On Being

This is your place to publicly comment on the topics and issues addressed in Speaking of Faith programs. React in a personal way, and put into words what this program meant to you.

Submit Your Reflection about "Seeing Poverty after Katrina."

Moving Beyond Feelings (January 31, 2007)Many have written about other parts of this great interview, but, for me, the most memorable was the discussion of loving our neighbors. I have asked Christian friends repeatedly to help me understand what does it really mean to love someone. I know I ask myself: "Do I want the best for my neighbor?" "Will I still seek the best for them even when they hurt me?" It has helped me to move beyond good intention and feeling to do acts of the will to show love.

Kathy Johnson
New Britain, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

Need a Different approach (August 29, 2006) 
The whole interview was too glib. It did not deal with faith matters. It was (in the nicest sort of way) condescending to those who might disagree with this very dedicated doctor.

He spoke of urban plight in a dismissive way as if it all happened as a result of 'unintended consequences,' and failed to mention that Lyndon Johnson declared a 'War on Poverty' and some 40 Billion dollars flew out of the Federal Treasury to 'win' this war. There are still poor people. By all rights, 'New Orleans East' and 'Ward Nine' should have been Nirvana, having received handouts from the government for years, sometimes spanning four generations.

He did not mention that part of the tragedy in New Orleans was a failure of citizenship. Police walked off the job; blacks (mostly) looted; terrible things happened, because most of these people have been passive all their lives, waiting for their Medicare Card, Food Stamps, and Welfare Check to come in the mail.

There's much more to the story that we did not hear last night on the broadcast. The producers might think of getting someone, not a leftist like the good doctor (who did much good), to approach the tragedy in a different manner. I'm not holding my breath.

Thank you for your work.

Walter Funk
Charleston, WV (WVPN, 88.5 FM)

Karma (August 28, 2006)
You interviewed a Mr. David Hilfiker, a doctor, author, and person dedicated to humanitarian causes. It struck me that he expressed misunderstanding about the INJUSTICE in the world. However, I'm not surprised — a lot of people are — and I was as a child, until I started reading oriental philosophy and discovered KARMA, which explains 'unjustice' and many other things.

There may be unjustice by man, but not by God. Many things that occur to us are just an effect of our own actions, words, thoughts, feelings, etc. from this lifetime — or from a past lifetime. Babies born with defects or mutilated are clearly clearing karma developed from past wrong actions. This has been corroborated by many realized Masters from ancient times (India and Tibet, for example). There are also references to karma in the bible: "What you sow you shall reap" (the law of cause and effect). This doesn't mean we shouldn't be compassionate. On the contrary, all awareness of suffering should evoke our compassion. But, people will one day realize that POWER within, and stop blaming conditions or others.

A book I strongly recommend for those seeking to understand the REAL meaning of Master Jesus' teachings in the New Testament is Master Paramahansa Yogananda's "The Second Coming." Trying to 'analyze' the Bible (rather than living it) has caused dogmatism, fanaticism, and too many lives to be lost throughout the centuries.

The people who lived in New Orleans chose to live there — or chose to never move out. The signs of our abuse to Mother Nature are clear. Why insist and try to change the geography because we are enamored with the place? We need to change our thinking and respect Nature and share resources, and move on. Change is good.

I listen to your interviews on my way to meditation on Sundays and enjoy them a great deal. Such inspiration people and material! God bless you.

Catherine Cogorno
St. Louis, MO (KWMU, 90.7 FM)

Another Source (August 28, 2006)
Please consider Dr. Ruby Payne's Framework for Understanding Poverty as a contribution to the discussion about poverty. It augments the discussion tonight as well as Karen Armstrong's journey. I think it's a nice compliment. What she has to say makes so much sense for understanding poverty. It has changed the way I think.

Aletha Stolar
Pax, WV (Listens to SOF OnDemand)

What's Next? We Need More Than Just Talk. (August 27, 2006)
I listened to this program on a long drive home and thought it was great. Unfortunately, there was nothing in the show or on your Web site about how to get involved. Helping the poor is something that's been in my heart a lot lately and I've wondered how to make that a part of my life. Many people not only feel hopeless about the situation, but also just have no idea how to help. Dr. Hilfiker seems like just the person to educate people, but for some reason that opportunity was wasted. If we're going to make a difference we need action, not just "stimulating conversation."

