Address Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Roanoke's "Total Action Against Poverty"

"Let’s face it. For four years we have been living in a land where the President of our Government has been saying that Government itself is not part of the solution; it is itself the problem. That’s like electing someone Commissioner of Baseball who hates baseball."
Roanoke, VA • June 07, 1985

Cabell Brand, Sara Holland, Reverend Clergy; Ladies and Gentlemen: -- One thing is obvious. There is absolutely no need for a Guest Speaker tonight: Greta Evans was superb!

I want an autographed copy of her poetic, passionate talk. What’s more, I hope “The Roanoke Times” prints the full text, in this Sunday’s edition.

Bob Garland gave us the biggest key I’ve ever received, and I thank him, and the Mayor, and the City Council.

Its size is not, however, its most important aspect so far as I’m concerned. To me this key stands for that City which has produced the most successful Community Action program in the entire Southern part of the U.S.A.. Roanoke is known as “The Star City”, but the greatest star in its heaven is TAP --..."Total Action vs. Poverty”... TAP represents what American Democracy is all about.

Local action, local leadership, local volunteers, local groups working together with local government for the benefit of all!!!

USIA should make a TV program on TAP and televise it all over the world: It’s a better advertisement than all the speeches by diplomats or politicians, all the movies from Hollywood, all the rock music. It explains the USA better than Michael Jackson!

I’m delighted to be here this evening -- all of us are happy to be here -- for many reasons; but of all the reasons I’d like to select just three: --

1. To salute the city of Roanoke, and all the Roanoke Valley communities, Covington, Salem, Lexington, Buena Vista, all the communities.

2. To give thanks for that splendid organization, --the Total Action Against Poverty. And: --

3. To say to Cabell Brand that you, sir, are a true Virginian and a true American. In the noble tradition of Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Robert E. Lee, and George C. Marshall, you epitomize the ideals of civic virtue and civic responsibility; the ideal of unselfish, patriotic, service to one’s country; the ideal of exceptional competence in one’s profession; and the ideal of generous dedication to all those less fortunate than yourself.

If America had 1,000 men and women of your quality in 1,000 communities dispersed across our country, we would have eliminated poverty by now; we would have overcome fear and anger and rancor among our fellow citizens; we would have realized the dream of our ancestors who wished to create a land with liberty and justice for all.

I make no mistake about it! Men and women with the energy, ability, and dedication of Cabell Brand, and Ted Edlick, Bristow Harding and all the officers and workers at TAP, men and women like these make all the difference. They are the ones who make all programs work; they make all communities and families work; and without them America will not work!! So, Cabell, for your contributions to your fellowmen and women, to your city, state and country, we acclaim you. I am honored to be here with you, with your wonderful wife, Shirley, and with your many friends and admirers.

Unfortunately, so far as action against poverty I can’t add much, or perhaps anything to what all of you already know.

That excellent book, “No Cease Fires” tells the whole story extremely well. I must have bought 25 or more copies of that book and distributed them wherever I thought there was an open mind and open heart. If anyone in this audience-has not read “No Cease Fires” I urge him or her to do so. You will be a wiser human being and a better citizen.

And if you follow “No Cease Fires”, you will be a happier and holier person yourself!’ There’s not much I can add to these words of praise for Cabell Brand, for his staunch allies, for TAP, and for all the warriors here assembled who have spent themselves in the struggle against poverty.

I am not an economist or educator, social worker, elected or appointed Governmental official. Some critics might describe me as just an old warrior, a gray-haired veteran of previous campaigns against poverty, trying to relive “old times”, and claim success for old programs.

Sure, I will claim success for “Head Start”, the Program originated in 1965. Head Start changed early childhood education in this country; it has lifted thousands out of ignorance and frustration and hopelessness. Even Ronald Reagan lauds it and its it in his famous “safety net”!

Sure, I will claim that “Foster Grandparents” has succeeded. Nancy Reagan calls it her favorite program.

