I was assisted in this reposting and commentary by a bottle of Josh Cellars – Reserve Bourbon Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon 2020. A four point – under $20.00 beauty that definitely outperforms its modest price. Strong. Bold entrance. Moderate tannins. Elegantly dry. Moderate acidity. Leading in with oak, vanilla, and leather. A sustain of blackberries, caramel, and smoke. Ending in red dark fruits, earth, cherries, and chocolate. Medium Sweet – heavy hazelnut finish.
“If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of him…”
James Baldwin – an excerpt from “The Fire Next Time”
Cynthia McDonald composed and spoke this speech at the “Women of Color Beyond Belief” conference in Chicago on September 25, 2021. It was originally entitled “The Secular Case for Reparations: Black Economic Justice from an Atheist’s View.” This article was originally published in the Vol. 38 No. 10 December 2021 edition of “Freethought Today.”
GREETINGS
I want to first say that I am honored and humbled to have been invited by the great Mandisa Thomas to address you. I never thought I’d be asked to come before such an accomplished group of people to speak about something that I am so extremely passionate about. Finding the Black Nonbelievers was integral because it helped me find a community of other Black Atheists, skeptics, agnostics, and humanists and let me know I am not alone.
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A Quote: James Baldwin (author, poet, activist and sharp critic of the Christian church) once said, “I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” He also quite profoundly said: “To accept one’s past – one’s history – is not the same as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it. An invented past can never be used; it cracks and crumbles under the pressures of life like clay in a season of drought.”
Activism And Citizenship
Activism in this space happens because, although one may love the land they are from, it does not mean the land has always loved them. It also means that if I do love this land, I must speak up when it is wrong and has wrought harm to its First Citizens. I use the term “First Citizens” not as an insult to those who have come before or who have immigrated after America was established. I use that term because what we know and how we determine citizenship was as a result of the ending of slavery and the adoption of the 14th Amendment.
The opening sentence of Section One of the 14th Amendment defines U.S. citizenship as: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” There are certain rights that come with citizenship such as:
- Freedom of speech
- Freedom of the press
- Freedom of religion
- Freedom of assembly
- Right to petition the government
- Freedom of liberty
- The pursuit of happiness
Citizenship also comes with responsibilities such as:
- Supporting the Constitution
- Defending the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic
- Staying informed of the issues affecting your community
- Participating in the democratic process (example: voting)
- Respecting and obeying federal, state, and local laws
- Respecting the rights, beliefs, and opinions of others
African Americans [Freedmen] who were either enslaved or the descendants of the enslaved have kept the responsibilities of what is expected of a citizen, yet the rights and privileges that come with such a title have not always been extended to us. African Americans have supported and defended the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, because we have fought in every war (certainly from the first to the last and everything in between). I, myself, am a daughter of a Korean War veteran and a great granddaughter of a World War I veteran.
African Americans stay informed of the issues that affect our community because we are still living under the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow. African Americans have participated in every election since we were given the right to vote, yet we still face voting suppression in numerous states and municipalities. African Americans obey the laws of the land, yet we are incarcerated [and unjustly targeted] more than five times the rate of whites, and at least ten times the rate in five states.
According to a study, Black drivers are about twenty percent more likely to be stopped than white drivers relative to their share of the residential population. The study also found that once stopped, Black drivers were searched about one-and-a-half to two times as often as white drivers, while they were [much] less likely to be carrying drugs, guns, or other illegal contraband compared to their white peers (illegal contraband plantings by white policemen on Black drivers is common). Also, according to a different study, Black Americans are 3.23 times more likely than white Americans to be killed by police. This is not a secret to anyone.
Generational Wealth
Another indicator of the privileges that come with citizenship is the opportunity to create and pass on generational wealth. Right before the March on Washington in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed a group of activists and organizers. He reminded them of the purpose of the march in the nation’s capital. Often, most people think Dr. King was there so he could speak about his dream. Components of that speech are often misused, misquoted or misrepresented. King reminded his folks that this march is about gaining full citizenship, which includes a proper share of wealth and economic inclusion (that is – closing the racial wealth gap).
