God Of What?

https://thoughtwrestler.tumblr.com/post/186070257631/was-any-of-this-sanctioned-by-god

Governor Northam: Exhibit (A) In The Case Against Politicians

Rudolph Cardwell Sr., Perlista Henry, Ralph Northam, Linda Cardwell, Danny Cardwell 

Ralph has to go! There's no way he can continue as the Governor of Virginia. This is a painful sentence to write, but a necessary one. I've covered the Governor at a debate, a ribbon cutting, and a few other small events. I've met him a handful of times. I sincerely thought he was the real deal. He came off as a kind and caring person, but he has to resign. I was fooled. We all were fooled. He. Has. To. Go.

If Governor Northam turned over a new leaf and changed his "past" racist ways he did a horrible job of trying to convince us. His press conference was painful. He either doesn't get the outrage behind his past actions or doesn't care. His apology was almost as disappointing as his yearbook photo and past fascination with Blackface. He acted as if he found out Friday this picture existed. He expected us to believe that a 25 year old intelligent medical student didn't have the intellectual horsepower to know how offensive those images have always been. He. Has. To.Go.

Governor Northam is the kind of politician older Black activist have been warning me about. He's the kind of politician I've been writing about since I started participating in politics. He's the kind of white politician who shows up in Black churches singing hymns and talking about how bad racism is. He's the kind of Democratic politician who understands how important the Black vote is and will say anything to get it. He's the kind of politician who makes communities of color distrustful of election year shenanigans. His presences in the Governor's mansion is a slap in the face to voters of color who have been taken for granted by the very politicians they entrusted with their support. He. Has. To. Go.

This has been a disastrous week for the governor. He started out having his words willfully distorted concerning Delegate Kathy Tran's abortion bill, and now he is facing calls for his resignation by many of the Virginia (and national) politicians who helped him ascend to the office of Lieutenant Governor and ultimately Governor. I'm sure he wishes he could return to the good ole days where the most controversial issue he had to deal with was the amount of money he has taken from Dominion Energy and his tacit support of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. He has to resign before Virginia Democrats are forced to impeach him. The only noble thing left for him to do in Virginia politics is save us from the media circus that would follow impeachment proceedings. He. Has. To. Go.

   

2019 Divided We Stand

It is very appropriate that from this cradle of the Confederacy, this very heart of the great Anglo-Saxon Southland, that today we sound the drum for freedom as have our generations of forebears before us time and again down through history. Let us rise to the call for freedom-loving blood that is in us and send our answer to the tyranny that clanks its chains upon the South… I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.
George Wallace

George Wallace was right! Not the sick and dying Wallace who apologized at the end of his life for the role he played in spreading racism and bigotry, but the younger, fitter champion of the segregationist and populist movements in the south. As a Black man, it pains me to admit this.

Race relations are better today than when George Wallace was sworn into office as the 45th Governor of Alabama, but in many ways our society is just as segregated. The push for Civil Rights and equal access to resources was the right thing to do, but I’m starting to question the notion of a fully integrated society. I don't understand why some Black people so obsessed with the idea of assimilating into social clubs and organizations that want to remain separate?

Black bodies in predominantly white spaces are almost always scrutinized and policed in ways that make it crystal clear our presence is not welcomed. Over the last calendar year, we have been bombarded with cellphone videos of Black people being detained, forcibly removed and even arrested. These incidents have taken place in coffee houses, gyms, hotels, parks and golf courses. Each of these transgressions was followed by a lawyerly crafted apology and a promise of more diversity/sensitivity training.

At the end of 2018, a story about an all-white rifle club denying membership to a Black medical doctor made the rounds. Dr. Melvin Brown is an accomplished man. He graduated with an engineering degree, served 20 years in the Navy and is a member of the Medical University of South Carolina Board of Trustees. He was nominated for membership by a friend. There were 13 other people up for membership on the night he was denied admittance into the club. He was the only person rejected. He was the only Black person. A lot of people were upset by the blatant racism on display. I didn't care then and I don’t care now. Civil rights leaders didn't march, protest and die so bourgeois Black people could join the good old boys club. The risked their lives for equal treatment under the law.

Dr. Brown's story highlights what’s wrong with an overly assimilationist mentality. In 2019, Black people need to focus more on appreciating ourselves than seeking the acceptance of others. I understand the mystique and allure of navigating what was once forbidden territory. For some Black people, white acceptance is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Internalizing America's lies about Blackness is the psychological equivalent of breathing in poisonous gases. Sadly, too many of our brothers and sisters believe the grass is greener and that water freezes at a lower temperature in the presence of white people.

It would be nice if America took Dr. King's dream and added a dash of Rodney King's dream. We would all be judged on the merits of our character while getting along. There's nothing wrong with closing your eyes (and in the words of John Lennon) imagining, but I would suggest waking up before your wake up call. The last three years have seen a spike in hate crimes. Black people are being surveilled and questioned by people with no legal authority to do so. It's one thing to deal with these issues in every day life, but to put yourself in harm’s way for the sake of “prestige” seems a bit needy.

The Flag and Willful Distortions of History

Editor, The Recorder,

I would like to respectfully answer the challenge Mrs. Gum issued in her letter to the editor that ran in the Sept. 13 issue.

In her letter, she laid out a few facts about Francis Scott Key, but she didn’t give readers enough historical background about him or the poem he wrote (which was later turned into the national anthem) to paint a complete picture.

I’m certain The Recorder won’t give me enough space to thoroughly discuss Francis Scott Key’s bigotry, protests against police brutality, and the fissures in America today, but I will try. To do this, I will enlist the help of another famous Francis Scott Key — Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald.

F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

To fully understand protests in America, one has to be willing to hold two contradictory ideas in their head at the same time and get outside of themselves long enough to consider what America looks like through another’s eye.

Francis Scott Key was the son of a slave owner — he inherited wealth created by slave labor, he owned slaves, and he was enriched throughout his life by the institution of slavery. As a lawyer in Maryland and a District Attorney in Washington, D.C., he did everything in his legal authority to make life hell for Africans in America. He never prosecuted crimes committed against freed Blacks, and he fought several legal battles against abolitionists.

Key was in British custody because of a prisoner swap he was negotiating. The British feared he would turn over intelligence, so they kept him on a boat anchored several miles out to sea during the 20 to 24 hours of the attack on Fort “McHenry.”

