OCCUPY: Leading with our Bodies

Dear Friends, Longtime peace activist and founder of the Des Moines, Iowa Catholic Worker is, once again, behind bars.  He has writtent a powerful reflection (which I share with you here) that provides a unique - and I would expect nothing less from Frank - perspective on taking the Occupy movement (and indeed every movement for peace and justice) into every nook and cranny of our society, including the jails and prisons.  In Peace, Leonard

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WHOSE JAILS? OUR JAILS!

by Frank Cordaro, February 2, 2012

It was bound to happen sooner or later. A person can't keep collecting trespassing convictions, get fined plus court costs and refuse to pay any fines before a judge will eventually send you to jail. My arrest at the state capitol Sunday night was my fifth arrest with Occupy Des Moines. I already plead guilty to two of those charges and was fined (which I will not pay in solidarity with the poor, who cannot). So after a long night in the Polk County Jail "fish bowl", Des Moines Catholic Worker and fellow Occupy Des Moines member Eddie Bloomer and I decided to take our chances when the jail court judge, who offered to roll all of our 3 outstanding trespass charges into one guilty plea. After reviewing our past records, the judge sentenced Ed to 15 days and me to 30 days in jail.

Just before sentencing, I told the judge it was a great honor and a privilege to be arrested at the state capitol standing up for free speech and everyday she gave me in jail only helped to enhance that honor and privilege...and I meant it.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is a social movement. And like all social movements, our ideas follow our bodies, whether we are occupying public space to exercise our free speech rights, or protesting in the streets at the G8/NATO, or risking arrest at presidential candidate offices. We lead with our bodies, willing to put a little human equity and personal sacrifice on the line for what we believe. We are what democracy looks like in a political system completely bought, owned, and scripted by the corporate elites - the 1 percent.

Not everyone who occupies or protests need risk arrest. And not everyone who risks arrest need go to jail. However, some of us do need to take our Occupy Wall Street movement into our jails and prisons.

Why? Because some of us need to embrace going to jail willingly to show we are not deterred by the state's treat of imprisonment. Because some of us need to stand in solidarity with the 2 million Americans caught up in our criminal justice system, the vast majority of whom are poor and people of color. Because some of us need to resist the criminal justice system that not only locks people up but also makes them pay for it too! The jail fee here at Polk County jail is $60 a day! Most criminal court cases never go to trial. They are little more than collection agencies for the state.

And we need to bring our spirit of occupation into the jails not as victims of the system, but as the able organizers that we are, leading with our bodies for the cause we believe in, the concerns of the 99 percent over the ill-got gails of the 1 percent.

WHOSE JAILS? OUR JAILS!

P.S.. 5 days into this 30 day sentence and I'm in a jail pod with 64 other inmates, most of them Hispanics awaiting deportation. By my lights, I'm serving easy time with good and decent souls. I'm here more or less by choice, and the system is far more severe to the very poor, blacks, and immigrants than it is to me...

P.S.S. Eddie and I could both use more commissary funds. If you'd like to contribute to our inmate accounts, here are a few options: http://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/media/161/deposits-directions-english.pdf

Answers to the 2012 Social Justice Quiz

Here are the answers to the 2012 Social Justice Quiz (posted here on Monday).  Don't worry about how many answers you got right as much as working to understand the deeper implications of the issue(s) surrounding each question and what they mean for our society and the world.

Thanks again to Bill Quigley and Sam Schmitt for creating the Quiz.  Bill teaches law at Loyola University New Orleans and works with the Center for Constitutional Rights.  Sam is a law student at University of Montana School of Law.  A version of this with full sources is available. You can reach Bill at quigley77@gmmail.com

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One.  The combined pay of the top 299 CEOs is enough to support 102,325 average jobs.  Source: Corporate Paywatch.

Two.  The median net worth of white households in the US is $97,900.  Source: Economic Policy Institute.

Three.  Except for eleven counties in Illinois and another eight in Puerto Rico, there is no county in the US where a one bedroom fair market rate apartment is available to a person working full-time at the minimum wage. Source: The National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Four.  The typical worker must earn $18.46 an hour to rent a two bedroom apartment.  Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Five.  In the last numbers reported, the top 1 percent had net worth 225 times greater than the median or typical household’s net worth, the highest ever recorded.   Source: Economic Policy Institute.

Six.  The rate of incarceration per 100,000 people is: USA 730, Russian 534, Iran 334, China 122, Iraq 101, and Germany 86.  Source: International Centre for Prison Studies, University of Essex. 
Seven.  $836 billion.  Over $713 billion on military programs and another $123 for veterans affairs.  Source: US Office of Management and Budget, Fiscal Year 2012. 

Eight.  The US spends $100 billion more on our military than the next highest 15 countries combined.  More than China, UK, France, Russia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, India, Italy, Brazil, South Korea, Australia, Canada and Turkey combined.  Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2011 Yearbook.

Nine.  1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day.  Source: United National Development Program, Human Development Report 2010.

Ten.  One and half billion people, more than one of every five people in the world, live without electricity.  Source:  United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report 2011.

Eleven.  US government ranks 19th out of 23 countries in assistance to poor nations, giving about two-tenths of one percent of US gross national income to poor countries.  Source: Global Issues: Foreign Aid for Development Assistance.

Twelve.  US consumers spend $67 billion each year on pets, pet products and services.  Source:  US Census Bureau 2012 Statistical Abstract.

Thirteen.  The US poverty rate among children ranks the US 26th among 30 nations in the rate of poverty among children.  Source: Poverty among children.  OECD.