He Said:
“At the same time when America refused to give the Negro any land, through an act of Congress, our government was giving away millions of acres of land in the West and the Midwest. It meant that it was willing to undergird its white peasants from Europe with an economic floor. But not only did they give the land, they built land-grant colleges with government money to teach them how to farm.
Not only that, they provided county agents to further their expertise in farming. Not only that, they provided low interest rates in order for them to mechanize their farms. Not only that, today many of these people are receiving millions of dollars in subsidies not to farm – and they are the very people telling the Black man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps. Now this is what we are faced with and this is the reality. Now, when we come to Washington in this campaign, we’re coming to get our check.”
King was referring to a policy called the Homestead Act of 1862. This particular policy lasted for over 114 years. The government granted more than 170 million acres of land while the law was in effect. (The passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 repealed the Homestead Act in the 48 contiguous states, but it did grant a 10-year extension on claims in Alaska.) By 1934, well over 1.5 million white families – both American-born and immigrant – eventually profited from it. And, although the process was rife with [unprosecuted] fraud, as many homesteaders sold their plots to corporations, the original claimants pocketed the income from land sales, establishing a basis of wealth and capital.
About 6,000 Black families were able to take advantage of the policy, but most of them lost their land through land theft, lynchings and the like. Enforcement of previous policies such as “The Oregon Land Donation Act of 1850” barred Blacks from owning land and real estate. In 1866, shortly after the end of the Civil War, the “Southern Homestead Act” (SHA) was supposed to function much like the original Act. During the first year of this Act, unoccupied Southern land was offered exclusively to African Americans and loyal whites, but after 1867, even landless former Confederates applied. you can guess what happened afterward.
This one Act of Congress has approximately 48 million white Americans living today off the wealth from that one policy. Again – One Policy. Companies such as Cargill and Purdue exist because of the Homestead Act. Special PWI colleges such as USC (University of South Carolina) only exist because of the Homestead Act.
Policy And Wealth Creation
The United States has used federal policy countless times to create wealth in predominately white communities. Policies such as the New Deal largely went to whites and excluded Blacks. The GI Bill was enacted toward the end of World War II. This policy was to give economic assistance to veterans, such as getting a house, investing in a business, or paying for college. Unfortunately, the management of this policy was given to the states, so Black soldiers coming home from war were often denied this benefit and never told why. An example is the state of Mississippi only granted two Black veterans the GI Bill when it was first enacted. Some 1.2 million Black men served in the U.S. military during the war. There were 237,000 soldiers from Mississippi and a large contingency of those soldiers were Black.
Why does this matter? Oftentimes, the question is raised: “What is wrong with Black people?” What about Black-on-Black crime? What about Black gangs? What about the marriage rate being low? What about Chicago? What about this and what about that? The “what-aboutisms” are what I like to call the symptoms of the deep and never-ending disease. I also like to call them “work avoidance.”
Since I hit you with a little history of economic injustice, let us delve into the wonderful world of statistics. Currently, Black Americans own less than two percent of the wealth in the United States. The median income of an African American [Freedman] household is roughly $30K to $43K versus the median income of a white household being nearly $66K per year. The estimated median wealth of Black households is $36,000 (not liquid), while white households estimated their parents’ median wealth at $150,000. A Black household median wealth for the head of that household with a bachelor’s degree is roughly $15,000 less than the head of a household that is white without a high school diploma.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, African Americans’ median household income and wealth is lower than that of ALL racial and ethnic groups. The myth that African Americans have this spending power of $1.3 trillion is a solid fallacy. That number was based on self-reporting surveys and the combined incomes of African Americans for approximately a year. If you did not know by now, income does not equate to wealth and it for damned sure does not mean buying power.
Reparations Defined
So – What Now? How is this going to be solved? The only way this is going to be solved is by how the government always solved the issue of groups of people coming into wealth: Policy. Massive economic policy – and that policy specifically targeted towards the injured group is defined as Reparations. This can only be achieved through what leading Reparations scholar and Duke University Professor William Darity Jr. calls ARC – or Acknowledgment, Redress, and Closure.
