1. Race exists. Should not have, but it is with us now. What I mean to say is: Adam and Eve were one. Not white nor black. If they were white, the black skin would not likely have come from that; if black, the white skin would not likely have come from that. They were most likely brown. Sin drove them out of the garden, and sin, once again, divided humanity into groups at the Tower. The segregation at the Tower established the foundation for different races.
2. Race is a challenge for all. It is the fallen human nature. Each race has a default position of "self preservation" that requires a regenerative work, to take place on the very soul, to overcome.
3. Just as each individual has a soul, so, too, there is a sense in which we may speak of souls of different races.
4. So, then, IMHO the "natural" position of all races is to be prejudice toward one another.
5. All races wear two faces of slavery: the face of the slaver, and the face of the enslaved. Blacks have made slaves of others and been slaves to others. Whites have made slaves of others and been slaves to others.
6. The word "slave" comes from the word "slav." The "slavic" people (who were/are white) populated/populate Eastern Europe (still do). So many of them were enslaved to the Muslims of Spain in the 9th century A.D. that any person who was bound to servitude was given their name. Much the same way the "N" word (which is only an uneducated pronouncing of "black") became associated with the American slave.
7. Sadly, during our epoch of history, slavery took on the identity of a "race" - the African Black. But, this has been true only in our segment of history. In the past, as I pointed out, the face of slavery was slav -- white.
8. America has a particular challenge before her as a nation and people: Here, the slaves were black and the masters were white. The blacks still feel resentment toward all whites, and feel entitled to what they see as white wealth gained at the expense of their ancestors. This is too often the "family" conversation around the dinner table and the hearth side of the black home. So much so that the young generation grows up with a feeling of entitlement which produces a thuggish trait at the street level. (If the reader will excuse a reference to a personal experience: When My second son was in middle school I was pastoring in Huntsville, Al. it was winter and I had just purchased my son a new coat. One day, on the playground of school, a group of black boys tore the new coat from him and took turns urinating on it. Why? Because the white boy had a new coat and they didn't, so they felt entitled. This trait is fostered and nourished in the black home, far too much.) The present generation of whites in America respond with resentment toward the blacks that they see as a race of ingrates and far too often thuggish.
9. The American U. S. nation fought the bloodiest of all our wars which settled the sad state of affairs of slavery. The blood of 700, 000 whites washed slavery from our country. Though a Southerner, born and bread, I say with some pride that my family (Southerners all) took the correct side in that war -- the Union's.
10. White law makers established the Affirmative Action Laws and programs in America which discriminated against the white race "by law". I have lived and raised my children in a nation that discriminated against us --by law. Laws, that we whites imposed on ourselves and our children.
11. I am of what is called "The Baby Boomer Generation." My generation had made great headway in healing the rift between the white and black races, unitl -- the administration of Barak Obama. He loaded his administration with black activists that for nine years (a decade) rubbed salt into the racial wounds of America. The Post Obama America, is more racially divided than the Pre-Obama America.
12. I cannot necessarily speak for others, but only myself: I had come to a place where I did not see race when I looked at a black person. I saw only another person. Per-Obama. I was a white minister in a black Pentecostal denomination, I happily consented for my only daughter to date and marry a black Christian man from Jamaica, I have a bi-racial granddaughter and grandson -- I am so proud of them both, and I served joyfully as the adjutant to my black bishop in this and other countries. Now? The blacks MAKE, FORCE, us to see race each time we look into their faces. And what we see, we resent. this is not good.
13. Historically, all races have been slaves and have moved on -- put that chapter of their history to rest. These races have taken their place at the table of human society and enjoy community among each other. Enough is enough, already. Stop working so hard to made white America see you as slaves to be emancipated. We have done that already. Take pride in the "skin in the game" your ancestors invested in your behalf. Now come walk with us as equals, and let us be Americans together, brothers.
JLH
No comments:
Post a Comment