Tag Archives: race in America

There Is A “King” In All of Us!

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Every year, during the month of February, we pause to celebrate Black History Month. It is a time in which we focus on the accomplishments and achievements of noted Black historical individuals and Black people in general who sacrificed much for the advancement of African-Americans and people in general. One such individual who paid the ultimate sacrifice at the hand of an assassin’s bullet was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Therefore, no Black History program is complete without a rendition of Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech and the giving of the “Martin Luther King, Jr., Life-time Achievement Award” to some worthy contemporary person who has dedicated their life to Civil Rights and seeking justice and equality for all people.

Now before I go any further, I am not against celebrating Black History Month! I am not advocating that we quit remembering Dr. King and other historical figures who sacrificed so much for the advancement of civil rights in this country and the world. That’s not my point at all! What I am suggesting is that we stop being so infatuated with their accomplishments that we forget that each one of us has also been called to do something significant in our own generation! They did what they were called to do then, we must do what we are called to do now!

We live in a different world than that of Dr. King and the Civil Rights era, therefore, it seems highly unlikely that there will be or even can be “one” individual who can be “the leader” of a movement. This is unsettling to some people because they are looking and waiting for a savior or a superman to save them and the race: They are looking for another Malcolm X or Dr. King! But actually, we don’t need another Dr. King because there is already a “king” in all of us! 

In Genesis 1:26-28, we read: “And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.’ So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (KJV) We were created to have and exercise dominion; that’s kingdom authority, over the earth! There is a “king” in all of us! We keep waiting and looking for help to come from an outside source, when God has already placed all the help we will ever need within each of us! But we will never exercise our dominion until we seize control. And how do we seize control? One of the ways we can seize control by letting go of the “victim mentality” and by accepting and taking responsibility for our own lives!

Now this is not to accept, excuse, or even deny the existence of overt oppressive racism in America by blaming the victim! No! Racism in America is still very much alive and well today! If you don’t think so, just read the media reports of some of the emboldened racist actions within the last couple of years! To those sympathetic White people who insist they shouldn’t be blamed for the past and that racism is history and that Black people should just “get over it,” You are right! You should not be blamed for the sins of your fore-fathers. But it’s really hard for Black people to “get over it” when some of your “cousins” are keeping the sins of your fore-fathers alive this very hour by displaying nooses, spray-painting the “n-word” on LeBron James’ gate and practicing racially bias policing and unjust sentencing toward Black defendants in the justice system and in the courts every day! You are mistaken, racism is not history; it’s current events! Even today, for some White people, it doesn’t matter how much money a Black person may have or how educated, famous, or cultured they may be, at the end of the day; they are still Black! Still Black? Yes! Still Black, as if that’s a sin or a mark of inferiority! As if that’s something that a Black person could or would want to change, even if such a change was possible! 

But I’m digressing now, so let me get back to my point: There is a “king” in all of us! We cited Genesis1:26-28, where God gave man dominion over all the earth and over all the creatures of the earth. But if you look at the text closely, you might note that God never gave man dominion over other men! (That’s why racist theologians and others tried to suggest Black people were not human!) There is a “king” in each and all of us, but the kingship is not to be exercised over other “kings” but rather over one’s environment and circumstances of life.

The racial problem in America would come a long way toward being solved if the White “kings” would understand and accept the fact that the color of their skin does not make them any better than others! Skin color doesn’t make us any better or worse; it just makes us different! The racial problem would also come a long way toward being solved if those White kings who accepted and understood this would be determined to educate rather than just passively tolerate those who didn’t! This is especially true of White Americans who profess to be Christians! Racism would dissipate to a much greater degree if those “White Christians” were truer to their biblical calling than to the standards and cultures of some of their social and country clubs!

And in the meantime, the Black “kings” must realize and adopt the mantra: “If it is to be; it is up to me!” Quit looking for another “Dr. King, Malcolm X, or even the government for salvation! The best way to resist the victimizer is to refuse to play the role of the victim! It’s simply not fair, nor is it an accurate assessment of the truth to blame the “White folks” for all of our problems! Sure, racism does play a significant role in some of our ills, but there are some ills that are maladies of our own making! No! The best way to collectively lift the race is to not expect “one” man or woman to do it, nor to spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to fix the blame on other folks. No! The best way to elevate a race is for each individual to do his or her part in accepting their responsibility to elevate their own social and spiritual consciousness. The best thing you can do for me is to be the best “you” that you can be! The best thing I can do for you is to be the best “me” that I can be! All the while, realizing that my being my best me doesn’t make me better than you; it just makes me a better me than the me I used to be! And our being the best “us” involves being all that God created us to be!

At the end of the day, Dr. King was right! “We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools!” And for those who believe in an after-life in Heaven or Hell: What kind of Heaven is reasonable if we mistreat our brothers and sisters down here and then expect to live in harmony with them in Heaven? And talk about Hell! It sure enough will be Hell, to hate and mistreat someone on earth and then have to spend an eternity with them in Hell!

 

Black, White, Brown and Gold

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golden ruleIn view of the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri it is quite obvious that we have some serious racial problems in America! However, the problems are not just about race, they are also about economics, respect for authority, personal responsibility, and government abuse!

Let me first express my sympathy and condolences to the family and friends of Michael Brown. Losing a loved-one so suddenly in such a tragic manner is beyond my personal comprehension and experience. My prayers and thoughts are ever with that mother and father, along with the rest of the family. Having said that, let me get to the gist of my thoughts for this post.