So, before we go into ARC, I think it is important to define Reparations:
Merriam-Webster generally defines Reparations as… A: a repairing or keeping in repair – the act of making amends, offering expiation, or giving satisfaction for a wrong or injury… or B: something done or given as amends or satisfaction [repair and redress]. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines Reparations as a levy on a defeated country forcing it to pay some of the war costs of the winning countries.
Reparations were levied on the Central Powers after World War I to compensate the Allies for some of their war costs. Another example of the later definition is when Germany was forced to pay reparations to Jewish Holocaust victims and their descendants if the direct victim did not survive. Other countries such as France and Croatia, who were also complicit in this behavior also paid reparations.
No Reparations Paid To Freedmen
When the Civil War ended, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman met with former slaves who were pastors and other leaders in their community and asked them what they wanted. They told him they wanted land that they could work and farm on their own. On January 16, 1865, during the American Civil War, he issued Special Field Order No.15, wartime order to allot land to to some freed families in plots of land no larger than forty acres. That wartime order was rescinded by the government and the land was redistributed back to the former slave owners after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln when Andrew Johnson became president. According to an article in Yes! magazine, those land grants alone would have been worth at least $6.4 trillion dollars today. Another economics Ph.D. candidate told me recently, those land grants would have been worth over $19 trillion today.
America has actually acknowledged its malfeasance. On July 29, 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives issued an apology to Black Americans [Freedmen] for the national institution of slavery, and the subsequent Jim Crow laws that for years discriminated against Blacks as second-class citizens in American society. U.S. Representative Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, issued the Resolution (H.Res.194 – introduced 2/27/2007 – 110th Congress) and it had 120 co-sponsors. Along with the acknowledgement, President Joseph Biden recently signed into law Juneteenth as a national holiday, acknowledging the last of the enslaved to be told in Galveston, Texas, that the war was over and they were free.
So – the United States is already very aware of its complacency, and despite the recent laws in various states banning the teaching of critical race theory (or what I call teaching actual history) it would not negate the fact that America has done a deep injustice and harm to Black Americans.
America Is Liable
America is also liable for other policies that caused great harm to our community, such as convict leasing, land theft, domestic terrorism, lynching, redlining, the war on drugs, mass incarceration, multiple Black towns where innocent residents were massacred and whole Black townships were drowned until they were deep under water (like Lake Lanier), to environmental racism such as Flint, Michigan’s leaded water. Or the very poisoned Cancer Alley in Louisiana. All of this red, fresh, and dripping blood (and I mean ALL OF IT) is on America’s hands only. And we have yet to see any attempt or even near attempt for redress and repair.
What does redress and repair look like? Dr. William Darity, the professor from Duke University, stated in an article from BU Today (a magazine published by Boston University), “Redress is the actual form that restitution might take – and I’ve argued that in any program of Reparations, it’s important that restitution must include in some significant way direct payments to eligible recipients.”
So – who is eligible? Or who should be eligible? Dr. Darity’s eligibility criteria (which I agree with) is a person who identifies as Black or African American (or Negro, or Colored) for at least 12 years before a Reparations program is enacted and can trace their lineage to the institution of chattel slavery through at least one ancestor. Clear and simple. Some have argued that this is an arduous task.
I am here to tell you it is not.
According to the Smithsonian, before 1965, Black people of foreign birth residing in the United States were nearly invisible. Nearly not there. According to the 1960 census, their percentage of the population was to the right of the decimal point. But after 1965, men and women of African descent entered the United States in ever-increasing numbers. During the 1990’s, some 900,000 Black immigrants came from the Caribbean; another 400,000 came from Africa; still others came from Europe and the Pacific Rim. Also, as an anecdote, not only am I a descendant from United States Chattel Slavery, I am also a descendant of Black immigrants. First, second and so on generations of Black immigrants clearly know from where we hail.
