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I have been struggling to shake myself out of a depression ever since I finished reading John Crosland’s white paper titled: “The Affordable Housing Dream: How We Can Make It Happen”.    Ordinarily I would be inspired since Mr. Crosland is championing an issue close to my heart.   What is depressing is the thought that Mr. Crosland is likely to be dismissed – even by some of my friends - as an unrealistic “shoot for the moon” kind of guy, a latter-day Arnold Toynbee who believes that “the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at the goal itself but at some ambitious goal beyond it”.
 
It feels like there is a whole industry out there that is built on clipping the wings of dreamers, particularly when they choose to champion the cause of the poor.  When developers were selling the vision for mixed income communities which resulted in the demolition of several neighborhoods serving the poor, their vision was not considered overly ambitious.   It was acceptable to shoot for the moon then, just as it was acceptable to dream big to clinch two national sports franchises, to build the Whitewater rafting project, two uptown arenas and the NASCAR museum in our community.  Some even continue to dream today about an uptown baseball stadium. 
 
While Mr. Crosland’s dream is a big dream, it is certainly no bigger than the problem, and certainly worthy of our community’s support.  I agree with him that we can achieve adequate housing for all our citizens over the next 12 to 15 years if we put our minds and resources to it.  What is disheartening is that the voice of the poor and their champions will not necessarily be heard because their cause is just.    While we have seen the impossible become possible in Charlotte in the past largely due to the arbitrage and “house/real-estate flipping” opportunities some of the projects presented, and whereas we have seen huge projects being fast-tracked because some powerful citizens wanted them, the cause of the poor is unlikely to be treated with the urgency it deserves without someone putting up a fight or our community being shamed into significant action.
 
It is disheartening to think that an obviously just cause would require a fight.  Unfortunately those of us in the faith community who are being invited by Mr. Crosland to be part of a significant “civic constituency of citizens, churches and businesses who are insistent activists for moving from dream to reality” might not have much to bring to the fight, being battle-weary ourselves from fighting over the colors of our sanctuaries, the acceptable decibel level of our worship music, and whether or not its good stewardship to violate our outreach focus by welcoming the poor into our worship services.    If we are not too weary to fight, we are like deer caught in headlights, frozen between the call of a just cause and what is demanded by the organizational monstrosities we have built in the name of Christ.    Our well-intentioned sermons and ritualistic acts of charity notwithstanding, we are incapable of responding with urgency and providing significant and decisive leadership when the cause requires it.  
 
I realize that what this cause needs is not a bunch of people who are too depressed to engage…so I will snap out of it right now.  I also realize that the “Christian thing” of waiting for all my brothers and sisters in the faith to be ready is truly bad stewardship of God’s time.  We must redeem the times now because the days are as evil as the cause of the poor and the homeless child is just.
 
So Mr. Crosland Sir…this is Noah Manyika reporting for duty Sir!