Congressman urges churches to put a human face on poverty, hunger

The faith community can help debunk myths about poverty and personalize the plight of people in need, Congressman Joaquin Castro insisted at the Together at the Table Hunger and Poverty Summit at Baylor University.

San Antonio Congressman Joaquin Castro answers a question at a session of the Hunger Summit at Baylor University. (PHOTO/Baylor Marketing & Communications)“We have to demythologize hunger and poverty. … There are many folks, unfortunately today, who are detached from the facts about poverty in our country,” said Castro, D-San Antonio, pointing to unfair stereotypes about lazy people who abuse public assistance.

“At some point in our nation, we went from giving people the benefit of the doubt to assuming the worst,” he said. Castro particularly noted the challenges faced by the working poor, including some who labor at multiple jobs but cannot earn a living wage.

“I have been very grateful and impressed by many in the faith community in their efforts to humanize poverty, to give a human face to poverty, and to remind us of the traditions in the Bible where aid to the poor is fundamental in Christianity,” he continued.

‘Demythologize poverty’

“What the faith community can do first and foremost is demythologize poverty and help people understand there is, of course, a pre-eminent place for compassion in American society as we approach these challenges.

“Religion can help ease the tensions that sometimes divide us. … The faith community is a thread that can bring people together. … When it works best, faith brings people together in the strongest way possible, perhaps in a way nothing else can,” he said, citing the example of evangelical Christians in calling for immigration reform.

Baylor President Kenneth Starr fields a question at the Together at the Table Hunger and Poverty Summit at Baylor University. (PHOTO/Baylor Marketing & Communications)Castro participated in a question-and-answer session with Baylor President Ken Starr in the concluding session of the Hunger and Poverty Summit, sponsored by the Texas Hunger Initiative in conjunction with Feeding Texas and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food & Nutrition Service Southwest Regional Office.

Castro told his family story, which Starr called “an embodiment of the American dream.”

A family meets the American dream

Castro described how his orphaned grandmother moved from Mexico to Texas at age 6 with her 4-year-old sister to live with her closest surviving relatives.

She never made it beyond the fourth grade and worked as a maid, babysitter and cook to provide for her only child, Rosie, Castro’s mother.

Castro’s mother was the first member of her family to attend college, and she became a political activist.

Castro and his brother, Julian—former San Antonio mayor and now U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development—both graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Law School.

“My story is like the story of so many Americans,” Castro said, characterizing his family narrative as “common to so many of our families.”

However, both moral responsibility and enlightened self-interest should inspire the United States to do more to enhance opportunities for socio-economic advancement, he insisted.

“I believe that just as there is an infrastructure of transportation—a system of streets and roads and highways that helps all of us get where we want to go down the road—the beauty of America is that we can all come together to build out an infrastructure of opportunity that allows each of us to get where we want to go in life,” Castro said.

The “infrastructure of opportunity” not only means providing better access to quality education and health care, but also creating a climate for economic growth, he noted. In terms of public policy, he pointed to the need to increase the minimum wage and expand Medicaid in Texas.

Assign blame accurately

“We didn’t get into $18 trillion (national) debt because we helped poor people too much. We got into this problem because there was a select group of very wealthy people, mostly on Wall Street, who quite frankly helped wreck the economy,” Castro said.

“We’ve got to remember that when we start to assign blame on those who are on the lower socio-economic rungs. … We need to be honest and accurate about how we got here.”

At the same time, Castro called for case management strategies to move individuals and families who receive public assistance from dependency to self-reliance.

“We need, essentially, an exit strategy. Say: ‘We’re going to help you out when you need it. What is the exit strategy to help you get you back on your feet?’” he said.

Literacy book drive

When asked about his greatest personal victory in public life, Castro noted legislative success in areas such as education, juvenile justice and efforts to combat domestic violence.

“But I would have to say my personal greatest victory was not a piece of legislation,” he said. Rather, he found greatest satisfaction and pride in starting a literacy book drive in San Antonio, pointing to illiteracy as a “driver” of poverty.

Combating hunger and poverty demands collaboration between the public, private and nonprofit sectors, including the faith community, Castro emphasized.

“No one sector offers a panacea for all the challenges we face. It requires cooperation,” he said. “We work best when we work together.”

Coming together

Jeremy Everett, director of the Texas Hunger Initiative, a project in the Baylor School of Social Work, launched in partnership with Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission, echoed the same theme.

“Coming together offers the only answer to the question of hunger and the only solution to the problem of poverty,” Everett said.