Tag Archive: Social Justice


Child Re-Homing

Filed under: Do No Harm, Social Justice — 2 Comments
September 9, 2013

abuseIn a powerful expose, Reuters news reported on a relatively unknown, yet repugnant process called “private re-homing.”  Re-homing is an underground network of for adopted children. Often times, there are no attorneys or child welfare officials present. The current family simply signs a notarized statement declaring strangers to be the child’s new legal guardians. More often than not, it will be the first and the last time couples would meet.

In their series, Reuters reported upon a Tennessee woman who claimed her adoptive parents gave her away to new parents at age 14, she and 17 other adoptive kids in found her new home  “nightmarish” were sometimes forced to dig their own “graves” in the backyard and scrub the floor with toothbrushes.

My limited research revealed private re-homings often bypass the government, the only vetting of prospective families is done by parents who want to get rid of children. This practice increases the risk children could fall into the hands of dangerous people. For instance, Reuters found more than half of the children described as requiring some sort of special need. About 18 percent were said to have a history that included sexual or physical abuse, with some being re-homed into sexual predators.

Contrary to the conservative rosy view of adoption, the dark side of adoption is never mentioned.  In true adoption, there are many different players. And, like any other aspect of adoption, child welfare and placement is extremely complex, messy and a legal nightmare, not to mention the emotional and psychological fall-out. But re-homing children is abandonment. Unfortunately, re-homing remains largely unregulated and underreported. Also, it is not limited to international adoption, but permeates all forms of adoptive placement.

It is important to remember that we must “do no harm.” The Buddha’s advice to parents is clear – support your children to become generous, compassionate, virtuous, responsible, skilled and self-sufficient beings. Each moment presents us with an opportunity, and it is up to us, as individuals, to choose how we will think, speak, or act. Each of these actions will determine our happiness, not only in the moment but in the future. This is the basic teaching of karma, or cause and effect.

In these moments, we as a society, regardless of faith, must stand together to fight against such repugnant behavior.  Children, regardless of how good or bad they are, cannot be bartered among families.  We can and must do better than this. There must be a better way.

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The Living Wage

Filed under: Do No Harm, Life Lessons, Social Justice
September 1, 2013

indexOne in four Americans work for less than $10.00 an hour. Four out of five U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream. Nationwide, the count of America’s poor remains stuck at a record number: 46.2 million, or 15 percent of the population, due in part to lingering high unemployment following the recession. While poverty rates for blacks and Hispanics are nearly three times higher, by absolute numbers the predominant face of the poor is white.

More than 19 million whites fall below the poverty line of $23,021 for a family of four, accounting for more than 41 percent of the nation’s destitute, nearly double the number of poor blacks.

In an affront to the poor, living wage ordinances are woefully behind. For instance, in January of 2013, the State of Missouri just raised the living wage to $7.25 per hour. That means a fast food worker, flipping burgers, will earn $13,589 after taxes. Unfortunately, Missouri’s Living Wage is about $200 above the Federal Poverty and provides no health insurance.

When discussing Living Wage issues, a blogger wrote the following:

Unskilled, looking for work?  What are your expectations? 

College grad, can’t find a job?  When you enrolled in college – did you have a career plan, or follow a particular field, did you choose a realistic field that would actually have jobs available on graduating [sic].  OR, did you choose the easiest curricula or not have a major in mind until you were forced to choose one your senior year?

Family person, supporting children – there are better places to work – why fast food?   Are you receiving Gov [sic] Assistance for every member of your family?  If so, what are real complaints [sic].

Minimum wage earners – do you regularly have your hair done, nails done, etc., and  have an iphone? [sic]  if so, how have you been paying for these luxuries?

It’s easy to pick on any one of the fast food giants for its salary disparity. During the most recent quarter, revenue at McDonald’s rose to nearly $7.1 billion, up 2% and was in line with analyst predictions. Global same-store sales got a 1% boost after dipping in the first quarter. So what does McDonald’s current CEO earn per year? A paltry $13.8 million dollars, including benefits. McDonald’s previous CEO earned $27.7 million annually. The average fast food employee would need more than a century of work to earn that kind of salary.