First, I want to speak to my people; the Black people in America! No matter what has happened in the past, we’ve got to give up the victim mentality! Although White America must rightfully bear some to the blame, everything that goes awry in the Black community is not “the White man’s” fault! I understand the frustration when blatant injustices occur, but how does looting and burning our own neighborhoods fix the problem? It’s amazing to me that whenever something like this happens, people take advantage of it and use it as an excuse to loot, rob and steal! One really has nothing to do with the other! Burning a store and stealing a 60-inch television set has nothing to do with what happened to Michael Brown!

If we want “other” people to respect us, we must respect ourselves! We get all up in arms whenever a White person or the police kill a Black person! We rally and protest for justice but too often we are strangely quiet and dis-interested in the untold numbers of Blacks who are killed by other Blacks on a daily basis in our communities! What is it? Is a Black life only considered a loss and valuable when it is taken by a White person or by the police? Seriously! We have ran the Klu Klux Klan out of business! A couple of generations ago, a Black mother’s greatest fear was that of her son being killed by the Klan. Today her greatest fear is that her son will be killed by other Black men! We’ve got to draw the line and say: “Enough is enough!” The biggest problem in the Black community is not White folks! The biggest problem in the Black community is Black folks! We must respect ourselves! If we don’t want White people using the n-word in reference to us, then we must stop using it to refer to ourselves! It doesn’t matter what the color of the mouth that speaks it; it’s still a degrading, dehumanizing and disrespectful word! We must learn to protect and respect our women and children! We’ve got to change our values to that which is positive and productive instead of that which is negative and destructive. We can’t really blame other folks too much for looking at us with suspicion if we are routinely engaged in suspicious activity! In other words, it’s unrealistic to expect not to be treated like a thug if you routinely act, dress and talk like one! Our young ladies (and some of the old ones too!) need to understand that if you want to be treated like a lady, then you must act and dress like a lady! It doesn’t make sense to get upset when a man doesn’t respect you when you don’t respect yourself! You don’t have to “show everything” to get a (real) man! If all you got going for you is just a nice body, then sooner or later you won’t have much going for you at all! Parents, we’ve misplaced our values also! Too many of us are too concerned about our children looking good when they go to school instead of them getting an education when they get there! We routinely spend hundreds of dollars for a pair of sneakers, but see no value in investing in computers and educational software! We don’t show up for parent conferences, but yet we want to raise “unholy hell” at the suspension hearings!

But if we don’t respect ourselves, who will? Therefore, we should refuse to tolerate or financially support any rapper,and any other recording artist that produces material that degrades our women and children or any other aspect of our culture! They say they are just “keeping it real” by singing about what’s happening in the streets, but the narrative can be changed! Instead of rapping about what is and thereby perpetuating the status quo, why not rap about “what could be” or “what should be” and inspire others to make positive change? I can almost promise you that if we (the Black community and the buying public) would stop buying their music, the lyrics would change! After all, no matter how they tell us they are just keeping it real, it’s really all about the paper. (Cheese, cheddar, benjamins, money, or whatever the current lingo is)! If the negative, degrading and abusive music being produced today wasn’t selling, they wouldn’t be producing it!

Now, a word to my White brothers and sisters who might read this: Much of the rationale and reasoning of Black people in America might be perplexing to you, but some of the frustration experienced in the Black community is because of “White privilege.” You might not want to admit it, but you enjoy certain privileges and opportunities in America simply because you are White! For you, a BMW is a German luxury car, but for many Black people it is not a luxury at all, it is a “Black-Man-Working” a decent job! You are not routinely subjected to police suspicion simply because you drive a nice car. Therefore, you cannot understand what it’s like to be discriminated against because of the color of your skin because it doesn’t routinely happen to you! And although you may not contribute to the situation personally, you still reap the benefits from those who have gone on before you who did! Historically, there was much done to destroy the psyche of the Black man in America! Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that many White people in America didn’t think that Black people were even (whole) people! (If I remember my American History correctly, I think a Black man was considered three-fifths of a person!)

And now a word about Michael Brown. As of this post, no one knows what really happened on that fateful day in August when Mike Brown was killed. But the environment that produced the situation is well-known! Some say that he was shot by the police officer while he had his hands raised in surrender. If that was the case, there is really no excuse for the officer’s actions. Some have suggested that there was a physical confrontation in which Mr. Brown tried to take the officer’s gun. If that was the case, the officer was merely defending himself because he, no doubt feared for his own life. Perhaps the whole situation could have been avoided if Mr. Brown and his companion were walking on the side of the street instead of in the middle of it. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that walking in the middle of the street is a capital offense worthy of death, I’m just simply commenting on the fact that in many communities I know of today, young people routinely walk down the middle of the street in defiance, daring cars to hit them! That blatant disregard for authority and disrespect for others is often the fodder for such unfortunate confrontations!

Speaking of respect and regard for others, let me now deal with my last color. We’ve talked about Black (people), White (people) and the tragedy with (Michael) Brown, now let me introduce a possible solution with the color; Gold! The color Gold is for the “Golden Rule!” “Do unto others as you would have them to do unto you!” If we all ascribed to the Gold, we would have a better world! Gold is the answer to the issues between the Black and the White! Adhering to the Gold could have quite possibly prevented the unfortunate incident that happened with Mr. Brown! If we would all seek to live by the Gold, many of our societal issues would be resolved! Of course, I am not so naive to think that everyone would do this, but if enough of us did, it would make a world of a difference! And even if no one else does it, if you do it, it would make a tremendous difference in your world!

No matter what the outcome of the Michael Brown case, all of us; Black and White should let what happened cause us to examine ourselves! It really doesn’t take much to fix the blame, but what we really need is to dedicate ourselves to fix the problem! Some claim that they know what to do! They say it is as simple as black and white! I don’t know about that, but I am sure there are some intriguing possibilities for a greater and better community if enough of us would seriously consider the Gold!