Download a digital copy (1.5 MB) - Open Door Community

Settling In ˜ 49
“Not in Our Names.” They were tireless in their petition drives, meetings, letter-writing,
and demonstrations and in taking on their own men. Their effectiveness
in bringing an end to the public acceptance of lynching is a reminder
to us of the power of women working together to end oppression. The crusade
against lynching had its problems, but it was genuinely an interracial women’s
movement: the sort we need so desperately today.
Do you know Do you have any idea how much the poor and your oppressed
neighbor need you Do you have any idea how much your life, your
service, your compassion and love are needed by the many who suffer because
of injustice
Oppression in the form of racism, sexism, war, and poverty is causing death
and destruction around the world and right under our noses. The flagrant destruction
of the earth and its precious resources and the destruction of human
hope and human dignity are a part of the same death-dealing spirit that says:
“Serve yourself. Take what’s yours and then get yourself a gun and an insurance
policy to protect it. Use up whatever you want right now and let somebody else
worry about tomorrow.”
Our earth and the earth’s people (most of whom are at this very moment
poor and hungry) need us to give our lives to serve our neighbors, toward the
goals of justice and social transformation. It is easy to be blinded by our class,
our privilege, and, yes, even to be blinded by our education and our educational
institutions.
But in these days our ignorance of our neighbor’s plight—whether willful
or unwitting ignorance—our silence, and our inaction mean, literally and powerfully,
service to a public policy that is killing our neighbors at home and
around the world.
You gonna have to serve somebody.
Please. Let us abandon exclusive travel on the predictable path. Go into the
shelters, the streets, the jails and prisons, and the substandard housing. Don’t let
fear and oppressive myth control your life.
Meet your neighbor. Listen. Hear her story. Learn of her life.
Serve her!