Beginning Sunday, May 18 and each Sunday moving forward I along with the clergy and clergy organizations which constitute the African American Clergy Collective of Tennessee which is a 501(c)4 advocacy organization of black clergy across this state will be sharing a weekly update called “Facts and Faith in Five”. With the blazing fast pace that changes are being made to our lives by the current federal administration and the various biases of new outlets in covering them, it is important that a black faith perspective be offered to help us to carve a pathway to hope in increasingly frustrating times.
Briefly, today I want to offer perspective on the first 100 days of the administration of the 47th President of the United States. We could talk about the mass deportation of undocumented migrants or the pivot of the Department of Justice from protecting the rights of marginalized populations and investigating practices of law enforcement agencies to now focusing on anti-Christian bias or we can speak about the lay offs of thousands of career federal employees, tariffs and inflation. However one of the ways this administration has adversely affected basic needs is by freezing federal funding in the US Department of Agriculture also known as the USDA. Since the new administration has taken office, the USDA has paused funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program a core nutrition program that purchases US commodities for emergency food providers that help households obtain sufficient nutrition.
They also cancelled two federal programs that help schools and food banks buy fresh food directly from local farmers. This leaves over 50 million people who rely on federal food programs literally not knowing where their next meal will come from. Congress is now considering a cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program also known as SNAP which amounts to $230 billion dollars over the next decade.
This is a moral crisis. Proverbs 3:27-28 says, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”— when you already have it with you.” This nation clearly has means and power to act but what they are lacking is compassion and a moral compass. In addition to this being immoral it is also unconstitutional in Article 1 Section 9 clause 7 of the US constitution which is better known as the Appropriations Clause, Congress is empowered to determine federal spending not the executive branch.
So it falls to us not just to be aware and sound an alarm but to act. Reach out to those representing us in congress: cohen.House.Gov ; hagerty.senate.gov or blackburn.senate.gov
Rev. Dr. J. Lawrence Turner
Senior Pastor Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church
Founder and Chair, The African American Clergy Collective of Tennessee