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Where is the Dream Today?
Martin Luther King Day - January 17, 2010
Rev. Peter Powell

Amos 5:24 let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.

On April 4, 1968 I was a sophomore at North Carolina State University. That evening and the next I sat on the roof of my dorm with my friends and watched in dismay as Raleigh burned in the distance. The next day I encountered a black friend and noticed immediately that our relationship was different. Blacks were few and far between on the Raleigh campus but this man was in the band with me. I grew up in NJ so I was in a somewhat different place from many of my classmates and relatives. My family is from NC and remember my Raleigh relatives fearing that integration would mean that my cousins would marry blacks. They sent their children to prep schools to escape this fate. When I graduated I fled from NC and have resisted every opportunity to return.

At that time Jesse Helms was the head of programming and editorial content for the Raleigh TV station.  No one thought, at least on campus, that he would ever become the figure he later did. 

This was the era of Vietnam but I was on an engineering campus and until King was killed most outside events had no effect on us. We studied because engineering required it and failing was a ticket to Vietnam. The burning of Raleigh politicized most of us, in a liberal way.

What has happened in the nearly 42 years since that happened?

Much good has happened since 1968. We have an African American President, an African American Attorney General, we have had a black Secretary of State and black head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff but we have to wonder how systemic that change is. It was pointed out years ago, for instance, that while black stars are on sports teams in most colleges, the bench is made up of whites. That continues today. Exceptional athletes of color are actively courted but the everyday positions go to whites.  Exceptional blacks in politics are elected, perhaps as Harry Reid says because they’re light of color and do not speak in dialect, while whites provide the balance of the leadership. I say this of course as a white male so I appreciate the irony of my position. But I’m retiring and perhaps that will open an opportunity for someone who doesn’t look like me?

King was rooted in the bible. The passage from Amos summarizes his dream. In 1968 we were waging an unpopular war, segregation was still the de facto policy in many states, elected officials even in black majority districts, were white. Much has changed although blacks are still segregated from whites, look at the contrast between Westport schools and Bridgeport. Elected officials in Connecticut towns are still likely to be white, look at Bridgeport and Norwalk and our Congressman. The disenfranchised still feel disenfranchised.

But at least in 1968 homelessness was not a problem. There were essentially no shelters and no need for them. Families still existed. They don’t today for blacks, whites, Jews, Asians, Hispanics and anyone else in our society. We are more mobile and less caring. We punish the poor for their poverty. Justice is denied in a stagnant pond and righteousness is damned up behind individual rights. King’s dream has been thwarted despite notable progress in a few extraordinary cases.

Amos wrote let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream in the 8^th century BCE. He prophesied in the Northern Kingdom, Israel. It was a prosperous time for the Israelites and Amos’s message was not appreciated. We have noticed in recent days what happens when a religious figure makes a prophetic statement. Apparently Pat Robinson proclaimed that the earthquake was because of Haiti’s sins. He has rightly and thoroughly been condemned for this but imagine what would happen if someone were to say to 21^st century America, as Amos did to 8^th century Israel, the way you treat your poor will bring about the end of your society. Of course, we know that in 721 BCE Israel was carried off into exile never to appear again. We could ask whether what Amos had to say would’ve been recorded had Israel survived and prospered, we’ll never know. Israel failed. Assyria prevailed. Amos was right.

So King quotes from a prophet who was not heeded and I believe that in ways that make us uncomfortable; King was a prophet who was not heeded. He’s much like people say of Gandhi, much admired, little emulated.

So we have a day for him, which at least in New England means that people can go skiing!

Well, you had me here to talk about the work of the Homes with Hope/IHA and then because of the commemoration of MLK, asked me to say something about him. Unfortunately what I have to say isn’t encouraging.

For instance in 1988 the Westport Emergency Shelter was rarely full. Today the Gillespie Center and Hoskins’ Place are over capacity most nights in the winter and have been since 1996 when Fairfield Hills was closed. They are at capacity every night of the year. For instance in 1988 Hispanics, Asians and Jews were rarely homeless. Today we almost always have Hispanics, Asians and Jews in our programs because their families have fallen apart as white and black families had before then.

We decided in 2004 to open 50 units of permanent affordable supportive housing in the near future. Since then we have opened 6. We may open 10 more in 2010. The rest will have to wait. Justice is not rolling and Righteousness is not flowing. What does roll and flow, and remember I’m retired so you can chalk what I’m saying up to being cranky, is obeisance to the one true God of Westport, property values. 

Assuming we can get the funding, and that’s always a challenge, we have to budget one or two years to get through the approvals process before anything can happen to create permanent affordable supportive housing. Our efforts, rather than being expended on opening our doors and serving more people, are spent on pouring oil on troubled waters because of fear of the poor. Justice all too frequently means that I deserve to make a profit on my house and righteousness means that I don’t have to live next to people I find threatening.

King looked for a time when his children would be valued for their character and not judged by their color. That has happened in Westport. Unfortunately the underside is that people who have not the character we value are not valuable. Amos looked for a time in which the poor would be important and the rest of us would serve them.

Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.

Enough of meddling because there has been much to celebrate. I can be accused of saying, to quote Voltaire, that the perfect is the enemy of the good. While much needs to be done we have not done nothing.

Tonight 60 people, including 17 children, will be housed or sheltered in an HwH program. They will be receiving care that treats them like valued human beings. They will enjoy privacy, respect, and community. We have learned over the last 22 years how to work with the most vulnerable people in our society in a manner which increases the likelihood that their homelessness will end at Homes with Hope/IHA. This is a tremendous accomplishment and a rare one. It is only possible because more than 1,500 individuals every year send us contributions. It is only possible because we are able to attract and hold a talented staff. It is only possible because for all the problems I have with NIMBY or BANANA in this community, we are more generous than any other affluent community I know of. I have said for years, and it continues to be true that only 3 other towns in the country like Westport have programs like Homes with Hope/IHA. One of those 3 is Fairfield and as you know Fairfield is twice the size of Westport.