Francis Scott Key and his poem are a part of American history. He is worthy of praise and blame for his actions. He was a horrible human being. In the third stanza of his poem he writes, “No refuge could save the hireling and slave, from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, and the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave, o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

That line was a direct reference to the freed Blacks and slaves who chose to fight for the British Army. He hated them so much that he cheered their deaths.

Key once said Africans were “a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community.” All of this is part of the same story!

America is complex. We have a history most would rather run from than confront. I’ve been at military funerals where loved ones are presented with the flag; this is a cathartic experience. Love of country is a powerful motivator for many people. I understand and respect the sacrifices some have made. With that said, it would be disingenuous to not admit the promises made in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the national anthem don’t apply to all of us.

There will never be a “popular” protest movement. This doesn’t mean reasonable people can’t disagree about what is or isn’t appropriate. Dr. King has been dead long enough to become a beloved figure in America, but he died a hated man. Muhammad Ali was much more popular as an older man dealing with Parkinson’s disease than a young man standing up for the dignity of Black people in the 60's and 70's. This will also be the fate of Colin Kaepernick. His protest was never about the flag or our troops.

Willfully distorting the reason players are protesting solves nothing. Saying racism is better doesn’t deal with the ways it has evolved. Changing the conversation guarantees another generation will have to talk about these issues.

Malcolm X once said, “You can’t stab a man in the back nine inches, pull the knife out six inches, and celebrate the progress.”

There are inequities in employment and educational opportunities that need to be addressed. The criminal justice system is a nightmare. Too many Americans have been systematically excluded from the dream.

50 Years Later We Still Miss King's Point

If you haven't noticed, there are a ton of articles, blogs, and videos about the 50-year anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination. A lot of people have worked really hard writing, editing, and producing content commemorating his life and legacy. If you get a chance you should engage as many of these works as possible. Critically and carefully examine the ideas expressed. After each piece, ask yourself: 1) What kind of person would produce this? 2) What kind of response are they trying to elicit? 3) What kind of work, if any, are they doing to support the causes important to Dr. King? 4) If someone doesn’t have a record of activism, why did they take time to participate in this conversation? Judge these works based on their merit, but also the actions of the author or producer who published them.

America celebrates Dr. King three times a year: his federal holiday on the third Monday in January, during Black History Month, and every April 4^th. Sadly, these celebrations have displaced the reality of his life. Dr. King died a hated man. The overwhelming majority of white Americans had a poor view of him at the time of his death. His support inside the Black community was just above 50%. In the last years of his life Dr. King found himself on the outside of political and social circles he once was welcomed in.

Fifty years after his assassination, America has convinced three generations that he was the prototype for a social activist. His posthumous elevation from radical agent for social change to mythic figure is as American as apple pie. He went from hated to loved without a period of public reflection. The worst part about America’s love affair with Dr. King is the hypocrisy. Every time an activist engages in civil disobedience they are punished. America has never accepted criticism from marginalized communities.

No one in American history has had their legacy more purposefully distorted than Dr. King. Reactionaries and progressives alike use him to endorse a kind of respectability politics that lengthens the arc the moral universe has to travel before it gets to justice. Dr. King has been refashioned into a pacifist. His positions on physical violence overshadow the economic violence caused by the boycotts he championed. Because he possessed the ability to make people confront their own prejudices and shortcomings without attacking their character, he is viewed differently than some of his contemporaries who did the same thing with harsher language.  This isn’t the same as being conciliatory to white feelings.

America will never truly understand King’s dream until we are honest about the legacy of racism in America. We can celebrate the progress he helped usher in, but those celebrations do nothing to confront the ways race continues to affect people of color. Refusing to acknowledge race isn't a cure for racism.

Dr. King isn’t white America’s trophy civil rights activist and he’s not Black America’s principal. His legacy should be protected from all enemies both foreign and domestic. White people should check themselves before attempting to use him to quell social activism they are uncomfortable with and Black people with ulterior motives should check themselves before spreading fairy tales that defang his project of social change.

Here are a few things I think we should be mindful of as we reflect on this day.

1. Be cautious around people who celebrate Dr. king while opposing every issue he advocated for. You can’t love Dr. King while hating someone like Colin Kaepernick and retain moral consistency. One of these men lead a protest that was much more violent than the other.

2. Don’t sit idly by while people try to reappropriate King’s Dream. It’s impossible to remain silent about police brutality, mass incarceration, and the ways race still affects people of color and be a torch-bearer. Don't let people who have chastised protests movements over the same issues King was murdered for supporting convince you that he is their guy. Anyone who has publicly condemned protests over police brutality wouldn't have supported Dr. King.

3. No one owns his legacy. I am very protective of Dr. King’s words, but the fact is he was heavily influenced by the religious and secular figures he read and came in contact with. His ability to weave secular and religious texts into a road map to a more equal future is something to be studied and shared. None of us own this legacy, but we should respect it.

One Exhausting Sh*thole!

“Why are we having all these people from sh*thole countries come here?”

Sh*thole has been uttered on cable news over a dozen times. My only regret is that George Carlin didn’t live long enough to see the barrage of politicians, news anchors and pundits repeat one of the FCC’s seven banned words.

Almost a year into this experiment, the polarization in our country is just as palpable as it was on election night. Our choices are no longer Democrat or Republican. The people who defend Donald Trump’s daily attacks on civility are at war with commonsense and decency. This is bigger than a “poor choice of words”. It’s about a defining principle of this nation. Are we still striving to be the shining city on a hill, or is it time to finally admit the American dream was never meant for everyone?

I’m not going to write 1,000 words about this statement; it doesn’t require critical analysis. Fox news and other conservative media outlets will spin the president’s words in an attempt to drain them of their ignorance and racism. Left leaning blogs and websites will use this latest controversy for clicks. This cycle has no end in sight. Instead of engaging the superficial I want to make some statements that contextualize this moment.

1. America was created for wealthy white men.
2. We inherited a country that wrote a Declaration of Independence and a Preamble to the Constitution that willfully excluded everyone who wasn’t a land owning white male.
3. The past is a great whipping boy for anyone trying to deny structural racism today; The past allows nostalgic Americans to ditch their responsibilities to future generations by pointing out how bad the past was.
4. Skin color has always been strong enough to unite people of different socioeconomic backgrounds.
5. Whiteness is not a blessing or a curse.
6. Donald Trump represented the hopes and wishes of millions of Americans who advocate for a return to authoritarian white hegemony.
7. Donald Trump’s message of restoring whiteness was electoral gold.
8. Donald Trump has done everything in his power to make sure his vision for America is crystal clear. He has repeatedly expressed his desire to take us back.
9. There are scholars and political pundits still trying to convince us that overt racism is a byproduct of economic anxiety.
10. As America undergoes more racial and cultural shifts we will see more "whites only" populist movements.
11. I’m not trying to trigger white anger, guilt, or sympathy. I’m suggesting we be honest about what the legacy of Donald Trump will be.
12. We have all wasted too much time psychoanalyzing this president and his defenders, but we have to keep going.  

