The following is the Press Release regarding “Occupy Palm Sunday.”

On Palm Sunday, churches “occupy” CHA’s Lathrop Homes

Tell Mayor Emanuel: “Show us the plan” for North Side units

Over 250 people from area churches and the community gathered at 2029 W. Diversey in the heart of the Julia C. Lathrop Homes on Palm Sunday afternoon as a part of the 5th annual “Occupy Palm Sunday”, waving palm branches, carrying signs and chanting, “Show Us the Plan!” The event, organized by the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance (LSEA), Chicago Housing Initiative (CHI) and Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA), was in protest of Wednesday’s City Council action to approve the rezoning of Lathrop Homes that paves the way for elimination of 525 units of public housing on the historic site.

“Mayor Emanuel and the city of Chicago are taking homes that were set aside for low-income families and giving them to the rich,” Rev. Bruce Ray announced to the crowd. “That ain’t right! Mayor Emanuel needs to show us a plan that will replace those units on the North Side, and he needs to do it now.”

Ray, pastor of Kimball Avenue Church in Logan Square, said that the LSEA has demanded a meeting with the Mayor on Monday, March 21, at 10:00 am, to find a way forward, followed by a press conference. “Families are desperate for affordable housing. And the CHA (Chicago Housing Authority) is sitting on millions of dollars that should be used to provide that housing right here and right now,” Ray added.

Youth from local churches turned over a table covered with play money they called “Rahm Bucks” in a re-enactment of Jesus driving out the money changers in the temple in Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday. “CHA has the money. Why won’t they use it to provide housing?” one youth asked. “That’s what they are supposed to do.”

Participants, including many in wheelchairs, then processed to a vacant unit to hold an extended vigil. Laura Donaldson has been on the CHA’s waiting list for 20 years, but the lack of accessible low-income housing units has forced her to live in shelters. “We don’t need more market rate housing,” she said. “Look around, there are plenty of places people can rent. But low-income people with disabilities are left out in the cold.” Those keeping vigil said they were willing to stay throughout the night to show solidarity with those who have been displaced and have few housing options.

Bishop Wayne Miller of the Metropolitan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) also addressed the crowd. “We are once again witnessing a city government breaking faith. This is no longer a matter of public policy; it is a matter of public morality. There is still time for civic leaders to turn, and to choose a better path,” he said to the applause of the crowd.

In February, under pressure from community leaders, CHA CEO Eugene Jones issued a vaguely-worded letter committing that the CHA would create “525 new housing opportunities” on the North Side.  But the letter offered no specifics on how and when those units would be developed and how they would be funded. “The CHA has a long history of broken promises,” said Leah Levinger, Executive Director of the Chicago Housing Initiative (CHI). “The agency has delivered fewer than half of the replacement units it has promised since 1999, so Jones’ ‘commitment”; is empty,” she added. “Why should we believe the CHA would fulfill this new commitment? We need a plan.”

Referencing Martin Luther King, Jr’s, occupation of a public housing unit for 24 hours on Chicago’s West Side 50 years ago, Rev. Liz Muñoz, pastor of Nuestra Señora De Las Americas, said, “Families are being gentrified out of their communities. The result is the economic and racial re-segregation of the city—especially on the North Side. Lathrop represents stable housing for low income families in a great community, with decent schools, job opportunities, and safe streets, but the Mayor is choosing to take that away from the poor to build housing for the rich. That is completely unjust, and we cannot be silent in the face of injustice.”

The crowd was not silent, picking up the chant once again, “Show Us The Plan!” while 10 people, including Ms. Donaldson, Logan Square pastors and housing advocates, entered a vacant unit, vowing to occupy it for 24 hours.

MATTHEW 8:19-20; LUKE 10:38-42

During his 3-year ministry, Jesus was a traveling preacher without a permanent address. He depended upon the hospitality of strangers and friends. Martha (and Mary) opened their home to Jesus frequently.

Questions for Reflection

1. When was the last time you opened your home to a missionary, a friend, or someone who needed help?
2. What stops you from using your home as a place for ministry to the needs of others?

Check out this article from 2014 that shows how gentrification is reshaping our cities and impacting communities of color.

