A Season of lamenting

A Season of Lamenting Jeremiah 8:18-22 (NRSV) 18 My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. 19 Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: "Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not in her?" ("Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?") 20 "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." 21 For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. 22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored? Matthew 2:16-18 (NRSV) 16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more." The Christmas song “Silent Night, Holy Night” is a song that I used to love as a child but when I grew older and examined the biblical narrative for myself to discover that the night(s) were not silent nor outwardly holy. I will never forget talking to my former Minister of Music the Late Great Philip G. Freeman about the song and the bible to which Phil stated he “will never play the song again, because he would refuse to perpetrate a lie.” What I discovered as a Pastor is that this time of the year we know as Advent is in reality a “Time of lamenting.” The season itself is going through a period of “Grief.” Fall is reluctantly giving way to winter as foliage battles from green summer colors to the golden brown, and orange of its resistance to go quietly. Things in nature are what Hospice people call “Actively Dying” during this time of year. Along with nature “Actively dying” are the dreams of so many people during this time of year. So many people started off this year with high hopes and expectations only to have them turn into the Brown and oranges of a setting sun. The realization that you will not accomplish all or most of the things you set out to do at the beginning of the year can be a saddening reality. The sun sets early (or so it seems) which for some people is extremely depressing. Some people have to get up when it is dark and come home when it is dark. For people of African Ancestry this is very troubling and creates some psychological and emotional challenges to our body/mind equilibrium. The Sun has always provided us with plenty of Vitamin D but during the dark days of winter we are lacking and that does not bode well for a jovial disposition. This indeed is a “Season of Lament.” Then there is the infusion of Corporate America’s version of Christmas complete with “Just the right thing you have to buy to make Christmas just right.” The unreal expectations of buying gifts for people are the biggest hypocrisy perpetrated on people ever. For those who truly try to practice “Good will” towards all people every day this season of “Fake Frivolity” is frustrating. This is a “Season of Lamenting.” As a Pastor I have had to deal with what others do not have a clue about and that is that more people die during this season than any other part of the year. Why that is, is a mystery but it is. The other facts are that more people are stressed out during this time of year; more people lose their jobs during this time of year; and more people lose hope during this time of year. This truly is a “Season of Lamenting.” Jeremiah Lamented in the above text because his people were suffering and did not understand why. The Matthew text which is used frequently during the Advent season speaks to Mothers weeping over the senseless Killing of their children. Chicago will hit 500 murders in 2012; we have faced the most horrible of killings in the mass murder of 1st graders in Newtown, CT. The Season was ushered in by a horrendous storm called Sandy and the people still have not recovered yet everybody is supposed to make “Happy Happy.” Right wing politicians are taking America over the “Fiscal Cliff” where people receiving Unemployment have already tumbled over that cliff because of the posturing against the Black President. Yet the media merchandises merriment at the expense of the misery of masses of people. This is truly a “Season of Lamenting.” The only entity facing reality is found in nature. Things die during this time of year! Things hide from the cold during this time of year. Things become bare, naked and exposed during this time of year. The Sun becomes short tempered during this time of year and refuses to hang around with us for too long. Things in nature are Lamenting! And I have found that Grief is Medicinal! Lamenting is cleansing and sorrow can lead to appreciation of joy. Things die but they won’t stay dead! They will, in time be resurrected! It won’t happen overnight, it won’t come about in a moment or a flash but it is a process. For those of you why would interrupt the grieving process you do so at your own peril. You must purge! You must sit with the uncomfortable! You must tarry with the troublesome to experience true transformation. Children are dying and somebody needs to weep wailing tears for Chicago Street corners that bear witness to a life that will never be because of America’s love affair with guns. Unfulfilled Dreams are dying on the vine never to be and tears should be shed which will shed light on the why of their death. The Country is careening toward chaos because of Corporate money and somebody needs to mourn the hypocrisy of American Christianity that supports Capitalistic religion. Only then can one’s soul be so scarred by sorrow that something significant can see the light of day. Jesus was born to be murdered! Babies were slaughtered this is a “Season of Lamenting” what humans are really capable of doing. But the Lamenting can lead to serious reflection; The Weeping can give way to honest worship that does not seek to be seen in church only but is the smile of a child whose sees true love in your hand of help. The Season can lead to a structural change in how we related to one another where we sit with the pain and sorrow of the poor, the jobless, the under-insured, the heart broken, the Church hurt and not speak but allow the ministry of presence to pour oil of healing upon their hearts. Maybe we need to follow the lead of nature and be real so that we can learn to love one another and not just love. My prayers are for truth! My Prayers are for honesty! My prayers are for sincerity in serving the suffering and exposing the scandal of a forced smile bought and paid for by Apple, Microsoft, or the Stock exchange.

