working for justice
I appreciate this story from Carolyn Vance about one way she was able to love her neighbor in the here and now. May it inspire you as well -Renée
When immigrants live in your land with you, you must not cheat them. Any immigrant who lives with you must be treated as if they were one of your citizens. You must love them as yourself, because you were immigrants in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19:33-34
I know that the scriptures say to treat immigrants well and justly. I live in a country, where, by law, immigrants are not treated well and justly. For decades, any efforts for positive changes to immigration law have been killed by Congress, the only political body that can make lasting change. How can I, as a teacher of English as a Second Language, change what is unjust? What’s a follower of Jesus to do?
You must not act unjustly in a legal case involving measures of length, weight, or volume. Leviticus 19:35
Recently one of my students mentioned that last winter her family’s utility bills were horrendous, around $400 per per month for a small mobile home. I knew that the City of Champaign participates in the Municipal Electric Aggregation program that allows them to negotiate a better price than the utilities offer for electricity, purchased on the open market. All residents within the City of Champaign are automatically enrolled. This doesn’t prevent other electric suppliers from trying to sell their services and rates, displacing those residents from the MEA program to a (likely) more expensive rate. Could my student’s family been talked into one of these alternative plans with a promise of “lower rates”? It turns out that’s exactly what happened. They were paying not only more than the MEA program rate, they were paying more than the Ameren rate.
You must have accurate scales and accurate weights, an accurate ephah[a] and an accurate hin.[b] I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Leviticus 19:36 [a] Approximately twenty quart [b] Approximately one gallon of liquid
I communicated with the city to find out how I might help my student get out of the overpriced plan and into the MEA plan. The city was very helpful. My student, her 18-year-old bilingual daughter and I set up a call and successfully got this family out of the expensive plan and into the MEA plan negotiated by Champaign. It was a lot more complicated than I had anticipated. But we did it together. One success for one family that will make a difference. How many other families in the mobile home park were equally effected? Can they also be helped?
What the non-MEA company did was not illegal, not even remotely. But ethical/fair/just? They took advantage of a low-income family with limited English skills to make a profit off of them.
The Lord proclaims: Do what is just and right; rescue the oppressed from the power of the oppressor. Don’t exploit or mistreat the refugee … Jeremiah 22:3
Carolyn Vance
August 2022
2 Comments On “working for justice”
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Thank you for sharing, Carolyn. I had forgotten about that program and I’m sure others could benefit
Since writing the above and with further conversation with my student, I realized they weren’t fast-talked into the more expensive electric supply rate; they were just switched without giving permission. They were “slammed.” Very unethical, to say the least.