Gentrification in Seven US Cities

 

MARK 11:1-17

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday. Churches of the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance will remember Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem and reflect on what would happen if Jesus entered Logan Square, asking ourselves what Jesus might see that needed to be changed. Jesus’ first action after his parade was to disrupt business as usual at the temple—business that took advantage of the poor. Since we are using the season of Lent to “make homes’ for others, we believe Jesus would be deeply disturbed by what is taking place at Lathrop Homes where the Chicago Housing Authority is planning to eliminate housing for the poor (525 public housing units) and replace them with 500 units of housing for people with higher incomes. This redistribution of land does not fulfill “the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Questions for Reflection:

1. Flipping tables was a direct action that exposed unjust practices that harmed the poor. What do you think Jesus wanted to accomplish through his direct action?  
2. Do you think Jesus was effective? Successful?
3. Would you be willing to participate in a direct action?  Why or why not?

There is no devotional for Sunday, March 20, 2016.  Join the LSEA for a Palm Sunday worship service and action at Lathrop Homes.

HONORING PROMISES

March 16, 2016

“Alas for those who devise wickedness and evil deeds… They covet fields, and seize them; houses and take them away; they oppress householder and house, people and their inheritance.” Micah 2:1-2

Our city has been enveloped by a moral crisis. It is a beast with many heads, but the core issue is that TRUST between the people of Chicago and its elected leaders is broken. And the devastating impact of this broken trust has now escalated to the point that educational resources, access to social services, employment opportunity, public safety, and even confidence in law enforcement itself are all threatened.

And yet, despite this critical failure in the foundational trust fabric of community life, we are once again witnessing a city government breaking faith by converting the Lathrop Homes on the north side from low-income housing to “mixed income” housing with no reliable plan and no credible evidence of any commitment to provide alternative housing for the poor, who are being relentlessly displaced by this new development plan.

No matter what the arguments regarding theories of urban planning, the inescapable truth is that what has been happening at Lathrop represents a policy built on lies and broken promises over many years. Promises have been broken in our relationship with the federal government, which has been paying millions of dollars into the CHA, trusting that these dollars would be used for their intended purpose. They have not. Promises have been broken to the residents of Lathrop, who have left, either by eviction or persuasion, with an unfulfilled expectation of new housing that has never been built. Simultaneously, those residents have been barred from returning to the home left behind. Promises have been broken to all the taxpayers of the city who have trusted elected officials who seem to have forgotten that government exists to defend the well-being of the vulnerable, the broken, and the marginalized, against the crushing oppressive force of unrestrained wealth and unaccountable social privilege.

The one essential structure of all social, communal, or civic life is the capacity to make, to keep, and to honor promises. Without the honoring of promises there is no integrity. Without integrity there is no credibility. Without credibility, there can be no trust. And without trust, there is no community. This is no longer a matter of public policy. It is a matter of public morality.

It is therefore incumbent upon Christian leaders, not merely as a matter of civic responsibility, but as a matter of evangelical necessity, to speak and act in a way that places the Church clearly and unambiguously in communion with the God who always stands in solidarity with the poor and the vulnerable whose trust has been betrayed, even if doing so puts us at personal risk. My hope is that there is still time for civic leaders to recognize the destructive effect of these choices, to turn, and to choose a better path.

Bishop Wayne N. Miller
Metropolitan Chicago Synod, ELCA

Chicago, IL

Bishop Miller will participate in the Occupy Palm Sunday Action at Lathrop Homes on March 20, 2016.  

REFLECTION ON ‘HOME’

It was not uncommon for my parents to greet visitors into our home with “mi casa es su casa” or “esta en tu casa”(you are in your own home).  These words were more than a formal or perfunctory welcome as I learned growing up in the barrios of Boyle Heights of East Los Angeles.  Friends and family often came to stay with us for long period of times.  Sometimes they were visiting from Mexico and sometimes it was because times were hard and the living was far from easy.  Whatever the reason mi casa es su casa was a way of life that offered a place of warmth, love, sharing and continuity.  This way of life has been passed down for generations in communities like Humboldt Park, Pilsen and La Villita.

Unfortunately this way of life is very much in danger as families are forced out of their homes and into substandard housing farther and farther away from their roots.  There is voracious appetite for gentrification that is swallowing up our barrios and ‘hoods in order to create a housing market that fewer and fewer working people can buy into.  It is displacing long time residents and making them the alien in their own homelands.  And the humanity of all is brought into question as neighbor is pitted against neighbor and mi casa is only mi casa.