The Violence that Violence Produced

I watched your movies of how you "tamed the West" and many of us played "cowboys & Indians" not realizing that the real lesson was "how to denigrate and destroy" other people's lives. I grew older and watched John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Clint Eastwood, Roy Rogers, The Big Valley, Bonanza, Gun Smoke, Have Gun Will Travel and all the Westerns I could. We played shoot em up at the Ok Corral because you said it was harmless fun. Little did we know you were teaching us that some lives were less important than others. I grew older still and watched your War Movies, machine guns, G.I. Joe, hand Grenades, Tanks and Sub Marines. So we played War Games to prove our manhood not knowing you were justifying the Killing of innocents by painting some people as less than human. I got older still and graduated to Cops & Robbers. I watched all the shows all the movies from "Dragnet" to "Hill Street Blues ("Let’s be careful out there"), to "NYD," to "Law & Order." And it seemed clear that you were saying a man without a Gun is a man without courage. You were saying Violence is viable to get your way and get what you want. I stand stunned today, at the deaths of little children by a man with a gun. But I am not Stunned by the act; I am in deep sorrow about the innocent lives lost. I am Stunned at you, America! YOU! Because you act like you don't know why! What did you expect America? Huh? What did you expect to eventually happen? And please don't start the dialog about the shooter being Mentally Ill. Tell me, is the Military official who gives the order to send a Drone to Eviscerate a life because of that person's affiliation with a group, Mentally ILL, America? And when innocent lives are what you call Collateral Damage, left in the wake, is the person that gave the order Mentally Ill? Are you saying that the gang banger in Chicago who sprays innocent children on a Street Corner is Mentally Ill? Was the Shock & Awe based on a lie about Weapons of Mass Destruction initiated by a Mentally Ill person? Was the Killer of Jordan Davis at a gas station for music playing in a car that he was a passenger in by a Mentally ILL man? Was the Killer of Trayvon Martin for wearing a Hoodie by a Mentally ILL man? Maybe it will come out that the shooter did have some Mental issues or maybe not, but don't start that discussion so soon. You did not do this in any of these others, and I wonder why? America you are such a strange nation! You don't see it do you? How come in the UK in 2011 there were 58 murders by Gun but in the U.S. in 2011 there were 8,775? America you have the most Guns, most violent minded most Incarcerations of people of color for non-violent offenses than any other nation on Earth! Guns were made to kill, plain and simple! People can say they use them for target practice and I guess I could Juggle Chain Saws for fun if I wanted to. However that does not change the purpose of Chain saws and it does not change the purpose of Guns. Too many people have too easy access to Guns; too many people can buy Guns on-line with no background checks; too many people have Assault weapons which have no business in the hands of anyone except law enforcement or military personnel. This nation talks too much about killing, Violence and destruction. This nation has too much hate speech coming from the mouths of too many Wealthy Right wing zealots. America you are such a strange nation! I am Stunned not at the act and the victims, for them I am in deep sorrow because parents are grieving unnecessarily tonight. I am stunned that you America, cable talk shows, you America Media pundits, You America professional politicians, cannot see that you created the climate! America you are such a strange nation!

