Rethinking my protest
Two recent events have me rethinking my protest alliance.
Even though initially ALL LIVES MATTER was a protest to our protest — As I witnessed people of my same faith try to spiritualize BLACK LIVES MATTER, I realized that from a Biblical standpoint ALL LIVES MATTER is the most accurate protest for those who profess to be Christians.
I believe that Black Lives Matter!
but technically there is no such thing as a “Black Life” just like there is no such thing as a Blue life.
I believe My Life Matters
but I’m actually not Black. I’m Honey Brown The designation of Black is actually a racist race classification. It has been accepted and embraced by People of Color kind of like the word Ni@@a is used by many as a term of endearment.
I recently heard a sound bite of a sermon by a Black minister who literally grew up in the gang plagued streets of LA. Basically he was saying, we should not let our children get caught up in every movement that comes along and that our cry as Christians should be ALL LIVES MATTER. He called out much of the BLM movement as being entertainment and then he talked about how the majority of Black people protesting are protesting from a place of comfort and not really interested in rolling up their sleeves and going down INTO THE HOOD where the help is really needed. Because I know where he came from I know that he said that on pretty good authority. His early life and consequently his ministry was born and bred IN the hood.
Ad hominem much?
The responses to this sound bite of his sermon were quite disturbing. People who claim the name Christian including other ministers went on comment after comment about this minister’s past, outlining all of his shortcoming and missteps and how crazy he was and how off he has always been and how they all should rally to censure him and even call for his pastoral credentials. Ad hominem much?
It was disheartening.
The clamoring got so loud that the conference where he is employed, in an act of cowardice, took the sermon down and wrote a statement distancing themselves from its content.
As a great debater, so many things came to mind.
1st) Ad Hominem Much?
The definition of Ad Hominem being the 1st.
The 2nd was the treatment of the woman caught in adultery.
3rd) All the Wright and Wrong reasons.
The 3rd was what happened to Jeremiah Wright with the sound bite “God Damn America!” If you just listened to the sound bite and the mainstream media’s interpretation of it , there is no wonder that the clamor of public opinion forced then-President Obama to distance himself from the Pastor who baptized and married him.
Without hearing Pastor Wright’s whole sermon, my first protest was not necessarily for America. My first protest was about should a minister speak like that. Que clips from The Cussin Pastor here.
Then I heard an interview with Chuck D of Public Enemy about the situation that made me rethink my protest. Knowing the Truth to Power speaker he is and why he carried that title Public Enemy #1, I listened intently. When the interviewer asked him directly did he support the message. He said you have to remember I’m a Poet/WordSmith so I support him for all the “Wright” and Wrong reasons. (Mind blown emoji here)
So I immediately went back and listened to the full sermon. What I heard was equally mind-blowing. What Pastor Wright was saying is people sing God Bless America in spite of its horrific and unfair treatment of People of Color. But “God Damn America” for thinking that she could do all she has done and continues to do to People of Color under the guise of being a Christian nation.
As I thought about it, I thought
Just like God Damned Sodom and Gomorrah.
Just like God Damned the Antediluvian world.
So YES God Damn an AmeriKKKa that thinks it can continue to place it’s knee on our necks and still be cool with God.
The 5th thing that came to mind is when the Black Lives Matter movement first started, there were many Black thought leaders exposing the origins of the movement and how it had inroads of being a Trojan Horse against Black Men. (Entertainment)
The 6th thing that came to mind. As powerful as kneeling in protest to Police brutality is/was and as true as his message of the racist nature of the national anthem is/was you can call it coincidental but Colin Kaepernick DIDN’T START KNEELING IN PROTEST UNTIL HE GOT BENCHED. (Entertainment)
WDJD
The 7th thing that had me rethinking my protest alignment was this meme.
It sounded good as I read it but when I got to the end, just like my math teachers used to say, IT DIDN’T ADD UP.
The current version of BLM is a protest to the ruling Government to call for an end to what can only be described as legalized terrorism of people of color. Acts of terrorism committed by racist terrorists of other nationalities, including those dressed in blue who are supposed to be protecting and serving.
Jesus never did that.
By “that” I mean lead or participate in a protest to the ruling government of Rome against their sometimes inhumane treatment of the Jewish nation. THE JEWS WANTED HIM TO LEAD A REVOLT and end Roman rule. They were looking for a messiah that would take the Roman knee off of their neck. But Jesus constantly and painfully reminded them that THAT WAS NOT HIS MISSON. And that is why his own people (people of color) rejected him.
YES, He was fully engaged in Social Justice but not in the same manner as Black Lives Matter.
He shouted Jewish lives matter!
He shouted Samaritan lives matter!
He shouted Gentile lives matter!
He shouted Women’s lives matter!
He shouted Children’s lives matter!
BUT HE DID IT BY CHANGING EACH ONE OF THOSE GROUPS LIVES INDIVIDUALLY NOT BY PROTESTING TO THE RULING GOVERNMENT.
In essence, His revolt, His protest, His cry for Social Justice was “ALL LIVES MATTER!” and He was willing to die for the cause and that cause alone.
Is there a time to protest YES!
Is there time to burn stuff down YES!
“We are in a war and the hunt is on!”
There is a time to fight and even kill, but that is NOT WHAT JESUS DID!
The weapons of His warfare and consequently all who claim to be Christians ARE NOT CARNAL and to try to baptize the Black Lives Matter movement in that manner is like trying to put a square peg into a round hole.
IT JUST DOESN’T ADD UP!
Ryan E. Poole
Thought Provocateur