Like other McDonald’s executives, the CEO also has access to annual physical exams, a company-provided car for personal use, financial counseling and security and use of the company aircraft for personal trips.

The pay gap separating fast-food workers from their chief executive officers is growing at most fast food companies. The disparity has doubled at McDonald’s. in the last 10 years, while at the same time the company helped pay for lobbying against minimum-wage increases and sought to quash the kind of unionization efforts that erupted recently on the streets of across America.

There is no easy to the loving wage, but like most of us, the Living Wage philosophy is crap.

In Buddhist teaching, happiness can only be recognized against the background of suffering. Unfortunately, what I have to offer will seem contrite. To be really happy, we should cultivate understanding and compassion. It is by getting in touch with the suffering that understanding and compassion arise. Without such understanding and compassion by current business executives, we will repeat the endless cycle of resentment, anger, fear, despair and suffering; and we will continue to suffer, one generation after another.

Thus, the question of pay disparity will not help us find a breakthrough: oneself versus the others, good versus evil, right versus wrong. A more helpful question would be, “How can I better understand myself and those that work for me?”

There must be a better way.

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No Peace! No Justice!

Filed under: Do No Harm, Life Lessons, Right Speech, Social Justice — 1 Comment
July 20, 2013

ds_img_direct.phpEight days past the George Zimmerman verdict, Americans continue to appear to help captive by coverage. The parents of Trayvon Martin joined thousands of Americans at more than 100 scheduled vigils in cities nationwide demanding Saturday what they described as justice for their 17-year-old son, who was shot dead last year.

“It’s overwhelming,” Tracy Martin told CNN at a rally in Miami attended by hundreds of supporters, many of whom chanted, “No Peace! No Justice!”  On Friday, President Obama weighed in:

“But I did want to just talk a little bit about context and how people have responded to it and how people are feeling. You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. And when you think about why, in the African- American community at least, there’s a lot of pain around what happened here, I think it’s important to recognize that the African- American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that — that doesn’t go away.”

I do feel sense of sadness for the Martin parents. Their son shouldn’t have died. But while we memorialize Trayvon Martin and seek “No Peace! No Justice!,” we should not forget all the others who require our faith and love.

“… administration will provide whatever support is necessary to the officials who are responding to this tragic shooting and moving forward with an investigation. As we mourn this loss which took place at a house of worship, we are reminded how much our country has been enriched by Sikhs, who are a part of our broader American family.”

  • When anti-Islam activists like Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer led an all-out war in their attempt to prevent the cultural center from opening. At the time, Fox News became a major broadcaster of their Islam-phobic agenda. Fox News gave anti-Islam activists a platform to rally against the Park51 community center, while others spoke against anti-Muslim bigotry, denounced what it saw as bigoted attacks on the mosque.
  • Naveed Afzal Haq shot six women, one fatally, at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle building in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington.
  • An American woman traveling in northern India in June of 2013 was allegedly gang-raped after she accepted a ride with three men in a truck, police said.
  • Similarly, in Brazil, an American woman was gang raped and beaten aboard a public transport van while her French boyfriend was handcuffed, hit with a crowbar and forced to watch the attacks.
  • Three black women beat the crap out of a white woman in Seattle while a crowd watches.
  • Sanford police arrested 12 African-Americans, eight adults and four children, in connection with a mob beating of a pregnant woman. The brutal attack came almost a year after the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in the same town.
  • In April 2012, African-American Cordell Jude, 22, was driving in Phoenix when Daniel Adkins Jr. walked in front of him with his dog. “Watch it!” Jude yelled to Adkins, who was mentally disabled, according to USA TODAY. Adkins then swung what looked like a pipe in the air and Jude shot and killed him — the pipe-like object turned out to just be a dog leash. Jude claimed self-defense; he remained free for three months, but now faces second-degree murder charges and is set to go to trial next month, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office. The Arizona Stand Your Ground law passed in 2010.
  • Malala Yousafzai, the young girl shot in the head by Taliban gunmen while riding a school bus in Pakistan.