Individual Acts of Kindness and a Movement of Ministry

There is a difference between individual acts of kindness and a movement of ministry. I think that the culture of fear, war mongering, hate, classism and extreme individualism has created the context for people of conscious to invest the best of their energies in individual acts of kindness. I also think that for Africans living in America this has created some very difficult challenges. People of African descent have thrived our best when we operated as a community. A community is forced to put up with one another's idiosyncrecies, likes dislikes, moods, and differences of opinions for the greater good. But in the times we exist in that is no longer necessary (a) because we are not in our homeland where it once was the norm, (b) we are no longer situated in the South during slavery, Segregation and Jim Crow where we were forced to be a separate community. People now days do not feel they should nor have to be around people that tend to rub them the wrong way. Many people now days do not feel thay should find common ground; many people do not feel they have to make peace, not put up with people they don't particualrly like. In fact because of the nature of this Absurd American context of isolationism many people do not see value in staying close regularly with people they like, are biologically link with or married to. Thus among many conciously inclined folks who want to do something Individual acts of kindness serves as the outlet for the drive to do something about the conditions of other people. In individual acts of kindness I can regulate my interaction, I can choose when and where without anyone from outside challenging me to go father or do more; i can pick the person(s) I will help and I can feel good that I have done some good. I think some of this was the case when Harry Belafante called out Beyonce & Jay Z. Their publicist quickly rolled out the list of charities that they have been giving large sums of money to and making spot appearances. Yet this never addressed the heart of what Harry was getting at concerning Black entertainers these days. Harry put his career and public persona on the line to tell the True story of our people. Harry used his talent, notoriety and money to say and do that which aided a movement that was very unpopular among America's white population. Harry took humanitarian risk to fight consistently for the liberation of Black brown and white by saying and supporting that which his agents, record company execs and media personalities found distaateful. Beyonce and Jay Z give money but hold their silence tightly in order to not offend the Corporate white power structure of the record labels, media, Hollywood and agents. Individual acts of kindness will never free a people, nor move the masses nor subversivly change systemic evil. Yet no movement of ministry can exist without Individual acts of kindness but those acts are a carefully orchestrated symphony of people striking at the designed times and in strategic ways in order to organize masses of people to change oppression into liberation. Finally, I believe the Black Church is still the best place for Movement ministry. I know what is going on and am sick to my stomach of stale, stagnant and self centered spirituality that has seeped into the Black church. Constantian Christianity of the Imperial cult has created the mindset among far too many Black believers that the state is to be upheld while focusing on personal and sexual activities as most important. That way the Empire would not cultivate insurgents against itself (L.H. Whelchel's "History and Heritage of African-American Churches) Constantine knew that he had to control this group of peasants proclaiming their liberation brand of religion or it would eventually bring down the empire itself. Thus the Empire called the great meetings to deal with issues but covertly co-opt control of how the faith would from then on be communicated and WHO would do the communicating. That is not how it started however. When Jesus made his calcualted assault on the Imperial Cult of Rome which ended at calvary in his Murder Jesus had already established a "Shadow Conferacy" in his Disciples to strike and keep striking. He was not a "Lone ranger" he did not waste time on a persons personal sexual behavior. Liberation for the Black people of Palestine was far more important (Ched Myers - "Binding the Strongman) And when Africans in America were presented with this European Constantinian form of the faith they covertly rejected it while overtly feigning acceptance. They covertly defaulted to their original activities in the faith because they were the ones who were first vouchsafed with the "Religion of Jesus" (Howard Thurman). Now far too many Black Clergy and Black parishoners have let Jesus the revolutionary, Bookman, Dessalines, Rev. Gabriel Prosser, Rev. Harriet Tubman, Denmark Vesey, Rev. Nathaniel Turner, Rev. Jerena Lee and David Walker be pulled out of their hands and replaced with Billy Graham, Norman Peale, Joel Osteen, Paula White, Kenneth Hagan and Kenneth Copeland. I name the white one's because they pull the strings of the Black ones. Yet I still believe that the Black church is the place for Movement Ministry! Movement Ministry allows us to not get oo inpressed with ourselves because everybody has worth. Movement ministry forces us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus who also had to put up with the idiosyncrcies of the people closet to him; Jesus had be patient with their issues; Jesus taught them to not try to correct one another until they had connected with one another; Jesus taught them by example that people don't care how much you know until the know how much you care. Movement ministry knocks all of us down from our Horses of arrogance to find common ground for a greater cause than ourselves. There are still are Soldiers of Emmanuel both Black and White who have never taken off our uniforms of Liberation in the Church. Many have had to go into hiding secretly moving about recording names and places of both sympathizers and betrayers to the Faith of that African Warrior of hope Jesus. While many of our troopos have turned to Individual acts of kindness to help feed the need to do something we need you in the ranks. The Black church needs an Influx of Insurgents to build up the ranks. Only Movement Ministry will ultimately tear down Satan's stronghold and the willing Host to Satan's oppressive schemes through Governmental systems, Corporate militarism & materialism, classism, Sexism, Homophobia and Racism. Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. asked "Where do we go from here: Chaos (Only Acts of Individual Kindness) or Community (Movement Ministry through the Black Church)? You decide!

Musing from a Man who gets tired a little more these days

Throughout their sojourn in America, Africans have been taught the separateness of themselves from Africa and Africans. The teaching has been so ingrained that even in those communities which are “most African” there is the greatest scandal of “being African." By Dona Richards(Marimba Ani) At this point in my life I cannot turn back but I can't help looking back every now and then to check the depth of my We are such a biblically illiterate people and culturally deprived group that I wonder if I am not a firefly in the night. There maybe light but the darkness is so pervasive it cannot be truly penetrated. Americans of African descent are so far removed from the relevance of our culture that it is like reaching across the Grand Canyon with just the human arm and hand trying to bridge the gulf. Have you ever tried talking to a snail explaining why it would behoove it to speed itself up every now and then? That is what it is like looking into the vacant eyes of Black folks in America who find it too hard to believe the world waits on them to wake up. Have you ever tried to persuade a bumble bee that pollinating the personal flowers in the backyards of people hastens it's demise by people? That is what it is like trying to get Black people in America to see that the religious systems of every American Denomination is hazardous to their health. At this point in my life I cannot turn back but I cannot help looking back. Have you ever tried getting the Moon to be consistently full? It is as fruitless trying to get people to be consistently in community building from the inside our our only Free Black institution called the church. Have you ever tried to get the rain to be less wet because it's rhythmic moisture beating upon the ground creates a melancholy mood seductive to sleep? That is what it is like when tears roll over the levies of my eye lids cascading down my cheeks in the solitude of my own thoughts of the faces and lives of my people I try my best to inspire. I cannot turn back at this point in my life but I cannot help looking back, and saying Lord forgive me for not being better than I am. Musings of a Man who gets tired more often

Belchings from a Smoldering Soul on the Occasion of ‘An Olympic Opening’ By M Thandabantu Iverson

After years of existence as an angry member of an oppressed people and an exploited class, perhaps now I should be willing to acknowledge how wonderful it is to behold this current Olympiad as a final and irresistible indicator of the triumph of Western capital. Undoubtedly, there were no small number of “former” workers who watched teary-eyed at the spectacular opening ceremony of the Olympics in London with feelings of adoration for what capital claims as its accomplishments; so majestically proclaimed by the sounds, sights, and syncopated rhythms of the opening pageantry of The Games. Accomplishments indeed! These were the results of the coerced toil, sweat, privations, sicknesses, and premature deaths of other workers.

