During the late 1970's when bands were bringing it. Bands like Brass Construction, The Gap band, Cameo, Earth, Wind & Fire, The JB's(more early to mid 70's but who cares), Graham Central Station, and George Clinton and the Parliament/Funkadelic express were rocking concerts all night long. I shall neva forget at the end of one of George Clinton's funk party Concert he led a chant that said, "Think, It Ain't Illegal Yet!" over and over we recited those words (Yea, I was in a Funk blurry back then). However, my friend Lance Peeler and I began to examine that slogan in a more significant context.
We as a nation have been hit with a strong dose of dumbing down. I thank my spiritual son Jon Wilson for his piece on the dumbing down going on in Hip Hop that inspired this piece. The average news paper is written on a 6th grade level, does that suggest something? Okay, what's up with this media blitz about incumbents having a hard time this election cycle? Think, it ain't true! only a few incumbents have suffered, most have fared well but the corporate controlled media keeps making this bogus point. Could it be trying to manufacture a movement? Check the record for yourself.
There is however an anti intellectual virus infecting this country. How do you explain a half term governor who quit her job (couldn't handle it?) who can see Russia from her Kitchen window, who either doesn't read, or reads literally everything printed everyday, who cannot tell you if Kandahar is a place or candy bar commanding so much attention? What gives? She uses so-called "folksy" comments that connect with a certain segment of this country, but she flies in a private jet, wears designer clothes and demands "ginormous" amounts of money to speak at events. "Think, It Ain't Illegal Yet!"
Or consider a Libertarian who is running for a Senate seat in Kentucky who is against holding BP accountable for the catastrophic devastation of lives, coastline and living of thousands of people for decades to come. Yet he would have voted against Civil rights legislation that people died for. He is riding a wave popularity because he sounds sensitive to a select section of this society who believe they need to take their government back. Think, it ain't illegal yet!
Consider Sharron Angle in Nevada who believes fluoride in water is a government plot, who signs on with the far right "oath keepers" and encourages her sector to buy more ammo, a serious deficiency in analysis has affected this country.
Finally when "Fix news" is so popular yet having little or no substance on any issue but influencing the Republican party and energizing a Tea Party movement there is a serious dilution of the standards spokespersons are expected to have for any understanding of the issues threatening this country. Think, it ain't illegal yet!" Okay, you ain't feeling the George Clinton reference, how about Jesus? Jesus said in Matthew 22:37 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your MIND!" I hope and pray that we as a nation will raise the standards of those who are expected to make decisions on our behalf.
When the right wing corporate controlled cronies attack health care reform, "think, it ain't illegal yet." When Sharron Angles,and others on the right attack tighter and stricter regulations on corporations like BP, "think, it ain't illegal yet!" When the President hesitates to be critical of Israel attacking flotillas carrying humanitarian aide, "think, it ain't illegal yet!" When our law enforcement can find and capture a failed terrorist without a snitch, or picture in 53 hours but cannot apprehend the killer of a black child being gunned down in the inner city, "think, it ain't illegal yet!" When a black man who nobody knows, who did not campaign, had no rallies yet wins in South Carolina and the republicans claims they did not plant him, "think, it ain't illegal yet!" When you are facing financial devastation yet corporate execs and the so-called "upper class" are sharing million dollar bonus' and the lavish life, "think, it ain't illegal yet!" The economy is bad for you and me, but for others spending $80 million to win an election in California the economy is booming for them. We must wake up, and Love the Lord with all our minds so that we can "think, it ain't illegal yet!"
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
When You are at the Breaking Point
Somebody right now is at the breaking point. The economy is anemic and your employment is in danger. You are at the breaking point. What will you do? How will you pay your bills? You are over 45, so who will hire you at this age, in this economy? You are at the Breaking point.
Somebody reading this is at the breaking point. Disease has disturbed your life and/or disease has disrupted a family members life and now you have to care for them. The medical bills are piling up, your energy is fastly evaporating and you are feeling alone in all this, you are at the breaking point. Somebody else is overwhelmed with the mis-direction of this country and the Mis-education coming from the corporate controlled media. Two unwinnable wars, a hateful and mean extreme right wing boldly dismissing, disparaging and disrespecting the Democratically elected president because he is a black man. You are at the Breaking point. To make matters worse this President that you put so much hope in for meaningful change has moved at snails pace to bring about that change. He has uselessly tried to appease folks who will never like him or vote for him; he has bailed out wall street and they took your tax money to give million dollar bonuses to cronies. What are you doing, Mr. President? Why is it that your campaign pledges are piled up in some corner in the White House while you dance the two step with the people who put you in office? You are at the breaking point. What kind of world will your children inherit? Young roving and marauding gangs of no particular origin are murdering innocent young people for the thrill of it; Law enforcement can catch a would be bomber in New York in 53 hours with no picture, no name and nobody snitching but the DOA bodies of hundreds of young Black & Brown boys and girls all across the major cities of this country go unsolved. What kind of life will your babies be forced to live in? An Oil spill in the gulf has already destroyed the way of life for hard working fishermen and threatens the ecology of this hemisphere because a materialistic corporation decided that the lives of the men working on the rig, and the lives of the people in the gulf were not as important as their profit margin. You don't want to watch the news, you are tired of mindless gossip from midget minded folks and you are sick of having more month than money, you are at the breaking point.
There is some Pastor out there who has tried to do their best, tried to be faithful to the calling of our Lord, tried to empower God's people through diligent exegesis of the Biblical text but who is beginning to feel that there hard work is going unappreciated. The people of God would rather hear about their break through than Jesus building up a beleaguered life; they would rather gravitate to a prosperity gospel of "G" string spirituality by throwing money on the pulpit to get it back three fold; they would rather be stimulated by the "Crack pipe" preaching of somebody who cannot spell seminary less known than have attended one and you brother/Sistah preacher are at the breaking point.
Somebody tired of wearing the mask of make believe mouthing meaningless churchy lingo "Too Bless to be stressed." You are stressed; you are sick; You don't sleep at night wondering what will happen next? You are sick and tired of watching those who don't care about who they hurt, who don't care who they walk over, who don't care who they discourage continue to operate without impunity. You are tired of having "No Good Deed go unpunished," You are tired of doing the right thing but owing the IRS while others doing the wrong thing flaunt their fake lives in your face. Why is God playing favorites? Why is God silent? Why is God letting the tyranny of wickedness run amok? You are at the breaking point!
Well Psalm 73 shows us David, The Shepard King was also at the breaking point in his life. David says "His foot had almost slipped, he had nearly lost his foothold because he had become envious of the arrogant and prosperity of the wicked..."(vv 1-3) Now before you put your foot in the stirrup to mount the judgement saddle, you too at some time was envious of some arrogant folks. We all have fallen short.. We all have wondered why them and not me? We all have been tempted. David saw folks who did not seem to have it hard, they seemed healthy vibrant, no worries, no burdens, carefree and enjoy the adulation of thousands..." (vv 4-10)Next time you dream, fantasize or visualize your life in the place of some wealthy, extremely popular bad boy actor or actress; next time you give excuse for somebody who commands the limelight but cowers away from the cause of conscious against a corrupt industry in order to stay a hot commodity you are where David is in the text.
