Day 7 - First Steps: Contact

When I opened the door the landlady stood there, red-and-whitefaced and hysterical. 
“Who are you? I didn’t rent this room to you.” 
 My mouth was dry. I started to say something. 
 “I can’t have no colored people here,” she said. 
“All my tenants are compainin’. Women afraid to come home nights.” 
 “They ain’t gotta be afraid of me,” I said. 
I couldn’t get my voice up; it rasped and rattled in my throat; and I began to be angry. ... 
“My friend rented this room for me,” I said. 
“Well, I’m sorry, he didn’t have no right to do that, I don’t have nothin’ against you, but you gotta get out.”

Peter in "Previous Condition"
James Baldwin, Going to Meet the Man, 1965

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Affordable housing is a significant obstacle to many people living in poverty. Contact a local representative in your area to voice your concern for more affordable housing.

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Lord, why do I assume I know a homeless person's story just by looking at him or her? Why do I assume he or she should fix their poverty themselves? Maybe that's because the truth is too painful. The truth is that gentrification pushes families out of their apartments. The truth is that red-lining makes it nearly impossible for people of color to get much-needed loans. The truth is that mental illness is prevalent in the black community, and many people do not have the financial resources to treat it. The truth is that it's easier to refuse someone money than to accept these painful truths and then fight tirelessly to change them. Lord, I claim to love you and I claim to have a heart for your people, so turn my shame into love and my love into actions. Amen.