The child of a pastor and a union worker, who grew up in a poor, rural area in Upstate NY, Aaron Scott found his calling when he became exposed to liberation theology while studying in El Salvador. Aaron decided to go to seminary to try to “figure out how to replicate that kind of theology in the U.S.” and ended up working in a poor, rural county in Washington state and co-founding Chaplains on the Harbor, an organization that pastors, organizes and empowers the leadership of poor people, particularly those who are homeless and incarcerated. Aaron serves on the National Steering Committee of the Poor People’s Campaign.
I grew up attending a very rural, poor church, this tiny place in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate NY. My family was working class. My mom left home at sixteen and when I was a kid she became really involved with her union, my grandma was a factory floor organizer (once interrogated by the feds on suspicion of communist activity), my grandpa was a veteran, and my dad was a pastor.