David felt like he had kept his heart pure in vain; he felt his altruistic honesty was a waste; He looked at his life and frowned because he had constant pain, constant misery, constant Unmerited suffering. In fact David felt he was being punished every morning for striving to Be good (vv12-16).
Beloved when you are at the Breaking point all is not lost and it ain't destined or determined that it is all over. David gives us some direction when we feel the weight of the world weighing us down.
David fist of all shows us it is at that moment that we need to go to church! In Verse 17 he says, I could not understand what was happening to me "Until I entered the sanctuary of God..." Yes you can and must worship by yourself but you also need to feel the eternal ambiance of the Almighty in His sanctuary. Going to the House of the Lord will uplift your mental Attitude while giving Ascension to your Spiritual Altitude or (as the late Dr. Frederick G. Sampson used to say) "Heightens your vision and extends your horizons." David saw in the sanctuary of God that the wicked he had been envying had an expiration date on their arrogance. In other words no matter how well they seemed, no matter how good it looked for them, no matter how prosperous they seemed "All that glitters was not gold," and "Trouble don't last always." God showed David that his Destiny had unbroken continuity in his creator. His horizon perspective was extended to see beyond the external, temporary and material. David was able to see the "big picture." When we are at the breaking point the lens of our perspective tends to narrow on us, but if we can get to the Sanctuary of God, God will Uplift your mental Attitude while Adding Ascension to your spiritual Altitude.
God will also help us see that We (like David) are not Alone - Verse 23 "Yet I am always with you..." When you are at the breaking point get to the sanctuary of God and let God show you that he is with you, that he Holds you with his right (Mighty-Powerful) hand, let God show you that you ain't dead because his counsel has directed you even when you did not know God was leading you (vv23-24)You are not alone beloved, God has not forsaken you and God is still keeping you. You are still here; despite the evil deeds of the devil and his imps, you are still here; despite bad news all around, you are still here therefore you are Good news. My late daddy used to say "Where there's life there is Hope..." there is life in his Sanctuary; there is life in his holy temple; there is life in every prayer and there is life in you. That Breath you just took is God (His Ruach/Pneuma)therefore you have hope. "For Hope that is seen is no Hope at all, but if we Hope for that which we do not see, we wait for it patiently." That's why David could say "Wait on the Lord, for he will strengthen thine heart, Wait I say on the Lord."
Not only are you not alone but you have a divine Advocate and Almighty Assistance that is Always Available. Verse 25-26 "whom have I in Heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. ...God is the strength of my Heart and my Portion forever." Everything earth bound is going to decay, lose its value or lose its importance to you at some time but God is good all the time. God is fresh every day, "Morning by Morning New Mercies I see...Great is Thy Faithfulness..." God is our holy Advocate in Heaven and our Almighty Assistance on earth. There is nothing or no one more exciting, energizing, hope facilitating or joy generating than God. And God Beloved never fails-People will fail, governments will fail, Corporations will fail, friends will fail you, family will fail you, church people will fail you But God will never fail you. He is your Portion forever! That is why David could Declare "The Lord is my light and my salvation Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid?...One thing I ask of the Lord and this is what I seek, that i may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple for in the day of trouble he shall hide me..."
Finally when David went into the Sanctuary of God he realized that there are others struggling like he had; Others who are ready to give up like he was; others at the Breaking point as he was and therefore he must Acknowledge and Announce God's Mighty Acts Goodness to all he encountered. Verse 28 "As for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the sovereign Lord my refuge, I will tell of all your deeds."
When you go into the Sanctuary of God, God will Uplift your mental Attitude While adding Ascension to your spiritual Altitude (Heighten your Visions & Extend your Horizons); God will also show you, that you are not Alone; God will demonstrate that God is your Divine Advocate in Heaven and your Almighty Assistance that is always Available. God ultimately depends on you to Acknowledge and Announce God's Mighty Acts to All you encounter. Don't keep it to yourself; Don't try to hold Good news for you and you only; Don't let selfishness strangle your Spiritual strength, tell somebody! Somebody needs to know the Goodness of the Lord, in the Land of the Living; Somebody needs to hear from somebody who WAS at the Breaking point but now is Back on track because of the Balm in Gilead; Somebody needs to see and hear about how far God has brought you. If you love to be near God like David, If you have made the Sovereign your refuge like David, If God's Spirit put Steel in back while in the Sanctuary then "Let the Redeemed of The Lord say so..." "when you've been Blessed...Pass it on..." I don't know about you but, I just got helped by this Passage and the Hope in God's House. So excuse me, but "I just wanna say that He is near me always..." Can I tell you, that "They whispered, conspired, they told me lies (But God favored me). Get to the sanctuary like David and worship the Lord! Don't look at what other people are doing look to the Lord. don't try listen to what people maybe saying listen to the songs of Zion being sung and worship him. Don't focus on them but worship Him! God wants to me somebody at the breaking point in his Sanctuary to serenade you with his Spirit; to Saturate you in his presence; to strengthen you in your struggle!
Somebody reading this is at the breaking point. Disease has disturbed your life and/or disease has disrupted a family members life and now you have to care for them. The medical bills are piling up, your energy is fastly evaporating and you are feeling alone in all this, you are at the breaking point. Somebody else is overwhelmed with the mis-direction of this country and the Mis-education coming from the corporate controlled media. Two unwinnable wars, a hateful and mean extreme right wing boldly dismissing, disparaging and disrespecting the Democratically elected president because he is a black man. You are at the Breaking point. To make matters worse this President that you put so much hope in for meaningful change has moved at snails pace to bring about that change. He has uselessly tried to appease folks who will never like him or vote for him; he has bailed out wall street and they took your tax money to give million dollar bonuses to cronies. What are you doing, Mr. President? Why is it that your campaign pledges are piled up in some corner in the White House while you dance the two step with the people who put you in office? You are at the breaking point. What kind of world will your children inherit? Young roving and marauding gangs of no particular origin are murdering innocent young people for the thrill of it; Law enforcement can catch a would be bomber in New York in 53 hours with no picture, no name and nobody snitching but the DOA bodies of hundreds of young Black & Brown boys and girls all across the major cities of this country go unsolved. What kind of life will your babies be forced to live in? An Oil spill in the gulf has already destroyed the way of life for hard working fishermen and threatens the ecology of this hemisphere because a materialistic corporation decided that the lives of the men working on the rig, and the lives of the people in the gulf were not as important as their profit margin. You don't want to watch the news, you are tired of mindless gossip from midget minded folks and you are sick of having more month than money, you are at the breaking point.
There is some Pastor out there who has tried to do their best, tried to be faithful to the calling of our Lord, tried to empower God's people through diligent exegesis of the Biblical text but who is beginning to feel that there hard work is going unappreciated. The people of God would rather hear about their break through than Jesus building up a beleaguered life; they would rather gravitate to a prosperity gospel of "G" string spirituality by throwing money on the pulpit to get it back three fold; they would rather be stimulated by the "Crack pipe" preaching of somebody who cannot spell seminary less known than have attended one and you brother/Sistah preacher are at the breaking point.
Somebody tired of wearing the mask of make believe mouthing meaningless churchy lingo "Too Bless to be stressed." You are stressed; you are sick; You don't sleep at night wondering what will happen next? You are sick and tired of watching those who don't care about who they hurt, who don't care who they walk over, who don't care who they discourage continue to operate without impunity. You are tired of having "No Good Deed go unpunished," You are tired of doing the right thing but owing the IRS while others doing the wrong thing flaunt their fake lives in your face. Why is God playing favorites? Why is God silent? Why is God letting the tyranny of wickedness run amok? You are at the breaking point!