The United States census from 1870 is the first census to name all former slaves. Using census records constitutes indirect evidence to the institution of Chattel Slavery. Also, it is noteworthy that there are still other documents, such as bills of sale and other slave records – that survived. Dr. Darity proposes in the book he co-wrote with folklorist A. Kirsten Mullen, From Here to Equality – Reparations for Black Americans in the 21st Century (ISBN: 1469671204), that part of a Reparations program would be for the federal government to set up an office or bureau (with branches established nationally) to help those who have claim to find and certify substantiating documents to confirm their lineage to Chattel Slavery.
At the heart of any Reparations program should be to address and close the racial wealth gap. As mentioned earlier, I shared historical examples of multiple heavy infractions that caused this wide chasm that exists today. Only direct payments, economic building programs, and implementing real protections can address this macro crisis that Black Freedmen descendants face. As stated, Black Americans [Freedmen] own less than two percent of the wealth in the United States. During the pandemic in 2020, 41 percent of closed businesses were Black-owned. This is a direct result of not having capital to keep one’s business afloat during perilous times. It is paramount to create a proper economic floor for African Americans.
A Discriminatory Economic System
The System? According to AmericanProgress.org: “The persistent Black-white wealth gap is the result of a discriminatory economic system that keeps Black households from achieving the American dream. This system has always made it difficult for Black households to acquire and keep capital, and this lack of capital has created a persistently large racial wealth disparity, as African Americans have had less wealth to pass on to the next generation than white households.”
There are several other obstacles to building wealth:
+ I. “Black workers often face labor market discrimination, including being steered toward occupations that are less secure, lower paying, and have fewer benefits and career advancement opportunities. These systematic obstacles to gaining access to good jobs are especially prevalent in the private sector.”
+ II. “Opportunities to contribute to and benefit from innovation and advancements in technologies – and thus building wealth in high value-added industries and occupations – are also limited for African American innovators and entrepreneurs, as federal government research funding regularly excludes them. Black households end up with lower incomes and less wealth than white households as a result.”
+ III. “The financial system strips Black households of their wealth by denying them access to the same investment opportunities and affordable credit that white households have. This systematic bias makes it more difficult for Black households to participate in the stock market, to start and grow their own business, and to put away a rainy-day fund, while they carry costlier debt such as car loans, credit card balances, and payday loans at the same time.”
+ IV. “Black households continue to face housing market discrimination, which makes it harder for them to own a home in the first place, and their houses appreciate less in value than those of white households.”
+ V. “Additional factors such as systematically worse treatment in education, health care, and in the criminal itself – criminal justice system that also feeds into the persistent Black-white wealth gap.”
+ VI. “Amid the fallout from the pandemic, state and local governments have made deep cuts to public sector jobs. Black workers have seen economic gains thanks to their hard work in the public sector. These income and wealth gains are now at risk again. In September 2020, 211,000 fewer Black workers had a job in the public sector than was the case in September 2019.”
A Reparations program should encompass all of these factors to create a pathway of making a specifically injustified group of people whole. Support for education, support for entrepreneurial activity, and some resources that should properly go to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) is absolutely necessary. But the preponderance of the funds must go to individual recipients. And they must go in such a way that we, in fact, eliminate the racial wealth gap. Gone. That should be the primary objective of the Reparations project. Point Blank.
So now let’s discuss closure. Malcolm X said: “If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, that’s not progress. If you pull it all the way out, that’s not progress… They haven’t pulled the knife out; they won’t even admit that it’s there.” According to Dr. Darity: “Closure is an agreement on the part of both parties – the culpable party and the victimized party – that the debt has been paid. But I want to be clear that closure in that sense does not mean forgetting.” An important dimension of Reparations programs must address issues concerning the memory of the events that led to the Reparations commitment.”
Unfortunately, a proper conversation about closure cannot be had until the metaphoric knife is acknowledged in the body politic that matters. We have seen “piecemeal policies” proposed, signed into law, benign neglect and the like. Affirmative action, which originally was a policy to help African Americans be added to more work and education spaces, has mostly assisted white women.
The 13th Amendment [amazingly] still allows for the enslavement of convicted felons and one is already aware of the disproportionate rate of Black men in U.S. prisons. Black men are roughly 6 percent of the population but they make up roughly 41 percent of the prison population.