Covering Donald Trump is exhausting. I have friends and acquaintances who make a decent living doing so, most are liberal, some are conservative, but almost all of them are worn out. This presidency is turning our beloved vocation into a dreaded occupation. I am tired of expending time and emotional energy cataloging and explaining our president’s racism and white supremacist ideology.

The Conscious Pharisees: Don't Let Them Steal Your Joy

Dear Family,

Happy Thanksgiving weekend. I wanted to drop you a few lines before you get too far into your plans. I know we are supposed to shun all Thanksgiving related activities, but I hope you didn't allow the Pharisees in the "Conscious" Community to talk you out of spending time with your family. There's a qualitative difference between celebrating colonialism and being with loved ones. I hope you didn't let people more interested in your money than you convince you that eating a meal in a predominantly Black space somehow contributes to racism/white supremacy. I hope you didn't fall for someone's narrow conception of being Black or woke.

The Conscious Community has 20/20 vision when it comes to pointing out the crooks and hypocrites in the church and Mosque- and there are plenty, but they go Stevie Wonder when it comes to seeing the nefarious actions some in their movement engage in. There are prominent Conscious leaders who have a history of "swirling," engaging in some of the worst forms of misogyny, ripping off charitable donations, selling curricula available through open access courses and charging you to participate in the kind of marches civil rights activists use to do for free.

There are some strong brothers and sisters in the Conscious Community and there are some snakes. It may take some time to distinguish the real from the fake. Some have honed their craft for decades.

Here are three easily identifiable traits in false leadership you should lookout for:

1.   Anyone who is unnecessarily condescending or tries to come off as your intellectual superior. Charlatans rely on the gimmick of possessing some esoteric knowledge that the rest of us aren't privy to. They will reference a book or thinker you aren't likely to have read or heard of any time you challenge an assertion they make. Last year B.o.B. and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson had a public spat over whether the earth is flat: the earth is not flat. It ended with Dr. Tyson publicly humiliating his young woke adversary with hard science, “It’s a fundamental fact of calculus and non-Euclidean geometry. Small sections of large curved surfaces will always look flat little creatures that crawl upon it."

2.   Anyone who habitually engages in personal attacks against people in the Black community who question their logic, motives or actions. Pharisees in the Conscious Community don't suffer challenges to their authority well. If someone refers to Black women as "Negro bed wenches" and you call them on their misogyny, watch how quickly they redirect their anger. If someone solicits money from the community and you ask them about oversight you will feel their wrath.

3.   Anyone who has too many obvious double standards in their words and actions. False leaders are experts at what everyone else should be doing. They excel in finding fault in the actions of others while ignoring their own problematic behavior. They preach ad nauseam about unity inside the Black community, but they will be the first to attack a Black woman who doesn't conform to their narrow conception of what it means to be a woman, anyone who holds beliefs different from theirs and the entire gay and lesbian community. We are all kings and queens until we step out of line. 

Pharisees inside the Conscious Community are no different than their Biblical counterparts; they crave attention, approval and money. You don't have to give them any of the three. There will always be Black people who have convinced themselves they have transcended the psychological effects of racism/white supremacy in America. Some are genuine and want to help others overcome its crippling effects. Some are stuck in that sunken place they are trying to deliver you from. The truly lost souls believe their way is the only way to advance our people. Their inability to confront ideas and opinions different than their own is only topped by their inability to confront white supremacy in the world. Sadly, this has caused too many within our community to create hierarchies that give them a false sense of status.

Hypocrites will tell you not to celebrate Thanksgiving while they eat at their in-laws; they will call someone a coon or a Negro bed wench for shopping on Black Friday, but they won't return anything someone buys them; they will tell you not to bow down to the government, and then go pay their personal property taxes. Don't listen to them. They are hiding their short comings and failures behind empty rhetoric. Their opinions don't matter. Your family is more important than their approval. When it comes down to it they need you more than you need them. 

Sincerely

Danny Cardwell

#BlackOpinionsMatter: Jemele Hill

Donald Trump might not be a white supremacist, but he did hire a lot of them to work in his administration. Donald Trump might not be a white supremacist, but he has demonstrated white supremacist sensitivities over and over again.

No one made him try to destroy the lives of 5 innocent black kids. No one made him knowingly lie about President Obama's birth certificate. No one made him call Mexicans rapists and murders. No one made him open his mouth and spew his anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hatred. No one made him find the good in the self professed white supremacists who terrorized Charlottesville. No one made him pardon the virulent racist Joe Arpaio. Donald Trump alone chose to do all of these things.

I stand 100% behind Jemele Hill. For 8 years "real Americans" and "Evangelicals" believed (and spread) every ignorant conspiracy theory about Barack Obama. None of them were led to FEMA camps. None of them had their guns taken. None of them were forced to convert to Islam. These lies were spread by racists at Fox news and other conservative media outlets and accepted as facts.

Jemele Hill judged Donald Trump by his actions. He has no one to blame but himself. This time last year "real Americans" loved brash outspoken speech, hated the P.C. culture and weren't snowflakes. What happened?

Jemele Hill was reprimanded for calling a spade a spade. She was hired to give her opinion, and now that her personal opinions​ don't sync up with the powers that be at ESPN  she is in jeopardy. This is a prime example of why people of color need their own platforms. "Real Americans" elected a confessed pu$$y grabbing reprobate to the most powerful office in the world, but are ready to kick an opinion journalist out of her job for tweets she made on her own time.

"Real Americans" wonder why athletes are refusing to stand for this hypocrisy. #BlackOpinionsMatter

Who Will Be The Next #_________?

Acquittals for killing unarmed people of color will be to this generation what stock footage of police using water hoses and siccing dogs on protesters was to the 1960’s. Almost 54 years after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, unemployment in many black communities is twice the national average, and law enforcement continues to disproportionately use lethal force against people of color. For all of America’s talk about racial progress the underlying disparities that necessitated the original gathering remain in place.

