American Dalit

“I’m sorry, God,” was my silent prayer. “I have not cared about this the way I should. I have not been praying your light into the world nor have I been praying against this hideous darkness enough.”

So many in the world suffer. There are vast numbers who suffer to the extreme like the children depicted in this movie. In India, there is still a class of people in that very class-oriented society, known as dalits, the untouchables, the lowest of the low. Yet, in America, there are also those rejected, left out, and forgotten…those who are hungry and those who have no shelter.

This has been much on my mind as our small house church has been attempting to help a young woman stained with a past of drug use, drug sales, and incarceration. She is trying to start over and regain custody of her children. We are helping her. I see how hard it is for an ex-offender to re-enter society. There are literally pages of social agencies, apartment owner’s names, etc. in my notebook. We have needed to find an apartment, a car, and a job for this young woman or she will lose her children permanently.

I was saddened as I called phone number after phone number and found reason after reason why the person or agency on the other end could not be of help to this woman. “Waiting lists, no felons allowed, felons but not one who has sold drugs” were some of the reasons that prevented her from being accepted and welcomed. I remember as I first set out apartment hunting with her how naïve I was. “Let’s just tell them the truth about who you are and I will share that I am a Christian pastor supporting you,” I said. The first, rather prim apartment manager wasted no time, “We don’t take anyone with a criminal background. Sorry.” Then she added, as if concerned for the young woman’s future, “You just keep your nose clean for the next three years and you’ll get your record expunged perhaps.” I looked at her incredulously. Had she not heard the story? This young woman had been given two months by the court to get everything in order or lose her children forever. Two months.

It was not the manager’s problem and I am saddened by the number of people for whom it is “not their problem.” Fortunately, we found a willing landlord and then began to call for donations of furnishings. I am struck by how people “help” as I have been approaching many for furniture, household goods, etc. People give so sparingly, often giving only what they won’t miss and that often broken down or missing parts. What is wrong with our hearts? The food pantry in my former church so often had plenty of cheap cans of green beans and corn, but would lack main meal items or something just plain delicious. Where is the desire to simply bless the poor who have so little access to what is delightful in life?

Where the ex-offenders are concerned, I know people worry that they’re going to be “taken.” I know the thought is “once a criminal, always a criminal.” But, I know these ex-offenders often get into trouble in the first place trying to supply needs or fill in empty soul places with drugs and criminal activity. The only thing that will save them is to be embraced and aided to learn a new identity and a new way of living. For our society, they appear to be our dalits – people others consider not quite human or approachable. My heart’s cry is for us to awaken as a nation to the needs of the poor and most particularly to those who are ex-offenders sincerely seeking redemption.

Written by Rev. Pam Morrison, www.leavingoxford.wordpress.com/