UNITE ROCHESTER

We're not powerless in fight against racism, poverty

Marvin A. McMickle
Dr. Marvin McMickle, president, Rochester Colgate Crozer Divinity School

The news should trouble us that Rochester has staggeringly high numbers of children and families living in poverty, with many living in extreme poverty or a family of four living on less than $12,000 annually. One way by which these numbers are being addressed is through the work of the Rochester Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative (RMAPI). Their focus on structural racism, community development, and coping with the traumatic consequences of poverty and violence will have a major impact on the three neighborhoods where their work will be focused.

However, people in Rochester and Monroe County should not reduce themselves to spectators that simply watch while the RMAPI group goes about its work. There are some things that all of us can do to join in the fight against poverty, structural racism, and the violence that plagues our community. There are four weapons at our disposal that I invite all Rochesterians to employ; our vision, our values, our voices and our votes.

We need to be willing to have a vision of a community where poverty and racism are no longer present. As James Baldwin once said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Poverty accompanied by structural racism is a problem in Rochester, and that problem is not new. It was at the center of events in the summer of 1964 when the community was confronted with what some people called a riot and others called a rebellion.

We need to employ our values that all human lives have worth and that all of our citizens have an “inalienable right” to enjoy in the blessings and opportunities of this society.

We need to raise our voices in protest over these present conditions, and raise them in advocacy on behalf of those whose voices are not being heard and whose pain is not being addressed.

We need to use our votes to elect into office those persons at the city, county, state and national level persons who will work through the legislative process to create policies and practices that will make the promises of America accessible to all persons regardless of race, gender or zip code. We all have it within our power to shape the future if we just use the tools we have in hand.