When America is forced to deal with race the conversations have no thematic unity. There are too many people in positions of power defending the status quo while those suffering its affects are questioning it. There are people so invested in the flag and the myth of America that they willfully ignore or disconnect the historical context events happen in. There is no gap between Jimmie Lee Jackson and Philando Castile.

America’s need to reflexively point to past achievements in race relations is a form of generational absolution. Admitting things were worse does nothing to dismantle the racism in our midst. I’m not dismissing the progress we’ve made, but the truth is: we are still as sick as the ghosts of our pasts.

After an officer is acquitted for killing an unarmed person of color social media and the blogosphere explode with new articles chronicling the pain endured by the victim’s family, and the distrust between the community and the police. Brilliant thinkers and writers parse the nuances of the latest case versus the last case in an effort to show how juries keep getting it wrong, but nothing changes. Nothing changes because predominantly white juries often go out of their way to give an officer every benefit of the doubt.

Too many Americans have a Spaghetti Western view of the world where the cowboys are all good guys and the Indians are all bad. Even when a murder is captured on video jurors find a way to sympathize with the fear of an officer (with the gun) instead of the humanity of the man or woman on the other end of it.

We are in desperate need of more cure and less diagnosis. Anyone who cares about these issues understands what’s wrong. Better training and body cameras may limit the number of people shot, but they can’t pick fair-minded juries or assure that prosecuting attorneys will put the best case forward.

America’s race problems are exasperated by a litany of false equivalences and illogical positions. Too many Americans, irrespective of race, uncritically accept (either-or) propositions that further divide us. It’s possible to say BLACK LIVES MATTER as a close ended declaration. The call to end police brutality and mass incarceration isn’t the same thing as wanting police officers harmed.

Calls for justice are not provocations, yet pointing out systemic failures has the effect of gaslighting some reactionaries. This is the minefield racial dialog takes place in. Too often people of color understand white silence as tacit approval of the behavior they see instead of a lack of courage or necessary vocabulary to engage in the conversation. This never-ending cycle breeds distrust.

Marching for justice and writing about justice will never produce enough justice. It can take decades for a society to even agree that a particular form of evil is wrong- much less work to fix it. There were enough Americans outraged by the images they saw in the 1960’s to register a dissent and force a change. I’m not advocating for another dose of “We Shall Overcome”. Those days are over, but we have to put more pressure on the District and Commonwealth Attorneys, and the juries who continue to fail us. We have to create an atmosphere so full of commonsense and righteous morality that the injustices we see can’t be explained away by people wanting to maintain their credibility.

No Wins: Money, Power, And Disrespect

I don't care if Colin Kaepernick ever plays another game in the NFL! Don't get it twisted: I'm deeply troubled by the prospect of a law abiding citizen having his dream stripped from him for making a political stand about an issue that's important to millions of Americans, but I don't care if he ever plays again. Colin is trying to get a job from a league that prefers "the help" be subservient rather than independent. His crime was far more egregious than not standing for a flag and a song: Colin is being punished for disrupting the herd. The moment he didn't kowtow to the wishes of the league and end his protest he became a nuisance, but when he inspired others to protest he became an enemy.

I had close to 1,000 words written juxtaposing the way NFL owners and general managers have publicly treated players with domestic violence, assault, and rape arrests versus the way some of them have spoken on and off the record about Colin Kaepernick's National Anthem protest, but the truth is: that's a false dichotomy. Rapist and domestic abusers are welcomed back to the NFL because their crimes don't challenge the authority of the league. When a player, irrespective of race, beats a woman, she's the victim. When Colin and the players who joined him in protest defied the wishes of the commissioner and their owners, the league was the victim. Power doesn't like to be disrespected. I don't believe all of the owners refusing to sign a quarterback who can help their team win are racists: I'm sure some just really love money and aren't willing to risk losing any for a few more wins. What does the owner of a 4-12 team gain by signing a guy who gets them to 7-9 if they miss the playoffs, their team faces boycotts from "real Americans", and they are at the center of weekly tweets from the petulant child who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue 4 days a week?     

What we're seeing is the NFL equivalence of an unruly slave being beaten in public to send a message to the rest of the plantation. I know some #wypipo get upset when anyone references slavery, or compares athletes to slaves, but William C. Rhoden hit the nail on the head in his 2006 book Forty Million Dollar Slaves when he wrote, "Black athletes still find themselves on the periphery of true power in the multibillion-dollar industry their talent built." There's a dynamic at play in sports and entertainment that rarely occurs in other fields: the "help" has the ability to become more famous and almost as powerful as their employers. There are very few owners in any professional league who are as popular as their star players. For every Mark Cuban or Jerry Jones there are 25 owners who could walk into a mall and not be noticed. In the trailer for the Justice League movie one of the characters asks Batman what his super power is; he responded, "I'm rich." Being rich is only a super power if people acquiesce to it. The moment the boss can't control you with money he/she can't control you at all. The NFL couldn't stand a dozen or more liberated men on each team. This wouldn't affect the product on the field, but it would challenge the hierarchy team sports thrive on. Colin has to be sacrificed to keep the rest of the league in line.   

Most quarterbacks hit their prime in their late 20's and early 30's, so there's a chance Kaepernick's best seasons are ahead of him. It's hard for me to believe that he will make it through the preseason without a contract, but stranger things have happened. We live in a country that prefers their protestors dead. Muhammad Ali died last year and America posthumously resurrected his legacy. Many of the same people who hate Muslims and protest movements for justice pretended to love a Muslim who inspired many to protest for justice. Colin upset a fragile subset of the American population; these are the people who throw tantrums when they hear traffic has been blocked by protestors, yet they ignore the reason for the protest. If Colin Kaepernick never throws another pass he has already solidified his place in American history. He was Black Lives Matter in front of the American people every week. He didn't ask for the attention his protest received. He didn't ask others to kneel in solidarity with him. Colin didn't talk about what he was doing until he was asked. He literally protested the way white people have told Black people to protest since the end of slavery; he proved to the world that there isn't an acceptable way to highlight racial disparities in our society. He forced Americans to go on the record about police brutality and race. I don't care if he ever plays again, because one day Americans will be forced to save face and pretend like they supported what he was doing. I hope he manages the money he's made responsibly: this could be the end of his lottery ticket.

The Outrage Will Not Be Televised!

