Homeless advocate dies in tent
Rev. James Wilcox
These are difficult times in which we live. The daily announcements of layoffs, budget reductions and the overall uncertainty about the future, leaves all of us in a state of emotional exhaustion.
However, the news this week that 65-year-old Rev. James Wilcox died in a fire in his tent in a homeless encampment in Lakewood shocked us out of our stupor.
It’s not that we personally knew Rev. Wilcox or for that matter Foster Dunlap, the former Harvard Law professor who became homeless and died spending the night outside in Camden in subzero weather. Mr. Dunlap was the inspiration for Senator Dana Redd’s vote for the Homeless Trust Fund.
It’s not even that the tent encampment in Lakewood is one of several in New Jersey that we have seen.
The truth is that homelessness is growing rapidly throughout New Jersey. Some estimates indicate that it could grow by 75,000 or more in the next two years.
Thus, even though we did not know Rev. Wilcox or Mr. Dunlap, we knew them.
The homeless are our brothers and sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews, friends and neighbors.
The fire this time took the life of Rev. Wilcox, but it should ignite a burning desire in all of us to use our skills, knowledge, passion and commitment to end homelessness.
We know how to end homelessness. We need to use our leadership and resources to develop and implement a comprehensive system to prevent and end homelessness in all twenty-one counties.
Because you and I, we dream that one-day every citizen not only in New Jersey but also in every town and every city of this great country will have a place to call home.
Before more of our homeless neighbors die, we need to remind ourselves that this is the time for us to be bold enough to end homelessness in New Jersey.
In 1963 the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Strength to Love speech, may very well have been speaking to us about the challenges that lie ahead of us and why we must be bold and not timid.
“The ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk their position, their prestige and even their life for the welfare of others.”
Let us therefore be bold enough in this time of challenge and controversy to risk our position and prestige for the welfare of our friends and neighbors who are homeless.
Let us have the faith to take the first step, even when we don’t see the whole staircase.
You and I know we must never be satisfied until no one is homeless in New Jersey.
Let us, you and I, therefore be bold enough to end homelessness.
