No one should have to go hungry.
Unfortunately, the Trump administration has proposed a plan that will increase hunger in urban and rural communities across the country. Under a new rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “able-bodied adults without dependents” will find it harder to receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.
Jordan Peele, youth leading on climate change, reauthorizing VAWA, faith and fear amid gun culture, and more!
Maybe it was Rev. William Barber’s preaching that touched me with the moral call to climate justice, in partnership with Al Gore, whose organization Climate Reality Project brought this audience together for a three-day training. Later that night, I realized why the message felt personal: Barber pushed me to reframe my conversations with my daughters about climate justice in this country. I teach environmental education at a small college in North Carolina, but the way I communicated at home around the kitchen table needed a transformation.
Discernment. That is what is most needed in a week of news like this one.
Donald Trump won the legal battle in this last week. Now he is trying to win the political battle. But the most important questions remain more than legal or even political: They are moral and ethical, and they are about the soul of America.
From Friday the 13th to Halloween, there’s nothing I love more than a great horror film that has a good twist at the end. Though they tend to follow the same predictable plot, I still enjoy the ride. Yet, there has never been a horror film that has stayed with me — until I watched Us directed by Jordan Peele. I sat in my car for 20 minutes thinking of how uneasy I felt, which I believe was the point of the film: to leave you unsettled. After watched it, I realized that Peele has not only created a haunting piece of art but has also proven to be a craftsman in the art of subversion. This film makes you question who you perceive to be the other and how that conflict manifests in our world.
Prayer in the fearful context of gun violence is mysterious to me. I’m still surprised the first thing through my mind, huddled in a classroom corner was this: Praise God from whom all blessings flow… The doxology. Without knowledge of who fired the shot that echoed through the hall, or if the footfalls beyond the door would bring security or more chaos, I had, amazingly, some peace from this liturgical breath prayer. I gripped my friends’ hands and asked God to intervene - to save the shooter who was a child lost and in danger.
8-year-old activist Havana Chapman-Edwards, also known as the Tiny Diplomat, closed that day with a powerful statement on climate justice intersectionality. “I am here today because climate justice issues are not separate from other justice issues. It’s not right that wildfires, droughts and other climate disasters are being ignored. Black, indigenous, and people of color are doing the least damage to the planet but we are the ones who are paying the price first.”
In December, the EPA proposed to stop regulating hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions from power plants altogether under the Mercury Rule (Mercury and Air Toxics Standards), stating that it was no longer “appropriate and necessary” to do so after a limited cost-benefit analysis. Because of its imminent threat to the health of our nation, particularly people of color, women, and children, Sojourners felt called to take action on this issue.
VAWA expired back in February, leaving shelters and survivors worried about their futures. However, on March 7, Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced an expanded version of VAWA in the House. While it’s been introduced bipartisanly, it’s almost entirely supported by Democrats, who comprise 110 of its 111 co-sponsors. VAWA is reauthorized every five years and with each new reiteration has been expanded to offer new services for communities and individuals that are suffering. In the latest proposed legislation, many Republicans object to assisting two of the communities designated for special protections: Native Americans and transgender individuals.
How do I explain this to Simon, the fact that large-scale neighborhood segregation too often goes hand in hand with economic deprivation. How do I tell him that it’s not that white people aren’t allowed, it’s that they are exercising their power to opt out? That Brown v. Board could only open school doors for black students, that it couldn’t keep white students from walking away? In other words, how do I explain the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow to a young child?