Yet “it is best,” we hear some say, “to let some things be!” Undoubtedly, these former workers felt rapturous pride in their own contemporary escapes from working-class conditions into conditions of greater status and economic comfort, if not security. These contemporaries will think me an ingrate that today, with a job as a teacher at a Midwest university, I continue to babble about the evils of oppression, the hypocrisy of the national pride of modern states mired in the history of colonial and imperial conquest, and the bourgeois theft of centuries of work by literally millions of workers. These contemporaries who have made their ways ‘up the ladder’ do not wish to hear us inveigh against those who stole and raped and maimed and murdered to create the racist, patriarchal, and capitalist hierarchies. Those voices will clamor that we are wrong to indict our good neo-liberal masters who control with such handsome smiles and such quiet drones and sinister prisons. Those who have longed to escape the working class may feel quite unnerved by our remembrances of how the nod was made by the Olympic Opening planners to the workers who dug, and dredged, and hammered, and lifted the Industrial Revolution into place; yet not a single slave ship was seen and not a single word was spoken to acknowledge the many enslaved African workers whose travails birthed the Industrial Revolution. My utterances now will only anger those who would like to continue to forget those telling black invisible creators of “progress”.

Some will say that I should “just get over it all;” but I will not. This Olympiad is yet another round of the games and entertainments by which entire Peoples and Nations can be momentarily bedazzled, and as Malcolm X put it, “bamboozled.” Millions are still jobless, homeless, landless, imprisoned unjustly, profiled inhumanely and murdered with legal impunity. Wall Street barons still live large, laughing at the prideful pimping they have turned into obscenity, and Democrats and Republicans sport their elegant and expensive finery while seeking ‘common ground.’ The rulers of Empire are congratulating themselves on their booty and their celebrations of international ‘brotherhood. But let them beware. There are millions of sullen souls who see this empty bombast and do not sing. We watch the events but we do not feel the pride of the elites. We are loath to cry with national satisfaction, watching those we may have to fight one day to fill some rich man’s pockets. We watch the contests as metaphors for the lives we live. We hope the underdogs can win, even if we cannot. But we are not entirely fooled. We will remember the work of our forebears, and how they built this world from which others seek to disown us. We are tired. We are starting to stir. The Games will not last always. Dr M Thandabantu Iverson is a professor of Labour Studies and a writer