Sure, I will claim that “Job Corps” has succeeded. Why shouldn’t I? Orrin Hatch, the right-wing Republican Senator from Utah, says that “Job Corps has been a huge success. He describes as a “venture capital” enterprise which is returning the taxpayers four to one on our investment. Sure, I will say that VISTA” has succeeded. Even David Stockman now approves $20 million year for VISTA -- quite an improvement over his zero budget proposals of the last five years.

Sure, I will say that “Upward Bound”, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, have succeeded. If life-time, Government aid-for medical care is OK for the President, the Senators and Congressmen, if the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines can get health care free, it must be OK for our elderly and poor. Sure! I’ll claim success for these programs. Sure, I’ll claim that federal aid to education has helped the poor, and the middle-class.

Why? Why has this five year war against the poor been taking place?

First of all, most people don’t know about it! And many won’t believe it even if you tell them. A nice, friendly man like our President wouldn’t do such a thing, we all say to ourselves. Then, there are others like Charles Murray who say these reductions are good for the poor. They need the spur of poverty to make them work harder!

Let’s face it. For four years we have been living in a land where the President of our Government has been saying that Government itself is not part of the solution; it is itself the problem. That’s like electing someone Commissioner of Baseball who hates baseball.

Let’s be clear about this. No one in the USA has ever said that Government is the only solution to our problems. No one ever maintained that Government could do everything. Not even LBJ thought that! When JFK said--..."Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country”... He did not say we should dismantle the New Deal and the Fair Deal and the New Frontier. He did not say we stop our efforts to reduce racism, hunger, or ignorance. Quite the contrary! He was suggesting that we could achieve our objectives, more quickly and efficiently, working together, with the help of Government, rather than working, individualistically, without the Government.

That’s why we started the Peace Corps. Men and women have to volunteer for work in the Peace Corps. Then with the help of our Government they achieve miracles.

That’s why JFK did not hesitate to declare that “we will put a man on the moon in this decade” ... He did not say that General Motors, or even Lee Iacocca, would put a man on the moon. He said “we” will do it.

Today we are enjoying a high tech revolution in the U.S.A... Millions of jobs are being created. Millions of dollars in profits are being made. Unprecedented advances are taking place in medicine and health technology, and millions of dollars in profits are being earned by doctors and companies in health services. Did all these things just happen to take place now? Not a bit of it.

Since 1945, 90% of all basic medical and scientific research in America has been financed by the U.S. Government, your Government using your tax dollars for the benefit of us all. Without our great tax-supported, and publicly created universities like Cal Tech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Illinois Tech, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, California, Virginia and North Carolina, where would we find, teach, and develop the great scientists? True, private universities led the way in America.

But none of them could have financed their research without hundreds of millions in tax dollars from Uncle Sam.

It is naive, untrue, and simple-minded to say or believe that any one of us, or our nation, has achieved greatness without the help of our families, our friends, our neighbors, our political system, and our Government. All of these elements are parts of the solution, not parts of the problem!

The rampant individualism we are now experiencing is doomed to failure. It’s “Fantasy Island”. Like Jean Jacques Rousseau’s myth of “The Noble Savage”. Neither Government or civilization was produced by individualists or “noble savages”. Our country and our Government came from people working together. Thomas Jefferson believed in Civic Responsibility -- in citizens working together for the common good. That’s why Virginia and Massachusetts still use the titles “Commonwealth of Massachusetts”, “Commonwealth of Virginia”. Jefferson did not write the Declaration, nor Madison the Constitution, to give the world unrestrained economic competition, or tax-free corporate enterprise, or social Darwinism. The U.S.A. was established to create a more perfect union, to provide for the common defense, and to promote the general welfare. The greatest achievement was the creation of a Federal Government through which we all could work together for the common good.

If all this is true, if we should be using Government to help one another including the poor, if we should be trying to preserve and expand “Total Action Against Poverty” not wreck it, if we should be striving for more equity in opportunity, not glorifying conspicuous consumption, why is Ronald Reagan so popular?

