| | Today is Monday, Dec. 30, 21 days before Inauguration Day. In this week’s Truth and Action Roundup, we report on former President Jimmy Carter’s death, the conflict on the political right about guest worker visas, and a troubling report about the unprecedented rise in people experiencing homelessness in the United States. We also offer a reminder for an upcoming vigil for democracy on Jan. 5 that you can attend in person or virtually, as well as an invitation to support Sojourners, the organization that brings you the Truth and Action Roundup. Finally, we offer our “Deep Breaths” spiritual resources to equip you for 2025.
The Truth and Action Roundup will take a break this Wednesday, New Year’s Day. We will return on Friday, Jan. 3. Happy New Year to you and yours!
— the Truth and Action Roundup production team | | |
| | Here’s what we know at the time of writing:
1) Former president Jimmy Carter died yesterday at the age of 100. As tributes and reflections have poured in from all over the world, Sojourners’ Mitchell Atencio reported on Carter’s “born-again” Christian faith and how it animated his deep passion for justice. As Randall Balmer, a professor of religion and author of a Carter biography, told Atencio, Carter “reintroduc[ed] into the public square the principles that animated nineteenth-century evangelicals: concern for the poor, racial equality, peacemaking, human rights and equality for women.” Atencio’s article also notes that Carter used his platform post-presidency to advocate on a wide range of issues, including supporting nuclear nonproliferation, women’s ordination, and gay marriage, and opposing Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. He often framed his positions in the terms of his Christian faith.
2) President-elect Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy have spent the past few days engaged in a contentious debate with elements of Trump’s voter base and prominent Trump allies such as Steve Bannon over H-1B guest worker visas, which Trump, Musk, and Ramaswamy all support and Bannon opposes. H-1B visas allow American companies to temporarily employ foreign workers with specialized knowledge and qualifications; high-tech industries in Silicon Valley consider this program essential. Trump’s support has clashed with the fervent anti-immigration views of much of his base. For now, Trump’s support for the H-1B program appears to have tipped the scales in the program’s favor.
3) The United States saw a dramatic 18% increase in people experiencing homelessness at the beginning of 2024 compared to the same period the year prior, according to a new report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In January 2024, 771,480 unhoused people were counted in cities, a number that represents 23 out of every 10,000 Americans. This is the highest number of people experiencing homelessness ever recorded in the United States, yet experts also warn that it’s an undercount. The increases were steepest among children (33%) and families (39%), and reasons for the increase include the ongoing affordable housing crisis, stagnant wages, and the end of pandemic-era government supports such as the expanded child tax credit. | | |
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| | Join us at the fourth annual “Faith in Democracy” Interfaith Prayer Vigil streaming and in person on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Sunday Jan. 5 at 3:30 p.m. Co-sponsored by Sojourners, the Franciscan Action Network, and Faith in Peace Concerts, this vigil will feature faith leaders sharing why their faith compels them to pursue democracy, peace, and justice at this critical time in our nation. For more information, to register to attend, or to watch the stream for this event, click here. You make the Truth and Action Roundup possible. We need your support to produce the truth-telling journalism, action, and hope we all need. Help answer the biblical call for social justice. Give to Sojourners today!
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| | As we prepare to close this year, we honor the sacred tradition of Watch Night in the Black church — a night rooted in faith, resilience, and hope. It was on Freedom’s Eve — Dec. 31, 1862 — that enslaved and free Black people, in many instances under secrecy, gathered to await the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation the next day. Praying through the night for the promise of freedom, their faith carried them, even as they stood at the threshold of an uncertain but hopeful future.
Today, we continue this tradition, watching and praying as we cross into a new year. It is a time to thank God for sustaining us through trials and triumphs and to seek his guidance for the days ahead. W.E.B. Du Bois reminds us in The Souls of Black Folk of the power of faith with his timeless words: “Through all the sorrow of the Sorrow Songs there breathes a hope — a faith in the ultimate justice of things.” Like our ancestors, we carry that hope forward, trusting that our prayers and work will help shape a future of justice, love, and peace. — Rev. Moya Harris, Director of Racial Justice, Sojourners
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| | The Truth and Action Roundup is compiled by Sojourners staff:
President: Rev. Adam Russell Taylor
Director of Racial Justice: Rev. Moya Harris
Senior Research Associate: J.K. Granberg-Michaelson
Senior Adviser and Director to the President’s Office: Elizabeth Denlinger Reaves
Senior Director of Campaigns and Mobilizing: Sandy Ovalle Martínez
Director of Congregational Outreach & Education: Rev. Andrea Saccoccio
Digital Communications Associate: Lexi Schnaser
Senior Director of Marketing: Sandra Sims | | |
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