Response to "Enough" by Carla Banks

In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail in 1963, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote these words which remain true today:
“There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators."' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are.
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.”
When is enough enough? When we decide that it is and we stop talking and start taking action to reclaim our blocks, neighborhoods, cities, states and country. When will we stop complaining about the way things while we continue to do nothing or, even worse, act like nothing is going on? As I followed the coverage of Trayvon Martin’s murder I kept wondering “where are the leaders of the denominational churches and when are they going to speak out about this?” On March 22nd, the United Church of Christ’s Collegium of Officers released a statement calling for a “swift and just processing of this case in the court of law, rather than in the media or on the streets of our nation.” Leaders of the UCC and the Disciples of Christ also announced plans for a prayer vigil and a brief silent march in protest to call for justice to be held March 28.Click to access UCC and Disciples leaders to join in prayer vigil and march for Trayvon Martin
Not only can we not afford to wait for the government to do something, we can’t afford to wait for any other leader to step up and tell us what to do. In the words of a successful movement we have to be the change we want to see. It’s time that we, along with other like minded people, decide to take action and create strategies to deal with what’s happening to our children, in our community. And if nobody is willing to stand with us, we have to be willing to stand alone, demanding that people be held accountable for the injustices that are perpetrated everyday against people who look like us. The old adage “a squeaky will get’s the oil” is true: those who speak up and demand respect and to be taken seriously often are.
Like you and many others, I am outraged about what happened to Trayvon Martin. His murderer needs to be arrested and tried in a court of law along with those who seem to have been complicit in helping to cover up the facts. I’ve written letters asking for justice, signed petitions, marched in the rain with others and followed this case because I refuse to sit idly by and let his killer get away with murder. But, I also have a question: why don’t we as a country and community take the same interest when the victim is female? What are we saying by our silence about the value we place on Black women and girls? I understand the outrage about the murder of Black men and boys, I get it; really I do. What I can’t understand is why we don’t have the same level of outrage when the victims are female. Aren’t we too “created in the image of God” and thereby deserving of having people demand justice for us? Or does the fight for justice really mean “just us males?” This evening I finally read an article that articulated my thoughts on this issue. I invite you to read this and to reflect on the questions that are raised. Please accept my apology for some of the language. But hell, sometimes you have to speak in language that people can understand.
Why Don’t We Know Their Names? The Invisibility of Black Women and Girls
S. Mandisa Moore 28MAR
“Because the machine will try to grind you into dust anyway, whether or not we speak.”- Audre Lorde
My heart is saddened by the murder of Trayvon Martin-a child. My heart is also saddened at the subsequent media frenzy around his death because I know in every part of my body that when black women and girls are raped and murdered, not a damn thing happens-there is no rally or CNN coverage, but instead an instant blame game or mitigation of the facts. This post is about the inherent value of black women and black girls. If once you read “Trayvon Martin”, you thought this post would be about how white supremacist ideologies define black males as inherently “suspicious” and “dangerous” and, thus, black men and boys need our support- this is not the post for you. Luckily, almost every other blog has posted analyses very similar to this that you can read and comment on. I have no interest in doing so-not because the criminalization of black men and boys doesn’t enrage me but because I believe that the black women and girls are just as valuable. Not to mention that the ways we are inherently criminalized and stigmatized must continue to be unpacked. I write this because NO ONE comes to our defense or sees us as worthy of marching behind, and I will bear witness to this.
We invisibilize black women when we narrowly equate black men as representative of black people; when we focus on the criminalization of black men as if this is the only narrative of criminalization; and when we enable or participate in the collective amnesia that most black women NOT ONLY die as a result of the deadly combination of gender and racial profiling at the hands of private citizens and law enforcement agencies, but also from the hands of our black partners and family members. The black female body, including black trans women, is perceived as inherently sexually deviant and, thus, worthless. We DO DIE just walking down the street-whether we are profiled as a sex worker and raped and killed or, much like Trayvon Martin, just standing there. We also die at the hands of law enforcement-because to be black and woman, or to be perceived as possessing feminine characteristics, is to be unsafe in a world where you can be raped and/or murdered-by your partner, your neighbor, or police precinct # 9 AND to live with the knowledge that no one will come to your defense. But UNLIKE black men, we also die when we rely on law enforcement in the aftermath of interpersonal violence or sexual violence.
As soon as I heard of Trayvon’s murder and the outrage popping up in my emails and on my twitter timeline, I immediately thought:
o Why don’t we interrogate racial profiling when it occurs on the bodies of black women and girls?
o Why aren’t these same people outraged when black women are raped and murdered for just being themselves?
o Where are my black feminists-what are we doing at this critical moment to hold the humanity of black men next to the value and visibility of black women?
o What names will I get called if I speak about this?
o Why do we know-thanks to indie media and black mainstream media (Mike Baisden, Steve Harvey, Roland Martin, Tom Joyner, etc) who Trayvon Martin, Sean Bell, Troy Davis, Oscar Grant, Wendell Allen are?
o Do we know who Phylicia Barnes, Kathryn Johnston, Tarika Wilson,Aiyana Stanley Jones, Crystal Mangum, Brenting Dolliole, or LeAndra Jackson are? If not, why don’t we?
o What about Remember Me-a Baltimore-based group centered on documenting the murders and/or disappearances of black women and girls? What resources are being allocated to them to increase their capacity to bear witness?
o Why was so much media attention centered on the Jena 6 when almost no one knows, or seems to care, who the New Jersey 7 were?
o Do we even know who Jeremy Sweat and Dustin Evans are, since we like to focus on individuals like George Zimmerman instead of systems?
Now here’s the part where people (including “good white allies” who co-sign anything to seem less racist- even when it marginalizes black women, which in turn allows white supremacy to grow and prosper) start saying dumb shit because they can’t deal with the fact that- GASP- they are willfully invisibilizing black women, and so they get defensive:- “well, those women were lesbians!” or “she was a stripper!” or “they thought she was a prostitute and that is why they killed her and it’s not ok to kill any innocent person, but this is more understandable” or “it’s just not the same!” Lemme just remind people of how quickly they checked and side-eyed those who pointed out irrelevant facts like “technically, Trayvon didn’t live there, but was visiting his stepmom and dad” or “well, he was suspended from school, so clearly he had criminal tendencies.” We were right to call them out, but let us also rally behind black women and girls unconditionally. It’s not like we believe there is a justification for violence against black women and girls, do we? Because that would make us fucked up and complicit with white supremacy, right? Oh shit-maybe we are.

http://www.theoysterknife.com/2012/03/28/why-don%E2%80%99t-we-know-their-names-the-invisibility-of-black-women-and-girls/#comment-73

Enough

When is enough, enough? Just 6 months ago an innocent Black man, Troy Davis was put to death in Atlanta, GA and the brutal blow to Black America once again came from the bloody hand of "Injustice' system. When is enough enough?

