Speaking Up

The poor and minorities historically have been relatively powerless second-class citizens, virtually ignored in many government decisions. For the most part they have taken official indifference without a whimper. That may be changing.

In recent weeks residents of poor or minority neighborhoods in several Orange County communities have joined in demands for more police protection, better streets and improved neighborhood parks--moves that could bring the silent minority into the political mainstream.

The seeds of change were sown about 10 years ago in Santa Ana when a countywide committee, intent on improving conditions for the poor, invited a group of Jesuit priests and social-service workers to come to the county to show the poor how to help themselves. They accepted the invitation, and with their help the Santa Ana Neighborhood Organizations was born. Many neighborhood groups remain active, but the overall effort waned.

Now a new wave of activism is evident. Again it is church-sponsored, this time more united and widespread. The umbrella organization, the Orange County Sponsoring Committee, includes representation from the Catholic, Presbyterian, Episcopal, United Church of Christ, Lutheran, United Methodist and American Lutheran churches, the Orange County Board of Rabbis and lay members representing the Legal Aid Society and the county Human Relations Commission.

The goal--as expressed by Sister Armida Deck, who heads the Sponsoring Committee--is to “give a voice to the voiceless, . . . enable people to empower themselves” and overcome what she calls the “structural oppression” that they face.

The involvement of the churches has been crucial because people who otherwise might shun the movement are more receptive, since it involves their own churches. Recent events in Anaheim and Santa Ana demonstrate that minority residents and the poor, when organized, do indeed have a voice. Their activism should lead to a new official awareness of the problems of the poor.

The Sonsoring Committee encourages communities to develop their own leaders and issues. It should also encourage a greater involvement in the elective process, starting with registering to vote in larger numbers. Elected officials often reexamine their priorities when they face several hundred angry residents in the meeting hall. Imagine the attention that they would pay to several thousand new voters on Election Day.