Well Psalm 73 shows us David, The Shepard King was also at the breaking point in his life. David says "His foot had almost slipped, he had nearly lost his foothold because he had become envious of the arrogant and prosperity of the wicked..."(vv 1-3) Now before you put your foot in the stirrup to mount the judgement saddle, you too at some time was envious of some arrogant folks. We all have fallen short.. We all have wondered why them and not me? We all have been tempted. David saw folks who did not seem to have it hard, they seemed healthy vibrant, no worries, no burdens, carefree and enjoy the adulation of thousands..." (vv 4-10)Next time you dream, fantasize or visualize your life in the place of some wealthy, extremely popular bad boy actor or actress; next time you give excuse for somebody who commands the limelight but cowers away from the cause of conscious against a corrupt industry in order to stay a hot commodity you are where David is in the text.
David felt like he had kept his heart pure in vain; he felt his altruistic honesty was a waste; He looked at his life and frowned because he had constant pain, constant misery, constant Unmerited suffering. In fact David felt he was being punished every morning for striving to Be good (vv12-16).
Beloved when you are at the Breaking point all is not lost and it ain't destined or determined that it is all over. David gives us some direction when we feel the weight of the world weighing us down.
David fist of all shows us it is at that moment that we need to go to church! In Verse 17 he says, I could not understand what was happening to me "Until I entered the sanctuary of God..." Yes you can and must worship by yourself but you also need to feel the eternal ambiance of the Almighty in His sanctuary. Going to the House of the Lord will uplift your mental Attitude while giving Ascension to your Spiritual Altitude or (as the late Dr. Frederick G. Sampson used to say) "Heightens your vision and extends your horizons." David saw in the sanctuary of God that the wicked he had been envying had an expiration date on their arrogance. In other words no matter how well they seemed, no matter how good it looked for them, no matter how prosperous they seemed "All that glitters was not gold," and "Trouble don't last always." God showed David that his Destiny had unbroken continuity in his creator. His horizon perspective was extended to see beyond the external, temporary and material. David was able to see the "big picture." When we are at the breaking point the lens of our perspective tends to narrow on us, but if we can get to the Sanctuary of God, God will Uplift your mental Attitude while Adding Ascension to your spiritual Altitude.
God will also help us see that We (like David) are not Alone - Verse 23 "Yet I am always with you..." When you are at the breaking point get to the sanctuary of God and let God show you that he is with you, that he Holds you with his right (Mighty-Powerful) hand, let God show you that you ain't dead because his counsel has directed you even when you did not know God was leading you (vv23-24)You are not alone beloved, God has not forsaken you and God is still keeping you. You are still here; despite the evil deeds of the devil and his imps, you are still here; despite bad news all around, you are still here therefore you are Good news. My late daddy used to say "Where there's life there is Hope..." there is life in his Sanctuary; there is life in his holy temple; there is life in every prayer and there is life in you. That Breath you just took is God (His Ruach/Pneuma)therefore you have hope. "For Hope that is seen is no Hope at all, but if we Hope for that which we do not see, we wait for it patiently." That's why David could say "Wait on the Lord, for he will strengthen thine heart, Wait I say on the Lord."
Not only are you not alone but you have a divine Advocate and Almighty Assistance that is Always Available. Verse 25-26 "whom have I in Heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. ...God is the strength of my Heart and my Portion forever." Everything earth bound is going to decay, lose its value or lose its importance to you at some time but God is good all the time. God is fresh every day, "Morning by Morning New Mercies I see...Great is Thy Faithfulness..." God is our holy Advocate in Heaven and our Almighty Assistance on earth. There is nothing or no one more exciting, energizing, hope facilitating or joy generating than God. And God Beloved never fails-People will fail, governments will fail, Corporations will fail, friends will fail you, family will fail you, church people will fail you But God will never fail you. He is your Portion forever! That is why David could Declare "The Lord is my light and my salvation Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid?...One thing I ask of the Lord and this is what I seek, that i may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple for in the day of trouble he shall hide me..."
Finally when David went into the Sanctuary of God he realized that there are others struggling like he had; Others who are ready to give up like he was; others at the Breaking point as he was and therefore he must Acknowledge and Announce God's Mighty Acts Goodness to all he encountered. Verse 28 "As for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the sovereign Lord my refuge, I will tell of all your deeds."
When you go into the Sanctuary of God, God will Uplift your mental Attitude While adding Ascension to your spiritual Altitude (Heighten your Visions & Extend your Horizons); God will also show you, that you are not Alone; God will demonstrate that God is your Divine Advocate in Heaven and your Almighty Assistance that is always Available. God ultimately depends on you to Acknowledge and Announce God's Mighty Acts to All you encounter. Don't keep it to yourself; Don't try to hold Good news for you and you only; Don't let selfishness strangle your Spiritual strength, tell somebody! Somebody needs to know the Goodness of the Lord, in the Land of the Living; Somebody needs to hear from somebody who WAS at the Breaking point but now is Back on track because of the Balm in Gilead; Somebody needs to see and hear about how far God has brought you. If you love to be near God like David, If you have made the Sovereign your refuge like David, If God's Spirit put Steel in back while in the Sanctuary then "Let the Redeemed of The Lord say so..." "when you've been Blessed...Pass it on..." I don't know about you but, I just got helped by this Passage and the Hope in God's House. So excuse me, but "I just wanna say that He is near me always..." Can I tell you, that "They whispered, conspired, they told me lies (But God favored me). Get to the sanctuary like David and worship the Lord! Don't look at what other people are doing look to the Lord. don't try listen to what people maybe saying listen to the songs of Zion being sung and worship him. Don't focus on them but worship Him! God wants to me somebody at the breaking point in his Sanctuary to serenade you with his Spirit; to Saturate you in his presence; to strengthen you in your struggle!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Enough is Enough!
Isaiah 58:1 says "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins."
The prophet is instructed by Yahweh to scream to the people, those especially in power who practice absurd hypocrisy. They proclaim a national religious faith but practice oppression. They have good worship, fast, bend their knees and bow their heads to pray yet they do nothing for the hungry, hurting and harassed. Their religious practices offend God because the policies of the administration pulverize the poor and God seems to be saying "Enough is Enough!!!"
We have witnessed the absurd arrogance afflicting the affluent in Arizona this past couple weeks. First 1070 is passed which in its vagueness leaves vulnerable the voiceless to Racial Profiling. In the guise of guarding against so-called "Illegal Immigrants" the governor of the State sacrificed sensible sound judgement by stigmatizing a segment of the American society. Then to add insult to injury she offers another piece of legislation that bans "Cultural Studies" in the public schools. The bold bigotry of these bills is beyond belief. While they are aiming at the Hispanic community in particular the spray from this shotgun of hate shatters all our lives. When people are disallowed the right to study their culture it is a crime against the humanity of that people. No Latino/Latina studies, no African and African American studies, no Jewish Studies, no Japanese studies, no Chinese studies, no polish studies and no Native American studies and the country was stolen from them.