Kristi Morris
Eugene, OR (KOAC, 550 AM)

Giving Voice to the Poor (August 27, 2006)
While it is true that the majority of displaced people there were African Americans, the majority of poor people in this country is white. It is important, whenever possible, to break that stereotype that poverty is a racial problem. Also, there was a great deal of talk on that program of "helping." Yes, poor people need help, but poor people are also agents of change and recovery will be all the more effective as poor people have a leading voice in the changes that are required for justice to be done.

As a frequent slogan in the Lower Ninth Ward goes, "Nothing about us without us is for us." As Hilfiker rightly says: in giving charity the giver maintains control. Justice requires that those most affected by the change have a major voice. This needs to be emphasized whenever poverty is discussed. In support of this principle I have learned a lot about the leadership of the poor from the Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary in NYC.

Paul Chapman
Oak Bluffs, MA (WCAI, 90.1 FM)

Remembering the "Big Things" (August 27, 2006)
I've wanted to write a quick note of thanks to you for weeks. Each Sunday morning I wake up to SOF and your gentle voice and I'm immediately comforted from whatever issues of the day that have me down. Not to say your shows don't move me to tears almost every time, but they give me hope and I dare say "faith!" The doctor that was on this morning made me cry as his tears broke through the radio waves when speaking about his daughter's compassion as she cried about homeless people.

Anyway, too often we move about our day and notice big things that are disguised as little things that make us feel better, think harder, care stronger, live more meaningfully and mindfully. Though I am a person of little "religious" faith, and perhaps "atheist" would describe me best, I love how you make me feel more faith-full on Sunday mornings — if not just in the condition of humanity and the hope that we aren't all losing hearts and minds and souls in the insanity of progress and capitalism and imperialism and our own corrupt government.

Kathy Hucks
West Hartford, CT (WPKT, 90.5 FM)

Breaking the Silence Through Theatre (August 27, 2006)
You spoke of the irony of anti-poverty programs that did not intentionally attempt to make African Americans poorer and more isolated but inadvertently did just that. I read somewhere that the exclusion of domestic and farm workers from the benefits of the New Deal was lobbied for by Southern Congressman. If so, then the increased poverty and isolation was a predictable outcome of the program that lifted many out of poverty.

You and your guest also spoke about not knowing the poor, not knowing their stories. I suggest that you do a story (if you have not already done so) on Playback Theatre. This is a form of theatre in which the practitioners enter a community and provide a forum for the community members to share their stories with each other and see them enacted on the spot. This enables to the community members to see their stories as worthy of being told, heard and celebrated. It also affects the enactors.

Playback Theatre is practiced around the world. The techniques are nothing new to theater they are just applied differently. There is a body of theory behind it. One of its founders is Jonathan Fox, who is Jewish. It comes out of the tradition of Jacob Levy Moreno (developer of psychodrama and the support group and an early proponent of group psychotherapy) who with Martin Buber was at the center of a spiritual movement in the early 20th that involved building community as an expression of spirituality.

In late 1994, I formed a playback theatre group comprised of African-American gay men who were HIV positive. I called it Positive Image Performance Project. We would go to HIV-AIDS retreats and perform the stories of the men and women who were gathered there. It was another way of expressing the silence equals death theme. It broke the silence and isolation that immediately builds up with a diagnosis of being HIV positive.

Gregory Ford
Washington, DC (WETA, 90.9 FM)

Patronizing Elites in the Media (August 26, 2006)
Your show today featuring physician/author David Hilfiker and his decision to dedicate his life to advocacy for the poor was so patronizing and limited in its discussion of the roots of poverty and racism in America I was surprised to hear it on an NPR station. I appreciated the doctor's decision to utilize his enormous unearned privilege as an upper-class white man to serve the disadvantaged in Washington, D.C., but the host's comments alluding to the "pain" she and other white elites experience when confronted with homeless men or women or folks begging on the street, not to mention the historical racism and poverty of the country, was insulting.

