This one aint for everybody!
So I am very familiar with human nature and how it works so for everyone that is reading remember I warned you that it was only for the ones who can handle the rough truth!
So I will start this off by saying I am so amazed although I shouldn’t be with the amount of denial and ignorance that is running rapid in this country. I can’t believe that people believe everything that they see on or in the media as a whole. I can’t believe how many people are satisfied with being told what to do and how to think. Many others are ok with assuming things and then running with those assumptions. Others don’t want to be involved at all, turn their heads, and never look at any of our very real issues as a country. So I know in this blog I will offend someone and that’s okay if you are offended by truth or even someone’s opinion that’s on you not me as the writer. Some may ask how can I be so passionate about the lives of black men and women (assuming that all lives don’t matter to me) and I am a Christian who should be focused on the church and Jesus. Some may criticize by saying I am too informed about my heritage as a black man both physically and biblically and feel it’s too much. Others may say I am too white washed and believe in a religion that was tainted by the white founders of this country and many before this country existed. Others may feel a certain type of way because I have many friends outside the Christian religion and dialog with them on a regular basis. Others may feel a certain type of way because I keep challenging the status quo. Finally others may feel like I am too hard on the church because I keep asking them questions like why we are not concerned about everyday issues in this world. Now before I continue I once again warn those who choose to read that this aint for everybody! Some white folks will be offended if they read with a narrow mind and some black folk’s maybe e offended because what I have to say aint too comfortable to hear. Everyone in between may be offended for both blacks and whites I don’t know but what I do know the things I say need to be mentioned and talked about after this blog is read. The challenge is out there to all who read to be about some concrete solutions to this very divided country and make a conscious choice to be that change. I guarantee you that if we keep on avoiding very real issues we will be sorry later that we did not do something when we were challenged to do so. Here we go…
So I mentioned that some might not think I should be so involved with worldly issues and should only be focused on Jesus! Well the bible I read specifically the New Testament in the first four books Jesus was very involved with bringing change to those who needed it. If I’m not mistaken every time he went to the churches he was calling them out on their stuff that was fowl to Him so I believe there is a balance between being overly involved and being mandated to bring positive change to our society. If we as believers are hiding in the church on Sunday’s and waiting for the next service while people in the world are hurting then what good are we? The injustice of people of color in the country’s horrible and it should be addressed in the church because the house of god should be a righteous place and it should not be bias but truthful. We are not going to get balance and righteousness on the media. We as believer must remember that injustice for one is no justice for all! Let’s stop avoiding this very real issue people and be about the change this world needs. By the way I do believe the word of God says and they’ll know us by our love and love not shown is not love at all. Finally the bible also says that an open rebuke is better than love not shown and as long as we refuse to deal with very real issues we are showing how much love we lack for our fellow man.
Next I wanted to address the other religions that are on this earth. I have had the opportunity to talk to many people of other religions and with my very critical and religious mindset at first I was very hard to deal with because I was hell driven. Let me say this first off only Christians in America are hell driven somewhere somehow we’ve been bamboozled to think that we have the final say on who goes where when it’s all said and done. So for many of my first interactions with people of other religions was me apologizing to them for the many who had gone before me telling them they were going to hell. After we moved beyond the initial shock of me not telling them they were going to hell we could dialog. An ignorant, closed off, and closed minded individual will not take the time to see what other people believe. I’m no longer that person have not been for years now. I have met some of the most devout, dedicated, and committed people who are not ”Christians” and show more resemblance of who Christ was on this earth than some “Christians” I know. This is sad but it is true! Although I don’t necessarily believe in everything they believe I still can show them love and respect for who they are. This is also a huge problem in this country because even certain beliefs are attacked as killers, terrorists, and threats when the real reality is if you know true believers of let’s say the Muslim faith and I do mean true believers, they are non- violent. If you ask me it’s not the ones coming from the outside of this country it’s those who live right here that are more of a threat to peace and tranquility in this country than foreigners to this country. I can tell you about terrorist acts committed in this country by this country like the Black Wall Street tragedy in Tulsa Oklahoma committed by this country on a black community where the first planes were flown into buildings. Yes you heard it right 911 was not the first incident where planes were flown into buildings! I encourage you to look it up. So yes I have respect for people of other religions and we dialog constantly and there is a mutual respect for one another and I let God be the judge of our final resting place.