What further complicates this context is that polls are being produced that say a so-called majority of Americans support this Racist legislation. I want to suggest that there is a tidal wave of Hegemony washing away the moral fiber of this nation. This wave is being surfed by media hate mongers like Rush Limbaugh (the real leader of the Republican party), Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coultre, and Sarah Palin. This blaze of Bigotry is being fanned by a right wing republican mindset of "Do any and everything" to stop the first democratically elected President of the U.S. by any means necessary. These obstructionist have spewed dis-respect unknown to any other American President. They have supported by their silence a "Tea party" and its distorted images of hate stoking the embers of evil with code words of armed violence, i.e, "Reload" Beloved a Fever of Fear is affecting this nation. People have been soaked in the the salty waters of worry by scare mongers. As Colin Powell stated we face a "Terror Industrial Complex." The fear that has been irresponsibly fomented is further dividing people while the fear mongers are making money. The military contractors have made billions while innocents on both sides of the ocean have died. Fear has put a nation on edge raising anxiety levels of all Americans. Fear of economic disaster; fear of losing homes; fear of losing businesses; fear of folks who are different. Fear beloved has become big business! That is why 1070 and the actions of Arizona's Governor is so afflicting. It feeds and fuels more Fear!
If the Corporate Controlled media will not do honest reporting and call it what it is "White Supremacist," Jingoistic, Hegemonic hate then we must. Black media must call it what it is and not let so-called liberal whites make them feel ashamed. Black media must "name the demon, to tame the demon." Black media cannot let scared, assimilationist African Americans hush them up. Too much is at stake!
Black organizations must keep the pressure on this polluted vile political climate. It is time for those historic organizations who fought so valiantly in the past to bring suits, sit ins and resources to counter the Racist Rhetoric ruining lives.
It is especially time for Black people of faith (all Faith traditions) to "Cry Loud and Spare not." No Church, Mosque, Synagogue, Temple or place of worship should be silent. "Enough is Enough!" Arizona's draconian legislation is catching on in other states just like the loony lawsuits states have entered in against "Health care Reform." Did any of you ever think you would live to see a day when American politicians would seek not only to stop Health Care but now campaign on repealing it? Absurd!!! Health care for the least of these? Did not Jesus say "I was hungry and you fed me, Naked and you clothed me, thirsty and you gave me drink, sick and you visited me?" Did not Jesus say "As you have done it to the least of these you have done it to me?" How then can a country whose National Narrative says that we are a Christian nation act so callously contrary to the calling of that Christ? Absurd! Enough is Enough! Those who pray and profess a faith but are passive in this political predatory climate commit the same sham that Isaiah spoke against in the 8th century. Let facebook, Myspace, blogs and websites wail, scream, holler, Cry Loud Enough is Enough! Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. has a closing word here, "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends!"
Peace
The prophet is instructed by Yahweh to scream to the people, those especially in power who practice absurd hypocrisy. They proclaim a national religious faith but practice oppression. They have good worship, fast, bend their knees and bow their heads to pray yet they do nothing for the hungry, hurting and harassed. Their religious practices offend God because the policies of the administration pulverize the poor and God seems to be saying "Enough is Enough!!!"
We have witnessed the absurd arrogance afflicting the affluent in Arizona this past couple weeks. First 1070 is passed which in its vagueness leaves vulnerable the voiceless to Racial Profiling. In the guise of guarding against so-called "Illegal Immigrants" the governor of the State sacrificed sensible sound judgement by stigmatizing a segment of the American society. Then to add insult to injury she offers another piece of legislation that bans "Cultural Studies" in the public schools. The bold bigotry of these bills is beyond belief. While they are aiming at the Hispanic community in particular the spray from this shotgun of hate shatters all our lives. When people are disallowed the right to study their culture it is a crime against the humanity of that people. No Latino/Latina studies, no African and African American studies, no Jewish Studies, no Japanese studies, no Chinese studies, no polish studies and no Native American studies and the country was stolen from them.
What further complicates this context is that polls are being produced that say a so-called majority of Americans support this Racist legislation. I want to suggest that there is a tidal wave of Hegemony washing away the moral fiber of this nation. This wave is being surfed by media hate mongers like Rush Limbaugh (the real leader of the Republican party), Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coultre, and Sarah Palin. This blaze of Bigotry is being fanned by a right wing republican mindset of "Do any and everything" to stop the first democratically elected President of the U.S. by any means necessary. These obstructionist have spewed dis-respect unknown to any other American President. They have supported by their silence a "Tea party" and its distorted images of hate stoking the embers of evil with code words of armed violence, i.e, "Reload" Beloved a Fever of Fear is affecting this nation. People have been soaked in the the salty waters of worry by scare mongers. As Colin Powell stated we face a "Terror Industrial Complex." The fear that has been irresponsibly fomented is further dividing people while the fear mongers are making money. The military contractors have made billions while innocents on both sides of the ocean have died. Fear has put a nation on edge raising anxiety levels of all Americans. Fear of economic disaster; fear of losing homes; fear of losing businesses; fear of folks who are different. Fear beloved has become big business! That is why 1070 and the actions of Arizona's Governor is so afflicting. It feeds and fuels more Fear!
If the Corporate Controlled media will not do honest reporting and call it what it is "White Supremacist," Jingoistic, Hegemonic hate then we must. Black media must call it what it is and not let so-called liberal whites make them feel ashamed. Black media must "name the demon, to tame the demon." Black media cannot let scared, assimilationist African Americans hush them up. Too much is at stake!
Black organizations must keep the pressure on this polluted vile political climate. It is time for those historic organizations who fought so valiantly in the past to bring suits, sit ins and resources to counter the Racist Rhetoric ruining lives.
It is especially time for Black people of faith (all Faith traditions) to "Cry Loud and Spare not." No Church, Mosque, Synagogue, Temple or place of worship should be silent. "Enough is Enough!" Arizona's draconian legislation is catching on in other states just like the loony lawsuits states have entered in against "Health care Reform." Did any of you ever think you would live to see a day when American politicians would seek not only to stop Health Care but now campaign on repealing it? Absurd!!! Health care for the least of these? Did not Jesus say "I was hungry and you fed me, Naked and you clothed me, thirsty and you gave me drink, sick and you visited me?" Did not Jesus say "As you have done it to the least of these you have done it to me?" How then can a country whose National Narrative says that we are a Christian nation act so callously contrary to the calling of that Christ? Absurd! Enough is Enough! Those who pray and profess a faith but are passive in this political predatory climate commit the same sham that Isaiah spoke against in the 8th century. Let facebook, Myspace, blogs and websites wail, scream, holler, Cry Loud Enough is Enough! Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. has a closing word here, "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends!"
Peace
Friday, April 16, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Sistah's Gotta Work it out
Philippians 4:2-3(The Message) "I urge Euodia and Syntche to iron out their differences and make up. God doesn't want his children holding grudges. And, oh, yes, Syzygus, since you're right here to help them work things out, do your best with them. These women worked for the message hand in hand with Clement and me, and with the other veterans - worked as hard as any of us. Remember, their names are also in the book of life."
The Sistah's that Paul refers to in this letter to the church that worshipped in Philippi had a falling out. They were at odds with each other which resulted in broken fellowship. There is nothing more sad than when two followers of that man from Galilee get on each others nerves. It is a sour situation when the faithful end up fighting one another. Euodia and Syntche were estranged in the company of Kindred hearts.