This is more than an economic crisis. It is a spiritual and emotional crisis that threatens our relationships with one another as well as our relationship.  The prophet Micah writes of God’s vision for humankind as one where “Each of them will sit under his vine And under his fig tree, With no one to make them afraid, For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.(Micah 4:3-4)”  Home is the place where creativity, knowledge, and love can thrive.  Affordable housing means the difference between life and strife. How then will we, as people of God, assure that mi casa es tu casa does become an anachronism or another platitude?

Question for Reflection:

1. What action could you take to align your vision with God’s vision of shalom so that we all may have a casa to call home?
2. When have you experienced ‘mi casa es tu casa’?
3. How will you ensure that ‘mi casa es tu casa’ is true in your home?

– Contributed by Rev. Liz Muñoz, Pastor of Nuestra Señora De Las Americas Episcopal Church, Chicago

There was a time–not in the too distant past–when African Americans could not get a mortgage loan from banks in Chicago.  It had nothing to do with income or job stability or credit scores.  It was only about skin color.  The policies of the Federal Housing Authority (refusal to insure mortgages in “redlined” [ie black] communities) and the practices of the Mortgage Bankers Association prevented access to credit on the basis of race.  As a result, African Americans who wanted to own their own homes often had to purchase them “on contract”–meaning that they paid for their homes on an installment plan directly from the owner over many years while still being responsible for all repairs and maintenance.  However, most contracts included a clause stating that if the buyer missed even one payment, the property would revert back to the seller who could then evict the homeowner and then re-sell the property to another family.  The buyer would then lose not only the home but his/her entire investment.

A job loss, a catastrophic illness, the death of a wage-earner, economic downturns could quickly result in the loss of the home, while the seller (who was usually white and often connected to a real estate company) was able to turn a huge profit by reselling the home over and over again.

While African Americans now have legal access to credit and mortgages, the legacy of housing injustice has cast a long shadow.  Today, African Americans are more likely to be offered sub-prime loans, have lower credit scores, be charged higher mortgage interest rates, and experience foreclosure.  And home ownership, the foundation of economic stability, continues to elude communities of color.  The fight for housing justice continues.

LUKE 4:16-30

“The day of the Lord’s favor” was understood by the Jews to be the year of Jubilee when the land would be returned to its original owners. Jesus’ coded words would be good news to those living under Roman occupation. While the crowd initially responded favorably to the message, they quickly turned on Jesus when he suggested that God’s favor would be shown to outsiders.

Questions for Reflection:

1. When have you wanted to limit God’s vision of “place” and “belonging” to only those who deserve it?
2. Who are the “undeserving” in your community that are included in the promise of God’s Jubilee blessing of “home”?

LEVITICUS 25:13-19, 24-31

In the year of Jubilee, land is returned to its original family, slaves are set free, debts are cancelled. Some have called this God’s “economic recovery plan.” The Law also permitted the re-purchase of land that was sold by the owner or by his relatives. However, redemption of houses inside walled cities had a “statute of limitation.” The primary purpose of these laws is to ensure that property was kept in the family and to limit the expansion of urban areas into farmland.

Questions for Reflection:

1. What social benefits would a community experience if these laws were practiced?
2. What social ills might be prevented?
3. There is no Biblical evidence that Jubilee ever occurred. Why do you think the Law was never enforced?
4. Can you think of any current economic policy that reflects the spirit of Jubilee?
5. In this election year, have you heard any economic proposals that reflect Jubilee? If so, what?

Yesterday, the Chicago City Council Zoning Committee unanimously approved the rezoning of Lathrop Homes on Chicago’s north side over the objections and opposition of the community–including Alderman Scott Waguespack.   The approval paves the way for the redevelopment of Lathrop Homes into a mixed-income community and the elimination of 525 units of public housing.

Mary Pattillo, a sociology professor at Northwestern University, testified against the plan, stating, “this [plan] is as contrary to the Gautreaux ruling as you can get. Lathrop is already a racially integrated development in a neighborhood that is trending more white. And so, to not give opportunities to black and Latino and white residents of Lathrop to stay in a majority white neighborhood is totally contrary to Gautreaux.”  The Gautreaux ruling by the Supreme Court in 1976 led to the dismantling of concentrated high-rise public housing at Cabrini-Green and other high-density projects in predominantly African American Chicago communities.

Read the Chicago Sun Times article on the Zoning Committee HERE.