How?
Even with the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King said: “Until we commit ourselves to ensuring that the underclass is given justice and opportunity, we will continue to perpetuate the anger and violence that tears the soul of this nation. I fear I am integrating my people into a burning house.”
Faith Hasn’t Helped
Continuing in the spirit of King, oftentimes faith leaders are credited with leading in the space of social justice. But what good has it done for us? Even though one cannot deny the organizing like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Black wealth is still at the bottom. Despite the ills we as a group have experienced, God is awfully silent concerning our plight, even though, according to a recent Pew Research post, 79 percent of Black Americans identify as Christian. Blacks are still disproportionately killed by police. Black infant mortality is still 2.3 times higher than whites. At every social and economic statistic, Blacks still find themselves at the bottom except for one: our “God” belief.
Black theology has gone through periods of speaking on redemption of the Negro, liberation of the Negro, and as of late – the prosperity of the Negro. Redemption of the Negro often spoke of laying down one’s burdens by the riverside, or when one gets to heaven they will no longer be fettered by pain in this life. Liberation was often spoke on principally as a moral reaction to poverty and social injustice. It attempts to liberate people from [Black] marginalized communities from multiple forms of political, social, economic, and religious subjugation. And views Christian theology as a theology of liberation – a rational study of the being of God in the world in light of the existential situation of an oppressed community, relating the forces of liberation to the essence of the gospel, which is Jesus Christ.
And the prosperity theology views the Bible as a contract between God and humans: “If humans have faith in God, he will deliver security and prosperity.” This doctrine emphasizes the importance of personal empowerment, proposing that it is God’s will for his people to be blessed. Atonement (reconciliation with God) is interpreted to include the alleviation of sickness and poverty, which are viewed as curses to be broken by faith. This is believed to be achieved through donations of money, visualization, affirmations, and positive confession.
There are all kinds and forms of apologetics to persuade Black people to continue to believe in and serve a silent and apathetic God that has done nothing to change the position of Black Americans. That same God allows us to be pushed around by other groups. I’d conjecture he is also quite absent at the Southern border as well.
Solutions Are Needed
It’s time for a new approach. I had a discourse with a Black conservative who told me the reason for all these abysmal statistics is because of how we think. I cannot completely dismiss that. But hoping, wishing, and praying for a deity to save our community is a bad and totally nonproductive approach. How about this: I want to believe as many true things as possible and not believe the things that are not true.
Any civil rights leader who was effective in their advocacy has taught us that none of the things we desire on the macro level can be achieved without a political solution on the micro level. Voting is important, but it is not the full stop of political engagement. Who writes their congressperson today? What about calling their office? How about going to town halls where you can engage politicians directly? And the engagement is not just on the federal level. There are state and municipal representatives that need engagement, as well, because all politics are local.
Speaking on the need for proper economic justice is a herculean task, especially since the issues that Black people face are long and deep. Although it may seem insurmountable, it is still a task that should not be ignored or forgotten. We as a people will not survive without commitment from the powers over us to intervene. They won’t do it, though, without our voices. It can’t just be African Americans [Freedmen] saying this, either. It has to be a critical mass of all peoples recognizing and putting hand to plow to make this a reality.
I – as a Black woman, can only do so much. It takes a village to make this happen. And please recognize that the upliftment of the Black [Freedmen] community is an uplift for America. Every transformative legislation that affects the social and economic make-up for America is because Black people said, “enough is enough.”
Time for reciprocity.
Thank You.
END OF SPEECH
Cynthia McDonald writes a blog (“Freedmen Health and Wellness”) which speaks on the social determinants of health of Black Americans who descend from chattel slavery. She also hosts a socio-political podcast (“The 13 Percent”), a pop culture podcast (“Chronicles of a Revolutionary Nerd”) and is a regular host on the “Non-Prophets” show, produced by the Atheist Community of Austin (Texas). Cynthia also serves as the general secretary of the reparations advocacy organization known as Freedmen Chicago.
