Will history judge us on how we treat the poor in our time?

In a 2007 speech at the NAACP Image Awards, U2's Bono proclaimed:

Whatever thoughts we have about God, who he is, or even if God exists, most would agree that God has a special place for the poor. The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. God is with the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will take both their lives. God is under the rubble in the cries we hear during wartime. God my friends is with the poor. And he is with us, if we are with them.  

Bono's final thought, "...he is with us, if we are with them," has taken on a number of iterations dating back at least two-and-a-half millenia ago to Aristotle. In the last century and a half or so, these sentiments have been attributed to the likes of Lord John Acton, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Pope Francis. 

Now, I recognize that some might not respond to the spiritual or religious overtones of this idea. So another way to look at it is to consider Gandhi who said, "the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members." 

So, whether or not our thoughts on poverty and the welfare of all our fellow citizens are influenced by our personal faith, a sense of ethics, civic responsibility, or other moral imperatives, I believe that we must ask ourselves a question that has been posed many times before, “Will history judge us on how we treat the poor in our time?”

If so, what are we going to do about it?

Tony Kiene is the Executive Writer at Community Action Partnership of Ramsey & Washington Counties His 22 years of nonprofit and entertainment experience includes service to The Minneapolis Urban League, Penumbra Theatre Company, Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, the Black United Fund of Oregon, and Pepé Music, Inc. Additional experience includes work as a Graduate Research Intern / Archivist at Stanford University’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of Oregon, and Public Relations Associate at the Purdue Black Cultural Center. He holds a B.A. in sociology and African American Studies from Purdue University as well as an M.A. in American Studies from Purdue where his Master’s Essay was titled, Uptown: The Racial, Spiritual, and Political Sociology of The Minneapolis Sound. Some of Tony’s other work has been published in Nommo: The Power of the Word, Community Times, Black Theatre Network, Insight News, Black Classic Press, Collegiate Press, and Reo Deo.