Fixing the Jericho Road: A Call for Moral Action in a Time of Hunger
Right now, as we speak, the federal government is shut down.
SNAP benefits are frozen.
Workers are not being paid.
Families are going hungry.
Across Lancaster County, people are stepping up — churches, nonprofits, and neighbors are organizing food drives and meal programs to make sure no one is left behind. That is good and righteous work. It is what Dr. King would have called the work of the Good Samaritan — stopping along the roadside to help the wounded and hungry when others pass them by.
But Dr. King also warned us that compassion alone is not enough.
In his 1967 sermon, “A Time to Break Silence,” he said:
“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar.
It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”
He told us that one day, we must go beyond helping those left on the side of the road — and start fixing the road to Jericho itself.
What Does It Mean to Fix the Road?
It means asking why people are hungry in the first place.
It means asking why our government can be weaponized to starve citizens through political games.
It means asking why in the richest country in the world, millions of families live one missed paycheck away from crisis.
And it means deciding — together — that we will not accept this as normal.
Imagine a world where poverty was abolished, not managed.
Imagine a Lancaster County where every child eats, every worker is paid fairly, and every family has stability.
Imagine a government that could never again use hunger as leverage, because the systems of cruelty were dismantled long before they could be weaponized.
That’s what it means to fix the Jericho Road.
Our Duty and Our Moment
At the Black Voter Outreach Network of Pennsylvania, we believe it is our duty not just to respond to suffering — but to end it at its roots.
We see this shutdown not only as a political failure, but as a moral test for our generation.
Yes, we should feed the hungry today.
Yes, we should stand with every volunteer, every pantry, every neighbor doing Good Samaritan work.
But we must also look at this moment and say, “Never again.”
Never again should partisanship mean starvation.
Never again should poverty be treated as policy.
Never again should a nation built on abundance choose cruelty over compassion.
The Jericho Road runs through Lancaster.
It runs through Pennsylvania.
It runs through every community in this country where people are struggling to live with dignity.
And if we are to honor the legacy of Dr. King — if we are to build a future worthy of our children — then our task is clear:
We must fix the Jericho Road.
A Moral Commitment
Let this shutdown be the last time anyone in this nation goes hungry because of political indifference.
Let this be the moment we stop patching potholes and start rebuilding the road.
Because we know — as King knew — that real compassion demands transformation.
And transformation begins when ordinary people decide that enough is enough.
The road can be rebuilt.
The systems can be reimagined.
The hunger can end.
And it starts here — in Lancaster County — with people like you.
Because we are not just walking the Jericho Road.
We are fixing it.