Elites like the host clearly have no clue what "pain" African Americans, Latino, Asian, Native Americans, and other "non-whites" whose lives have been severely limited in order to serve white society have endured, nor do they care (if they did, then the inequalities revealed by media coverage of the flood would not have been so "shocking"). Luckily, we who do know, who have lived despite their ignorance and prejudice and purposeful acts of racist exclusion and oppression, have always and continue to actively work to elide their limitations and do for ourselves. The media focus on the aftermath of Katrina in emphasizing those who were inexcusably left behind typically overlooks the day-to-day acts of kindness within poor communities which keep them going.

A year after the flood, I can count on one hand the number of articles I have seen in the major media about New Orleans men and women who helped each other out of harm's way. Sadly, your "Seeing Poverty After Katrina" did little to correct this situation, dedicating the overwhelming majority of the program to perpetuate existing myths about poor blacks inability to do for themselves, and largely excusing white culpability and the guilty "pain" of those who benefit from this oppression.

Lisa Biggs
Brooklyn, NY (WNYC, 820 AM)

Panhandlers (August 25, 2006)
Love your show, and wouldn't miss it. I have recommended it to all my friends and associates, and I listen as I come and go to the podcast, since 6:00 on Sundays in Chicago is a little early for my blood.

Something you said this week about the poor prompts me to answer. You said that you sometimes don't give money to people who seem that they might be "irresponsible" with your no-doubt hard-earned money. Used to feel the same way myself. But then a friend told me that he had needed to drink every drink he drank to get into the AA program. Who knows? The drink that person might buy with your money could be the one that puts him over the top and onto the road to recovery!

I've stopped making judgments about the poor who approach and accost me. When they take me by surprise I don't always have my equanimity about me. Sometimes, I resent their sudden approach as an unmotivated and unwarranted intrusion, and I refuse their requests. But when I see them coming, and have a chance to prepare myself for the encounter, I just give them what I feel I can, regardless of their appearance or appurtenances. I don't feel it's up to me to judge them, or decide how they're likely to spend my money. We cannot know the demons they face, and what it takes to quiet them.

Richard Adams
Chicago, IL (WBEZ, 91.5 FM)

Open My Eyes (August 25, 2006)
This was an honest look at our middle class lack of interest/understanding of the problem of poverty in America. Thanks for continuing to open my eyes and help me to take a look at what I can do and how I can shape my children's worldviews.

Tonya Toutge
Robbinsdale, MN (Listens to SOF OnDemand)

People Rebuilding Community (August 24, 2006)
Greetings from Shawnee. Seeing the New Orleans topic that is coming up prompted me to suggest some of the people who are trying to rebuild their communities. I attended the first service in the Amozion Baptist Church in the Lower Ninth Ward following the hurricane in June. My new sister-in-law had attended the church her entire life and was able to bring community groups together to clean and open her church in time for a June 17 wedding (Greta Gladney and Jim Randels).

My dad is pastoring his small congregation in a church in Lakeview. They are meeting in the fellowship hall using a generator because they still don't have electricity to the building itself. All of their social ministries are struggling because the people haven't returned to the neighborhoods (Rev. Dick Randels) In Lakeview, in the months of September and October one of the neighborhood kids who now runs a restaurant sponsored a free daily lunch outside his childhood church to support his neighborhood (Tommy Citanovich, Drago's Restaurant in Metairie, LA).

Susan Ward
Shawnee, OK (KWGS, 89.5 FM)

The Hebrew Tzedakah (August 24, 2006)
In my latest SOF newsletter, Krista says: "And he [Dr. Hilfiker] makes a helpful distinction between "charity" and "justice." Charity is something, he says, over which we have control and that we do in a profound sense for ourselves." You may be interested to know that the Hebrew word for justice — tzedakah — is also used as the word for "charity." So when one gives to charity, one is actually contributing to justice. In fact, I, like many Jews, first heard the word tzedakah in its "charitable" sense, years before I knew that it actually meant justice.

Sharon Goldstein
Los Angeles, CA (KPCC, 89.3 FM)

Church Discussions Based on Your Programming (November 15, 2005)
We sponsor an Adult Education program at our Church (The United Church of Putney, a UCC affiliate) called "Community Conversations" where we discuss, usually based on a book, a wide-ranging slew of topics of spiritual, ethical, or social interest. Currently we have a series in progress called "Katrina Questions," using three of your programs (which we recently purchased as downloads from Audible.com) where we invite the group to listen to a Speaking of Faith recording, and discuss the matters raised. The next topic will be your interview with Jelle de Boer and Ursula Goodenough on "The Morality of Nature," and then the last in this series, your interview with George Ellis, "Science and Hope." Besides my personal enjoyment and edification in your weekly interviews, these conversations have been so stimulating that we will undoubtedly be using more of them in our future series. Thank you for your program!

