March 2019 Newsletter
Celebrating Two Years!
In March 2017 we launched the Social Justice Resource Center, with the mission of providing free, wide-ranging, faith-based resources addressing the social issues of our time. Since then we’ve had over 30,000 visitors to our website and 4,000 people receive our monthly newsletter. Our goal is to reach as many people as possible, so if you know of others who might be interested in our resources, please let them know about us. And if you have any comments or questions, please let us know – we’d appreciate hearing from you.
Thanks for all you do for social justice!
For more information, click here.
Social Justice Resource Center
Facebook Page
Last month we started posting daily on our Facebook page. These include reflections, quotes, anniversaries, key dates, current events etc.
Economic Justice
  • Last year, the world’s billionaires got richer by $2.5 billion -- a day, while the poorest half of humanity got poorer by $500 million, each day.
  • There are now twice as many billionaires as there were at the time of the financial crisis 10 years ago.
  • A new billionaire was created every 2 days in the past year and they are paying lower tax rates than they have been in decades. Meanwhile 10,000 people die each day because they can’t afford healthcare.
  • The world’s richest are hiding $200 billion in tax revenue, while 262 million children are left out of school.
  • The world's top 26 billionaires now own as much as the poorest 3.8 billion people.
  • Getting the richest 1% to pay just 0.5% extra tax on their wealth, could raise more money than is needed to educate all 262 million children out of school & provide healthcare to save the lives of 3.3 million people. 
Oxfam

For more on Economic Justice , click here .
Hate Groups at Record High
For the 4th straight year, the number of hate groups has grown across America to a record high of 1,020 . In 2018, the number of white nationalist groups surged by almost 50% from 100 groups to 148 . This trend follows 3 straight years of decline during the previous administration.
The Southern Law Poverty Center
To learn more, click here .
Resources
Lifeboat
An Oscar nominated documentary that highlights the work of volunteers from a German nonprofit as they try to rescue refugees from sinking rafts in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya. Watch now.
For more on Refugees , click here.
Abolish Child Trafficking
A program of Covenant House, the nation’s largest privately funded agency serving homeless, runaway and at-risk youth. There are 21 locations in the USA, Canada and Latin America, serving more than 56,000 homeless young people each year.  Learn more.
For more on Human Trafficking , click here .
Why I Believe the Mistreatment of Women is the Number One Human Rights Abuse
A TED talk featuring former President Jimmy Carter, that dives into three unexpected reasons why the mistreatment of women and girls continues in so many manifestations in so many parts of the world, both developed and developing.
For more on Gender Inequality , click here .
How Doctors Can Help Low-Income Patients (and still make a profit)
A TED talk featuring P.J. Parmar M.D., who shares in an eye-opening (and surprisingly funny) talk, the story of the clinic he founded in Colorado, where he serves only resettled refugees who mostly use Medicaid, and makes the business case for a fresh take on medical service. Watch now.
For more Health Care , click here .
Beating Guns: Hope for People Who Are Weary of Violence
By Shane Claiborne and Michael Martin. Looks at gun violence in America and calls for a change of hearts regarding one of the most significant moral issues of our time. Shows why Christians should be concerned about gun violence and how they can be part of the solution. Transcends rhetoric and debates about gun control to offer a creative and productive response. Images show how guns are being turned into tools and musical instruments across the nation. Charts, tables, and facts convey the realities of gun violence in America, but shows how there is a story behind every statistic. Allows victims and perpetrators of gun violence to tell their own stories, offering hope for change and helping reimagine the world as one that turns from death to life, where swords become plows and guns are turned into garden tools. Read more. 
For more on Gun Violence , click here .
Calvin Prison Initiative
A short video that highlights the collaborative program between Calvin College in Grand Rapids Michigan and the Michigan prison system that allows incarcerated people there to participate in a fully accredited college degree program. Rather than simply increasing intellectual knowledge, CPI seeks character development, restorative justice and the rehabilitation of inmates, and hopes to challenge and inspire graduates to act as agents of renewal in their communities both inside and outside of the prison walls. Learn more.
For more on the Criminal Justice System ,
Migrants & Refugees: Witnesses to Hope
By Pope Francis. Looks at the pressing witness needed in response to the growing occurrence of human migration. Includes the pope’s annual messages on the World Day of Migrants and Refugees and key homilies as well as the political, economic, humanitarian, and social needs that arise in connection with migration. Read more.
For more on Refugees , click here .
The Global Food Waste Scandal
A TED Talk, featuring Tristam Stuart, who delves into the data of wasted food, calling for a more responsible use of global resources. Watch now.
For more on Hunger , click here .
The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills
By David Ansell M.D. The author gives a grim survey of the realities of nearly four decades as a doctor at hospitals serving some of the poorest communities in Chicago, drawn from observations and stories of his patients. Highlights the fact that the poor die sooner, blacks die sooner and poor urban blacks die sooner than almost all other Americans. Calls out the social and cultural arguments that have been raised as ways of explaining or excusing these gaps, and lays bare the structural violence—the racism, economic exploitation, and discrimination—that is really to blame. Argues that inequality is a disease, that needs to be treated and eradicated as any major illness. Outlines a vision that will provide the foundation for a healthier nation—for all. Read more.
For more on Health Care , click here .
Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience and the Fight for a Sustainable Future
By Mary Robinson. A call to arms by one of the most important voices in the international fight against climate change, sharing stories and offering lessons for the path forward. A manifesto on one of the most pressing humanitarian issues of our time, and a lucid, affirmative, and well-argued case for hope.
For more on the Environment , click here .
This Is What Inequality Looks Like
A TED talk featuring photographer and filmmaker Johnny Miller. He discusses his project “Unequal Scenes,” which explores inequality in his hometown of Cape Town, South Africa via drone photography. Watch now.
For more on Economic Justice , click here .
The Grace of Enough: Pursuing Less and Living More in a Throwaway Culture
By Haley Stewart. Drawing from Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment,  Laudato Si’,  identifies elements of Catholic social teaching to help readers overcome the effects of today’s “throwaway” culture and experience a deeper satisfaction and stronger faith. Explains how a year-long internship on a sustainable farm changed her family’s life for the better, allowing them to live gospel values more intentionally. She shares essential elements of intentional Christian living that her family discovered and that they continue to practice today such as:
  • Living simply
  • Offering hospitality
  • Reviving food culture and the family table
  • Reconnecting with the land
  • Nurturing community
  • Prioritizing beauty
  • Developing a sense of wonder
  • Being intentional about technology
  • Seeking authentic intimacy
  • Centering life around home, family, and relationships
For more Simple Living resources, click here .
Capeltic Nuestro Cafe
A social and solidarity economy company formed by indigenous Tseltal communities and collaborators in Chiapas, Mexico. They produce 100% organic coffee and work for social justice and the defense of their territory, as they develop social ownership and business efficiency.  Learn more.
For more Fair Trade resources, click here .
How Conscious Investors Can Turn Up the Heat and Make Companies Change
A TED talk, featuring Vinay Shandal, who shares stories of the world's top activist investors, showing how individuals and institutions can take a page from their playbook and put pressure on companies to drive positive change -- urging engagement rather than divestment. Watch now. 
For more Socially Responsible Investing resources, click here.
Revive Us Again:
Vision and Action in Moral Organizing
By William Barber II, Rick Lowery and Liz Theoharis. Features some of Rev. Barber’s most famous sermons and speeches, with response essays by prominent public intellectuals, activists, and faith leaders. Speaks to the most pressing issues of our time, including Black Lives Matter, the fight for a $15 minimum wage, the struggle to protect voting rights, the march for women’s rights, and the movement to overcome poverty and unite the dispossessed across all dividing lines. Grounded in the fundamental biblical theme of poor and oppressed people taking action together, the book suggests ways to effectively build a fusion movement to make America fair and just for everyone.  Read more. 
For more Community Organizing resources,
Forgiveness Makes You Free:
A Dramatic Story of Healing and Reconciliation from the Heart of Rwanda
By Ubald Rugirangoga. Tells the story of how the author survived the Rwandan genocide and how he experienced a renewed sense of purpose as a minister of reconciliation and as a healing evangelist. Offers five spiritual principles that help those traumatized by the past. Read more.
For more Forgiveness resources, click here .
"Be the Answer"
Get up off your knees.
Come out of your churches,
your mosques, your temples.
God can hear your prayers
for peace, justice, and hope 
in this broken world just fine
while you’re out
creating peace,
working for justice,
and giving hope
to this broken world.

