forced to the left.  The blue team’s dilemma has always been to win minority votes without alienating too large a swath of the white majority.  Advocates who expect politicians to stand on principle will always be disappointed.  A few politicos have the luxury of taking principled stands–but the the honest brokers rarely wield real power.

If you were stranded on a desert island with Barack Obama or Mitt Romney you would be amazed by their subtlety and insight.  Relaxing under a palm tree, sipping the juice of the coconut, either man would say things you never thought you’d hear from a politician.  These are experienced world-travelers with Harvard educations and they’ve picked up a thing or two along the way.   But insert these guys into a political debate and ask them an honest question about gun control and you’ll get gibberish.  Every time.  They’re politicians; what else do you expect?

Do DREAM Kids Have a Right to an Education?

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There has been a lot of press recently about the plight of illegal immigrants, though most of the coverage on Friends of Justice has centered on basic human rights and adult deportation rules. In the article below. Rachel Higgins looks at a dilemma all too common among younger generations of immigrants: access to education and college funding. Rachel writes about issues impacting college students for a site that examines 1,691 accredited online colleges and provides comparison information for those considering an online education.

Colleges and Legislators Continue to Debate the Right to Education

Rachel Higgins

As Democrats and Republicans continue to debate the conditions of a federal DREAM Act, many provincial programs have enabled children of undocumented citizens to receive financial aid, earn a college degree and enter the workforce as trained professionals, something the country so desperately needs.  In recent years, financial aid for illegal immigrants has been a hot-button topic among American lawmakers. Some have stated that a higher number of well-educated, first-generation Americans would be beneficial to the country, while others argue that individuals who have not become legal citizens have no right to education in the United States.

In June 2012, President Obama announced he was enacting a law that deferred deportation of immigrants who met certain requirements of American citizenship, even if their status in the country was currently illegal. In order to pass this step of the so-called “We Can’t Wait” initiative, the president circumvented Congress in order to spearhead the law. This ostensible “abuse of power” drew criticism from House Republicans, wrote NPR contributor Frank James.  “Americans should be outraged that President Obama is planning to usurp the Constitutional authority of the United States Congress and grant amnesty by edict to 1 million illegal aliens,” said Rep. Steve King [R-Iowa]. (more…)

Work Visas and the New Indentured Servitude

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Opportunity in America is often conditioned on a number of outside factors — race, educational achievements, or, as today’s article discusses, citizenship status. Higher ed writer Valerie Harris, who blogs over at MastersDegreeOnline.org, takes a look at the H1B visa debate currently pending in Congress. Valerie’s thoughts add a new dimension to prior discussions on what it takes to get ahead — and, importantly, how we define equality.

Reforming Work Visas to Benefit from Every Masters Degree Earned in the US

Valerie Harris

Higher education is today considered a universal standard of career preparedness – and as a result, the enrollment of international students has sharply increased at most American colleges and universities in recent years. While pursuing a degree in the United States often affords foreign students a wide range of opportunities, students are often limited by their temporary citizen status when it comes to looking for career opportunities in the U.S. market.

As fewer American-born students are attending graduate school, more international students are filling their spots in the classroom every year. In Fall 2011, the International Institute of Education surveyed roughly 750 American colleges and universities. More than half of the respondents reported an increase in foreign student enrollments, while 20 percent reported declines and 27 percent reported no increase at all. Furthermore, 60.4 percent of institutions that enrolled more than 1,000 international students reported increases. Slightly more than two-thirds of doctoral/research-based institutions recorded an increase of international students, while roughly half of both baccalaureate and master’s institutions saw their foreign enrollments rise. At 31.5 percent, two-year institutions recorded the lowest number of international enrollment increases – but this figure still exceeded the number of two-year schools where declines were reported.