The 2012 Social Justice Quiz

Friends,

Bill Quigley's been at it again (along with Sam Schmitt)!!!  They're asking the tough questions that have some really sobering answers should we be paying attention.  These questions demand not only our attention, but our action.  After all, that's what social justice is all about, isn't it???  So take the test class, and just so there won't be any cheating I'll give you the answers in the next post.  You may begin NOW!

Peace,

Leonard

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Social Justice Quiz 2012: Thirteen Questions

By Bill Quigley and Sam Schmitt.  Bill teaches law at Loyola University New Orleans and works with the Center for Constitutional Rights.  Sam is a law student at University of Montana School of Law.  A version of this with full sources is available. You can reach Bill at quigley77@gmmail.com


Question One.  The combined pay of the 299 highest paid CEOs in the US is enough to support how many median salary jobs?

45,000?  83,000?  102,325?

Two.  The median net worth of black households in the US is $2,200.  What is the median net worth of white households in the US?

$4,400?  $44,000?  $97,000?

Three. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development issues a national survey every year listing fair market rents for every county in the US.  HUD also suggests renters should pay no more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs.   In how many of the USA’s 3068 counties can someone who works full-time and earns the federal minimum wage pay 30% of their income and find a one-bedroom apartment at the fair market rental amount?

19?  368?  1974?

Four.  How much must the typical U.S. worker earn per hour to rent a two-bedroom apartment if that worker dedicates thirty percent of his income, as HUD suggests, to rent and utilities?

$9.39? $14.63?  $18.46?

Five.  The wealthiest 1 percent of the US has a net worth which is how many times greater than the median or typical household’s net worth?

50?  150?  225?

Six.  Which of these countries puts the highest percentage of their people in jails and prisons? 

China? Iran?  Iraq?  Germany?  Russia? USA?

Seven.  In 2012, the US will pay out about $620 million for old age Social Security benefits to 45 million families.  How much is budgeted for military spending by the US in 2012?

$310 billion?  $620 billion?  $836 billion?

Eight.  The US is number one in the world in military spending.  How much more does the US spend compared to the top 15 countries in the world in military spending?

More than any 2 other countries combined?  More than any 5 other countries combined?  More than all the rest of the 15 top military spending countries combined?

Nine.  How many people in the world live on less than $1.25 a day?

150 million?  500 million?  Over 1 billion?

Ten.  How many people in the world live without electricity?

500 million?  One billion?  One and half billion?

Eleven.  The US government donates over $30 billion a year in official development assistance (foreign aid) to poor countries.  Where does that rank the US government in percentage of giving among the richest 23 countries?

First?  Tenth? Nineteenth?

Twelve.  The US government donates over $30 billion a year to poor countries.  How much do US consumers spend on pets and pet supplies each year?

$10 billion?  $30 billion?  $67 billion?

Thirteen.  The poverty rate among children in the US is over 20 percent.  How does US compare with the rest of the 30 nations surveyed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development?

First?  Tenth?  Twenty-sixth?

A Brief Primer on Social Justice (In response to Glenn Beck)

Friends

First - A confession. For quite a few years I ran a social justice ministry at a United Methodist Church. O.K. So you say, "What's the big deal with that?" Well, according to recent statements by Glenn Beck, that makes me either a Nazi or a communist. Since I'm (technically) a Jew, that rules out the Nazi thing (I hope). I'll go for one out of two. I can deal with being a communist if that means I'm hanging out at the intersection of justice and mercy.

According to Beck, al those years I was promoting social justice I was covertly promoting Nazism and communism. At least now I know why a few right wing, arch-conservative people in that church were constantly attacking my work. At any rate, all this made me think that some folks (and obviously a large percentage of Christians based on my own experience) need a primer on social justice. So here goes Leonard's One Minute Social Justice Lesson:

Just a little over 2000 years ago there was this guy named Jesus. He was born in a manger to poor parents; we're talking dirt poor. Things back then were not much different than they are now. There were some people at the very top living high, some in the middle doing reasonably well and doing the bidding of those on top, and finally there were a whole lot way down at the bottom slaving for crumbs and making those at the top filty rich (and keeping them in power). The trick was (and is) keeping enough people doing well enough to protect the people at the top. Sound familiar???

Jesus grows up, sees what's going on and says, "Whoa! This is not right. So he associates with anyone and everyone who is on the fringes (the least of these) as well as the occasional tax collector (hey, they were in a tough spot). He was the original social (and economic) justice radical. That really, really scared those rich, powerful guys (and they were men) running the show. And the rest is history. The End.

So - Was Jesus a Nazi??? Or a communist??? I think not. He was just trying to show us that we are all equal in the eyes of God, and therefore should be treated that way by each other. Yes really - We should see God in each other. Pretty radical stuff! When you get right down to it, labels do not do justice to anyone. In fact, labeling people merely demeans them; reduces them to something less than human. It's a slippery slope that (I would argue) leads to bigotry and racism and all sorts of other ugly things. It is a form of violence, and is in itself an injustice.

My experience in the church demonstrated that nearly everyone is happy to show mercy (charity) towards those who are less fortunate. It makes them feel good to put money in an envelope to help someone in need. But as soon as many of those same people are asked to take the next step and advocate to help change the conditions that create the need for charity in the first place they get fidgety. They become uncomfortable. After all; charity is easy, justice is hard. It was the Roman Catholic Archbishop Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara who once said:

When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a Communist.

In defense of the church, there are many wonderful religious people who understand and walk the path that balances mercy and justice. And if I'm not mistaken, you could go through your Bible and find countless passages that refer to doing justice (in both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament). My favorite is Micah 6:8:

...and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with you God?

Perhaps Glenn missed that one.

Peace,

Leonard

P.S. - Check out this great Colbert Report video that gives a Jesuit perspective on the matter.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Glenn Beck Attacks Social Justice - James Martin
http://www.colbertnation.com/
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