When six Muslims were killed in Canada Donald Trump gave us silence. Last week, when a legal immigrant from India was killed in Kansas we got the same. Our president and his administration seems to be more comfortable talking about the fictional terrorist attacks that occurred in Atlanta, Bowling Green, and Sweden than it is addressing the renaissance of white nationalism. I hope people of color and religious minorities are taking these slights seriously. This administration's silence about white supremacist attacks on racial and religious minorities, their houses of worship, and their burial sites says more about their concern for you than the lawyerly crafted statements about bigotry they've been guilted into reading days and sometimes weeks later. Don't get it twisted: you were not a key component of their electoral victory and your otherness isn't endearing to them or their conception of what it means to be an American. In other words: you are collateral damage in the fight to "Make America Great Again".

President #TwitterFingers never misses an opportunity to tweet about the media, or call for boycotts against companies he doesn't like, yet he struggles to get his tweets off when it comes to attacks perpetrated by the white supremacists who've aligned themselves with his brand of nationalist populism. His silence is compounded by the silence of his supporters. I’ve been impressed by the lengths some #Trumpstans are willing to go to disconnect the actions of white supremacists from the rhetoric espoused by the president.

Hate crimes committed against Muslims are up 67% in the last few years. Srinivas Kuchibhotla (a man of Indian descent) was killed because xenophobia, bigotry, and hatred have become a (re)normalized part of American life. Sikhs, Hindus and other racial minorities have been the victims of bigoted attacks by people too ignorant to understand who they were supposed to be hating. This could become the new normal. I have friends of Puerto Rican heritage who've been mocked with chants of build that wall. The Trump administration may not be directly responsible for the actions of their supporters, but they put the battery in their backs. At rallies, Trump plays to the fear and hatred of some of his supporters and when something bad happens he denies any culpability. This is a dangerous game. I would rather have a treacherous enemy than a weak-willed ally.

I've read social media posts from people who live in the Blue Ridge Mountains (isolated from racial and religious diversity) that echo the calls for a soft nationalism as advocated by the Alt-right/white supremacist wing of their party. These aren’t inherently bad people; some of them are angry and others are afraid, but all are being misled for the sake of ratings. Many of them don't know the difference between a Sunni Muslim and a Sikh, but they see them both as potential members of Isis. Fox news and conservative talk radio has disseminated so much blatant xenophobia for so long that many of their supporters have tacitly accepted the fact that all brown people want to kill them. When "real" Americans or people of European descent are the victims of terrorism the presses stop and there’s wall to wall coverage, but when black and brown people are the victims of American terrorism there's a noticeable difference in the level of outrage. Here I was thinking #AllLivesMatter. Sadly, there will be more blood spilled by those who equate “Making America Great Again” to making it less colorful. There are people who are questioning what place, if any, they have in America.

 

No Negotiations Without Preconditions

No Black person with a prominent platform should meet with Donald Trump or representatives from the Trump administration without preconditions. The United States government has a long-standing policy of setting preconditions for negotiating with hostile state actors. This is a policy Black America should employ as we move into the age of Trumpism. The duplicitous nature of Donald Trump’s rhetoric has damaged any credibility his words have. If he’s serious about his outreach efforts (something I doubt) his next move needs to be his best move. The CDC and Pfizer couldn’t make a panacea capable of eradicating his past racial transgressions, or the racially insensitive attacks on Barack Obama, but taking some bold steps in the right direction would be a good start to open the space for future negotiations.

First, he should withdraw the nomination of Jeff Sessions for Attorney General. It was painfully obvious watching his confirmation hearing testimony that Sessions sees more law enforcement as a viable solution to problems facing the inner-city. More police on the streets does not address the socioeconomic factors that push kids into a life of crime. Redoubling the presence of law enforcement in struggling communities and giving them carte blanche to violate the civil rights of Americans based on race and ethnicity might offer short-term relief to those looking at these problems from the safety of their television screens, but it would further exacerbate the mistrust between police departments and the communities they work in. Stop-and-Frisk was a net failure that emboldened bad officers and put good officers in harm’s way. Jeff Sessions' inability to give clear and succinct answers about investigations into municipalities and police departments with problematic racial histories was, to me, more disqualifying than his alleged racism. If he can’t or won’t acknowledge the abuses of police power Federal probes have uncovered inside cities like Ferguson and Chicago how can those communities trust him to do what’s in their best interests?

Next, Donald Trump should ask for Steve Bannon’s resignation and publicly disavow, in unambiguous terms, the white supremacist elements inside the Alt-Right and other fringe groups he helped elevate. He can’t have it both ways. His most loyal supporters have the rare ability to parse every Trump tweet, and defend his almost weekly indefensible statements, but the majority of Americans, irrespective of race, don’t have this ability. Donald Trump is too comfortable with people who use terms like “feral” and “subhuman” to describe ethnic and racial minorities. Whatever talents or skill set Steve Bannon has to offer is offset by the platform he built for racists. Saying Trump is not a racist doesn’t negate the racism he and Steve Bannon benefited from. Steve Bannon not only provided a platform for racists to espouse their beliefs, but he profited from it. Once someone knowingly benefits from racism it doesn’t matter if they are racist or not.

Donald Trump has proven that he’s incapable of going more than a few days without saying or tweeting something offensive. He needs to build some trust. Anyone surprised that he would tweet out such a ridiculous statement about Representative John Lewis on MLK weekend must have forgotten about a guy named John McCain. Donald Trump’s inability to process critique of any kind will be a hindrance to his ability to govern; this deficiency will affect all Americans, but If Trump wants to show Black America he’s serious about his outreach, he will quit trying to win us over with celebrities. Maybe he could seek the counsel of the best and brightest Black people in America instead of the richest and most entertaining. If he were to come up with policy proposals capable of improving the lives of people affected by decades of bad trade agreements and centuries of systemic racism, he could use his concrete actions to build the bridge he destroyed with his mouth and Twitter account. Donald Trump’s symbolic Black celebrity photo op outreach campaign is failing miserably. When he asked Black people, “what the hell do you have to lose?” It was obvious he didn’t listen to what we were saying about Trayvon, Tamir, Sandra, Freddie, Walter, or Philando. His rhetoric and cabinet appointments are symptoms of his tone deafness.   

If you look hard enough you can see the shame!

The Hug Heard Around The Country

"Next time we may have to kill him."

