Farenheit 9/11
Today I went and saw the new Michael Moore movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11". It is a very good movie - go see it! I cried through the part of it where they talked about and showed film of Flint, Michigan. It looked just like the neighbourhood we are working in here in Detroit. The movie talked about how many poor people have little choice but to join the military, then look what happens to them. It's as if the poor are disposable members of society whose sole purpose is to ensure that the lives of the rich and powerful remain as comfortable as possible. The movie showed how following the trails of money reveals just how inbred and corrupt not only the U.S. government is, but many of the multinational companies who fund the U.S. government and pour money into the U.S. and global economies. The reason to attack Iraq, as many people know, had little to do with terrorism and much to do with greedy folk who want Iraq's oil.

I know that the sensationalism of the movie was intended to rile me up, and it did just that, and I'm glad. It reminded me of part of the reason we are working with these kids - we want them to have options other than going off to get killed in a pointless war. We want to deal with their immediate problems but also begin to address and realise the institutionalized oppression that maintains the stratification of our society. This is not the way God wants the world to be. Anger at the way things are is a good thing when that anger is productive, when that anger sways votes and creates responsible citizens who are willing to take action to change the world. Too many people are complacently comfortable in their little gated communities. It is that complacency that ends up breeding generations of apathetic, ignorant people who continue to oppress the last, lost, labeled, least members of society.

Go see this movie. Go see what could happen to my kids here in Detroit. Go see how greed can truly be sinful when it kills innocent people. Then remind yourself of whose side God is on - those last lost labeled least.