I think the answer is fairly simple. He’s not only an amiable person, easy to get along with, comfortable, non-threatening and optimistic, -- he’s smart enough to see that in America there are many more rich people than poor people. If 20-25% of all Americans are poor, 75-80% are well-to-do or rich. And the well to do vote! Poor people don’t votes so if you want to win elections, go where the votes are. Moreover, rich people want to stay rich. They like things the way they are. Why change anything if 75-80% of us are doing well? That’s the essence of Conservatism. Keep things as they are. I’m ok. You’re ok.

Ironically this is exactly the way Communists act in the Soviet Union. I’ve been there many, many times, and over there the Conservatives are the ones at the top! And they don’t want change. “Russia” -- they say -- “love it or leave it”. That’s why they throw people like Solzhenitsyn into exile. Here in America we don’t exile our poor, physically. We just permit them to exist outside the mainstream.

Faced with these realities what can people do today if they still want to achieve social progress in America. How can programs which help minorities -- blacks; poor women with children; refugees; Spanish-speaking citizens, and poor white people -- be maintained or even enlarged? The answer is: -- some of them can be maintained; but many of them cannot.

Why not? Because many of our fellow citizens, who are now well-to-do, are themselves now fearful: They are worried they will lose what they have struggled and saved to obtain. They don’t want any changes. Changes are always threatening. People want to conserve what they’ve got. That’s the very definition of a conservative. So I think we can expect very little governmental activity by the majority, who are well-to-do, or even rich, to help the minority who are poor.

Does that mean nothing can be done? No:

Programs like “HeadStart” which do not empower poor people but just help them, those programs will probably continue. But they need support. Programs which give rights and power to poor people will be continually attacked, cut back, or eliminated. Thus Community Action by the poor for the poor and for the community faces severe difficulty. “Legal Services” for the poor will continue to encounter serious trouble because “Legal Services” enforces the economic and legal rights of poor people over against the majority -- over against those who already have riches and power.

We will have to fight hard to keep Community Action and “Legal Services” alive ‘ We must explain, cajole, argue, and vote!

But -- despite these discouraging realities much can be done. Let me give just one or two examples.

In Massachusetts a Civic Education Program for young Americans is trying to get underway. Its primary goal is to give high school students a chance to develop neighborhood improvement programs on their own. The goal is to develop young people’s interest in their own community, nurture leadership through experience, and teach students that working together can produce results, The students will also be involved in seminars and discussions about policy issues and programs at the local, State and Federal levels of Government. They will learn about voting; they will participate in mock elections, learn how to use voting machines, and tabulate results. Boston banks and businesses are taking an interest in financing programs of this type because they represent citizenship and community improvement training at the most basic, local level. I like projects like this one. First it involves young people who are our best hope of overcoming self-centered greed.

Second, this program is local, grassroots, action.

Third, it’s the beginning of basic community action -- by the people, for the people, of the people, Like Basic Christian Communities in Latin America, this project begins to involve young people in changing their own lives and community values!

The young are the first ingredient for a successful overthrow of the reigning ethic of selfishness. The second promising area for action is with women.

Now is the time for women to assert themselves and their values, - not becoming more like men than men -- but by forcing their own values into the political arena. Women started the nuclear freeze movement. But they can do much more, provided they build on their own values: -- the value of caring for others exemplified by their nurturing of their own children.

Their almost universal tendency to protect, assist, and sympathize must be put into action. Women must lead a revolt against violence, especially male violence, within homes and families, within sports, within society, and between nations. Women should be leaders in the Peace Movement at the scholarly and diplomatic levels.

Women should lead a revolt against excessive consumerism. Women buy most of the food and furnishings sold in America. Women can influence profoundly the consumption of alcohol and tobacco. Women can lead the movement toward sensible health standards. In this effort nurses could be much more important than doctors. And women could explode the male myth of the man on horseback - the myth of John Wayne.