                                                      John McGraw

On December 15^th 79-year-old John Franklin McGraw plead no contest to a misdemeanor charge of assault that stemmed from the well-timed forearm shiver he delivered to 26-year-old Rakeem Jones at a Trump rally in March. He was charged with a misdemeanor for a crime that had felonious intent. North Carolina state law allows such offenses to be classified as misdemeanors, so I can’t blame him, but let’s be honest: he was sentenced to unsupervised probation for committing an assault captured on video. If you're reading this and believe Rakeem Jones would have received such a lenient sentence had their roles been reversed I would suggest you do a quick google search of this country's history.

Donald Trump created a “Stone Cold Steve Austin” like confidence in some of his most ardent supporters. After months of denying the violence we saw with our own eyes president-elect Trump finally acknowledged his supporter’s behavior during one of his thank you tours, “You people were vicious, violent, screaming, ‘Where’s the wall? We want the wall!’ Screaming, ‘Prison! Prison! Lock her up!’ I mean you are going crazy. I mean, you were nasty and mean and vicious and you wanted to win, right?” He went on to say his supporters have since calmed down, but none of the data I’ve seen supports that notion. There has been a spike in hate crimes since the November 8^th election, but some of these tensions have been brewing since the earliest days of the campaign.

Donald Trump's campaign successfully emboldened a racist subset of geriatrics longing for the good old days. These seniors see it as their duty to protect America from those of us born a little less “American” than them. This gets particularly dangerous when you consider how militarized some of these people are. We have de facto slave patrols in America again. This sounds like hyperbole to people who don’t have to worry about stand your ground laws being distorted to justify the extrajudicial killing of people who look like you, but the evidence is out there. A few weeks ago, in Charleston, West Virginia, a few hours from my home, William Ronald Pulliam murdered 15-year-old James Means. Pulliam claimed Means bumped into him at a convenience store before brandishing a firearm. Pulliam murdered a child and then went home and ate dinner. No gun was found. 

These kind of situations are happening more often than our national media is comfortable with. I had a man in his 70’s threaten me.  I’m 6’1” and 240lbs; I’m probably one of the last people a senior citizen should provoke into a physical altercation, yet my size and strength didn’t deter someone from provoking me. This is a real phenomenon with real world consequences. In the last few years we’ve seen militia members aim firearms at federal agents and another group take over a wildlife refuge. This isn’t just grumpy old men. These people pose a clear and present danger to society. It was all laughs and giggles when Uncle John was just repeating the crazy things he heard on Fox news, but now that he’s been arming himself for the last 8 years it isn’t funny.

America has changed so much in the last 50 years. Some of the belligerent behavior we're seeing from disgruntled seniors is their last gasp effort to derail the train of history. Some of these 70 and 80-year-old men have had front row seats to three generations of Black people destroying the lie of white supremacy. Many openly say "their" country has been stolen from them. Many of them have always viewed equality as their enemy. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, global capitalism created a new class of people. 

Here's a truth that goes contrary to the religious principles I fail trying to adhere to: I don't care that "real America" feels bad about what’s happening to them. When my parents, grandparents, and every ancestor I had on this continent were working like dogs to build this country and provide for our family many of these same "good ole boys" did everything in their power to make their lives worse. I won’t spend a minute trying to better understand people left behind by a system built on the backs of Black slave labor. I’m not one of these happy go lucky Negroes going out of my way to forgive people for failing in their attempt to destroy me. Black people are the only people on Earth routinely called on to forgive those who would cheer our destruction. I won’t be Rodney King; while I believe most of us can get along I’m not naïve enough to believe all of us can. My faith and religious conviction isn’t as strong as the family members of the Emanuel Nine who forgave Dylann Roof.

When Rakeem Jones hugged John McGraw I knew that image, like the image of the crying young boy hugging a Portland police officer, would be used by well-intentioned people to shift the focus from what happened to the promise of a utopian future; America has way of pivoting from potentially painful conversations about race. Rakeem Jones and John McGraw’s hug, and promise to “heal America” is as American a response to racial tensions as apple pie. Twitter and Black Twitter’s response to the hug heard around America couldn’t have been more different. My timeline was filled with overly optimistic White people wanting to turn the page, and Black people in disbelief at how lenient the sentence was. How many more of us have to forgive White people for senseless acts like this before that same spirit of forgiveness translates into America collectively treating us better? Don't Answer that!

Hegemony, Shifiting Demographics, and "Populism"

"And before we knew it we were totally outnumbered at the family gatherings and consigned to a corner of the sectional, whispering and ducking among the flying hands, feeling rather small and blind, like moles or voles trembling in the shadows of the raptors."

When I first heard Paul Hostovsky's poem "Hegemony" I was so caught up with the in-group out-group role reversal narrative that I completely missed the poems lesson: communication. In the poem the protagonist has three deaf cousins who were largely ignored by the rest of their family, but through a series of marriages, births, divorces, and new marriages the biblical narrative of "the first shall be last and the last shall be first" was manifested. The deaf cousins found themselves the center of attention. The "small and blind" feeling the new minority of the hearing felt was based solely on their response to their new position within the family. The majority's willingness to ignore the minority left them on the outside looking in. Maybe we need to start communicating better and read more poetry? 

It's another week and I find myself in the familiar position of sitting in front of my computer with the option of writing about things that, for one reason or another, seem to only happen to people who look like me. Last week provided a wealth of material. I could write about the American legal system failing another black family: the Michael Slager mistrial. I could definitely write about Joe McKnight being murdered and the shooter (Ronald Gasser) being released only to be "strategically" arrested days later. How about that press conference Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand gave? I could drone on for days about his use of threatening messages and profanity as a vehicle to diminish the legitimate concerns people of color have about these types of investigations.

I am very distrustful of anyone who downplays or attempts to diminish the lived experiences people of color talk and/or write about. We inherited an America that wrote a Declaration of Independence and a Preamble to the Constitution that willfully excluded Africans. From a historical perspective, we are far enough from the most egregious forms of racism that even the conservatives admit slavery, Black Codes, and Jim Crow were wrong, yet too many of these same people (and even some liberals) refuse to address the racial inequities of today. It's like being a passenger in a car with a driver who admits to swerving erratically twenty miles ago, but refuses to acknowledge the two left tires in the center rumble strip now. The past is a great whipping boy for anyone trying to deny structural racism today; The past allows nostalgic Americans to ditch their responsibilities to the next generation by pointing out how bad past generations were. We're constantly reminded: "No one alive owned slaves." "You people are represented in every field." "This isn't the 1950's." Statements like these do two specific things; they offer absolution to those making them, and create resentment inside the people hearing them. People of color haven't been spared from economic hardships, so why are we only talking about working class whites?

