Earlier this month, I wrote about the history of the subminimum wage and a current lawsuit seeking to overturn it as part of the ongoing economic struggle for equality. In the sobering spirit of Lent, this follow-up piece turns from…
In this Lenten season, consider the plight of subminimum wage workers
Black History Month has just drawn to a close on the American civic calendar, and Lent is set to begin on the Christian liturgical calendar. Most years, these two observances partially overlap. Easter has to fall after April 15 for…
Poor People’s Campaign marches on Texas Capitol with demands for voting rights
A civil rights demonstration at the Texas State Capitol July 31— that included country music legend Willie Nelson and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke — was intended to warn Americans about the dangers of nationwide voter suppression efforts and to…
It is impossible to afford rent almost anywhere in the U.S. with a minimum-wage job
An individual paid minimum wage for working 40 hours a week cannot afford the cost of a modest two-bedroom rental home anywhere in the United States, according to this year’s Out of Reach report by the National Low Income Housing…
I can’t make sense of how we treat the working poor
She sat across from me at the table, a pretty young woman with a baby in her arms and a toddler at her feet, nervously clutching the paperwork that would prove her eligibility for assistance at the church food pantry…
Think you understand what it’s like to live on minimum wage? Here’s my story
Two weeks before I got married, I lost my job delivering pizzas because I had gotten three tickets for minor traffic violations over the previous two years. So when we got back from our honeymoon, I landed a job working…
If government causes poverty, shouldn’t government address poverty?
There are those whose Christian conviction somehow excludes the government from any involvement in addressing poverty. That responsibility, they say, rests only with the church. There is great error in this position. If only because governmental policies often cause poverty,…
Faith leaders ask candidates to give poor ‘living wage’
On the anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., dozens of faith leaders are calling for the U.S. presidential candidates to include a “living wage” for low-income workers in their political agendas.
A second Bill of Rights
Three years later, on January 11, 1944, FDR gave his 11th (!) State of the Union talk. He had just recently come back from an overseas trip during which he had conferred with British Prime Minister Churchill in Cairo and…