John Adams
Putney, VT (WVPR, 89.5 FM)

The Facts: Racial Effects of Government Policies were Indeed Intentional (October 18, 2005)
The landmark Social Security Act of 1935 provided a safety net for millions of workers, guaranteeing them an income after retirement. But the act specifically excluded two occupations: agricultural workers and domestic servants, who were predominately African American, Mexican, and Asian. As low-income workers, they also had the least opportunity to save for their retirement. They couldn't pass wealth on to their children. Just the opposite. Their children had to support them.

But it was another racialized New Deal program, the Federal Housing Administration, that helped generate much of the wealth that so many white families enjoy today. These revolutionary programs made it possible for millions of average white Americans — but not others — to own a home for the first time. The government set up a national neighborhood appraisal system, explicitly tying mortgage eligibility to race. Integrated communities were ipso facto deemed a financial risk and made ineligible for home loans, a policy known today as "redlining." Between 1934 and 1962, the federal government backed $120 billion of home loans. More than 98 percent went to whites. Of the 350,000 new homes built with federal support in northern California between 1946 and 1960, fewer than 100 went to African Americans. (source: http://www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00-Home.htm)

Editor's Note: see David Hilfiker's booklet, Poverty in Urban America: Its Causes and Cures, which covers in more detail how the implementation of federal government programs contributed to the current state of homelessness and poverty in the United States.

CJ Arrindell
Baltimore, MD (WYPR, 88.1 FM)

Better than TV (September 22, 2005)
I really enjoyed your show on "Seeing Poverty after Katrina." I listened to every word that Dr. Hilfiker said. This show has by far been more useful than what you see on TV, especially this episode. I plan on buying his book. Thank you again.

Areli Lambeth
Pasadena, CA (KPCC, 89.3 FM)

Population (September 22, 2005)
I am listening to your production on poverty and Dr. Hilfiker's discussion on small town living. It occurs to me once again that increases in population are such a concern in so many ways. I wish you could host a discussion on this subject and how the ever increasing amounts of people effect every aspect of our lives, often unconsciously. People tend to believe that it is selfish not to have children. I think one could argue the opposite especially with all the children in need of good homes. And what about all the millions spent on artificial conception techniques? Anyway, I hope you will consider this subject. Many thanks for your wonderful program.

Joan Kennedy
Clyde, NC (WCQS, 88.1 FM)

What Katrina Can Teach Us (September 21, 2005)
Your program tonight, which dealt with the hidden realities of poverty in our nation, was one of the best interviews I have ever heard! It reached both my heart and mind. I took five pages of notes, was constantly engaged in each part of the program, and personally have been changed on some deeper level that I cannot fully access. Thank you for the depth of preparation in such a presentation, and thank you for the authenticity of both Ms. Tippett and Dr. Hilfiker. I often listen and benefit greatly from your programs which I hear on WABE out of Atlanta, Georgia. I plan to let the station know how much I value your program. God bless you richly.

Joy Fors
Snellville, GA (WABE, 90.1 FM)

Wanting the Best Also Means Accountability (September 21, 2005)
On tonight's program with Dr. Hilfiker, he mentioned that loving one another means wanting the best for each other. I believe that wanting the best for people includes holding them to a higher standard, expecting that they can do better and then helping them to get there — not enabling old behavior. Teenage pregnancy has no consequences in the black community. It must for that behavior to change. Why is it alright to have multiple children with different men out of wedlock and not OK to use contraception and/or abortion? Where is the responsibility for one's actions? People can do better if we expect them to and stop enabling them.

It is, in my opinion, a form of entitlement to have more children than one can take good care of. It is selfish for anyone at any level of society to continue to over-breed when our planet is so overcrowded and resources are becoming so scarce. Example: bio-engineered food, pollution, unsafe drinking water, overcrowded highways etc.