Are you surprised that we’ve rarely heard of these beatings, murders and rapes? Most were based upon some form of hatred? In light of these, I barely heard a word from politicians decrying racism. I did not see Jesse Jackson proselytizing for justice.  How come I haven’t seem Reverend Al Sharpton protesting? Why could we not see the unified marches in several major cities?

As a Buddhist, I try to live by the “Do no harm” rule. Racism is wrong and many have been killed or maimed in its name. But while racism comes a deep and darkened place, racism should not be selective. If we stand to the Trayvon Martin’s of the world, we must stand for all the others. If we march for Trayvn, we must march for all.

From President Obama’s perspective, he could have been Taryvon Martin. But Malala could have been my sister. Daniel Adkins could have been my brother. That pregnant woman in Sanford will be someone’s mother. The Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin is a religious sanctuary for many.

Racism is bigger than just Trayvon Martin. Racism is global. As living Buddhists and living Christians; as living Methodists, as living Atheists, we must stand for it all. Fragmentally parceling out peace rallies is neither peace, nor justice.

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The Texas Pharisees

Filed under: Do No Harm, Religion, Social Justice
July 13, 2013

tissot-woe-to-you-scribes-and-pharisees-747x483The Texas Senate approval of one of the strictest anti-abortion measures may have effectively closed 37 of the 42 clinics in the entire state and banned abortions after 20 weeks. Fox News pundit Erick Erickson sent a tweet, with a link to a site that sells coat hangers.  The historical intent of the message is that women who couldn’t find an underground doctor often inserted knitting needles or wire coat hangers into their vagina to terminate their pregnancy. Unfortunately, the coat hanger is not a myth.

Texas Senator Glenn Hegar, stated,

“I stand by this bill. I believe it raises the standard of care for women in Texas. It is also important that we protect unborn children from pain.”

However, Texas Senator Dan Patrick, rejected the assertion of Democrats that bill sponsors are motivated only by their opposition to legal abortions.

“Anyone who says this is not about protecting women’s health is flat wrong. This bill really is about the safety of the baby and the mother. Everyone who supports this bill values both lives.”

Historically, we know restricting or banning safe and legal abortions does nothing to prevent abortion. Instead, it ensures that illegal and unsafe abortions will abound and women will pay for their attempt at reproductive freedom with their lives. Banning abortion and making safe, legal abortion care inaccessible is deadly.

Contrary to Governor Rick Perry and Senators Hegar and Partick’s philosophy, the Texas bill does little to protect children. Think I’m wrong? Here’s a snippet of facts:

  • 25% of all Texas children live in poor families.
  • 6% of all Texas children in poor families only have one parent employed full-time, year-round. Compare that to 85% of children in not poor families.
  • 55% of children in poor families live with a single parent.
  • 1.2 million Texas children have neither private nor public health insurance. Uninsured kids get sick. Their parents have no place to take them other than a public hospital’s emergency room, which by law cannot turn them away. And if those parents cannot pay the extremely expensive bill? The taxpayer picks up the tab.
  • Poor children miss out on the most important factor in getting good care: a doctor who knows the patient and their medical history. Children with asthma and diabetes – chronic diseases best treated by a family doctor on a routine basis – comprise many, if not most, of the kids who show up in the emergency room.

It’s disingenuous to say you’re protecting children on the one hand while doing little for constituents living under poverty’s anvil with the other. The Texas legislature cut state spending on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program by $2.03 billion for 2012-13. More than $800 million of those cuts were to reimbursement rates for doctors who agree to treat poor or disabled children.

So while Texas claimed to protect the unborn, legislators did little to help prevent abortions or prevent unplanned pregnancy. State legislators did nothing to change the need for abortion among Texas women. All the legislature really did is declare state decisions can be given priority over mothers’ decisions after 20 weeks.  At the end of the day, if you’re a single mother in need of a babysitter to attend college and past poverty, don’t expect the Governor or many legislators to volunteer.

The Texas legislature should not stand before Christ and claim how wonderful they are. Biblically speaking, the entire special session and all its pseudo effort mirrors that of the Pharisees, it’s more about religious piety and image than it was about actually supporting the safety of either “the baby or mother.”

