Interconnectedness Topic of Legal Aid Luncheon
The theme of this year’s Friends of Legal Aid Luncheon fundraiser was interdependence.
Over the last 18 months, the pandemic has revealed countless ways in which we rely upon one another: for food, for shelter, for education, for transportation, for health care and for justice. And this interconnectedness is not a flaw in us, but a feature, according to keynote speaker, writer and activist Mia Birdsong.
“When we are struggling and we do not reach for relief or ask for help, we are withholding a gift,” Birdsong said in a prerecorded video that was part of Legal Aid of Nebraska’s virtual luncheon Sept. 30. “We are denying our humanity. We are rejecting the stake we have in each other’s well-being. We are repudiating our place in beloved community.”
Everyone requires help at some point, and it is our responsibility as a community to not only offer help to those in need, but to ask for help ourselves when we are struggling.
“So why do we have such a hard time saying yes to offers of support and an even harder time asking for help?” Birdsong said. “The American dream has conditioned us to believe that needing help and rest are immoral. We’ve been convinced that our humanity is conditional. The American dream is compelling in part because it makes us feel a sense of agency and control, but it also implies that needing help is weakness. And if you can’t make it on your own, you deserve whatever you get.”
Birdsong rejects this philosophy, instead proposing that we “tell a new story of what it means to be successful and happy.”
“A story that says that our deservedness is inherent to us,” Birdsong said. “It’s not something we have to earn and it’s not something we can un-earn. It says we are valuable and worthy just because we exist.”
Until the story changes, Legal Aid of Nebraska will continue to seek justice for people across the state.
There are four areas of law that Legal Aid of Nebraska prioritizes, said Hannah Sommers, board member and development committee chair. They are housing, children and families, debt and finance, and income and benefits.
“That means from eviction to domestic violence and family related issues to debt collection and public benefits, we’re here for our most vulnerable Nebraskans,” Sommers said.
Legal Aid of Nebraska receives an average of 1,200 requests for assistance each month, said Executive Director Milo Mumgaard.
“These requests are coming from every corner of the state, from individuals who took the brave step to reach out and ask for help,” Mumgaard said. “We are here to seek justice one case at a time for these thousands of vulnerable Nebraskans.”
When people contact Legal Aid of Nebraska, it is not because they are weak or lazy, unable to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. They are our neighbors, our community and they need our help.
Birdsong quoted the writer Eric Liu, who said, “We’re all better off when we’re all better off.”
For more information, visit legalaidofnebraska.org.
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