talking about people who don't have any power

I have about three dozen Facebook friends who shared video clips of Stephen Colbert appearing as an "expert witness" before a congressional hearing about undocumented migrant workers. (You can read the full story here.) I’m assuming that if you’re reading this you have at least a passing familiarity with Mr. Colbert’s appearance and the amusement, praise, offense, and general befuddlement it has caused. I watched a few video clips from his testimony and was mostly disappointed to find it to be less funny than I expected. Instead, it was generally just awkward.

But in the midst of all the awkward jokes met with strained pauses and stoney faces, Mr. Colbert made one statement that set goose bumps on my arms. Toward the end of his interview, a representative from Monterey Park, California asked Mr. Colbert why he chose to focus on the issue of migrant workers. The simple profundity of his response knocked the wind out of me:



“I like talking about people who don’t have any power.”





(I’m going to let that quote hang there by itself for a moment.)





Here’s his response in full (video here):

“I like talking about people who don’t have any power, and [it] seems like [some] of the least powerful people in the United States are migrant workers who come and do our work but don’t have any rights as a result, and yet we still invite them to come here and at the same time ask them to leave. ...That’s an interesting contradiction to me, and, you know, ‘Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers,’ and these seem like the least of our brothers - Right now, a lot of people are ‘least brothers’ right now because the economy’s so hard, and I don’t want to take anyone’s hardship away from them or diminish [it], anything like that - but migrant workers suffer and have no rights.”


Colbert mentioned a Scripture in passing in his response, specifically Matthew 25:40. Here’s the biblical reference in context, since these words are more meaningful than any pithy commentary I have to add:



“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’


Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
(Matthew 25:31-46 TNIV)

I have two thoughts in response to Mr. Colbert’s appearance before Congress, one more theological in nature, one more political.


My first thought has to do with the biblical context Mr. Colbert gave to his comments. Whether or not he intended to call to mind this Scripture or even knew the quote came from the Bible, I don’t know. But Christians and churches would do well to keep in mind what Jesus had to say about caring for “the least of these brothers and sisters of [his].”

It’s interesting to me that Jesus put no qualifiers on which of these needy people received aid. He didn’t say, “You fed the hungry people who were honest and worked hard.” He didn’t say, “You visited the people imprisoned unjustly.” He didn’t say, “You welcomed the stranger with whom you shared things in common.”


It seems here that being hungry, being thirsty, being a stranger, being naked, being sick, or being in prison - these qualities, in and of themselves with no qualification, merit redemption. Jesus identifies himself with people in these situations. Jesus not only had close relationships and meaningful interactions with the wrong kind of people - prostitutes, tax collectors, zealots, lepers, Samaritans, etc. - but he goes as far as to consider himself one of their kind.

This is why I love Mr. Colbert’s sentiment: “I like talking about people who don’t have any power.” Jesus did, too. The Church as institution ought to. Christians as individuals ought to.

This definitely includes migrant workers, both legal and illegal, a reality that hits on one of my passions. I believe there’s room for a diversity of opinions on what needs to be done about illegal immigration; pretty much the only thing on which there seems to be a shared consensus is that it is a problem and things need to change.

However, what disturbs me about the response many people have to illegal or undocumented workers is that it allows nothing for the humanity of the people involved. Either migrant workers are petty criminals who need to be shipped back to their homeland or they’re helpless creatures who can do nothing for themselves.


However we interact with migrant workers, we must respect their dignity as people made in the image of the Almighty God. This involves an inherent respect for their rights as human beings. We can argue over what that respect looks like, but I cannot compromise on that basic foundation for a conversation.

And as Mr. Colbert points out, this isn’t the only issue that needs this foundation. “There’s a lot of ‘least brothers’ right not” - it would be redundant for me to list off more flashpoint issues since you’ve probably already thought of whatever person or people or people group you passionately believe needs help. The important thing is that we start talking about people who don’t have any power, and then from that conversation we move on to action. As a Christian, I don’t do this out of some ill-defined commitment to “social justice,” but rather because I desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ. And Jesus spent a good chunk of his ministry talking about (and interacting with) people without any power.


My second thought has to do with avocados.

A couple of days after watching this video of Mr. Colbert, I was peeling and slicing up some avocados. My girlfriend is moving to a house with an avocado tree in the backyard and I was trying out a recipe that I might be able to use with this new source of fruit. As I peeled and pitted the avocados, my mind wandered to numerous farms I recently saw on a road trip to Northern California, my first time driving through the agricultural heart of the state. I thought of the many vineyards, farms and orchards I saw, all tended by workers who have to work long shifts in the summer sun, many of them migrants, both documented and undocumented (or legal and illegal, depending on your language). I then read the sticker on the avocado I was peeling: "GROWN IN CALIFORNIA."

I try to be aware of international trade issues and buy fair trade commerce whenever possible, especially in regards to food. With fruit and vegetables I always try to buy the American-grown option if it exists. I guess I’ve unconsciously assumed that if it’s made in the US, everything must be fine with it.

But I remembered Mr. Colbert’s report on the state of migrant workers, and then felt more eager to start using the avocados grown in my girlfriend’s backyard, where I know exactly where they came from and what was involved in growing and harvesting them. “In the meantime,” I thought, “I should do some research on the conditions of the workers who harvest this fruit and other fruits and vegetables I eat.”

I bring this up because there’s been a good amount of debate on the merit of Mr. Colbert’s testimony to Congress. I believe that’s a perfectly reasonable thing to discuss, and a good case can be made that bringing in a Comedy Central television star was little more than a publicity stunt by Democrats whose popularity sorely lags in the current political environment. (I read one conservative blogger who denounced the hearing as little more than “a side show Dems will regret,” and was surprised at how convincing I, a person with admittedly liberal leanings, found most of his argument.)

But the brilliance of Mr. Colbert’s testimony was not in the incredulous silence from the congressmen and women listening to him; it was in the broader audience that has been exposed to the working conditions migrant workers in the United States face as a result of his routine.

The real difference that Mr. Colbert’s appearance could make will have nothing to do with whatever decisions this congressional panel makes or doesn’t make; those who liked what he said (mostly Democrats) weren’t turned off by his celebrity and those who disagreed and/or were insulted by his presence (mostly Republicans) weren’t won over by his words. But if citizens and consumers like me use this as a springboard to become better educated about the issue and let what we learn influence how we buy, how we vote, and how much we get involved, then Mr. Colbert’s appearance was well worth it, awkward humor and all.



I'm only starting to graze the surface of this issue and I'm still not sure what I can do as an individual to make a difference. But whatever else has been achieved, I’m hearing more people talking about a group of people that doesn’t have any power. Americans would do well to talk about people who don’t have any power more often. The Church ought to initiate many of those conversations.