United Church of Christ New York Metropolitan and Suffolk Associations	Results per page: Match: any search words all search words
12^thJoint Assembly/Annual Meeting June 11 - 13, 2004

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We Heard Voices of Poverty

Richard Whitt leads the Rural Migrant Ministry.

The voice of Richard Whitt spoke for those served by the Rural Migrant Ministry. Whitt, an Episcopal priest in Kingston , NY , leads a group seeking to bring hope, justice and empowerment to farm workers. Most of these workers live in fear and have no political voice. They have no day of rest, no right to bargain collectively, no minimum wage. The Rural Migrant Ministry started by bringing water to the fields, then portajohns. "We seek to build a bridge of hope and justice."

Former UCC President Paul Sherry quoted the voice of Joe Hill who said, "don't agonize, organize".

Former UCC President Paul Sherry urged us to make poverty as abhorrent as slavery.

Paul urged us to make poverty as abhorrent as slavery.

A woman in the New York Conference told her own story "which could be any woman's story". This is the story of abuse by her husband, abuse which drove her out of her home and into the depths of poverty.

The voice of Bread for the World noted that the halls of our national Congress are filled with lobbyists for the dairy industry, for the oil interests, for the pharmaceutical industry. But where are the lobbyists for the poor? "Someone needs to speak up, and that someone can be you." Nelson Mandella said "neutrality is on the side of the oppressed. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, the mouse won't appreciate neutrality."

A voice raised in Rhodesia , now Zimbabwe , told of the years she and her six siblings lived in the country with their mother while their father toiled in a hotel in the city. The only time the family was together was in July of each year. Then she came to New Jersey and went to Newark . "The situations in Newark now are as bad or worse than they were in my homeland." She urged us to challenge power. "Why does the church follow society? Society must follow the church."

Reported by Lucy Werner

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