“Now is the time to make an adequate income a reality for all of God’s children, now is the time for city hall to take a position for that which is just and honest.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today our nation and community celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Many of us have the day off to enjoy as a holiday; some of us are using this day as a day of service and volunteerism (“a day on; not a day off”). Most of us remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s contribution to our nation from his “I Have a Dream” speech – one of the most important speeches in American history – a fiery and spiritual appeal to end racism and injustice. However, some of us do not remember that when he was killed, he was supporting a strike of municipal sanitation workers, standing up for the principle that every working American should be able to earn enough to live a decent life.
I suspect that Dr. King would be surprised to find that since the 1980s (when the issue of homelessness as a social phenomenon began) homeless shelters and programs have had to spring up to also serve homeless families. So we as a community and nation have fallen short in fulfilling his vision. The division between rich and poor is greater now than ever before and some of our nation’s families struggle to live a decent, self-sufficient life.
In February 2007, the acclaimed actor, Danny Glover, came to Nashville to fight for the Living Wage Campaign. Along with forums and appearances at Vanderbilt University and The Scarritt Bennett Center, he came to Safe Haven Family Shelter with those Vanderbilt employees asking for a living wage to visit with families struggling with this same issue. SHFS has long been an advocate for solutions to family homelessness. We serve the whole person and the whole family. We work with community partners and resources to provide needed services and opportunities; we advocate for change. But it is undeniable that families are homeless, in large part, because of persistent poverty. We can clothe, house and feed families. We can provide education and training, support, love, empowerment and hope. That is what we do every day, and most of the families that come through our doors do make it.
Yet we know, too, that until we address the underlying causes of family homelessness – family dissolution, family violence, lack of affordable housing, lack of living wage jobs, mental and physical health issues and chronic poverty – we will not fulfill our vision to reduce and eventually eliminate family homelessness in Middle Tennessee. Other American cities have done so. It takes community will; it takes Dr. King’s vision enacted by us all.
So as we paint walls, clean closets, and organize pantries – all noble and important pursuits–let us not forget the real work of Dr. King’s dream.
The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. . . ‘The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty. -Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 1967