Between March 16-18 49 people were shot, 10 killed in the Chicago area. Shootings are up in Chicago 27% and homicides are up 32% from the same time period in 2011. All this while the Mayor of Chicago allegedly told the Chicago teachers union President that "25% of the Public school children (majority Black & Brown) were NOT going to make it; therefore he would NOT waste resources on them." If he really said this, when is enough enough?

And now our hearts are ripped from our chest because 17 year old Trayvon Martin carrying some skittles and wearing a hoodie was brutally murdered by 28 year old George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman ignored 911 operators who explicitly told him to stop his stalking of Trayvon in order to kill this boy. Plain and simple! Now because of Florida's "Stand your ground and kill Black people" law George Zimmerman is able to walk the streets a free man while Trayvon's parents are imprisoned in grief.

To add insult to not an injury but a gaping hole the police chief Bill Lee not only refuses to arrest Zimmerman but blames Trayvon by saying "maybe Trayvon would have done something different if he had the chance to?" Done what different, not be born Black? When is enough, enough?

This short catalogue of carnage against Black and Brown men are the result of a racist society. Plain and simple! Why is it that no other race of people have had to go on these emotional roller coaster rides of emotion concerning the lives of their men? Trayvon did what society told him and his parents was right. He was a good kid who stayed out of trouble. He did well in school! What else did he need to do?

When is enough, enough? The President will not weigh in because despite it being a gross tragedy he does not want his Right wing republican rivals to use his concern as a cause to paint him as "anti-America," translated "Anti-White" way.

The government has failed Black people once again, Law enforcement has shown its unwillingness to protect Black people as does the Criminal injustice system. So when is enough, enough?

What will happen now, because the insult is already stamped. George Zimmerman has been walking free for weeks. If he is arrested today (and he should be) it still can not cover the stench that assaults Black America and suffocates two parents sorrow at the senseless murder of their beautiful son. By the way, have you studied the picture of this beautiful boy? Did you gaze into his face captured now on picture because he will never move with grace again? Did you see his eyes in any of the photos? Did you notice how Bright, innocent and happy those eyes were?

How about that smile? Did you gaze at that grand joyful smile? You see that is the problem with pictures. Pictures are reminders of what could have been. Pictures lock us in a time that is long past and we shed a tear every now and then but rush to catch up to ever moving world we live in. We are afraid of staying there too long with pictures because they make us think. They make us ponder and ask ourselves "was there something I could have done?" Pictures make us wonder if we are trying to hurry too quick to forget. If you look at a picture too long it will make you as "When is enough, enough?" But it will also make you answer it starts with me and it starts today.

Ministry and Mess

Mike Carson is a gifted Saxophonist. Mike Carson is a great teacher of the appreciation of music. Mike Carson is also one of my most faithful deacons. Mike Carson blessed my life like never before a couple weeks ago. I shared with Mike a recently particularly painful experience in my ministry. I shared with Mike how sometimes it makes no sense for some people who claim to be saved to be so pathetically silly.

Mike then said Pastor, I had an experience not long ago where I saw an older woman who was struggling with the burden of some bags. Mike said I offered to help her by taking her to her home and helping her get her bags safely in her door. She consented and he said he took her home, carried her bags to her door and bid her a good night. Mike said as he walked back to his car there was some debris in her yard and he ended up stepping into something that did not smell good at all. Mike said he looked down to see that he had stepped into a soiled diaper. The Baby bowel movement in the diaper oozed all over his shoes and mike said he was ticked off. As he attempted to clean his shoes on the curb Mike said he kept saying to himself, All I was trying to do was help somebody in need now look what has happened.

As he pulled away from the address he kept thinking about stepping in some mess while trying to do ministry to someone in need and with all the other issues in his life he just did not need something like this to further depress him. Mike said while he drove he kept seething as he smelled the residue of mess on his shoe when God spoke into his spirit.

Mike said the voice of the Lord said to him "Mike, when ministering to the needs of my people every now and then you will step into some Mess, but be encouraged Mike because I can turn mess into a miracle."

After Mike said that to his Pastor he just walked away and said that's for you too Pastor.

Beloved I remember the words of Jesus in John 16:33 "In me you may have peace; In this world you will have trouble, but be of Good courage for I have over come the world."

Mike's experience blessed his Pastor that night and Jesus words illustrate that insight and serve as a blessing to you. We will face messy situations and messy people while we strive to do our best to be a blessing. But Jesus said don't get mad, don't get frustrated and don't turn back. In Jesus you May have peace if you believe that he is the real Transformer. He transformed Death into Life; A negative into a positive and a Messy situation into a Miracle.

Be Blessed, Be Faithful and Be Encouraged!

Pastor JJ

Do you really want to be free?

Jesus said, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free...So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed"

Do you want to be free? If you answered yes then can I also ask you Free from what and what does freedom actually look like to you? Have you ever really thought about it? In fact may I also ask you, do you want to be free or do you want everybody free?