Abortion is not simply a black or white issue. Anyone proposing to claim otherwise is ignorant. When thinking of this whole mess, (inspired from Rabbi Brad Hirschfield) I am amazed how religion mobilizes people to do awful things. There will be a dark side to completely outlawing abortion. And anyone who loves religious experience, including me, had better understand there is a serious side. Declaring war on the right-to-choose will have dramatic unintended consequences throughout the country.

There’s simply way too much ignorance … on all sides. And people wonder why a coat hanger becomes a solid option.

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Real Solutions Never Fit

Filed under: Life Lessons, Social Justice — 1 Comment
June 21, 2013

Scales of JusticeSeveral days ago, the Republican-led House passed an anti-abortion bill conservatives saw as a milestone.  Democrats condemned the measure as yet another example of the GOP war on women.

Everyone agrees that adult human beings have the right to life. Some people would say that the fertilized cell resulting from conception does not have the right to life. Therefore the right to life occurs sometime later between conception and birth. For others, the exact point a fetus reaches a right to life cannot be determined. Thus, society should assume it does have the right to life.

Allow me to sidestep the right-to-life or right-to-choice decision.

Personhood Ballot Initiatives would give legal rights to newly fertilized microscopic embryos (i.e., when life begins). Thus, for the moment, let’s presume abortion becomes illegal. Should the fetus have a “right” to life, how should we punish expectant mothers who are presumed to drink, eat, and participate in life events that may directly impact the health and safety of the fetus? For instance, when you’re expecting, what you eat and drink influences your child’s health, possibly forever. Some everyday foods and beverages take on new meaning, as some presents a danger to a developing child.

What if an expectant mother suffers heat stroke during a hot afternoon?  Should she miscarry, would she be required to prove her miscarriage was natural or face felony charges? For Christine Taylor, an Iowa mother of two girls and pregnant with her third child, a feticide law enacted in that state because of anti-choice efforts has wreaked havoc on her life. Being distraught and distracted, she tripped and fell down the stairs. Ms. Taylor found herself arrested and sent to jail for admitting uncertainty about her pregnancy and fear about raising three children on her own.

What if you’re a pregnant teen in the rural south?  Rural Americans live with the burden of poor health than those living in suburban or urban communities. There are fewer primary care physicians and emergency room doctors. Treatment options are often nonexistent and exacerbated by a lack of transportation. And using health care can be difficult, where tight-knit communities can amplify concerns about moral standing and confidentiality. Should society punish a mother for not ensuring their child receives the benefit of adequate healthcare? Should she be punished for simply not traveling long distances to a quality health facility? In the “personhood initiative” era, all of this basically means “… sucks to be you.”

So how do we police potential mothers and the rights of a fetus? How do we police every expectant mother fairly, equally? Who’s going to be the judge? Will a Buddhist or atheist be allowed to judge? Can a deeply conservative judicial system fairly and morally judge all?

Another thought? Do we punish those million or so women who had an abortion each year? As of 2008, there were 2.8 million people in jail. So what’s another 1 million more a year, right? For all the fighting over abortion, criminalizing women is not the solution; never has been. But then again, if abortion is equated to murder, should not the offender be adjudicated?

So when a national religious or political leader claims a woman should be criminally punished for having an abortion, questions must be asked and answers must be given. Does second hand smoke harm an unborn child? If so, do we punish the mother for harming the child or punish both the mother and smoker?  Here’s another; the automobile is great for personal freedom, but exhaust fumes are toxic. Should a car owner be punished for assault if their vehicle passes a pregnant woman? If “personhood initiative” backers really want to be fair, should we not ban air fresheners, ammonia, bleach, antifreeze, drain cleaners, laundry detergent and oven cleaners? Do we jail company executives who make, local stores that stock and sell and friends, family and neighbors who use such products? If a pregnant US citizen travels overseas and experiences a miscarriage in another country, how do we investigate and apply proper jurisprudence? Or do we simply perform extradition back to the country where the crime occurred? Can abortion doctors be tried for crimes against humanity?

So what’s the solution? The solution does not easily fit the into the black and white world of pro-life or pro-choice. Real solutions never do.

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