I have had a lot of conversations in the last month or so about charity and justice. In the next few posts I would like to let you in on some of those conversations, and offer some of my thoughts and reflections. It is an important and complex conversation and I want to invite feedback and interaction. I want to also acknowledge that we are in the most charitable season of the year, and by raising questions I want to invite critical thought and reflection but do not mean to be-little activities that any readers here may be engaged in. Rather, I find myself in a unique social location and want to simply offer, as I said in the title, a view from here. My hope is that as we share our views, our perspectives from our unique places we might see together a little more clearly.
So, what does the view look like from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, now the third poorest postal code in Canada and certainly the site of most charitable activities in the Lower Mainland. Tonight, I can name at least 10 families in my community I know who are attending their 2nd Turkey-Dinner-Christmas-Party of the day and their 5th since Friday (today is Monday). Walking past the intersection of Main and Hastings there has not been a day since the first of December when I have not encountered an impromptu food line formed at the back of a car that pulls up, the trunk is popped and soup or sandwiches are handed out maybe with a scarf and toque as well. The kind people will serve until their pots are empty and then will hop back in their cars and head back to work, or home. There is an abundance of food around right now, but everywhere I know of that offers Safeway cards so you can go shop for your own food has been out since the 8th of December. Hundreds of Christmas baskets will be given out in the next week full of special treats, candy and gifts, but it will be really hard for lots of my friends to find the money to make any vegetables or meat for Christmas dinner with their families. And, come January, the turkey dinners will have come to an end, the sugar rush will have worn off and cupboards will be bare, still.
Does charity keep us from justice? This is a question I have heard posed a few times in the past little while. A friend of mine and resident of the neighbourhood asked, does giving to charity enable us to simply make a "better" consumer choice. I decide for example to buy a Christmas dinner for someone in need (through a $5 donation to UGM) rather than get that afternoon latte from Starbucks. But does that consumer choice then allow me to walk away feeling like I have done something good without changing or challenging the system that allows me to choose between these two options while my neighbour is only able to choose between whether to go stand in line for that dinner with her 5 hungry and rowdy kids (outside for at least 1 hour in order to get a seat) or to stay at home and feed them noodles and butter.
My friend likes to challenge people, for every act of charity you engage in this holiday season, would you commit as well to an ongoing act of justice that carries on beyond the season? Its a good challenge. Let's think more on this together soon.
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I'm a bit embarrassed to be so ignorant, but what would an ongoing act of justice that is not charity look like? i.e. sounds like it's not just giving money on a regular basis, or giving volunteer hours to a soup kitchen (also a band-aid) but something else... but what is that, or examples of that? I always feel at a loss when I hear arguments like this, because I get the rhetoric, but I don't know what the next step looks like.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your question and your honesty. Please read the other two posts on the topic and see if they address some of your question. I think asking these questions, and asking them together, and admitting our ignorance is a really important starting place.
I think that justice often means addressing systemic problems, it also means subverting power systems. This can be as basic as asking someone in need to help you do something you actually need done, not only receiving from them, but also admitting your need. It can also involve learning ways to share power in just about any setting. For example, some friends at Grandview Calvary Baptist church have turned a typical soup kitchen into a community kitchen where it is not those in need who receive food from the hands of volunteers who have come to give of their time and resources, but those in need, sit down, plan the meals, share the responsibilities of planning, shopping, cooking, serving, cleaning up. Like a family everyone takes care of each other.
Giving money, is not necessarily in the category of charity not justice, it depends on who decides what is done with the money. If those for whom the money is intended determine where that money can best be used, this can be just re-distribution of resources.
Let me offer an example of less helpful charity and more just charity (both are charity because the system that is causing the inequity is not addressed in either). A church in the inner city used to do a toy drive for needy children. They were put in boxes and wrapped with labels like, "boy age 10, girl age 1-3," etc. People were grateful for the help in getting gifts for their kids at Christmas but what if the kid did not like things typical of their age or gender group? What was it like when kids were getting gifts from strangers but not from their parents. So the church decided to do things a little differently. They still collected donations but they had a "shopping" night, child care was provided in another part of the building, parents could go through the stuff and pick out what their kids would like. A team of volunteers wrapped gifts or provided materials for parents to do the wrapping if they preferred. This model gave parents the dignity that most of us assume. It also gave them the power to make decisions but shared resources. Just one example that comes to mind.
Thanks for commenting. Let me know your futher thoughts.