The third crucial element for the reawakening of the American spirit is “religion”.

It was religion that brought the Puritans, the Quakers, the Episcopalians, the Huguenots, the Catholics, the Amish, andmany others to this country. It was not only robber barons and American cavalrymen who opened up America. It was Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts, Jonathan Edwards of Connectict, Charles Carroll of Maryland and a host of protestant clergymen and Catholic priests and nuns who brought religious values to every area of America and into every aspect of American life.

Religion can do it again. It can overcome economic determinism and militarism; it can overcome personal pride, and national arrogance. Basic Christian communities are changing Latin-America.

They can change North America, too. I’m not talking about TV preachers, money-raisers, or Bible Belt millionaires. I am talking about religious leaders who live in the slums, who work for peace based on putting into practice the directions, and ethics, of the Sermon On The Mount, men and women who pray and work and live the good news of the gospels,... with humility, and mercy for all, even for their enemies, Communities composed of such people are growing. They are underfoot everywhere, unrecognized nearly everywhere, but destined, I believe, to change America from the ground up, not from the top down.

Religious groups, women, and the young, -- working at the grassroots and in the centers of our cities -- working with mercy and love for all -- these can bring about the remaking of America.

One final word, Don’t worry that your work for the poor, and against poverty, is temporarily side-tracked by an Administration which praises the rich, and only prays for the poor. They are having their day; but 200 million rich Americans cannot long endure in a world with 3.5 billion poor people!! The day of reckoning will arrive.

Recently I read a superb statement by an American religious leader. I hope it inspires you to continue your noble work. The title of this message is..."Lord, Don’t Let Me Escape”!

Dear Lord.

As I pass through the waiting room at the rectory where I live, I observe the lineup of furrow-filled faces. I see the outstretched, dirty-nailed hands, and pick up the odor of smelly clothes.
Then I go to the table and eat like a king, My conscience bothers me. But don’t take that sting away from me, Lord; let it gnaw.
Behind that small line to be fed at our rectory door, Lord I see a hundred, A thousand,
A million more with no line to stand in.
With no hope of receiving shared food. Imbed their faces in my conscience too, Lord,
For their face is yours: Don’t let me escape, Lord, As I try to do so often... But, Lord, what should I do?
Do I just feel guilty and helpless?
Do I just eat less and share more?
Do I just continue to cringe and shake my head As I see so much wasted food in this land of plenty of ours? I sound like a scriptural Pharisee
When I say I lend my support (More mortal than real)
To the soup-kitchens and the food-pantries And I applaud the churches who are involved.
But that is not enough ;.6%
What about the others whom I don’t see?
What about the starving in Bangladesh or the Sudan?
Can I tell them they have no right to be born Because it might take away my food?
Can I go on forever just shrugging my shoulders when some say that if those poor people really wanted to work they could?
Where is the work, they ask?
Show me...
Lord, how intelligent we humans you created have become. We have made and paid for explosives so grand That they exceed even our own destructive imaginations. We even landed on your moon, Lord. We truly are smart!!
But don’t ask us to solve the problem, Lord. Of Food for your hungry on this globe.
It is too complicated -- we say ... Blot out, Lord, all such whitewashing.
Leave my conscience searing. Don’t let it become callous. Don’t let me escape....
Let those hollow eyes of your hungry haunt me. Let the rattle of their empty bellies ring in my ears! Don’t let me escape, --
Until we all rise up in solidarity
And see you in all those faces.
Or are we all -me in particular - Just afraid, Lord, That by looking at those faces
And taking your presence in them seriously We might have to do more than give of our excess?
We may even be forced to give of our substance, To change even our very way of life...
Lord, do not let me escape May God help all of you... all of us.

May He guide us and inspire us.
May His Kingdom come:
For in that Kingdom there will be “No Cease Fires” in the struggle against poverty. There will be only victory!

Peace requires the simple but powerful recognition that what we have in common as human beings is more important and crucial than what divides us.
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Sargent Shriver
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