As of the writing of this blog our world is in s state of upheaval. In Britain the western world was subjected to the wedding of the Royals. The Prince belongs to a family, the Windsor family whom I hear own at least 1/6Th of the earth's surface which would make them the largest landowners on earth. Does that make you feel more free that one family with no visible means of support yet who owns so much wealth? What is freedom and do you want to be free or do you want everybody free?

While there are wars, poverty, blight and extreme oppression all over the world our country is reeling from the resurgence of conspicuous racism and race baiting in politics. America has been in arrested development from corporate greed and governmental complicity. all while the average citizen is confined to concerns of their own individual circumstances. Do you want to be free or do you want everybody free? How does freedom look, smell, feel taste to you? Can you imagine being free from the societal, situational and individual external constraints that add to your daily burdens? Let me ask you, is being free in this life reasonable to consider? Have become so accustomed to adversity that you revel in the drama of others because it gives you a vicarious feeling of victory in your situation?

With maturity have we experienced the death of innocence of the deception about innocence? I remember growing up as an adolescent forming friendships, falling in love and having an uplifted out look on what the future held for me and the world. I remember friendships falling out and forming again, love being lost and falling in love again, being disappointed but with the next sunrise having hope again. Here is the challenge can we still have the hope, exuberance and expectation of innocence but also be practical, patient and persevering through the problems and problem people we know will put us to the test? Is this balance possible?

I submit that we can have balance, beloved. I submit that you can experience the liberation of love despite being let down at times lovers. I believe we can still wrap ourselves in he rapture of relationships despite the ramifications of being in a relationship. With all that is revolving in the external to give us low expectations there is an internal reality that can rule one's perception of the external to empower one's imagination about the each moment.

The Truth of the matter is that freedom is being free of the need to be free. Jesus said "you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Knowing that there is a hopeful truth is freeing. Knowing that there is a truth that transform the trials of everyday life into testimonies of triumph is freeing. Knowing that what you see around you does not have to have the last word is freeing.

And being free indeed because there is one who is able to set your mind free of the mess and mundane of life is mystical. The key is that freedom starts from within beloved. It does not mean being free from the responsibilities of life or our obligation to one another but free to be encouraging, inspiring and empowering to others. Freedom is not a fantasy woven by wordsmiths of wonder but Freedom is a reality to be reached from the inside out. There is a relationship that sets one free indeed to dream, to hope, to imagine, to conjure, to expect, to want, to desire and to work toward. This freedom can be touched with the mind, it can be embraced in the heart, it can be sense by smell it can be tasted by the soul. "He who the Son sets free, is free indeed." Be Free beloved; Be free to let go of petty mess and latch on to love. Be free to release the elevation of the negatives of life and wrap your arms around the nurturing in life. Be free to strip down from the shackles of the same ole, same ole, stuck, stiff, and stinking thinking and surround yourself with sagacious, sublime spiritual study of what can be when the Son sets you free to see.

"Think, It Ain't Illegal Yet!"

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!"

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!

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

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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!

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

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.

The Prophet: Tribute to Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.

The late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel described the Prophet of God like this:
"The prophet is a man who feels fiercely. God has thrust a burden upon his soul, and he is bowed and stunned at man's fierce greed. Frightful is the agony of man; no human voice can convey its full terror. Prophecy is the voice that God has lent to the silent agony, a voice to the plundered poor, to the profaned riches of the world. It is a form of living, a crossing point of God and man. God is raging in the prophet's words."

We are living in a time hand made by God for the prophetic voice of Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. His life, his legacy, his gifts are what America needs to hear at this time in her turbulent history. When lesser prophets have been co-opted by the cooing of a Cash register Christianity or pacified by the allure of being in proximity of the first Black President we have a Man of God who stands with the Steel of the Holy Spirit strengthening his back. We need only tune our ears from Trash to Truth to be empowered by that "Certain Sound of the trumpet."

And then the late Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Proctor has said, "One of the preachers in Norfolk who influenced my life most when I was a boy pastored a neighboring church. He never was heard to say much; he never owned a car and yet was seen all over town with his umbrella, visiting the sick and helping people. He was the one person who gave significant tone to our little section of town. He finished Bucknell in 1917 and never had a chance to attend seminary. His academic preparation for ministry was done largely on his own. The few times I heard him preach, it sounded like the heavens had opened and God had leaned in the church windows, as the old folks used to say. When the idea first struck me that I was to preach, I wanted to be like Rev. Richard H. Bowling. It is still a goal for me. His life, his reputation gave authority to his sermons, and his trumpet always gave a certain sound. I would covet for every preacher the kind of response to preaching that Rev. Bowling enjoyed."

To the Magnetic North Pole of Prophetic Preaching Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., you are that Preacher for us! Thanks be to God for you!

"...As you have done it to the least of these..."

His name is Derrion Albert and he was an Honor student at Fenger High School in Chicago, IL. However his life was cut tragically short by another act of senseless violence to a Black child in the Black community of Chicago. Chicago is not the only place where violence is robbing the Black community of the most precious resource we have. It is happening in every major City and it must stop.