While many foreign students are able to successfully earn a college degree, many encounter post-graduation problems with their H1B visas. This temporary (non-immigrant) visa enables American companies to employ foreign workers on the condition that the visa-holder has earned a bachelor’s degree in his/her field. Furthermore, the visa is limited to one employer; if the worker is fired or laid off by that company, he/she must apply for a new visa with a different organization or face deportation from the United States. As Brian Grow of BusinessWeek noted, many H1B visa-holders do not benefit from this preferential treatment. He likened them to “indentured servants” whose U.S. citizenship is at the mercy of their employers. This “sponsorship” essentially deprives educated workers of their upward mobility within the American corporate sector – and without an employer to co-sign the H1B visa, entrepreneurial ventures are entirely out of the question. (more…)

Task Force to Host Historic Restorative Justice Conference at Harvard Law School

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By Pierre R. Berastain

Over the past year, the Massachusetts Restorative Justice Task Force has prepared to convene a daylong restorative justice summit at Harvard Law School. On November 3rd, 2012, Building Communities of Care Wherever We Are will seek to equip participants with tools to build restorative justice and transformative practices in their communities, schools, youth centers, domestic violence and sexual assault centers, faith communities, and prisons, among other contexts. The conference will be held from 8:30am to 5:00pm in Milstein East in Wasserstein Hall at Harvard Law School at 1585 Massachusetts Ave in Cambridge, Mass.

The initiative comes at a particularly important time given the alarming statistics that reflect the inefficiency of the criminal justice system, mainstream domestic violence and sexual violence programs, and the inimical zero tolerance policies implemented in school districts nation-wide. Today, for instance, the United States comprises five percent of the world population, but holds 25 percent of world prisoners. According to the NAACP, “Combining the number of people in prison and jail with those under parole or probation supervision, one in every 31 adults is in some form of correctional control.” The cost of these correctional programs amount to over seventy billion dollars annually. The system disproportionately impacts people of color — or people of the global majority. For instance, according to the NAACP, “five times as many Whites are using drugs as African Americans, yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at ten times the rate of Whites.” And according to The Sentencing Project, “African Americans serve virtually as much time in prison for a drug offense (58.7 months) as whites do for a violent offense (61.7 months).” These issues have special implications in Massachusetts, which spends six times more per prisoner than per public school pupil — a greater disparity than in any other state. In 2007, Massachusetts spent $78,580 per prisoner and only $12,857 per pupil. The disparities in justice and the surging cost of our punitive criminal justice system demand new paradigms of addressing offenses in our society.

(more…)

Abortion and white evangelicals

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By Alan Bean

An article in the Guardian, a British paper, discusses the challenges the rising tide of Latino voters in the United States poses for the Republican Party.  Gary Younge argues that the ill-famed “Southern Strategy” made sense when white Americans comprised 85% of the electorate, but has become problematic in an age when the majority of babies born in the United States are non-white.  These babies are almost two decades from voting age, however, so 74% of voters are still white.  According to today’s Washington Post poll, Mitt Romney holds a commanding twenty-three-point lead among white voters.

This is the major dilemma for the Republican Party: racially loaded messages may appeal to many white voters, but they lose you minority votes.   You can win white votes by railing against the entitlement-addicted 47% and the crime-prone “illegals” who cross the border in search of welfare, but not without giving Latinos and African-Americans a bad name.  White racial resentment remains the greatest single force in American politics.  The economy tops everyone’s list as an election season concern, but these issues are viewed through a racial lens.  Black voters cannot be persuaded that Obama wrecked the American economy; white voters can.

Three-quarters of white evangelicals vote Republican.  If you ask them why, they certainly won’t tell you they feel more comfortable voting for a white man.  They may say that Obama is a free-spending socialist and we need a president who believes in American capitalism.  But most, I suspect, will say it’s all about abortion.  Republicans want to stop the Holocaust and Democrats don’t–simple as that. (more…)

Haunted by America

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By Alan Bean

It’s 3:41 am, but sleep eludes me.  I am haunted by America.

