Mercy & Justice Round-Up: March Edition
What’s the difference between a refugee, migrant, and asylum seeker? Who is my neighbor? Whose neighbor am I? Is segregation worse than a generation ago? You’ll find articles, podcasts, and videos that speak to these questions and more in this month’s Mercy & Justice Round-Up.
As always, this is a collection of content that got us thinking lately and includes a range of perspectives— some we agree with, others we might not. We hope you’ll read, listen, learn and love better with us.
- “Many of us have developed unwarranted fears by not having enough contact with marginalized people,” said Andrew Oliver, founder of our affiliate Do For One in the intro episode of its new podcast, Belonging Together. It’s a podcast about disability and relationship-building guided by stories and asking the questions: Who is my neighbor, and whose neighbor am I?
- “We work in diverse places. We live in segregated ones.” So says this Vox video that uses day-and-night maps to show the diversity of cities during the workday in contrast to persistent residential segregation (i.e. black workers return to homes clustered in poorer areas). Also of note: On the company level, segregation is worse than it was a generation ago.
- In New York City, the 1,025 non-profits with City contracts for social services experience an estimated cash flow burden of $675 million. The author of “Nonprofits Can’t Help Homeless People When Cities Pay Them Late” says this crisis of non-profits waiting months for finalized contracts forces them to divert resources from strategic (alleviating homelessness) to tactical (managing cash) priorities.
- “A Lush Urban Garden or Senior Citizen Housing: Which Would You Choose?” That’s the question asked in this New York Times article about a very real situation in Little Italy. On one side, an argument for affordable housing in a city with 200,000 seniors on a waiting list for it (featuring our affiliate Habitat for Humanity). On the other, an argument for preserving what little green space remains.
- This article from Border Perspective describes the difference between a refugee, a migrant, and an asylum seeker—and encourages Christians to continually educate themselves on the laws so we are best able to show compassion and dignity to those who are being displaced.