Yet please note that the African Apostle Paul did not Illuminate the Issue that caused the enmity. Why, my best theological supposition is that it didn't matter what the issue was. That is extremely helpful to us in the 21st century. Whatever the issues we have with one another are not important in the plan of God. In other words whatever your particular personality difference is with your co-laborer in the congregation of Jesus Christ is not a concern of the Kingdom, it is a concern of yours. Which begs the question whose concerns are most essential for the deliverance of God's people, yours or God's? Who would dare think that God is going to suspend his salvation work because you are "stuck like Chuck" over what someone said or didn't say to you? Do you think God is going to put his Hope in a holding pattern for those living in the hell of no Health Insurance, no living wage and their jobs shipped overseas for sweatshops because you have a disagreement about the color of Choir robes, whose name got called or space in the church?
Paul did not illustrate the issue because whatever the personality issue was it was not important to the Eternal. It was not about who was right or wrong about an issue that had nothing to do with giving hope to the hopeless,help to the helpless and love to the unloved of the community and world!
Secondly Paul did not take sides but exhorted both Sistahs to invest in Repairing the relationship. Paul told them to iron out their differences and make up. Paul did not lean one way or the other because neither had any Jesus ground to stand on. Beloved we are expected to make peace with each another when we get perturbed with one another. Jesus said in Matthew 5 "that when you offer your gift at the altar and remember the your brother (or sister) who has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother (or sister); then come and offer your gift." Your worship is not worthy until you make the attempt to reconcile with the person who is upset with you. It is not up to you that they receive the honest, heartfelt desire to be in community but it is up to you to sincerely offer it. Paul said in II Corinthians 5 that "we all have the ministry of Reconciliation..." If you believe that you are right on a personality issue with another believer then "Let your mind be the same as Christ Jesus who HUMBLED himself and became obedient unto death..." Our standard is not each other but Jesus! Whatever your issue be like Christ and limit your want, desire or need to be right for the ministry of Jesus Christ and not the other person Per Se.
Finally Paul told Syzygus to help the Sistahs work it out. Which says the the community has an equal responsibility to help repair the breach in relationship. Those of you who have direct or indirect knowledge of God's people at odds with one another Must intercede on behalf of the Eternal and not either side. You may be friends, you maybe "Cut Buddies" you may be "Ace Boon Coons" but that should not taint you bringing the two together. Your loyalty in Jesus is not family, friends, Cliques, or like minded members, it is to none other than Jesus and Jesus only! Why because these Sistahs had each served at the side of Paul unselfishly. They had both sacrificed for the ministry of our Lord and Master magnanimously, and their names are also written in the Lambs Book of Life. Their lives, their labors, their legacies were too important to leave in this state. The Late Justice R. Eugene Pincham used to tell my pastor Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., that "Jesus did not come to earth to make heaven better." Jesus has called on us to make this planet better and we do that by starting with the brother or Sistah we see every day who have separated over simple issues. Beloved, Be The Sermon you Seek to See, So that when you See yourself in the mirror you can Identify with that Sermon! The best sermons bring God's people together on "One Accord" like in the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles chapters 2-4! If you claim to be a Child of the King then start by bringing the beloved back together in your Branch of Zion!
The Sistah's that Paul refers to in this letter to the church that worshipped in Philippi had a falling out. They were at odds with each other which resulted in broken fellowship. There is nothing more sad than when two followers of that man from Galilee get on each others nerves. It is a sour situation when the faithful end up fighting one another. Euodia and Syntche were estranged in the company of Kindred hearts.
Yet please note that the African Apostle Paul did not Illuminate the Issue that caused the enmity. Why, my best theological supposition is that it didn't matter what the issue was. That is extremely helpful to us in the 21st century. Whatever the issues we have with one another are not important in the plan of God. In other words whatever your particular personality difference is with your co-laborer in the congregation of Jesus Christ is not a concern of the Kingdom, it is a concern of yours. Which begs the question whose concerns are most essential for the deliverance of God's people, yours or God's? Who would dare think that God is going to suspend his salvation work because you are "stuck like Chuck" over what someone said or didn't say to you? Do you think God is going to put his Hope in a holding pattern for those living in the hell of no Health Insurance, no living wage and their jobs shipped overseas for sweatshops because you have a disagreement about the color of Choir robes, whose name got called or space in the church?
Paul did not illustrate the issue because whatever the personality issue was it was not important to the Eternal. It was not about who was right or wrong about an issue that had nothing to do with giving hope to the hopeless,help to the helpless and love to the unloved of the community and world!
Secondly Paul did not take sides but exhorted both Sistahs to invest in Repairing the relationship. Paul told them to iron out their differences and make up. Paul did not lean one way or the other because neither had any Jesus ground to stand on. Beloved we are expected to make peace with each another when we get perturbed with one another. Jesus said in Matthew 5 "that when you offer your gift at the altar and remember the your brother (or sister) who has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother (or sister); then come and offer your gift." Your worship is not worthy until you make the attempt to reconcile with the person who is upset with you. It is not up to you that they receive the honest, heartfelt desire to be in community but it is up to you to sincerely offer it. Paul said in II Corinthians 5 that "we all have the ministry of Reconciliation..." If you believe that you are right on a personality issue with another believer then "Let your mind be the same as Christ Jesus who HUMBLED himself and became obedient unto death..." Our standard is not each other but Jesus! Whatever your issue be like Christ and limit your want, desire or need to be right for the ministry of Jesus Christ and not the other person Per Se.
Finally Paul told Syzygus to help the Sistahs work it out. Which says the the community has an equal responsibility to help repair the breach in relationship. Those of you who have direct or indirect knowledge of God's people at odds with one another Must intercede on behalf of the Eternal and not either side. You may be friends, you maybe "Cut Buddies" you may be "Ace Boon Coons" but that should not taint you bringing the two together. Your loyalty in Jesus is not family, friends, Cliques, or like minded members, it is to none other than Jesus and Jesus only! Why because these Sistahs had each served at the side of Paul unselfishly. They had both sacrificed for the ministry of our Lord and Master magnanimously, and their names are also written in the Lambs Book of Life. Their lives, their labors, their legacies were too important to leave in this state. The Late Justice R. Eugene Pincham used to tell my pastor Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., that "Jesus did not come to earth to make heaven better." Jesus has called on us to make this planet better and we do that by starting with the brother or Sistah we see every day who have separated over simple issues. Beloved, Be The Sermon you Seek to See, So that when you See yourself in the mirror you can Identify with that Sermon! The best sermons bring God's people together on "One Accord" like in the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles chapters 2-4! If you claim to be a Child of the King then start by bringing the beloved back together in your Branch of Zion!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Guest Blogger my friend Lance Peeler
It is Valentines weekend. To most men this is a Hallmark holiday but regardless of what she says, brothers this is a major day for her and will introduce benchmarks for your relationship. I usually try to keep it simple and reach for the small things that bring the biggest smile …. To her heart…
I just read an amazing article written by Jill Scott for Essence magazine entitled “A Real Man”. She wrote about things that most women will not be able to grasp unless men begin to reveal them. Problem is men are not wired to “reveal” anything but our masculinity. She wrote. “Men get afraid. Some cry. Most are far more sensitive than we can imagine.” Without further elaboration this statement for most men will just slide down the locker room shower drain along with anything else that moves men away from their image of warriors in the “300” army holding the line for all our ancestral fathers that guarded the mailbox like “mister” in “The Color Purple”. It is extremely hard to fight hard wired circuitry. This is for those who desire to know or understand. If it matters not, stop now…. I might be wasting your time but let me at least try.