America was created for white people. I don't know how this easily locatable fact has been turned into a controversial statement. If one were to honestly connect the dots between the actions America has taken in the name of the flag or the idea of American "exceptionalism" you'd come to this conclusion. What it means to be white has changed since the 19th Century, but the goal of controlling contested resources is the same. Black freedom movements combined with the increased migration of Hispanics and other people of color changed the rules that governed who was considered white. Germans, Italians, and Polish people gained full acceptance into the American family. The Irish faced terrible discrimination when they got here, Italians were called every racially insensitive name in the book, and Polish people are the butt of some of the worst jokes ever told, but none of these people were systematically excluded for the first 60 plus years of the 20th Century. The collective economic pain many white Americans are feeling is rooted in economic decisions younger than me. There's always been pockets of poverty, but economic despair combined with the potential end to white hegemony have created a fear that passes for "anger".  

White inclusion has historically been strong enough to unite people of different socioeconomic backgrounds, but like the dollar: inflation has limited its purchasing power. The last decade has been marked by populist movements on both sides of the political spectrum. Donald Trump's underlying message of restoring whiteness was the electoral glue Bernie Sanders' economic message lacked. Scholars and political pundits on the left and right have worked incredibly hard to explain the overt racism we've seen as if it's a by product of the economic anxiety and not a constitutive part of it. We're told to focus more on what automation and globalization have done to working class whites than the racists and racist organizations they've embraced. America is changing fast. Extreme wealth is the only insulation from "New America", ane there's a shortage of cash. Whiteness isn't a blessing or a curse. I'm not trying to create anger, guilt, or sympathy. I'm suggesting we be as honest about this moment in history as we are about the past. 

Pathways to the middle class have narrowed, but economics alone doesn't explain why the old Tea Party/Trump coalition hates the old Occupy Wall Street/Fight For Fifteen crowd. If it were just about money the party fighting for higher wages would have won the election. I'm not willing to waste time circling the square about Bernie being screwed by the DNC. I won't engage hypothetical situations in which Trump isn't the president-elect. Donald Trump represents the hopes and wishes of millions of people who advocate for a return to authoritarian white hegemony. I can't afford to waste my time psychoanalyzing these people or parsing their words. Since the Rodney King beating I've watched dozens of courts across this country reaffirm the fact that I don't have the same rights as my white peers. The fairy tale is that all of these issues are separate from each other. People work harder to deny the existence of  causal links than to accept them and attempt to correct them. I don't care if someone has a personal prejudice: we all have them; I care that their prejudices are allowed to influence the daily experiences of others. As America undergoes more racial and cultural shifts we will see more whites only populist movements. We will be told these movements are based on creating opportunities, but if you listen closely you can hear the desire to reshape America into the country she always was. The family in the poem is a great metaphor for the new minority's fear.

The Social Silences SHHH!

Last week I wore an Italian suit made in China. Let me say that again: I wore an Italian suit made in China. The designer's name was prominently displayed on a hanging placard attached to the left jacket sleeve, a smaller one on the vest, and a tag inside the pants. After a week with my tailor it was time to debut my newest set of threads. While I was pinning my handkerchief inside the breast pocket I noticed a made in China label. Then it hit me: the United States is powerless to affect the manufacturing decisions that allowed me to save a few hundred dollars buying this suit instead of some of the more expensive suits I passed on. In theory, we can impose tariffs or stop trade deals that have an adverse effect on American workers, but the reality is more and more companies around the globe are playing the game.

Trade deals outside of the United States impact American consumption in ways I never thought about until I had my sartorial bubble burst. This is an aspect of globalization that I've never heard mentioned by Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders. The rhetoric Donald Trump used on the campaign trail was very powerful, but it's also powerless. How can we crack down on China without mentioning the European businesses that use cheap, often exploited, Chinese and Indian labor markets to produce some of goods they sell here? We can be as protectionist in our trade philosophies and policies as we want, but global commerce is going to happen with or without our consent. This isn't an argument for TPP or against it, but we have to be honest about the situation we're in. Conservatives worship at the alter of free market capitalism, but the truth is: America worships at the alter of free market consumption.

Large scale manufacturing and textile jobs are gone. No one can bring them back. We have to quit letting politicians on the right and the left lie to desperate people about this fact. Wall Street and the investment class have spoken. The market feeds on escalating productivity and declining wages. No serious person believes that markets were waiting on a Trump administration to put patriotism before profits. We have to find a way to get people to take the medicine they need and not the candy they want. Economic populism that isn't grounded in economic reality does more harm than good. You can get people to pick up their pitchforks, but after they walk around aimlessly for a few days and nothing has changed all you've done is waste their time.

If you want to see America's future all you have to do is drive through any predominantly black neighborhood. Look at who's producing the goods and providing the services. When a community or country stops producing and only consumes misery follows. Globalization has been to America what integration was to black people: a net loss. At the top some have done extraordinarily well, but for the masses the experiment has left them worse off. I recognize the "anger" many working class whites are experiencing as fear; fear related to being powerless to control your economic future. I'm not playing a linguistic game. Anger is just one of the many vehicles for fear. The truth is almost always a harder sell.

No one wants to hear that we have to adjust to a new normal. How do you convince a Dixiecrat that globalization turned their life to crap and not Juan and Maria or Jamal and Keisha? We will always have the harder job of explaining nuance to a public that would rather hear sound bites. The middle class isn't disappearing because of women, or blacks, or immigrants. Wealthy white men willfully made decisions that have hurt the average American's ability to take care of their family. A lot of people get uncomfortable if you talk about this reality in specific terms. We're taught to speak in vague terms that don't point any fingers at those above us on the socioeconomic scale, but to my knowledge none of the economic policies that have hurt the middle class or working class whites were written by, voted on, or signed into law by poor people. I'm certain working class Americans didn't lobby congress on behalf of management and ownership.

Since the election I've read a dozen articles by "experts" who, after the fact, have offered some rather brilliant insights into how Donald Trump won. I personally don't care about these articles. I also don't care about the articles progressives have been writing to explain how the articles and blogs they wrote in the months leading up to the election were right, but the people choose wrong. No one underestimated the "anger" in "rural" America, and we knew turnout was going to be important- in an unrelated story: water is still wet. Those articles, for the most part, don't have any power. I'm concerned with the articles suggesting the Democratic party needs to move away from issues specific to people of color; these articles have the potential to further weaken trust between blacks in the south and the whites in the north.