I will continue by saying statistically every 28 hours a black man is killed by the hands of law enforcement. Almost always not every instance it is a white cop that has murdered a black man. I used the word murder on purpose because it has proven to be in many cases lately that unarmed men were killed too many to name at this point. Now for those of you who want to say immediately that they probably were doing something wrong you are probably the ones who don’t believe in the black lives matter movement either. So we know that in a few cases that people were breaking the law like a black man selling cigarettes on a street corner but was it worth him being strangled to he could no longer breathe and ide? Is a man’s spine being severed an okay way to die while in police custody? Is a woman who was angry about being pulled over because the cruiser was quickly approaching so she quickly signaled to let him pass and she is pulled over, for an illegal signal, snatched out of her car, slammed on her head, and ended up dead two days later supposedly by hanging a reason to die? This issue is utterly and completely out of control. Now for those who want to say that I am not saying that white people die too! Remember I started this off with the statistic of every 28 hours a black man is dying at the hands of cops. For those who criticize this movement because of a report that say mike brown never had his hands up and someone lied from the beginning I will give you that point but the stats don’t lie. Every 28 hours a black man dies at the hands of a cop! For those who don’t look at facts you probably are not aware of the report that was done on the way black people are policed in Missouri that found at an alarming rate blacks were targeted by police and even financially that they were raking in money by the arrests of blacks in this state. For those of you who don’t do your own research you may not know that 40 bills have been introduced to congress in the last year to change how people are policed not just black people but all people. So please don’t make uninformed decisions unless you really don’t care about black folks dying every 28 hours by cops. There is good in everything and there is always a few foxes to spoil the vine but don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. The ignorant cynics will call a movement a hate group. The ignorant and uninformed will look at this group as a problem and not the answer to a huge problem that has gone on for years. The ignorant individual will deny all of this and look for an excuse to call this reverse racism as a cop out. My response to that is that it is what it is! Thank God for technology because had we not had cell phone video or camera footage from dash cams and body cameras this would have gone on for God knows how long. So I support the black lives matter movement like many other people around this country. There are a lot more people other than black folks that see the problem with police and people of color. Once again black lives matter doesn’t not mean that they are the only people that they are fighting for. An intelligent person can do their own research, make an informed decision and then draw a conclusion. The non- interested, careless, self- centered individual will not do any research and allow the very bias news media to help them draw uneducated, uninformed decisions and unfortunately this is how ignorance continues. DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON TV PEOPLE!
This next issue is about how segregated the church is today in America. Sure enough we have come a long way but not far enough. Sunday is still the most segregated day of the week. I look at the church as a whole and am so disappointed with the status quo way it is run now days. I see multicultural congregations but only white people in the leadership. I see black churches with only a black man’s mentality and not willing to reach out to white folks if they choose to visit. Like I have stated before the black has the mentality that this is ours and we are going to own it and I get that completely. We have been forced in our history to do church the “white way” and now are holding own to our own heritage and worship our way. I also see that there are so many other nationalities who have their own Sunday services and that’s all good but it shows to the non- believer that God is all for denominational and racial divisions. I watch every Sunday as people who look alike tend to talk only to those that look like them. I see this week after week and I am saying to myself if I am being treated like this how does a visitor feel if people who look like them are the only ones who approach them. This is similar to the work place and it should not be like this on Sundays. We have got to get away from the stereotypes that have driven us a part. The United States of America has done a great job with never addressing the issue of race and division that it started this country with and until it does we will continue to walk around with this false sense of togetherness. It’s really fake and has to be addressed. I say the church has to be the leader in doing so because it is just as bad in the church house. So I am not going to give up on challenging the church to get and do better as a whole because we are the example of Christ on this earth. One may ask why I am so hard on this subject and I will respond by saying as a minister of the gospel I to people daily and they are not at all interested in going to a church because they have been rejected by the church. I have been told that the church is a click and unless you fit in you are on the outs when you attend. I have been told that people have been denied prayer because they did not want to “get saved” right then. I have been told by black people who have entered a white church that they have not been approached by people at all. I have been told by people that the church is full of judgmental people who never give them grace. I can go on and on but this is what I hear and see often when I talk to people. I use to buy into the whole bring people to church game and was conversion driven but not anymore I am much more interested in people knowing who God is over knowing where a church is because church is not being done correctly in many ways. I am a firm believer in introducing people to god and allow Him to lead His people and try my best to lead them by example. So my methods may not be what one thinks I should be doing but I can honestly say that more people have come to Christ outside the walls of the church then inside that I have been privileged to interact with.