Whether she is your wife, your girl friend, your baby momma, your boo, or your friend with benefits, she will only see what you show her or what her “hormonal” detective skills discover. The latter usually reveals the most misunderstood, fragmented, and indistinguishable “facts” available. Your relationship is really just a series of situations strung together over time due to a need to be familiar with somebody who “may” not hurt you. Cut the thread of time or introduce a new you (or an unseen you) and the situations become not so good memories. You have heard the saying we were good together but not good for each other.
Most women think that a man’s power and fortitude is driven by his inner strength and pride. A man’s power is driven, yet stabilized by his ability to control, contain, and judiciously dispense his feelings for any given situation. Physical prowess is a by-product of self control of raging emotions. Woman are allowed to let it flow. Men must hold the line. Every man has a treasure chest of emotions buried so deep inside his heart he dare not let them be discovered by mere mortals.
Until you let her see this part of your heart, this part that you rarely take the time to view, she may never truly be your help mate. Because she may never really know you. Your boo needs to know your hurts. Your baby momma needs to know you fear not being able to provide, whether it be money or majesty. Your girl friend needs to see and know the anxiety that envelops you with thoughts of a true committed relationship. All these emotions live in the chest.
Ladies it may be hard to understand given what you have seen and been taught overtime by various sources. Be patient if you can. Be understanding because you must. But most of all recognize there is an awesome power to love and to protect and to provide within your grasp. Make it safe so it can be revealed.
During this Hallmark season let her see you. Her heart will smile…
Happy Valentines day….
Lance C. Peeler
I just read an amazing article written by Jill Scott for Essence magazine entitled “A Real Man”. She wrote about things that most women will not be able to grasp unless men begin to reveal them. Problem is men are not wired to “reveal” anything but our masculinity. She wrote. “Men get afraid. Some cry. Most are far more sensitive than we can imagine.” Without further elaboration this statement for most men will just slide down the locker room shower drain along with anything else that moves men away from their image of warriors in the “300” army holding the line for all our ancestral fathers that guarded the mailbox like “mister” in “The Color Purple”. It is extremely hard to fight hard wired circuitry. This is for those who desire to know or understand. If it matters not, stop now…. I might be wasting your time but let me at least try.
Whether she is your wife, your girl friend, your baby momma, your boo, or your friend with benefits, she will only see what you show her or what her “hormonal” detective skills discover. The latter usually reveals the most misunderstood, fragmented, and indistinguishable “facts” available. Your relationship is really just a series of situations strung together over time due to a need to be familiar with somebody who “may” not hurt you. Cut the thread of time or introduce a new you (or an unseen you) and the situations become not so good memories. You have heard the saying we were good together but not good for each other.
Most women think that a man’s power and fortitude is driven by his inner strength and pride. A man’s power is driven, yet stabilized by his ability to control, contain, and judiciously dispense his feelings for any given situation. Physical prowess is a by-product of self control of raging emotions. Woman are allowed to let it flow. Men must hold the line. Every man has a treasure chest of emotions buried so deep inside his heart he dare not let them be discovered by mere mortals.
Until you let her see this part of your heart, this part that you rarely take the time to view, she may never truly be your help mate. Because she may never really know you. Your boo needs to know your hurts. Your baby momma needs to know you fear not being able to provide, whether it be money or majesty. Your girl friend needs to see and know the anxiety that envelops you with thoughts of a true committed relationship. All these emotions live in the chest.
Ladies it may be hard to understand given what you have seen and been taught overtime by various sources. Be patient if you can. Be understanding because you must. But most of all recognize there is an awesome power to love and to protect and to provide within your grasp. Make it safe so it can be revealed.
During this Hallmark season let her see you. Her heart will smile…
Happy Valentines day….
Lance C. Peeler
Friday, January 15, 2010
Haiti: A Reminder by Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.
Haiti: A reminder
While I was watching the news today (01/13/2010) concerning the earthquake, reporters constantly reminded us of Haiti’s poverty. It is the poorest country in this hemisphere was repeated. Let us look back at the history of why Haiti is such a poor country. I doubt the media will inform us of this.
I will quote extensively from two books by Randall Robinson “An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President”. The other book “Quitting America: The Departure of a Black Man from his Native land”
From “An Unbroken Agony”, page 21;
“As punishment for creating the first free republic in the Americas (when 13 percent of the people living in the United States were slaves), the new Republic of Haiti was met with a global economic embargo imposed by the United States and Europe. The embargo was strengthened by a further demand from France for financial reparations of roughly $21 billion (2004 dollars) as compensation from the newly freed slaves for denying France the further benefit of owning them. It would be the first time in history that reparations would be imposed by a defeated nation on the nation that had defeated it.”
“American economic sanctions against Haiti would not end until the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, nearly sixty years after the founding of the free Haitian republic.”
“In 1825, twenty-two years after L’Ouverture’s death, the Haitian army was no longer the feared fighting force it had once been. France, threatening to reenslave Haitians, imposed an ordinance requiring from Haiti a payment of 150 million francs and a 50 percent tariff reduction for all French ships docking in Haiti.* To meet the first payment of 30 million francs under the terms of the ordinance, the government of Haiti was constrained to borrow the full amount from a private French bank, MM Ch Ternaux Grandolphe it Cie.”
“After extended negotiations, in 1838, under the Traite’ d’Amitie’ (Treaty of Friendship), the original obligation of 150 million francs was reduced to 90 million francs, with the government of Haiti required to make thirty annual payments of 2 million francs in order to pay off the 60 million franc balance. Haiti had to make these payments in addition to payments it had been making to a succession of private banks from which it had to borrow at onerous interest rates in order to meet the terms of its original obligation to France.”
“And forcing slaves who had won their freedom to compensate their former masters for their lost property was recognized, even in the 19th century, as a violation of human rights and international laws. By the time of the 1825 Ordinance, the international slave trade had been abolished and the reintroduction of slavery into free territories forbidden by the Second Treaty of Paris and the Congress of Vienna – both of which France had signed in 1815. Human Rights Advocates
*From a statement by Human Rights Advocates, an American organization that supports efforts to win restitution from France for the Haitian people: “Compare the (French-) imposed cost of Haiti’s independence – 150,000,000 francs – to the price paid by the United States to France for the Louisiana purchase – 80,000,000 francs for an area of land seventy-four times that of Haiti and one can only begin to sense the enormity of the reparations burden and the extortionate terms imposed.”
“As late as 1915, 111 years after the successful slave revolt, some 80 percent of the Haitian government’s resources were being paid out in debt service to French and American banks on loans that had been made to enable Haiti to pay reparations to France.”
“In 1922, seven years into a nineteen-year American military occupation of Haiti that resulted in 15,000 Haitian deaths, the United States imposed a $16 million loan on the Haitian government to pay off its “debt” to France.”
“The American loan was finally paid off in 1947. Haiti was left virtually bankrupt, its workforce in desperate straits.”
