She stated that there were at least 17 million Americans living in extreme poverty, which she called a “shame.” While granting the necessity of hard work, she said it is difficult to lift oneself up by one’s bootstraps without boots.
Education
Panelist Rabbi Jack Moline, who heads the Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria, Virginia, examined the place of education in contemporary life. Explaining how much his parents valued education in his youth, Rabbi Moline said they recognized that education must not be just a “means to an end.”
“It was taken for granted that we were endowed by our Creator with certain responsibilities,” he said, making further allusions to the Declaration of Independence by claiming a fully funded education is part of the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
He added that study is more important than action, because “study moves us to action.”
Decrying what he saw as an anti-educational atmosphere “tantamount to neglect,” Rabbi Moline lamented “teaching to tests” done in place of teaching critical thinking. He also criticized the elimination of physical education, arts and music, and other electives. By ignoring their importance of education we “leave a vacuum in its place,” he asserted.
He further noted that without a solid high school education, young people are more inclined to crime, teen pregnancy, and thus abortion.
Immigration
Turning to immigration, Bishop Wilfredo DeJesus, pastor of a Chicago mega-church and a member of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, criticized what he called a “broken” immigration system.
While granting that immigration issues are “highly debatable,” he insisted that it is necessary to “stand with all people.”
Bishop DeJesus described the effects of a massive ICE raid in Postville, Iowa in which he said 900 agents were involved.
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Claiming the agents displayed an “excessive show of force” and used “heavy-handed tactics,” he said the raid displaced 400 families.
According to DeJesus, 43 women were arrested but could neither work nor return to their home country for months. He also protested the separation of nursing mothers from their children during such raids.
Saying over 2,000 immigrants have died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, DeJesus called for “comprehensive immigration reform” and claimed Sen. Barack Obama as a true “family values” candidate because of his immigration policy.
Prisoner Rehabilitation
Rev. John Hunter from the First African Methodist Episcopalian Church in Los Angeles explained the need to help prisoners released from jail or prison re-enter society and rehabilitate themselves. Saying 13.5 million people are either in jail or in prison in the United States, he described how ex-felons face employment and housing problems.
In particular, he noted that federal laws generally prohibit funding housing for ex-felons.