A few hours ago I walked from the Supreme Court building to the new Martin Luther King Jr Memorial and back.  Along the way, I stopped by the Lincoln Memorial, wandering among the perennial tourists.  A pudgy white boy of nine or ten, stood on the steps beside me.  “Hey, Larry,” he called to his friend, “‘I have a dream.'”

Looking back across the reflecting pond to the Washington Memorial, I remembered that day, almost fifty years ago now, when Mahalia Jackson and Peter, Paul and Mary sang and Martin delivered his iconic speech.  The great divide in American politics and religion is between those who remember that day in 1963 with a aching veneration, and those who regard Martin’s Dream Speech with an odd mixture of respect, dread and discomfort.

I grew up with King’s speeches.  In my native Canada, the great civil rights leader was regarded as latter day prophet, a civil rights hero.  My generation of Canadian youth defined itself in opposition to America and its war in Vietnam.  We were impressed by America, a nation with ten times our population and fifty times our military and economic clout.  There was no sense that the great nation to the south meant us any harm.  But we were mystified by Jim Crow, and Vietnam, and cold war zealotry.  At the height of the civil rights movement, two teachers from my home town of Yellowknife in the Canadian Northwest Territories took a summer trip through the American South.  They told us of an encounter with a lovely woman in Georgia who made her Negro maids eat in the kitchen because it was improper for white and black people to share a meal.  Our teachers were appalled by such sentiments.

Canadians, of course, have our own species of bigotry but, like the woman from Georgia, we were largely blind to the sins that beset us. (more…)

Can You Spare Some Compassion?

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By Pierre R. Berastain

I walked through the streets of New York City where incessant noises stand as the backdrop of everything that occurs. “You don’t know what it’s like to be homeless!” screamed a voice painfully, breaking the indistinctiveness of noises, “I hope it never happens to you! I am just hungry.” The woman was responding to a man who had berated her and her plead for money. He had shouted something degrading without looking at her and continued to walk undisturbed.

I hope it never happens to you. The words echoed in my mind as I walked down an entire block.

I hope it never happens to you.

The determined voice in my head insisted on a response, like a nightmare interrupting my sleep or a crying baby pleading for human warmth. I had just been confronted by the other, and that other engaged me with compassion rather than anger. She did not reproach me. She just wished me well. She had called me, named me, and demanded I turn around.

As I walked back to the woman, I recalled the homeless in Harvard Square. How often do we pretend to be busy on our cellphones so that we do not have to engage? How often have we heard, “Can you spare some change?” and avoided the gripping eyes of a person in need, pretending the words fell on inattentive ears? With our actions, the most visible humans in the streets become the most invisible ones in our hearts.

Yet, the woman in New York did not respond to this human neglect with anger; she responded with compassion. She extended it to the man, to me, to everyone around her. Where, I wondered, in the midst of her hunger, did she find the energy and love to show it? Sometimes, the ones who need compassion the most are the ones most willing to extend it.

“May I buy you something from this restaurant?” I asked.

I soon learned she could only have soup because she had lost all her teeth. I soon learned she had not always been homeless, that amidst economic struggles and distressing circumstances, she had lost everything and had no one to turn to. “We are a landscape of all we have seen,” once said Isamu Noguchi, Japanese American artist and architect. If we ignore those gripping eyes, what landscapes and narratives are we missing?

I am not suggesting we give money to all homeless individuals or that it is our duty to feed everyone around us. It is our response-ability, however, to recognize the humanity in others. The man did not have to say something disparaging to the woman. He could have simply looked at her and said, “I’m sorry.” We do not have to ignore a ‘good morning’ or ‘hello’ from homeless individuals. We can choose to smile and wish them a good day. Sometimes, recognizing the humanity in others is worth more than what money can buy.

Shelley recognized the man’s humanity — his vulnerability and the possibility of his homelessness — and she extended compassion. That Thursday afternoon, as I walked to the subway station, I wondered how much compassion Shelly would extend the rest of the day. And how much she would receive.

Originally posted on the Huffington Post.

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