“The Haitian economy has never recovered from the financial havoc France (and America) wreaked upon it, during and after slavery.”
Agony, page 57;
“On April 7, 2003, The Bicentennial of Toussaint L’Overture’s death, President Aristide announced the findings of a restitution commission formed by his government. The commission determined that France owed Haiti $21 billion, the value in current dollars of the money France extorted from Haiti following its successful slave rebellion. On October 12, 2003, the president convened a four-day international conference of experts at Haiti’s National Palace to further discuss Haiti’s restitution claim against France for repayment of the debt. Among the participants were French historian, human rights commissioner, and author of The Crime of Napoleon, Claube Ribbe, and Tulane law school professor Gunther Handl, a respected authority on international law.”
Indeed, much of Haiti’s current problems are directly attributable to the exploitation and repression during France’s colonial rule, as well as the brutal, far-reaching measures imposed on Haiti by the major powers in response to Haiti’s declaration of independence… Arguments supporting France’s right to have drained Haiti’s treasury were not persuasive 200 years ago, and they are not persuasive now. As legal scholars and litigants, we are willing to work with Haiti to seek redress from France, and this deserves broad-based international support.”
Professor Charles Ogletree
Harvard Law School
“France was not the only Western society that would capitalize an industrial economy with proceeds amassed from slave labor. The United States, Spain, Holland, Denmark, and Great Britain would do much the same.”
“The personal and public wealth of Britain created by slave labour was a crucial element in the accumulation of capital that made the industrial revolution possible, and the surviving profits have remained a bold element with specific families and within British society generally, cascading down from generation to generation, in John Major’s felicitous phrase. In this context, the demand for reparations is a serious position, similar to the claim put forward by the nations of Holocaust survivors for the return of property stolen by the Nazis. Black people whose forebears were slaves, victims of that other Holocaust [Maafa], are simply asking for the stolen fruits of their ancestors’ labour power to be given back to their rightful heirs.”
Richard Gott
Guardian
January 17, 2007
“If Britain owes reparations to the descendants of the enslaved Africans whose uncompensated labor, in large part, financed Britain’s industrial revolution, France owes Haiti a great deal more than the $21 billion Haiti applied for in late 2003.”
“Over a century and a half, France not only appropriated the worth of Haiti’s enslaved population’s toil but also forced Haiti to pay reparations to France following the Haitian revolution. France’s real debt to Haiti thus amounts to the $21 billion France exacted, in addition to the assessed value of the labor of the Africans France enslaved in Haiti from the mid-seventh century to the end of the slave revolt in 1804.”
“One month after the conference, in December 2003, French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin sent his sister to Port-au-Prince to tell Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically elected president, that it was time for him to step down.”
From “Quitting America”, Randall writes, page 200;
“I’ll try to make this as painless as possible, but Americans really must learn that one needs to know, at least, a little of what went on in the past to have any chance at all of understanding the present. Between Toussaint’s heroic rebellion of 1791 and Aristide’s stunning election in 1991 (with 67 percent of the vote to the U.S.-supported candidate, Marc Bazin’s, 14 percent), the United States has done documentably some quite awful things to the people of Haiti:”
• During the rebellion itself, the United States joined European powers in aiding France’s violent suppression of the slave uprising.
• The United States blocked Haiti’s participation in the Western Hemisphere Panama Conference of 1825 and did not recognize Haiti until 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln thought of Haiti as a convenient repository for freed American slaves. Said Senator Robert Hayne of South Carolina in 1824: “We never can acknowledge her independence…. The peace and safety of a large portion of our union forbids us even to discuss it.”
• Placatory toward France, the United States accommodated its European ally as France pressed Haiti for 150 million francs to be paid in reparations to the slave plantocracy for losses suffered in the slave’s successful quest for freedom. This served early on to destroy the new black republic’s fragile economy.
• During the American military occupation of Haiti, which began under President Woodrow Wilson on July 28, 1915, and lasted for nineteen years, de facto slavery in Haiti was reinstituted; Haiti’s constitutional system was dismantled; 226,000 acres of Haitian soil were given over in concessional lease arrangements to American corporations; fifty thousand peasants were dispossessed in the North alone; workers were forced to toil for twenty cents a day, and the U.S. Marine Corps” “pacification” efforts claimed up to fifteen thousand lives.
• In 1937, three years after the American occupation had ended, Rafael Trujillo, ruler of the neighboring Dominican Republic, ordered troops to undertake a massacre of Haitians that claimed eighteen thousand to thirty-five thousand lives. Afterward, Cordell Hull, the U.S. secretary of state, said: “President Trujillo is one of the greatest men in Central America and in most of South America.”
• President John F. Kennedy provided the murderous Haitian dictator Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier with broad military assistance, in the words of Noam Chomsky, “as a part of a general program of extending U.S. control over the security forces in Latin America, a long-standing project carried a long step forward by the Kennedy intellectuals, who recognized that ‘in the Latin American cultural environment’ the military must be prepared to remove government leaders from office whenever, in the judgment of the military, the conduct of those leaders is injurious to the welfare of the nation.”
• Under Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the ruthless dictator’s ruthless son, the United States funded efforts to establish American assembly plants in an environment of terror and pittance wages. Chomsky: “The consequences were profits for U.S. manufactures and the Haitian superrich, and a decline of fifty-six percent in Haitian wages through the 1980’s.”
• The United States provided the post-Duvalier National Council of Government (NCG) with $2.8 million in its first year, a year in which the NCG killed more Haitian civilians than Jean-Claude Duvalier had killed in fifteen.
Now you know that the aid being given to Haiti is no more than reimbursement. Aid tends to make money for U.S. companies because goods and services are paid by taxpayers’ money to these companies providing the goods and services.
Now we know.
By Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.
While I was watching the news today (01/13/2010) concerning the earthquake, reporters constantly reminded us of Haiti’s poverty. It is the poorest country in this hemisphere was repeated. Let us look back at the history of why Haiti is such a poor country. I doubt the media will inform us of this.
I will quote extensively from two books by Randall Robinson “An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President”. The other book “Quitting America: The Departure of a Black Man from his Native land”
From “An Unbroken Agony”, page 21;
“As punishment for creating the first free republic in the Americas (when 13 percent of the people living in the United States were slaves), the new Republic of Haiti was met with a global economic embargo imposed by the United States and Europe. The embargo was strengthened by a further demand from France for financial reparations of roughly $21 billion (2004 dollars) as compensation from the newly freed slaves for denying France the further benefit of owning them. It would be the first time in history that reparations would be imposed by a defeated nation on the nation that had defeated it.”
“American economic sanctions against Haiti would not end until the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, nearly sixty years after the founding of the free Haitian republic.”
“In 1825, twenty-two years after L’Ouverture’s death, the Haitian army was no longer the feared fighting force it had once been. France, threatening to reenslave Haitians, imposed an ordinance requiring from Haiti a payment of 150 million francs and a 50 percent tariff reduction for all French ships docking in Haiti.* To meet the first payment of 30 million francs under the terms of the ordinance, the government of Haiti was constrained to borrow the full amount from a private French bank, MM Ch Ternaux Grandolphe it Cie.”
