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10 DAYS AWAY – MAP18 Reflections

I’ve been up since 3AM reading words that chronicle the last few months of Martin Luther King’s Jr. life —
 
Before he was assassinated, he started to campaign about people in this country that were experiencing extreme poverty.
 
His agenda was to ensure that those on the margins of society were not forgotten.
 
King believed poverty was a Civil Rights issue, and so do I.
 
Every single day, I feel that same burning passion to ensure that this nation remembers the voiceless and invisible of our society.
 
In 10 Days, I’ll set out on another journey.
I’m literally walking from The Center For Civil & Human Rights to the Lorraine Motel (386 miles) to honor the 50th year of King’s passing, and to bring attention to an issue that he stood against—poverty.
 
I’m grateful for the historical partners we’ve had to endorse the #MAP18 campaign!
 
In the words of King,
 
“If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness.”
 
Learn more at marchagainstpoverty.com
 
Terence

18 DAYS AWAY – MAP18

In 18 Days, we will launch #MAP18 to take a stand against systemic poverty and racial division.

Terence will walk 386 miles from Atlanta, GA to Memphis, Tennessee to the motel where King was assassinated to bring attention to poverty and division (two of the triple evils that King stood against).

Through this journey Johnny & Terence hope to model what in means to walk together in unity and stand against an issue that plagues millions of lives.

Will you join us in the March Against Poverty 2018?

Follow the conversation! #MAP18 #LoveBeyondWalls #MLK50th

LBW Team

MAP 18 Conversation Starter on Poverty and Racial Division

Overview:

Here are some basic facts on poverty in America:

  • In 2015 there were 43.1 million people in poverty.  (Proctor 2016, p. 12-14)
  • The 2015 poverty rate for Blacks was 24., for Hispanics 21.4, and for Asians 11.4 percent. For non-Hispanic whites, the poverty rate was 9.1 percent (Proctor 2016, p. 12-4).
  • The poverty rate for children under 18 was 19.7 percent in 2015, and the number of children in poverty was 14.5 million. Children represented 23.1 percent of the total population and 33.6 percent of people in poverty (Proctor 2016, p. 14).
  • 19.4 million Americans live in extreme poverty. This means their family’s cash income is less than half of the poverty line or about $10,000 a year for a family of four. They represented 6.1 percent of all people and 45.1 percent of those in poverty.

Terms to know:

Wealth Inequality:
Income inequality refers to the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population. In the United States, income inequality, or the gap between the rich and everyone else, has been growing markedly, by every major statistical measure, for 30+ years.

Wage Gap:
The difference in rates of pay between two groups of people. For example, the difference in pay based on gender and race.

Institutional Oppression:
The systematic mistreatment of people within a social identity group supported and enforced by the society and its institutions, solely based on the person’s membership in the social identity group. For example, schools in a lower-income neighborhood have fewer funds, more students, and as a result, receive a poorer education.

Redlining:
The legal process that lasted from  1934 until 1968 that refused to back loans to black people or even other people who lived near black people. Redlining destroyed the possibility of investment wherever black people lived.
(Read this article for more info on redlining.)

Hurdles to Overcome:

  1. Question: Do you believe that you have contributed to systemic racism?

    Discuss your answers and read the following idea as well as watch the video.

    Individualized Oppression:
    This is the idea that because you did not own a slave, you do not contribute to oppression or racism. In fact, if you most likely have benefited from a system that oppressed a group and race to boost the privileged.
    (Watch this video with Soong-Chan Rah on this idea.)
  2. Question: Have you benefited from a system that has oppressed others?
  3. Question: What is a healthy way to respond to racism?

    Discuss with a group and read the following idea:

    “Color-Blindness”:
    A popular response to racism became the idea of “color-blindness” where some claimed not to see color, but just people. While this concept probably came from good intentions, it perpetuates misunderstanding and racism further. “Color-blindness” strips minorities of their individual culture and assumes that everyone has had the same experience. It pushes aside the critically important narrative of oppression for the minority when in fact this narrative is vital to the understanding and improvement of the systemic oppression.
    (Read this article for more info on this topic.)