I would like you, or someone with some courage, to address these issues: (1) overpopulation — its sources and effects — and (2) the relationship between poverty and large fatherless families with children born out of wedlock to "children." What would it take to limit the number of children that people are allowed to have in America? Why is no one willing to address the obvious source of most every problem on the planet today? Thanks for considering my thoughts.

Judy Perras
Atlanta, GA (WABE, 90.1 FM)

Expanding Our View (September 21, 2005)
My comments are in no way to diminish the poverty of African Americans, Native Americans, and other American people groups. Their experiences are very real and my heart goes out to their suffering. I hope they find peace and solace in Christ. However, I have found that America as a whole has forgotten to address in one particular class of poor people — namely, white persons who are descendants of Scottish, Irish, and eastern European ancestry.

We are often overlooked because the stereotype of white people is "rich." We are the people who settled the Appalachians and were raped of our resources by other European "elites" who confiscated our resources and rights. We are the people who desired to live in self-sufficiency and harmony with nature, free of government influence, yet were denied those basic freedoms. We are the people of bluegrass and country who are often made fun of. The descendents of these people, like myself, still remain impoverished because our families have for so many generations lacked wealth and have sometimes been made a class of indentured servants.

We live quietly in so many communities in the U.S. I lived for 20 years as a poor white person in the richest county in the nation (Fairfax County). The result? Often being outcast for not being able to keep up with the clothing, athletics, and school requirements enforced. All this was because of exactly what the speaker talked about — most Americans distance from poor people (and many people who are simply different from themselves). We are looked upon with arrogance because we are unknown (and different). I would be interested to see some books that highlight this untold story of poor Scottish and Irish and eastern European descendants.

Our challenge now is to form at least one relationship in which to mend the gap of non-relationship charity. Something Christ has been speaking to us from the New Testament for hundreds of years.

Melinda Scott
Atlanta, GA (WABE, 90.1 FM)

Something for Justice (September 20, 2005)
I think we particularly are thankful for information that helps us to think in new ways and that has been so true of Speaking of Faith programming. The guests are marvelous but the real thanks should go to Kristen Tippet who is so smart and well informed.

The Dr. David Hilfiker interview was timely and provocative. But mostly it gave me important information which I hadn't known, and it gave me some ideas and even words of explanation I find myself passing on to others. Charity versus justice is a great concept to discuss, and so is knowing more about the background of reasons for poverty in black America. It will cause me to act on the side of justice. Now, I must choose how I will go about doing much much less than the amazing Hilfikers, but it will be something.

Judith Hansen
Los Angeles, CA (KPCC, 89.3 FM)

I Could Identify with the Speaker (September 20, 2005)
For 49 years we lived on the campus of Fisk University in Nashville where my husband taught physics. We raised our two sons there from 1949 and left Nashville in l989. Those years were not easy after the Supreme Court decision of l954. Our sons were caught in the desegregation of the schools, a grade a year, with the older on not and the younger in the first desegregated class coming through. This affected their relationships until rather recently. Unintended consequences when we felt we were doing what was right. We listen to your program each Sunday morning and appreciate it. We are finding others in our retirement community also listen and appreciate it. Thanks for your good work.

Marian D. Fuson
Kennett Square, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

Learning to Forgive (September 19, 2005)
I was struck by the feeling of forgiveness the doctor felt from his patients in Washington D.C. I marveled at the same type of forgiveness when at the National Powwow for Native American tribes. At this event, also held in Washington, the grand entrance was lead by Native America veterans. Here were people who risked their lives and were proud of the uniforms of these United States: the same United States that has dealt so cruelly with their ancestors. This is the same forgiveness found in the Japanese-Americans of the internment camps.

The U.S. could use something similar to the Truth Commission in South Africa where the wrongs of the past were confessed. Almost as if the nation was in a 12-Step program and working on their 4th Step inventory. If we fail to at least admit to our past wrongs we could use up the 77 times the Bible says we should be forgiven.

Davis Chung
Amissville, VA (WETA, 90.9 FM)

A Facade of Plenty (September 19, 2005)
"Seeing Poverty after Katrina" was an exceptional program — although so many are. Washington D.C. is a perfect example of a place where the facade is "plenty and equality" and the real deal a few streets away from the capital is significant poverty, drugs, and homelessness. Katrina slapped us in the face with the facts but some folks are already blaming the victims. We cannot afford to continue the tax or program cuts as politicians are now discussing.