To my black folks who think it’s cool to go around not caring about the tremendous sacrifice made for you by your ancestors. It is utterly disrespectful to go around sagging your paints, calling each other niggas’, not voting, and settling for less than the best that is out there for us to pursue. Don’t get me wrong I know the struggle is real and is much easier to make that quick money but that life is short lived. I also understand that is not us who have brought expensive drugs and guns into the inner cities of this country to commit genocide on black folks. I understand at the same time money has been removed from the cities leaving little to no resources and opportunities but this is the history of this country they have never felt like we were worth much anytime they felt like we were 3/5 human and treated us as such. When you don’t think people are human you can justify in your mind them not being important and this is a very real part of who we are in this country’s eye. This is what has lead us to this point today and why we have so much division and this is also why we must get it together somehow to move forward as a strong people. We cannot expect the issue of racism to be addressed because to do this the powers that be have to admit that they were wrong for doing what they did to us from our very inception to this country. So until the issue of race is addressed properly we can’t wait for the country’s conscious to feel bad we have to continue to rise up and find our own identity and be proud of who we were created by God to be. I am a firm believer that we are the chosen people by God and for everything we have gone through as a people it has all been for a purpose yet to be seen. Now many out there may disagree with this but that’s not my issue I’m only speaking what I have found to be true over the last few years. We have been disease stricken, beat, enslaved, murdered, made to be public spectacles, victimized, and robbed of our very creativity but still we rise! We are a strong people with a rich heritage and we cannot diminish ourselves by settling for calling each other niggas. This word came from the word nigger ad was used to bring us down in many ways and we cannot fall into the lie that says we have flipped it and it’s our term to own our way. We are not niggas and we must understand that. We are a proud people who have risen from the ashes and had everything thrown at us you can name and still we rise. This is who we are black people not anything else. So I encourage you to change your paradigm and walk with your heads high and use all the power and strength of our predecessors to move on into the very bright future we have here on this earth. As the innovators of this country who worked for free and are primarily responsible for the building of the country itself never forget that we are innovators not duplicators. So we don’t follow paths more than you create paths. So as we follow the degrading name nigger by flipping it sort of speak remember it goes against every part of who we are as a people. So my encouragement is for us to move on pass the past and create new identities for ourselves. Remember it’s not what someone calls us but how we respond so be careful what you are settling for to be regarded as. WE ARE NOT WHAT THIS COUNTRY HAS SAID WE ARE OVER THE YEARS!
My challenge for everyone who reads is to go and truly search out the scriptures for the truth that has been written. Question things like why all the pictures primarily in the Catholic church of Jesus resemble that of a white man and not the person Revelation describes as a man with hair like sheep’s wool and skin the color of bronze. Question things like why church has been conducted the way that it has over the years. Question why most denominations tend to follow the flow of slaves to masters and not true relationship with God. These are just a few things I can throw out there for people to begin to question about how we do church in America. God created us all to be who we are and when man tries to strip people of that culture something is wrong. God in His infinite wisdom chose to have us look, act, walk, and experience life different for a reason and apparently for a purpose and we must get back to His original plan for His people not our own agendas.
So I say to my people don’t be ashamed of who you are because white America says that you should. Be proud of your heritage, your skin color, your hair, and who you were created to be. Be black and be proud of being black and don’t let anyone or anything make you think it isn’t okay to be proud of who you were created by the infinite creator to be.
I say to white folks don’t think that because black folks are proud of who they are that we are saying white is wrong and something is wrong with being white. That is not at all what we are saying we are just saying that after all the hell we have gone through the least we can do is be proud of what we have overcome as a race of people in this country. Please don’t label us a hate group because we ae proud to be African American. Please don’t try to silence us for being tired of being tired. Please don’t blame those of us who know the true history of this country for spreading racism when we are just bringing light to real issues that plague us to this day. Please don’t get upset when the institution of racism is exposed and brought to the forefront. Finally please don’t continue to avoid the very real discussion that must take place in order for us to be truly healed from the issues that this country has forced upon us for generations. Sorry one black president will not heal hundreds of years of oppression and degradation. No I am not a racist because I want to see my people do well as a whole not here and there, and not his does not mean I don’t want others to do well. If one were to really look at the fact then you would see that many people who have come to America in search for the American dream has reached it quicker than those of us who are native of this country by way of slave ships. There is nothing wrong with being proud of who you are. Pro black does not man anti-white. Just like black lives matter doesn’t translate to no other lives other than black’s matter that’s plain ignorance. If this were the case the crowds would not be multi-cultural. This is common sense to me but you can’t always expect sense to be common nor can you expect people who don’t want to know truth to pursue it. Myself a many other people who are not radicals but proud of our heritage should not be categorized as anything other than a proud black person. Anything else is assumption, ignorance, and denial at its best.
I hope this helps people of all walks of life to see things differently and challenges anyone who doesn’t know the truth of certain matters to take up upon themselves to find out the truth. Knowledge is power and assumption is the lowest form of education so go get true understanding.
God bless you all,
D