ARTHUR WARD’S COMMENTARY
WARNING: If you are insanely religious or easily triggered by controversial viewpoints – spare yourself. Please do not read anything past this sentence.
The only “belief” system I have at this time is “Freedmen Reparationism” – No Other Beliefs Family. No church is needed. No pastor is needed. Doing education, activism, and political engagement are its “prayers” – and the way to the heaven that its unlettered and untitled acolytes are bound to create. In the here and now of course. Can’t do supernatural stuff. Metaphysics does not work for me or us.
Let’s start with this:
“Christianity played a prominent role in the proliferation of Black and African subservience to White and European peoples. It directly aided and supported the enslavement of Black and African people for centuries, and served a direct role in maintaining the institution of chattel race-based slavery in North America for years to come. And Christianity as a religion and an idea, as known by the Western World, encourages and promotes ‘Uncle Tomism’, the idea that the Black and/or African man must be passive, loyal, patient, and obedient, in all of the wrong ways, to those who oppress him, specifically the White and/or European man.
And this idea is alive and well today, and even though the White European, for the most part, has generally abandoned Christianity, they still promote these Christian ideas [to blacks] but through a liberal secular standpoint. And the Black Christian and the African Christian hold on still to the religion that was abandoned by those [Whites] that taught it to them, and embrace the [negative] ideas that they promoted to them, in the past and present.
… they both are enthusiastically following a religion that he who taught it to them has abandoned. And they are gladly and feverishly obeying, practicing and spreading the ideas that they were taught, by one who never implemented them [Christian ideals] in the first place.”
Excerpt From: “Uncle Tom Was A Christian” (Abu Firnas) ISBN: 9798373420600
When folks ask me if my Atheism informs my politics, I must respond “Yes.” When folks ask me if my Buddhism informs my politics, I must respond “Yes.” Beliefs inform all actions, and I think that religions, beliefs, and life philosophies are “operating systems” that shape one’s politics and the effectiveness of one’s political activities. That shape how one reacts (or not) to all things. That shape one’s outlook and proactivity. Facts, logic, and justice drive me. I am a Full Reparations activist – I am also the most complete and committed Atheist on the planet. Buddhism makes my Atheism humanistically operational.
I also know that Christianity is part of the system of White Supremacy.
I only became whole when I divested myself of God-belief. Cured and well.
And operating in my mental clarity after my divestment – I came to understand that the politics in the Freedmen community is very much – too much, tied up in and with religion – churches – and preachers. Next to being released from legal slavery, and then being emancipated from the most onerous aspects of Jim Crow – Reparations is the most important issue for us Freedmen in the here, and hard going forward until it is accomplished in the now. We have to do a mental reset in all aspects and at every level – and that includes “belief systems.” My personal understanding is that Christianity, the church, and the mindsets those constructs generate, has blunted our efforts in attaining full citizenship and to obtain our reparational due – despite the fact that [some of] the Black church was quite prominent and instrumental in our previous freedom efforts. In that respect – honors are due.
But!!! From the end of the “Civil Rights Era” going forward into the now – we have been messed-over by the preacher-politician complex. That is just a fact. The dirty Democratic Party is the coordinator and beneficiary. Our Black preachers have always gotten in the way of good policy for Freedmen. For clergy, politics is just another income and influence stream, and churches serve as political indoctrination facilities for the Democrats – in addition to dispensing “hope” and “belief” nonsense. At this time – we have Democrat Party paid Black preachers in Chicago sheltering white Venezuelan illegal migrants in the churches you paid for. YOU paid for.
Folks – once those illegals get on their beautifully naturalized feet – they will be standing hard and heavy – politically and economically – directly on top of your childrens necks. And the Black preachers that do this, do not care not one whit – what they are setting our community up for. To Hell With You Niggers. They just want that Democrat Party trick-money – AMEN!!! OK? Somebody needs to call Jesus. Now – this commentary is not ever – or will ever be an assault on believers themselves. OK? This is an assault on bad ideas, bad people, bad agendas, and what I perceive to be bad beliefs. FACTS – bad beliefs always produce bad politics.