Mary White
Washington, D.C. (WETA, 90.9 FM)

In Charity, Teach Chastity (September 18, 2005)
Dr. Hilfiker's work is commendable and it's always important to be reminded that we ought to give of our time and talents at least as much as treasure. At the risk of nitpicking, let me take exception with the idea of denigrating the word "charity," which after all simply means love. As for Dr. Hilfiker's thesis, Mr. Rehbaum's reflection below hits the nail on the head. The "systems" and "structures" rhetoric is fatuous. It's interesting that Dr. Hilfiker mentions the Moynihan report and acknowledges that illegitimacy "is highly correlated with poverty," but then essentially ignores that fact.

The truth is that if we genuinely care about the fate of our brothers and sisters, we would support measures that develop in young men a respect for chastity and lifelong marriage, do whatever it takes to get them through high school, and replace the sick government-run schools that have failed these children with private institutions that are free to inculcate virtue, discipline, and meaning (and then we should run the educrats, corrupt unions, and radical social engineers out of town on a rail).

A few blocks from where Dr. Hilfiker works is a burgeoning community of prosperous black African immigrants. Most started with far less than their American cousins have, and they're certainly subject to the same prejudices, yet they have thrived in a few short years. Worth asking how. [Hint: families.]

J.A. Marrit
Washington, D.C. (WETA, 90.9 FM)

What Next? (September 18, 2005)
I found today's program to raise some very interesting, and troubling, questions. How do you "do well by doing good" that involves more than just writing a check? How do you dismantle those systems that have come together to create this situation and help people affected by them to reach beyond those barriers? This debate is one that involves not only questions of spirituality, but of policy as well. Thank you for a very thought-provoking session.

Barbara Finley
Claremont, CA (KPCC, 89.3 FM)

Exclusion Was Not Inadvertent (September 18, 2005)
I find the content of all the programs I have heard to be consistently thoughtful and thought-provoking. As near as I can tell this is due to the effort that Krista Tippett, et al., put into preparing each program. Regarding the poverty program, given what little I do know about the origins of the Social Security Act in FDR's time, I was surprised to hear Ms. Tippett say that the original de facto exclusion of poor blacks from coverage was "inadvertent."

My understanding from my instructor in social policy was that to secure passage of the Act, the powers-that-be acceded to demands of southern (white) lawmakers to exclude the domestic and agricultural workers. If this is indeed correct, one analysis might be that the southern white establishment of that time wanted to maintain an economic status quo wherein the majority of black workers in southern agrarian economies (and women in general) would remain dependent and beholden to white power interests, thus ensuring a cheap, docile, and ready pool of labor. Of course the advent of WWII made a difference because of the opportunities that became available in the war industries, in which all workers were covered. But the end of the war and the return of the predominantly white male veterans to industrial America reversed the trends enjoyed by both blacks and women.

It is little wonder the civil rights movement gained momentum in the 1950s, as the affected minorities would longer accept second-class citizenship. I would guess that the  exclusion mentioned above was couched in terms of relieving private families and farmers from the burden of having to comply with the provisions of the Act. But I would venture to guess that the exclusion could not be truly "inadvertent" in that the exclusion was based on seeing the affected workers as second-class citizens and not worthy of going to all that trouble. Thanks for providing very good topics with analysis and discussion that I don't hear on the rest of the radio dial. Keep up the good work.

Jeffrey Daily
Berwyn, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

Leading the Discussion (September 18, 2005)
I applaud the doctor and suggest that everyone on national TV/news/talk shows should hear his discussion in an effort to educate the masses. He was so right on with his insight into poverty, government programs, and poor and minorities. I agree the media has also shown the poor and blacks in particular in a bad light especially during the local news day and night. This practice has always upset me. The perpetual question is how can the news be read, crimes and bad deeds written and spoken about in order to make the public aware without demonizing humans and other minorities. This to me along with what happened in Louisiana should be addressed. Dr. Hilfiker could start that discussion in my opinion. Now is the time. Thanks again for the excellent show.