“After extended negotiations, in 1838, under the Traite’ d’Amitie’ (Treaty of Friendship), the original obligation of 150 million francs was reduced to 90 million francs, with the government of Haiti required to make thirty annual payments of 2 million francs in order to pay off the 60 million franc balance. Haiti had to make these payments in addition to payments it had been making to a succession of private banks from which it had to borrow at onerous interest rates in order to meet the terms of its original obligation to France.”
“And forcing slaves who had won their freedom to compensate their former masters for their lost property was recognized, even in the 19th century, as a violation of human rights and international laws. By the time of the 1825 Ordinance, the international slave trade had been abolished and the reintroduction of slavery into free territories forbidden by the Second Treaty of Paris and the Congress of Vienna – both of which France had signed in 1815. Human Rights Advocates
*From a statement by Human Rights Advocates, an American organization that supports efforts to win restitution from France for the Haitian people: “Compare the (French-) imposed cost of Haiti’s independence – 150,000,000 francs – to the price paid by the United States to France for the Louisiana purchase – 80,000,000 francs for an area of land seventy-four times that of Haiti and one can only begin to sense the enormity of the reparations burden and the extortionate terms imposed.”
“As late as 1915, 111 years after the successful slave revolt, some 80 percent of the Haitian government’s resources were being paid out in debt service to French and American banks on loans that had been made to enable Haiti to pay reparations to France.”
“In 1922, seven years into a nineteen-year American military occupation of Haiti that resulted in 15,000 Haitian deaths, the United States imposed a $16 million loan on the Haitian government to pay off its “debt” to France.”
“The American loan was finally paid off in 1947. Haiti was left virtually bankrupt, its workforce in desperate straits.”
“The Haitian economy has never recovered from the financial havoc France (and America) wreaked upon it, during and after slavery.”
Agony, page 57;
“On April 7, 2003, The Bicentennial of Toussaint L’Overture’s death, President Aristide announced the findings of a restitution commission formed by his government. The commission determined that France owed Haiti $21 billion, the value in current dollars of the money France extorted from Haiti following its successful slave rebellion. On October 12, 2003, the president convened a four-day international conference of experts at Haiti’s National Palace to further discuss Haiti’s restitution claim against France for repayment of the debt. Among the participants were French historian, human rights commissioner, and author of The Crime of Napoleon, Claube Ribbe, and Tulane law school professor Gunther Handl, a respected authority on international law.”
Indeed, much of Haiti’s current problems are directly attributable to the exploitation and repression during France’s colonial rule, as well as the brutal, far-reaching measures imposed on Haiti by the major powers in response to Haiti’s declaration of independence… Arguments supporting France’s right to have drained Haiti’s treasury were not persuasive 200 years ago, and they are not persuasive now. As legal scholars and litigants, we are willing to work with Haiti to seek redress from France, and this deserves broad-based international support.”
Professor Charles Ogletree
Harvard Law School
“France was not the only Western society that would capitalize an industrial economy with proceeds amassed from slave labor. The United States, Spain, Holland, Denmark, and Great Britain would do much the same.”
“The personal and public wealth of Britain created by slave labour was a crucial element in the accumulation of capital that made the industrial revolution possible, and the surviving profits have remained a bold element with specific families and within British society generally, cascading down from generation to generation, in John Major’s felicitous phrase. In this context, the demand for reparations is a serious position, similar to the claim put forward by the nations of Holocaust survivors for the return of property stolen by the Nazis. Black people whose forebears were slaves, victims of that other Holocaust [Maafa], are simply asking for the stolen fruits of their ancestors’ labour power to be given back to their rightful heirs.”
Richard Gott
Guardian
January 17, 2007
“If Britain owes reparations to the descendants of the enslaved Africans whose uncompensated labor, in large part, financed Britain’s industrial revolution, France owes Haiti a great deal more than the $21 billion Haiti applied for in late 2003.”
“Over a century and a half, France not only appropriated the worth of Haiti’s enslaved population’s toil but also forced Haiti to pay reparations to France following the Haitian revolution. France’s real debt to Haiti thus amounts to the $21 billion France exacted, in addition to the assessed value of the labor of the Africans France enslaved in Haiti from the mid-seventh century to the end of the slave revolt in 1804.”
“One month after the conference, in December 2003, French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin sent his sister to Port-au-Prince to tell Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically elected president, that it was time for him to step down.”
From “Quitting America”, Randall writes, page 200;
“I’ll try to make this as painless as possible, but Americans really must learn that one needs to know, at least, a little of what went on in the past to have any chance at all of understanding the present. Between Toussaint’s heroic rebellion of 1791 and Aristide’s stunning election in 1991 (with 67 percent of the vote to the U.S.-supported candidate, Marc Bazin’s, 14 percent), the United States has done documentably some quite awful things to the people of Haiti:”
• During the rebellion itself, the United States joined European powers in aiding France’s violent suppression of the slave uprising.
• The United States blocked Haiti’s participation in the Western Hemisphere Panama Conference of 1825 and did not recognize Haiti until 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln thought of Haiti as a convenient repository for freed American slaves. Said Senator Robert Hayne of South Carolina in 1824: “We never can acknowledge her independence…. The peace and safety of a large portion of our union forbids us even to discuss it.”
• Placatory toward France, the United States accommodated its European ally as France pressed Haiti for 150 million francs to be paid in reparations to the slave plantocracy for losses suffered in the slave’s successful quest for freedom. This served early on to destroy the new black republic’s fragile economy.
• During the American military occupation of Haiti, which began under President Woodrow Wilson on July 28, 1915, and lasted for nineteen years, de facto slavery in Haiti was reinstituted; Haiti’s constitutional system was dismantled; 226,000 acres of Haitian soil were given over in concessional lease arrangements to American corporations; fifty thousand peasants were dispossessed in the North alone; workers were forced to toil for twenty cents a day, and the U.S. Marine Corps” “pacification” efforts claimed up to fifteen thousand lives.
• In 1937, three years after the American occupation had ended, Rafael Trujillo, ruler of the neighboring Dominican Republic, ordered troops to undertake a massacre of Haitians that claimed eighteen thousand to thirty-five thousand lives. Afterward, Cordell Hull, the U.S. secretary of state, said: “President Trujillo is one of the greatest men in Central America and in most of South America.”
• President John F. Kennedy provided the murderous Haitian dictator Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier with broad military assistance, in the words of Noam Chomsky, “as a part of a general program of extending U.S. control over the security forces in Latin America, a long-standing project carried a long step forward by the Kennedy intellectuals, who recognized that ‘in the Latin American cultural environment’ the military must be prepared to remove government leaders from office whenever, in the judgment of the military, the conduct of those leaders is injurious to the welfare of the nation.”
• Under Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the ruthless dictator’s ruthless son, the United States funded efforts to establish American assembly plants in an environment of terror and pittance wages. Chomsky: “The consequences were profits for U.S. manufactures and the Haitian superrich, and a decline of fifty-six percent in Haitian wages through the 1980’s.”
• The United States provided the post-Duvalier National Council of Government (NCG) with $2.8 million in its first year, a year in which the NCG killed more Haitian civilians than Jean-Claude Duvalier had killed in fifteen.
Now you know that the aid being given to Haiti is no more than reimbursement. Aid tends to make money for U.S. companies because goods and services are paid by taxpayers’ money to these companies providing the goods and services.
Now we know.
By Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.
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