Dream:

What does it look like for a society to care for the poor and eliminate systemic oppression?

A large movement behind this campaign is reconciliation. In light of that, who could you start a conversation with that might believe or think differently than you?

Brainstorm:

An Awareness Campaign:

Create a public awareness campaign based on an issue you discussed.
The campaign may include posters, flyers, banners, etc. that would raise awareness around the world. What would it be? Why?

Final Questions:

What are some of the needs of your own community?

What are conversations you can start with your community?

When is the time to start making an impact?

To learn more about our campaign, please visit lovebeyondwalls.org/map18

Want to download this Conversation Starter as a PDF? Click here.

MAP18 BOOK LIST

Looking to learn more about the topics we’re creating awareness for? Here are some of our most recommended books on racial division, poverty, and Christianity and poverty.

 

RACIAL DIVISION:

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Is God a White Racist?: A Preamble to Black Theology by William R. Jones

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson PHD

Embrace by Leroy Barber

Under Our Skin: Getting Real About Race. Getting Free from the Fears and Frustrations that Divide Us by Benjamin Watson and Ken Peterson

Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America by Christian Smith and Michael Emerson

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond by Marc Lamont Hill

POVERTY:

The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto by Travis Smiley and Cornell West

The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear by Paul Rogat Loeb

99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality Is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do About It by Chuck Collins

So Rich, So Poor: Why it’s so hard to end poverty in America by Peter Edelman

The Life You Can Save: How to Do your Part to End World Poverty by Peter Singer

There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz

Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation by Jonathan Kozol

The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K Shipler

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore

A Place at the Table: The Crisis of 49 Million Hungry Americans and How to Solve It by Peter Pringle

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

CHRISTIANITY AND POVERTY:

Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle

Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help, And How You Can Reverse It by Robert D. Lupton

The Justice Project by Brian McLaren, Elisa Padilla, and Ashley Bunting Seeber

Make Poverty Personal: Taking the Poor as Seriously as the Bible Does by Ash Barker

How Much Is Enough: Hungering for God in an Affluent Culture by Arthur Simon

The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted by Obery M Hendricks

There Shall Be No Poor Among You: Poverty in the Bible by Leslie J. Hoppe

The Upside-Down Kingdom by Donald Kraybill

Get Involved in MAP18

Before the walk:

  1. Come to the rally at The Center For Civil & Human Rights on March 3rd (You can get your ticket HERE).
  2. Give financially towards resources for the march to Memphis (HERE).
  3. Donate shoes, gas cards, and other resources to aid Terence and Johnny in the travel across the country. Click (HERE) to contact us.
  4. Reach out to sponsor and partner for the walk. Contact us (HERE)

During the walk:

  1. Share the campaign with your network and use your platform to bring attention to poverty and reconciliation.
  2. Follow the campaign on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
  3. Record and post a video to social about why we need to address poverty and also have a nation healed of racial tension.
  4. Come join Terence and Johnny on the walk to Memphis (follow their tracker HERE – Contact us HERE)
  5. Give financially towards resources for the walk to Memphis (HERE).
  6. Follow the Doers Podcast on Apple Podcast or Stitcher (HERE).
  7. Read and discuss books about poverty and race with your community (HERE).
  8. Plan to meet Terence at the finish line in Memphis on April 4th (You’ll learn more as we blog).
  9. Donate shoes, gas cards, and other resources to aid Terence and Johnny in the travel across the country. Click (HERE) to contact us.

After the walk:

  1. Meet Terence at the finish line in Memphis on April 4th.
  2. Interview for our Documentary on Racial Justice & Reconciliation called ALL OF US FILM (reach out to us on our CONTACT PAGE)
  3. Stay updated on our Documentary on Racial Justice & Reconciliation, ALL OF US FILM.
  4. Give financially towards the completion of the documentary (HERE).
  5. Volunteer with our community in Atlanta (HERE).