Angela Scriven
PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

Living Among the Poor in the Nineteenth Century (September 18, 2005)
The show was terrific. Throughout, I found myself thinking about the parallels between David Hilfiker's journey towards wisdom and that of the American social reformer Jane Addams. Nearly everything he said on the show she has also written, albeit in the language of her own time. In fact, she had wanted to become a doctor in order to live among the poor, although she failed to earn her M.D. degree. She did succeed in redirecting her life, however. In 1889, she moved to Chicago to live in a low-income industrial neighborhood on the West Side.

Hearing Dr. Hilfiker talk about the lessons that he learned from his friendships with poor people, lessons so similar to those Addams learned, reinforces my sense that these are lessons anyone of us can learn if we were to live in relationship with them. These ideas occur to me because I have a new biography of Addams that will be published in November this year (Citizen: Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy, publisher University of Chicago Press). Thanks for a wonderful show!

Louise Knight
Evanston, IL (WBEZ, 91.5 FM)

Look at Low Mortgage Rates (September 18, 2005)
I think the Federal Reserve's policy of low-interest/mortgage rates has done as much, if not more, than zoning law changes to allow middle- and low-income households to move to more racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods.

Robert Kirk
Indianapolis, IN (WFYI, 90.1 FM)

The Poor Are God's Trust (September 18, 2005)
Thank you so much for your program. It was timely and necessary. I've heard people say "How could God do this?" in reference to Katrina. My question is, rather, "How could we do this?" As we all know, the tragedy was very preventable, and we had been apprised of the danger long before it happened. I think that seeing the devastation and the horrors inflicted upon the poor in Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast is a lesson to us from God that placed starkly in our faces what we had chosen to ignore: that in a culture that promotes individual well-being ahead of collective well-being, we are suffering right alongside our poor people without in many cases even knowing this is true.

I'd like to close with a quote from Bahá'u'lláh, the prophet that began the Bahá'í Faith and was in His youth known as "Father to the Poor." "Know ye that the poor are the trust of God in your midst. Watch that ye betray not His trust, that ye deal not unjustly with them and that ye walk not in the ways of the treacherous. Ye will most certainly be called upon to answer for His trust on the day when the Balance of Justice shall be set, the day when unto every one shall be rendered his due, when the doings of all men, be they rich or poor, shall be weighed." (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 251)

James Russell
Indianapolis, IN (WFYI, 90.1 FM)

Attacking the Root Causes (September 18, 2005)
I was amazed that the show about poverty could go for its entire length without mentioning the true causes of poverty inside and outside the ghetto. I guess these subjects are not talked about because they are truly difficult to deal with. Most poverty could be eliminated in our country if children graduated from high school (hopefully with the ability to read and write), did not have children while they are teenagers, and did not have children until marriage.

Government seems unable to deal with these particular problems. And, getting to know a poor person or living next door to a poor person is not going to correct the situation. I commend Dr. Hilfiker for his work. He appears to be taking care of people but done little to attack the root causes of poverty.

Larry Rehbaum
Cedarburg, WI (WUWM, 89.7 FM)

Why Is This a Surprise? (September 18, 2005)
Since the coverage on Katrina and the impact on poor people people in New Orleans began, I have been, once again, angered and disgusted by the conversation about how none of "us" knew that all these poor folk lived in New Orleans. Who are the people that make up the us? And why isn't anybody talking to black people about this? Why are all the commentators white folks, some of whom are making excellent commentary such as Dr. Hilfiker?

I'm a black woman who has lived in this country all of my 54 years and I have always known about the poor folks in New Orleans, Detroit, Philadelphia, New York City (my hometown)! Why is it that none of the problems that impact black folks on a daily basis are real or true until white America decides to acknowledge them? And why isn't anyone who is talking about the problem honestly addressing the fact that race/color is one of if not the key component that determines who will be poor, or who will remain poor?

When my parents were looking for a new place to live in Queens, we knew why my dad couldn't get the mortgage he needed and why we couldn't move into a particular neighborhood. It was because the seller told the realtor: "If they're niggers, don't bother to bring them here." (Seller's words, not mine.) Did Americans really not know that more onerous payment terms were given to black Americans than white? Did white Americans really not know that black folks were charged more than whites for the same goods, if for no other reason than to keep blacks out of a particular store? Does American really not know that qualified black attorneys who are successful in the courtroom against white attorneys, still cannot get jobs in firms? Does white America really not know that black Americans are prosecuted and jailed at a rate and with terms far greater than white Americans?

