natalie's narrative

Post bailout...

Finishing up Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change as a study break/reward is getting interesting in light of our post-bailout scenario.  The government has just approved a $700 billion taxpayer-funded rescue of Wall Street, after our free-market hypercapitalism went awry.  I started reading this book over the summer, before huge wads of money were thrown at our financial institutions.  McLaren discusses the pressing need to address poverty, AIDS, and the shortage of drinking water, among other things.  He also discusses the insane amount of wealth we have here in the USA.  Knowing now that $700 billion can be freed up so quickly should put us to shame.

McLaren refers to the "equity system" in our society, which assures that some members of society do not end up with an unfair advantage over other members.  The equity system is a system of justice that is supposed to develop and enforce laws, distribute society's expenses (through taxes), and establish and protect the press and court system so as to expose inequities.  Since laws, distribution, and the courts at times fail us, nongovernmental organizations and charities have been developed to address inequities. 

When the equity system ends up sputtering, our society can see some serious problems.  The equity system has become unable to "intervene, recalibrate, [and] reorder," because perhaps our leaders have removed the mechanisms that allow the equity system to work.  McLaren reminds us we're living in a time of "'free markets,' and the word free suggests that the equity system should be in handcuffs, if not a straitjacket so as to not interfere" (231).

McLaren continues:

"One naturally asks, What are markets to be free from?  What are they freed for?  For what purpose?  Are markets freed from government regulation so that the rich can achieve luxurious levels of wealth, leaving the poor to starve or barely survive in degradation and indignity?  Are markets free so that inequity can reach its apogee, providing liberty and justice for a very few?  Are markets free so that those who plunder the environment can do so without accountability, or so that those who exploit the labor of the poor can do so without impunity?  Is there no equity system that seeks to redress these injustices?  Are the powerful free for the purpose of pursuing prosperity and security without equity?"  (231)

An unfettered free market, which many Christians have supported by being in lockstep with conservative politicians, results in CEOs flying to Washington in private jets to ask for government money, while these CEOs' factories and plants continue to be shut down, causing more job loss and struggling families.  These same CEOs will say on television that they "Think they're doing just fine" with an $8 million salary, all the while their employees hope to at least be able to preserve their retirement savings in the failing economy.  Yep, reading Everything Must Change after the bailout(s) has been enlightening.

Yet another thought from a class devotion

I have been turning to scripture a lot lately in light of being down about the hurricane and some other things. This nagging feeling of down-ness I have had started in Costa Rica, probably just from being my usual over-analytical self, but one of my classes is also pretty depressing. It’s Public Health and Nutrition in the “Third World,” and my professor certainly recognizes that the subject matter can be a downer. We’re learning about things like the AIDS epidemic and malaria (by the way did you know that malaria kills more people each year than AIDS?!), and their effects on societies. This is when I’m thankful that I’m at a place like Wheaton, because we try as a class to work through the overwhelming things we are learning in light of the gospel and what we can do to somehow improve the situation.

For her devotion, a student read from Isaiah 58 today, and then challenged us to join the effort to provide much-needed antiretroviral drugs to children in Africa. I have been thinking all day about this passage—longish but good…

⁶ "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.

¹¹ The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

---- Here are some ways to help:

Stop Global AIDS Unicef's Campaign Against AIDS

The black/white divide and adoption

I just got back from class, where we were discussing a campaign on campus to raise awareness of children orphaned by AIDS. On Wednesday, 1/20 of the student body wore bright orange shirts that say ORPHAN to represent the percentage of children in Africa who are orphans as a result of AIDS. On Friday, 1/10 of us will wear the shirts, demonstrating very visually that the number of orphans is to double in the next decade.

In light of this campaign, my professor pointed out something positive about often-maligned white, middle-class evangelicals. This group is largely responsible for fostering a good attitude about adoption and is very active in adopting children internationally and in the States. In many other cultures, adoption is stigmatized, unthinkable, especially adopting a stranger’s child. So, that is a positive contribution.

On the other hand, my professor mentioned that the US is a major source for international adoption. Canadians and Western Europeans adopt many African-American children from the US. White Americans generally do not adopt African-American children, although adopting an Asian or Latino child can be common.

A disproportionately large number of African-American children are in foster care, waiting for a family to adopt them. According to an article in the Oregonian last summer, “there is no shortage of American families willing to adopt.” Instead, “there is a shortage of American families willing to adopt [black] kids.” One of the wealthiest nations in the world “exports,” so to speak, its children, and there seems to be an “adoption hierarchy” in the US: “blond, blue-eyed girls are at the top and African-American boys are at the bottom.”

I have never heard this before, and I’m not meaning to criticize families who have provided a loving home for, say, a Chinese or a Guatemalan child. But it seems that the black/white divide in the US still haunts us.