There is much to celebrate. We are likely to open 10 more units this year, but we could’ve opened them 15 months ago had not the Governor decided to rescind the funding. The Connecticut budget was in crisis but if justice is rolling and righteousness is flowing we don’t cut services to the most vulnerable. Unfortunately we did.

We will be in the papers soon for a zoning amendment for the town owned Linxweiler Supportive Housing Project. We want to put 12 apartments on that property. I got in hot water with some comments I made about this property in a sermon in July so I’ll be circumspect now. We hope you’ll support us.

As we begin the New Year let us think of the people who need or needed justice done to them. There are 2 men living at the Levitt Pavilion. Both are from Westport. Both need housing. Neither can stay sober and neither will accept treatment for mental illness. Do they deserve to die? If we don’t give them housing they will.

The first homeless woman I met was Barbara Anne DeGruchy. We met in my office in February 1988. She drowned in the Saugatuck in June. Did she deserve to die? She was homeless and very troubled. I buried her recently in the Christ Church cemetery. She never got sober. She never accepted treatment. Did she receive justice?

Many years ago Michael Foley died. He never got sober. He never accepted treatment. He lived, in his last years, in an inoperable van behind the police station. Did he receive justice?

I have buried many homeless people. Most of them died because they had no stable place to live. Justice and Righteousness failed them because we only do what we can do.

Of course, had I been even more strident we probably would’ve done nothing so I didn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. It is frustrating.

My hope in retirement is that I will find a different voice to talk about issues of justice and righteousness. I can think of nothing more important and I believe it will be easier to do when I am not responsible for an agency and the employment of many people. Perhaps justice and righteousness can only be talked about where there is less to lose?

I can’t seem to get into the celebratory mood!

I realize that many of you do not live in Westport. Uniquely among Westport congregations you are regional. Unfortunately that probably means your town does less than Westport does!

If we were truly to honor Dr. King how could we make Justice and Righteousness real? We would be advocating for Housing First, which is permanent housing for people whether they’re compliant with drug, alcohol or mental health treatment. We would be looking for creative ways to make more permanent affordable supportive housing now. 

I formed an agency, Fairfield 08, to develop permanent affordable supportive housing. We began in 2002 and expected to have created 1,6oo units of permanent affordable supportive housing by the end of 08. We’ve produced something less than 100. Were we naïve? In 2002 the federal government told us that permanent affordable supportive housing was a priority and it would eliminate homelessness by funding its construction. In 2002 the State of Connecticut said permanent affordable supportive housing was a priority and working through CHFA would fund its construction. Then we began the war in Iraq and the federal promises were forgotten. Without the federal money the State forgot its commitment. More people are homeless and many of them are veterans. Justice and Righteousness?

Still there is some good to celebrate. We serve people better today than in 1988. We have a professional staff. We are in 9 buildings in Westport. Everything we do is offered 24 hours/day and 7 days/week.  People are helped and their lives are transformed. We just need to do it more effectively.

With the death of Dr. King the nonviolent movement went into a long hiatus. He became a saint to be revered and not a leader to be followed. It is never too late to begin following him and working to end homelessness. It did not exist, as it does today, prior to 1984. It need not exist in the future but it will if we don’t take seriously the vision of Amos that justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.

When I watched Raleigh burn I was convinced that my world had been changed. But it hadn’t. We righted ourselves and soon behaved as if nothing had happened. Rather than debate how to live Dr. King’s dream we debated whether or not to give him a federal holiday. The possible became the enemy of the prophetic. He has a holiday, which always occurs on a Monday to give us a long weekend, and meanwhile unemployment is primarily a problem of black men. Incarceration is primarily a problem of black men. Homelessness is primarily a problem of black families. It is nice to have a holiday but it would be inspirational to actually educate, house, care for and work with African Americans simply because they too are human beings who need to be embraced and not feared.

I wish you luck on your journey to do this. I hope that you will continue to support, generously and sacrificially, the work of Homes with Hope/IHA. I have not preached before you frequently but I have enjoyed the opportunities I have had. In 1992 when we went to war to save the monarch in Kuwait (and our oil) I preached a sermon about my thoughts on that conflict. I talked about how poor the services of the VA were at that time for Vietnam vets and I feared the future for Gulf War vets. The VA improved but today it is again overwhelmed, as you’ve doubtless read, by the vets from Iraq and Afghanistan. You, as a congregation supported that sermon. I revised it slightly and gave it a week later in another congregation, and they banned me from their pulpit for 10 years! 

I spoke on Friday to the staff about my 22 years and the challenges. Audrey asked me what the highlights were. It is easy for me to focus on the challenges and obstacles and war stories, and I have been doing that in this sermon. So let me tell you what the highlights are. I have gotten to know and interact with homeless people for many years and they have transformed my life. They are not simply people to whom I did good, they are the inspiration to my work and many are my friends. The thing I will miss most in retirement is my interaction with the men and women at the Gillespie Center and Hoskins' Place every morning. Their hope in the face of adversity, their commitment to build a life and their appreciation for the smallest kindness inspire me and I will miss them. If you will pardon a Christian remark, I have truly found Christ in them.

I hope that this time I have not abused your hospitality. If I have you can rejoice in my retirement and know that I will not visit you again. If I have not then I hope I have given you something to chew on and perhaps together we can resume the work on Dr. King’s dream.

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