Growing up as a queer individual below the poverty line in rural America, I witnessed firsthand the chasm between the promise of freedom and its stark reality. Raised by a single mother who toiled tirelessly, I saw the uncelebrated labor that sustains our nation. Yet, the political narratives, especially those targeting white, working-class communities, often peddle a hollow version of freedom—one that resonates like an empty echo.
Read MoreIn the next few moments, I want to take a look at the bigger picture of which Barbara’s life reminds us, and to which it testifies. This is the good news: Barbara’s life can make us see a bigger picture and something that is happening in the world, which is bigger than us. I take this to mean that we are never alone, even if it may sometimes feel that way. This is, of course, what Christians believe, but this is also what many other faith traditions tell us. Even people who don’t embrace any particular faith often have an acute sense of something bigger at work than the individual, and many intuitively grasp that we are not alone.
Read MoreWe know that political power is deeply entangled with other forms of power:
cultural, religion, and economic. We are concerned that political power cannot truly change
without changing cultural and religious power, and without the economic strongholds of power
that fund all of these powers.
Read MoreSince poverty and wealth are not only matters of money but also of power, it is time to move from charity and advocacy to what I am calling "deep solidarity."
Read MoreDeep solidarity is not a matter of the relatively privileged trying to help the underprivileged and to solve their problems; rather, it is a matter of understanding that nothing will change unless we are addressing the problems of the world together.
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