When are we finally going to realize
that humanity is the solution to inhumanity?
When will we finally understand
that we are all drops of the same ocean,
 hurting together, healing together, hoping together?

So don’t just pray for hands to heal the hurting.
Pray with hands that are healing the hurting.
Don’t just pray for arms to help the helpless.
Pray with arms that are helping the helpless.
Don’t just pray for feet to respond to the need.
Pray on feet that are responding to the need.
Don’t just pray for someone to do something.
Be someone who does something.
Don’t just pray for answers.
Be the answer.

St Peter's Episcopal Church
Peekskill, New York
 
Important Dates This Month

Individuals Honored This Month
Exact Date of Death Unknown
I don’t want to live in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death!
 March 2nd
We who say we dwell in Christ, should walk just as he walked.
March 3rd
I believe much trouble would be saved
if we opened our hearts more.
March 5th
The number one cause of atheism is Christians. Those who proclaim Him with their mouths and deny Him with their actions is what an unbelieving world finds unbelievable.
March 13th
Many powerful people don’t want peace because they live off of war.
March 14th
The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything.
March 24th
A church that doesn’t provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed – what gospel is that?
March 31st
History will judge societies and governments and their institutions not by how big they are or how well they serve the rich and powerful but how effectively they respond to the needs of the poor and the helpless.
Visit Our Website
Since we launched our website  2 years ago, we've had over  30,000  visitors, from 123  countries .  
There are  25   Issues  
with over  2,000  Resources including:
Films, Publications, Organizations,
Facts & Figures, Prayers, Quotes,

Our Newsletter
Each month we email our newsletter to about 4,000 people around the country. Each issue focuses on a social justice topic and has resources that have been recently added to our website. If you know of other   s who might be interested in receiving our newsletter,  please forward this email on to them or let us know and we'll add them to our mailing list. For past Newsletters,   click here. 
Contact Us
 contact@socialjusticeresourcecenter.org