A Question to Pastors: How do we have a God and a Ghetto in the same spot?
I want all my Freedmen Family to understand that I transitioned from believer to Atheist. From Atheist to operational Buddhist by which I switched my allegiance from God – to an allegiance to Foundational Black American humanity and our Reparations (other groups are grown folks – and can take care of their own issues). My core of being (can we say “spirit?”) is now concretely foundationalized into the accomplishment of Black interests over that of white appeasement. I have snatched my focus away from an unseen and unknown heaven, and the possibility of an ephemeral – unrealized salvation. No More God.
No more Jesus. No more Pastors. No more Church. I have refocused that same beautiful, reaching, transcendental, devotional energy towards the reparational ground I stand on – and the unliberated people in front of me. Right in the Now.
We as a people cannot afford mere “belief” any more.
Never forget that religion did not, would not, and could not stop the exploitation of Black bodies. Never. Ever. The traditional African beliefs and practices did not stop them from practicing (even today) the inter-tribal trading and taking (in conflicts) for the purposes of enslavement – Black bodies. That unrelenting Black on Black enslavement done centuries before – and then feeding the Trans-Atlantic enterprise. Islamic piety certainly did not stop the African to Muslim slave trade. No Way. (My understanding is that trade continues profitably till today. You Tell Me?).
The Catholic Church enthusiastically blessed the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Colonial Christianity was slavery’s main philosophical support in America. Right?
“Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you [still] endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered [on the Cross] for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”
1 Peter 2:18-21 NIV
Native American tribal beliefs certainly did not stop the American Indian from participating in the entire slavery enterprise from top to bottom. White Evangelical Christianity was one of the most powerful forces in countering Civil Rights efforts. Violently and politically. And the third Secretary Of State for the Confederacy was Jewish – Judah P. Benjamin. All bullshit. Whatever good that religion was able to do in releasing us from slavery and securing citizen’s rights for us – is miniscule in comparison to the exhaustive amount of damage it abetted, and continues to do.
Hmm… Let’s see: First Black captives landed in the Americas in 1562 on the good ship “Jesus.” Then later, Abraham Lincoln did us with a dubious “Emancipation Proclamation” in 1863. That’s 301 years. OK? Then, let us add in another 130 years of legal post-slavery nonsense. Christian country? Now from that, we can clearly see that this merciful God keeps the well-being of American Freedmen people securely in mind as an urgent priority. You can see that – Right? RIGHT? If a God exists – he certainly does provide. But only for everybody else – especially whites.
Doesn’t God remind you of the Democratic Party?
When non-Freedmen are in need, whatever Providence there may be (?) takes mere seconds or days in response or proaction for everything and everyone else. But it takes several hundred years before the most pious, faithful, enthusiastic Christians on earth, us Freedmen Americans, could or can even receive anything resembling partial relief for our suffering? The Freedmen are still waiting for the rest of the package – from an “All-Powerful” God. Maybe God put us on his 400 year waiting list – cuz’ we’re “special?” Are there Black people in Heaven? Just going by the pictures. Who Knows? Even if God were conclusively proven to exist – that would be all the more reason for me to look up, and give him a solid “…………..”
Then – I could finish my ice cream.
We have it all here. Christianity, Islam, Jesus, Allah, Jehovah. God. God. God!!! – Salvation, Segregation, and Lynching – With Taxes? OK. A Christian country? OK. Jesus loves you? OK? Yes! You CAN be a Christian AND A NIGGER – at the same beautiful time – NIGGER. Damn. Let me check my watch.
I have always believed that Christianity is owned by white people anyway. And they can do whatever they want with it. That’s why white-assed Ku Klux Klan-type folks could blow up and burn down Black churches with impunity. No prosecution. No punishment. And ol’ Jesus did NOT stop anything. Right? We all know that God is white. I saw him right there on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. “The Savior” Jesus is certainly white. I’m just going by the pictures. Christianity itself belongs entirely to the white supremacy system (just look at our nasty results over centuries as a believing people) and American Freedmen should understand that.
