HOMELESSNESS
- Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week, by Audree Notoras - 11.16.08
- 'A greater sense of compassion,' by Emily Schlatter - 07.13.08
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FAMILIES
- Living on food stamps a financial, psychological challenge, by Audree Notoras - 11.30.08
- Single mothering, paycheck-to-paycheck, by Steven Higgs - 07.13.08
- Summertime, and the care is affordable, by Audree Notoras - 06.29.08
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HUNGER
- Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week, by Audree Notoras - 11.1.08
- Community Gardens produce nutrition, savings, by Audree Notoras - 09.21.08
- Hunger: the immeasurable need, by Steven Higgs - 06.01.08
- Hunger spikes in Bloomington, by Jaclyn Baker - 05.18.08
- Food bank reaches warehouse deals, by Audree Notoras - 05.18.08
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THE AGENCIES
- Social service agencies see busy times ahead, by Audree Notoras - 11.16.08
- 'The poor shall never cease to be,' by Audree Notoras - 07.27.08
- Mother Hubbard's Cupboard: 'Equal access to nutritious food,' by Jaclyn Baker - 06.01.08
- Community Kitchen: Feeding the hungry for 25 years, by Audree Notoras - 06.01.08
- VIDEO: Shalom Means "Welcome," courtesy of the Shalom Center
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INTRODUCTION
- 'The Other Bloomington,' and more summer fare, by Steven Higgs
- 05.18.08
Comments
It's not my Independence Day.
Citizens; I come forth and give my voice in behalf of the disillusioned, desultory, detached, and despondent. I speak for the impoverished men, women and children who stand in line at the local soup kitchens of your great city. I speak in behalf of the oppressed that are unjustly imprisoned in your jail and who are entrapped in your corrupt legal system, who are being subjugated by hypocritical judges and guarded over by incompetent megalomaniacs. My voice is the voice of the unfortunate and downtrodden who have no place to call home, no roof to shelter them from the night nor walls to give relief from the cold winds, who know not of warmth or comfort on this glorious holiday of yours. I cry out for the beguiled and begrudged that struggle to free themselves from the shackles of poverty on the streets of your great city, whose pleas for just a little spare change are affronted with disgust and disdain. I speak in behalf of those who suffer from addictions and afflictions, who are abused by others as well as themselves. I raise my voice for those who are infirm of mind, which shuffle about, adrift and forsaken there in the shadows of your fair city. I speak out in behalf of those who have been rejected and outcast by you and your city. It is these people that I represent on this great day of celebration of your independence. For it is these people who are my family as assuredly as any siblings by birth.
I do not raise my voice in reverence of the forefathers or uplift their deceptive ideologies of capitalism cloaked under the guise of patriotism, rather I do so to repudiate and disassociate them. Nor do I come forth to express gratitude for the blessings bestowed upon my people resulting from your independence. What have I, or those that I represent, to do with your independence day? Are those principles of freedom and justice, embodied by this independence of yours, extent to my people? My family, the forgotten family, is not included within the boundary of this holiday! Your haughty independence only goes to show the vast distance between us. The benefits and luxuries that you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed by all. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence that has been bequeathed by the forefathers is shared by you good citizens, not by us.
Today, on this Fourth of July, I pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke! The feeling of this city must be quickened; the conscience of this city must be roused; the propriety of this city must be startled; the hypocrisy of this city must be exposed, and it’s atrocities against my people must be proclaimed and denounced and if necessary, avenged!
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