[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 17, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E125]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CHOOSE GENEROSITY, NOT EXCLUSION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. KEITH ELLISON

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 17, 2007

  Mr. ELLISON. Madam Speaker, somewhere In Minneapolis or Jackson or 
Baltimore, somewhere In America today, there is a young couple that is 
feeling vulnerable. Maybe one has been laid off due to outsourcing, and 
maybe, the other is working for something close to a minimum wage. They 
probably have no medical benefits. Today real income is lower for the 
typical family than in 2000, while the incomes of the wealthiest 
families have grown significantly. Things are tough for working people, 
but in America, we often turn to our faith in tough times.
  When our couple shows up for worship service, probably on a Sunday, 
there is no doubt that the preacher will tell them of God's unyielding 
love. ``God loves you.'' But the next thing the preacher tells them is 
crucial--not only to the young couple, but to us all. The next message 
from the preacher may help to shape, not only the next election 
results, but the political landscape of the Nation.
  Will the preacher tell our young couple, ``God loves you--but only 
you and people like you?'' Or will the preacher say ``God loves you and 
you must love your neighbors of all colors, cultures, or faiths as 
yourselves''? One message will lead to be a stinginess of spirit, an 
exclusion of the ``undeserving,'' and the other will lead to a 
generosity of spirit and inclusion of all.
  In America today, we are encouraged to believe in the myth of 
scarcity--that there just isn't enough--of anything. But in the story 
of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, Jesus, who the Muslims called 
Isa, found himself preaching to 5,000--not including the women by the 
way--at dinner time, and there didn't appear to be enough food. The 
disciples said that there were only five barley loaves and two fish. We 
just have to send them away hungry. We simply don't have enough. But 
Jesus took the loaves and the fish and started sharing food. There was 
enough for everyone. There was more than enough. What was perceived as 
scarcity was illusory as long as there was sharing, and not hoarding.
  The idea here is not that there is a boundless supply of everything. 
Such an idea leads to waste and dispensability of everything. But the 
idea is that there is enough.
  If scarcity is a myth, then poverty is not necessary. America need 
not have 37 million Americans living below the poverty line. It is a 
choice. Hunger is a choice. Exclusion of the stranger, the immigrant, 
or the darker other is a choice.
  We can choose generosity. In America today, we spend more on health 
care than any other industrialized Nation, yet 46 million people have 
none. Canada spends half of what we spend and covers everyone. 
Perfectly? Of, course not. But adequately. That's more than what a lot 
of people have right now.
  We live in a society which says that there is enough for a tax break 
for the wealthy but not enough for an increase in the minimum wage for 
national health care. There is enough for subsidies to oil and coal 
companies but not for families who are struggling to afford child care 
or a college education. But it doesn't have to be this way.
  We need a politics of generosity based on the reality of abundance as 
opposed to a politics of not enough. The richest 1 percent of the 
Nation, on average, owns 190 times as much as a typical household. The 
child poverty rate in the United States is the highest of 16 other 
industrialized nations. Employers are shifting health insurance costs 
onto workers. Not only are fewer employees receiving health insurance 
through their employers, but those who still do are paying more for it.
  Recently, I have become the focus of some criticism for my use of the 
Qu'ran for my ceremonial swearing in. Let me be clear: I am going to be 
sworn into office like all Members of Congress. I am going to swear to 
uphold the United States Constitution. We seem to have lost the 
political vision of our founding document--a vision of inclusion, 
tolerance and generosity.
  I do not blame my critics for subscribing to a politics of scarcity 
and intolerance. However, I believe we all must project a new politics 
of generosity and inclusion. This is the vision of the diverse 
coalition in my congressional district. My constituents in Minnesota 
elected me to fight for a new politics in which a loving Nation 
guarantees health care for all of its people; a new politics in which 
executive pay may not skyrocket while workers do not have enough to 
care for their families. I was elected to articulate a new politics in 
which no one is cut out of the American dream, not immigrants, not 
gays, not poor people, not even a Muslim committed to serve his Nation.

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