Call + Response opens October 10th. The trailer has been up on apple for a while, but I only recently was able to bring myself to watch it. I highly recommend doing so.
The trailer begins by informing us slavery is a bigger problem now than at any other time in history.
Big problems have a way of daunting us out of action (Acton Institute Action Blog, emphasis mine):
“The struggle for justice always stands or falls on the battlefield of hope.” This is but one of a passel of pithy expressions found throughout Gary Haugen’s new book, Just Courage. Haugen is the president of International Justice Mission, a Washington D.C.-based organization doing outstanding work throughout the world, freeing people bonded in illegal labor arrangements, including forced prostitution.
Haugen’s is a practical rather than a theoretical treatise. He admits that a commonly agreed-to definition of justice remains elusive, but he can point to the way God and God’s people act justly in the scriptures, and that gives us enough direction. The book is a sometimes moving account of and reflection on Haugen’s experiences assisting some of the most powerless people on our planet.
He argues stridently against Christian apathy, insisting that it is possible for us to achieve progress even against some of the most severe of the world’s problems. This is why hope is pivotal. Those who are merely dismayed in the face of evil will not make the effort to fight it.
Yet to have any hope of progress we must always be moving forward, never giving an inch.
If the thought of 27 million people living their lives out as slaves is an anger, know that rage as the invitation it is. Become an abolitionist. Begin weaving the issue of slavery into the national consciousness. We should at least be at a point where a question in the Presidential debates is “What is your specific plan to combat modern slavery?”.
Resources:
This post was written by Dan on October 8, 2008
If you’d like to share this with your readers on a related note … I posted this on my Facebook page tonight.
Congratulations! Yesterday we crossed the 5,000 abolitionists mark for Loose Change to Loosen Chains on Facebook. To celebrate, I’d like to give you a free song from fellow abolitionist Justin Dillon of the band Tremolo. Baby Blue was written by Justin to give voice to the children who are suffering in slavery. It has become one of my favorites!
If you’d like to receive the free song, email me by Friday, October 10 at midnight and I’ll send it to you. Email lc2lcmusic@gmail.com and put “Baby Blue” in the subject line.
Justin is the creative mind behind the new film Call+Response that opens this weekend. It’s a rockumentary about modern day slavery featuring some amazing musical friends including Jon Foreman, Imogen Heap, Matisyahu, Natasha Bedingfield among others. I attended a screening of the film last month and it is powerful. It’s rated PG13 and contains content that is very disturbing – but also very true. You can find out where the film is opening at http://www.callandresponse.com. I strongly encourage you to go and take friends.
I’m really grateful for all of you who have supported the movement of our generation to end slavery. I’m also really humbled by those of you who have taken the basic idea of LC2LC and made it so much more powerful in your own community. God loves justice, He loves the oppressed, and He loves you.
Peace. Love. Justice!
Zach Hunter
Founder, Loose Change to Loosen Chains