At this point – we should clearly see that something is not adding up.
Family – any scripture, religion, or life philosophy should and must be open to the closest examination. The hardest scrutiny. The most critical dismantlement of every single point presented. Every single point. Evaluated in cold, hard fact. Not in the uncertain amorphousness of Christian faith. That religion or life philosophy should be able to stand up to – and to then clearly remain operable at all levels – both scientifically and philosophically under That kind of evaluative pressure. That being established – before it should be adopted as a reference for your life. That includes the Bible.
Does That make sense?
That research and scrutinization should always be done by and for YOU. That, “this is how I grew up” – OR – “that’s what my momma believed” – OR – “cuz that’s the tradition in my family” type craziness. Ahh… NO. Those reasons ain’t nowhere near good enough to be “believing” anything. NO. This is nothing but niggerized intellectual laziness. People allowing themselves to be trapped in the dangerously matrixial worlds of the “comfortable” and the “familiar.”
We got otherwise “smart” folks “believing“ stuff. Grown people. OK? Grown people should not be “believing” anything. Can we stick the “Tooth Fairy” and “Santa Claus” in there too? Fuck that. How about some facts? How about an honest admission of “I don’t know” – if you don’t know? Operative wisdom lies in understanding that truth, proof, and reason trumps tradition, hope, and faith every time. Politicians and Preachers are the best liars on the planet.
There was a 13th Century Japanese Buddhist monk named Nichiren that wrote a beautiful paragraph that I am excerpting from a letter that he composed now titled “The Person and the Law” (Nanjo-dono Gohenji). The reason I am so attached to this piece is because he starts and finishes with the person. The philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism itself is godless. All power starts and ends with the person. All transformation starts and ends with the person. All enlightenment starts and ends with the person. All Here. No supernaturalism. The “secret Law” that he refers to means a universal “Law” of cause and effect. And “nirvana” in his sense means the highest mentality to accomplish and maintain in this present and concrete world:
“This is a mountainous place, remote from all human habitation. There is not a single village in any direction. Although I live in such a forsaken hovel, deep in this mortal flesh I preserve the ultimate secret Law inherited from Shakyamuni Buddha at Eagle Peak. My heart is where all Buddhas enter nirvana; my tongue, where they turn the wheel of doctrine; my throat, where they are born into this world; and my mouth, where they attain enlightenment. Because this mountain is where the wondrous votary of the Lotus Sutra dwells, how can it be any less sacred than the pure land of Eagle Peak? Since the Law is supreme, the Person is worthy of respect; since the Person is worthy of respect, the Land is sacred. The [Lotus Sutra] reads, ‘Whether in a grove, under a tree, or in a monastery… the Buddhas enter nirvana.’ Those who visit this place [this here and now within oneself] can instantly expiate the sins they have committed since the infinite past and transform their illusions into wisdom, their errors into truth, and their sufferings into freedom.”
Yes. “Since the Law is supreme, the Person is worthy of respect; since the Person is worthy of respect, the Land is sacred.” Again, the “Law” he mentions is the law of cause and effect itself and all of the teachings that give operational clarity to that universal principle. Thusly – effecting freedom from one’s own power, wisdom, and determination. I understand that a transformation – a raising of the people’s life condition HERE automatically and simultaneously transforms the land.
Replacing the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with the earthly triumvirate operationality of Business, Politics, and Economics. I can get on with the American practicality of creating a heaven in the here – and now, on THIS sacred ground.
Reparations Now – Cut The Check!!!
It should be an embarrassment that the Black church is the strongest institution in our community. That institution equals continued failure. We will never move forward as a people as long as the church remains our strongest institution.
Our earthly existence is fed by politics, economics, and business. Spirituality and blind other-worldly metaphysics is not going to cut it as a solution or help. Because Jesus is Not Power. Jesus is The Game being played on us. And that church is the biggest player of the game – on us. That Church is literally pushing us into the grave. Turning the other cheek to the bullets of White Supremacy means an assured death. An assured end to our lineage. With no reserve.
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FREEDMEN ABSOLUTE 