Working class whites have always fared better than the majority of working people of any color. Look at how much higher black unemployment is than white unemployment. I'm not sure why some on the left are trying to make us choose between our shared economic struggles and problems specific to members of our coalition. Identity politics are the politics of people adversely affected by their identities. I die a bit everytime someone who hasn't worked multiple jobs making less money than their uneducated white coworkers suggest that trade will make all of our lives better. It becomes painfully obvious how much work we need to do in order to strengthen our weak alliance. In essences, the northern progressives who write these articles are ready to throw in the towel on social justice for the sake of winning the next election.

We need to accept the fact that a majority of white America chose Trump's flash and rhetoric over any substance we thought we had; maybe we are too cerebral for our own good? I get lectured to by progressives who don't spend any time with self identified rednecks. Some of these people actually believe they know what my neighbors with the Trump signs in their yards want without ever talking to them. I don't know whether to chalk this up to the "elitism" that seems wedded to the academy or northern residential privilege. Trump can't make coal cheaper than natural gas, so mining jobs will continue to decline, I'm doubtful he can make any substantial changes to any of our existing trade agreements, and If he put a 'huuuge' tariff on imports he will cause more harm than good. He hasn't offered any substantive remedy to help fix our healthcare system. We know we are stuck with what we have or some lesser version of it, but many of his supporters will find out later. When they do we need to have some serious and digestible answers for them. The Democrats would be foolish to kick vulnerable people out of the tent in order to bring the Trump supporters back.

Segregated Faith: America's First Sunday

“I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”

MLK

Today was America’s first full day of church services since candidate Trump became president-elect Trump. The outcome of the election has been received quite differently depending on the racial makeup of a church’s congregation. The data shows 80% of self-described White Evangelicals voted for Donald Trump while Black support for Trump was between 8-10%. The old aphorism about 11:00am Sunday morning being America’s most segregated hour was evident in the way Christians voted.

As I walked towards the lectern in the pulpit this morning I knew the words I chose wouldn’t and couldn’t do an adequate job of placing this moment in a proper biblical or historical context. This election magnified the racial divide in America’s churches. The truth is: many churches haven’t made any substantial progress in desegregating that segmented hour of our week dedicated to worship. As I prepared and meditated on my remarks, I was (once again) forced to face the reality that due to our aging congregation and the racial demographics of our area the only way our church can survive is to bring more of our white brothers and sisters into our fellowship. We are one of the two historically black churches left in our county. I often find myself wondering how can we grow our church in a Republican enclave surrounded by Christians who don’t understand why Donald Trump is anathema to a majority of our members?

Since Tuesday, I’ve read social media posts and watched videos by White pastors who have likened the election of Donald Trump to an Old Testament prophecy coming to fruition. As an ordained member of clergy and a student of human history I find myself questioning what matters most to some of my fellow Christians: nationalism or their membership in the kingdom? I don’t know how so many pastors were able to overlook the obvious racial undertones, xenophobia, misogyny, and overall vindictive rhetoric Donald Trump uses. I can’t understand how the Christian right was able to so easily embrace a candidate who embodied so many of the actions they’ve spent decades worth of lip service fighting.

I’ve been assured by close to a dozen of my fellow Christians that their support for Donald Trump wasn’t based on any racial, religious, or national calculus. They assured me they want “real change”. I’ve been told that Donald Trump won’t govern the way he talked on the campaign trail. I was told that we need to give him a chance. I was told that Donald Trump isn’t a racist, “he just puts Americans first”. I was told all of this by people who assured me they aren’t racist. I had someone tell me how bad they feel that so many racist organizations have aligned themselves with their movement. I’ve come to the conclusion that none of their reasons really matter to me. I don’t have the time or energy to analyze each and every motivation people used to make their decision. It almost feels like some of them are looking for absolution. I know all Trump supporters aren’t racist, but that won’t help me if, and when, I’m subjected to state sanctioned discrimination.

It’s deeply upsetting listening to pastors provide religious cover to a man who hasn't shown the ability to engage in civil discourse with anyone he disagrees with. Donald Trump speaks worse about his political opponents than Dr. King spoke about the people who were trying to kill him. Let that sink in! The Religious right have turned ecumenical back flips finding ways to forgive Donald Trump for behavior they would have crucified President Obama for. I can’t help but question what makes family value conservatives embrace a man with 5 children by 3 women, or his womanizing ways. Legendary conservative womanizers like Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani think the Donald has had a good run.

In the 18^th and 19^th centuries the enlightenment caused the disenchantment with the church. In the 20^th and 21^st century it’s been our hypocrisy. What it means to be a Christian and who decides is a trap civilizations and cultures have fallen into since the church was founded. The church has survived crusades, inquisitions, reformations, and countless other existential crises; as an institution, it will always be here. I don’t question whether the church will live, I wonder how many people will want to be affiliated with it after we’re done?

I started this post with Dr. King because he has simultaneously been the best tool America has produced for the destruction of systematic racism and for shaming civil unrest. There’s much to learn from his sermonizing and writing. He possessed the ability to weave secular and religious texts from the past into road maps for an egalitarian future. No figure in American history has had their legacy more distorted to the detriment of the people he died advocating for than Dr. King. He has been reduced to the role of Black America’s principal or daddy. The moment there’s racial unrest America would rather dismiss than engage Black people are bombarded with images of MLK and told how we should or shouldn’t conduct ourselves. Almost fifty years after his assassination America has convinced herself and three generations of her children that she loved him when he was alive.

The protesters in our streets have very real issues they’re concerned about, yet the inexcusable actions of some knuckleheads have overshadowed their pleas for help. The electoral process has yielded a President-elect who’s caused some in our country to question how safe they are moving forward. Many of Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters don’t have to worry about the kind of collateral damage that can come from draconian immigration policies or a national stop-and-frisk campaign. When members of the LGBTQIA community talk about losing civil liberties based on the religious beliefs of others they are dismissed as drama queens (double entendre intended). The left and the right are equally guilty of dismissing the concerns of the other side. When we ignore or diminish the pain others are experiencing we don’t make their pain go away; we only show them how little we care about it. Now would be a great time for some understanding and resolve. Maybe we can talk about how we got here without yelling at each other?