Feeding mind, body and spirit and the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Jesse Louis Jackson

On Oct. 8, 1941, a child was born in a very small three-room house to a teenage mother living below the poverty line in Greenville, South Carolina. He was named Jesse Louis Jackson. At a 1988 presidential platform of nominations, he shared this story, but also said, “I was born in the slums,” but “the slums weren’t born in me.” He spoke of his faith as the source for his mother’s vigilance to feed, house and clothe him and his brother and how he and we are called to do the same.

Rev. Jackson was a sojourner with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others during the Civil Rights movement and thereafter. He spoke of hope and possibilities for all and affirmed the imago Dei in all in his chants of “I am Somebody” and “Keep Hope Alive!” In these days of remembering the life and legacy of Rev. Jackson, we especially remember how his mission and ministry aligned with Bread’s mission to end hunger in our lifetime.

Operation Breadbasket was an important ministry that demonstrated this. It served under the motto: “Your Ministers Fight for Jobs and Rights.” It was begun by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1966 Chicago Freedom Movement and was directed by Rev. Jackson. The program put bread on the tables of the city’s African American families in the form of steady jobs. Breadbasket’s efforts netted 4,500 jobs and sharply increased commerce involving Black-owned businesses. Economic gains on Chicago’s South Side amounted to $57.5 million annually by 1971.

This grassroots mobilization led to a national movement and morphed into not only an economic engine of people feeding themselves, but a national movement of public policy and economic development advocacy with those who were fed by the program and many more globally.

In Bread for the World’s 2018 Hunger Report on the Jobs Challenge, we stated, “millions of workers are paid so little that they cannot feed their families. The best, most lasting way to end hunger is to ensure that people have access to jobs that pay enough to support their families. The United States can move in the right direction by making essential improvements through legislation and policies.”

In the same report, we stated that to be successful, we must invest in people so that people can have access to the tools they need and government plays a vital role in doing this. We pointed out that targeted investments should be made in communities with the highest hunger rates.

Bread has and is targeting investments by advocating for a safety net in its hunger justice advocacy of speaking to the systemic issues of economic and policy development. Bread partnered with Rev. Jackson in this regard. One of the ways we did this was with our AfriConferences of partnership and empowerment with Pan African peoples.

Then, and today, the United States should strengthen national nutrition programs such as school meals, summer meals, SNAP and WIC. We believe these essential programs are related to the Farm Bill and our Nurture Our Future campaign.

Bread for the World thanks Rev. Jackson for his leadership and invites you to collaborate with us today in ending hunger with our Offering of Letters to Congress at go.bread.org.

For more, visit indianapolisrecorder.com.

REV. ANGELIQUE WALKER-SMITH

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