Black Americans know. We have always known and always talked about it. Why else did we hear the people left behind in New Orleans saying that the response was so bad because they were black? Because they know; they live that abandonment on a daily basis! White America has just chosen not to listen. White America starts paying attention when it gets hit in its pocket book primarily, or now in modern times, when the nation is embarrassed internationally because the pictures tell the whole story. The fact that I can sit here and e-mail on my iBook is because my middle-class status is built on the back of the poor folks of this country; as it was, is now and ever shall be. Poor black people have held up white America for over 400 years and until this nation really starts talking about race, nothing will change!

Let me say that I realize that there are poor folks in every race in this nation. White America has no problem with stepping on its own to achieve the "dream." But if anyone in the media would honestly talk about the statistics, it would be perfectly clear that black America continues to bear the brunt of poverty in this nation. And all of those politicos and religious leaders who are busy talking about Christianity and God should hang their heads in shame as most of them not only continue to benefit from the class structure in this nation, but have put in place programs and policies which ensure that the status quo will remain if not worsen. I have said enough and yet I can never say too much. Thank you for your time.

Beverly Penn
Philadelphia, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

A Prophetic Call (September 18, 2005)
An amazingly clear articulation of both the causes and reality of poverty in the U.S. and why we people of faith should care. In addition a prophetic call that God has made it clear that we as a country will not survive if we allow the intense discrepancy to remain between rich and poor.

David Neely
Chicago, IL (WBEZ, 91.5 FM)

Avoiding General Terms (September 18, 2005)
I love your show, but when you talk about the poor and African Americans in New Orleans, as you did intelligently with David Hilfiker, you must avoid describing the object of your discourse as "these people," a term which Hilfiker studiously avoids but which you unconsciously employ at least three times in the interview. There is no more objectifying term. There are racist terms, of course, that intentionally abuse and hurt, but to talk of the other, the poor and black in America, as "these people" is a special kind of insult from someone so close and so caring.

Chuck Strozier
Brooklyn, NY (WNYC, 93.9 FM)

Feeling Less Alone (September 17, 2005)
What a wonderful show. Thank God for today's program. Dr. Hilfiker has articulated all that I have been feeling about our increasing alienation from the poor and our increasing disregard for their — and our — welfare. I especially appreciated his observation that everything has to be filtered through the market, evaluated in terms of economic profitability, that our culture rewards greed, and that now "it's every man for himself." I have felt the pain of this all my life and never more so than today.

No, here, we are not our brother's keeper and Drs. King and Hilfiker are right. We are not well unless we are all well and we will surely and completely lose the concepts of equality, fraternity, and democracy if we continue to foster the structures that oppress so many of our fellow citizens. We will lose these values because we will have exchanged them for ignorance, privilege, greed, power, and material gain. Thank you for airing these ideas. I feel less alone after your show.

Davida Weber
New York, NY (WNYC, 93.9 FM)

Perfect Timing (September 16, 2005)
Your show came at just the right time, as my UCC church's Outreach Ministry is about to hold a retreat to talk about our programs, which one can categorize primarily as works of charity. A new member is requesting that we look at the whole issue of injustice, to get at the underlying causes that may be contributing to the need for charity. I will urge the group to look at the transcript of your discussion and the summary of the roots of poverty, which was very instructive to me, as was the discovery of the Web site and many of the past topics. Many thanks! I will be quoting from your discussion as we gather and try to sort out our focus and priorities.

Cathy Stivers
Falmouth, ME (WMEA, 90.1 FM)

A Real Discussion of the Poor (September 16, 2005)
I rarely like to read long pieces online but David Hilfiker's article was fascinating and so clear and informative. I "copied" it and posted it on our neighborhood listserve which has been having its own "discussion" of the poor, a product of Katrina. If people truly read the entire piece, I think it can educate and change minds. It's so well thought out, so honest and smart that I will save it as an article to share whenever the subject comes up. I love your program. Thanks over and over again.

Judith Hansen
Los Angeles, CA (KPCC, 89.3 FM)