Derrion was the victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet the paradox is that he was killed in the parking lot of a church. That building in the background of the news reports is a church and there is another church right across the street. How ironic, the place that is seen as a place of life, sanctuary and safety was the seen of a senseless death. Why didn't anyone call the police? The place where Derrion was murdered is also a busy Chicago street. Cars passed by during this murderous melee and no one called 911. There were homes on both sides of the streets and no one called the police, Why?

One of the citizens during a news report said that "if it had not been for a cell phone video of the horror no one would have been in custody." She is sadly probably right. The police cannot seem apprehend the killers of our children, with most being unsolved and under investigated. Most of the deaths of Black children never make the national news like the attacks on white children in other areas. Thank God for the cell phone video but here is the paradox again. Should the person taking the picture have called 911 instead? It is a perplexing thought trying to wonder what might have happened.

Father Michael Pfleger has said "The Village is sick," and he is right. It is embarrassing to be a Christian while children are dying and Christian folks are minding their own business ignoring our responsibility. It is embarrassing to be Muslim or any faith and our children are being taken from us like this.

We need the President to sign into permanent law the Assault weapons ban. I pray the President will call a national summit and the power broker Blacks who went to lobby for the Olympics in Copenhagen will put that much and more effort in saving our Children. What do you think? What are you willing to do?

"Father, Why must Wars Be fought?"

"Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." (Matthew 5:9NIV)

"Father, why must wars be fought?" (line from "March to the witches castle" by The Funkadelic)

The question in the prayer of the song "march to the witches castle" by The Funkadelic was addressing the ending of the war in Vietnam and soldiers returning home from one hell and stepping into the nightmare of readjustment. All of this because of war.
And as we approach the 8th anniversary of 9/11/01 and the subsequent war that was launched through a pre-emptive strike on Iraq, the same question is just as valid; "Why must wars be fought?" The original question by The Funkadelic was addressed in a prayer to God but I also want to ask each of us, "Why MUST wars be fought?"
I focus on the word "MUST" because there are those who think that we have to bomb people; we have to send drone planes to KILL people we believe are apart of the Taliban or other so-called "terrorist" sympathizers. America is engaged in two wars that don't seem to have an end in sight. How do you defeat a notion? How do you destroy a thought? How does killing bring peace? How can you occupy another person's country and expect sympathy and cooperation? How do you justify unlimited funding of the war effort but extremely limited funding of social programs to lift up those stuck at the bottom of your free society?
What justifies two wars and one that has proven to have dubious reasons as to why it was started in the first place? Why is Killing so acceptable to a so-called Christian nation? If Jesus said "Blessed are the peacemakers..." then what rational do you use for sitting silent as our country fights two wars against a small segment of a country yet disrupting the whole in the process?
Does any Christian have an answer they can take to God and tell me as to Why MUST wars be fought?

Musing about Misery and Magnificence

Isaiah 11:6 says "The wolf will live with the lamb, the Leopard with lie down with the goat, the calf, and the lion and the yearling together; AND A Little CHILD will lead them."

We hosted a powerful, gut wrenching presentation by Brothers known as the "Lost Boys of The Sudan." Their story is nothing short of epic. As I have been reflecting on that night they spoke to my congregation a question to Peter Magai Bul and his response haunts me. He was asked "How did 9, 10, and 11 year olds develop such leadership skills in the face of the incredible odds they faced?" The questioner was referring to the fact that these boys were driven from their Dinka Village of the Sudan because of illegal, unjust war and they walked over two years first to Ethiopia and ultimately to Kenya all while fending off attacks from Northern Arab (& Africans turned against their own children) Muslim militias armed by Arab states and American support to annihilate these children. Peter told how they feared walking at night because wild animals would attack and by day the human animals were prowling. Peter said he and others (9, 10, &11 year olds) took leadership and broke the thousands of boys(at least 38,000 at start) up into groups where some would have to bury their dead, others would have to gather resources and so on.

Peter responded to the question by saying he used to sit with his Father and the Men of his village quietly while the men discussed important issues of leadership. His Father eventually seeing his interest in being a man would teach him how to handle different situations and instructed him that men lead in moments of crises.

The question that rolled around in my mind then as it has for a decade now is, "What is the difference in a boy 9, 10, 11 or 12 now days and one in the 1800's like Frederick Douglass or like Peter Magai Bul in the Sudan in these present times? How come a young man, 9, 10, 11, 12 or even 16 can't take care of himself without using a female or joining a gang? For that matter why can't so many 18, 19, 20 and 25 year olds take care of themselves and rise to leadership for other brothers their age to help them not only live but thrive and overcome like Peter did and Men like Frederick Douglass during that awful night of Chattle Slavery?

The Black boys in the 1800's or the Lost boys of the Sudan had far less than the 9, 10, 11, 19, 20 and 25 year olds have today in North America, so what is the difference? I want to say right now that what ever it is it ain't their fault!!! It ain't that they just need to pull their pants up it is much deeper than that and it holds us as an adult community accountable. What is it?