Since writing “More Than a Signature,” the story that prompted my concern has moved from allegation to federal charge. The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, a longtime ballot initiative signature collector, was charged with paying individuals, including homeless people living on Los Angeles’ Skid Row, to register to vote. According to the DOJ, she has agreed to plead guilty.
Exploitation can happen whenever vulnerable people are seen as useful before they are seen as human.
That was the concern in my first article, and it remains the concern now. The issue is not simply election law, voter registration, or one person’s alleged actions. The deeper issue is what happens when people living in poverty, homelessness, addiction, mental illness, or desperation become useful to someone else’s cause.
When that happens, their dignity is easily pushed aside. Their names, stories, struggles, and circumstances can become tools for political, financial, institutional, or public-relations gain.
Christians should be especially alert to this temptation. Every person is made in the image of God. That means a person’s worth does not depend on housing status, income, sobriety, usefulness, or ability to participate in civic life. Human dignity comes before human utility.
This case is a reminder that exploitation is not limited to one political party, one campaign, or one city. It is a broader moral danger. Vulnerable people can be used by campaigns, agencies, nonprofits, researchers, media, and even well-meaning institutions when outcomes become more important than people.
At Medford Gospel Mission, this is why we continue to emphasize relationships marked by truth, mercy, accountability, safety, and love. People experiencing poverty and homelessness are not problems to manage or opportunities to leverage. They are neighbors to love, image bearers to honor, and men and women whose dignity must never be overlooked.
At Medford Gospel Mission, this is why we continue to emphasize relationships marked by truth, mercy, accountability, safety, and love. People experiencing poverty and homelessness are not problems to manage or opportunities to leverage. They are neighbors we are called to love, image bearers to honor, and men and women whose dignity must never be overlooked.
Partner with us in God’s work of relational restoration.