Hey PS 460 class - It has been odd not seeing you all the past week, I hope you are having great breaks!
While finishing up the "Mass Movement" book on long car rides on my service trip to St. Louis, Chicago, and Minneapolis, I have had the time to observe, work with, and speak to many people who live in the most desolate parts of these cities and try and relate their experiences to this book. One experience that has had me thinking the past few days is one that our group had in East St. Louis on Monday. We worked at a thrift store and a food kitchen in the heart of East St. Louis, Illinois, a town that is consistently rated as the poorest city in the United States. The people that I spoke to have absolutely nothing. No money, no home, and no job. Not only do a majority of the people not have jobs, but there are no places for these people to work. E. St. Louis was once a roaring factory city that boasted a population of 80,000 people, mostly white workers and families. When the factories began closing, the white population moved out, and the town became a ghost town with no employment opportunities and very cheap housing. The current ethnic breakdown is 98% African-American and it has the highest murder and rape rates in the country.
In all, it seems as though the people of this community have nothing to look forward to. I was told by a man that they have "no hope for change," and that he lives every life "prepared to get caught in a shoot out." My question is why are these people not rising up and trying to change the suppression that they have been put into? Why are they simply compliant with the way of life they are living if they are "prepared to die."
One possibility that I have noticed is a very strong faith in this community. I have not spoken to one person in East St. Louis that did not tell me about their love for Christ. They have nothing, but they are so hopeful for redemption in Christ, but have no hope for change from the government leaders that are not changing their situations or creating jobs.
Is this what is stopping a movement, that they are hopeful of what they believe is to come in the afterlife and they are not concerned with changing their current situation?
Sorry if this does not make sense, haven't been getting much sleep.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It may very well be a question of faith, but also, early in the Hoffer volume he states that people inclined to join mass movements are people who can "see the light", who are almost there living a decent life. From what I have heard from people and read in your post is that people trapped in poverty, in this case East St. Louis, can't see that light. According to Hoffer, they might have other necessities to fulfill before demonstrating, such as feeding themselves.
ReplyDeleteHope all is well outside the Wartburg bubble!
Karl Marx considered religion as "the opiate of the masses" because it distracted the proletarians whose work made the wealthy rich by turning their attention away from the politics of the here and now to the promise of life and justice for believers in the world to follow. In the case at hand, religion would rank low on the list of opiates available to the poor and forlorn. Indeed, it makes good sense that Jesus' message would resonate in communities that have been so marginalized.
ReplyDeleteWe'll have more to say on the political opiate role of religion when we get into the WinnerTakeAll book. It identified the rise of the religious right as crucial to the story of how very conservatives would win election and turn around and push political-economic policies that gutted this part of their base.