Faith in Action

so much was going on in the world! I must admit that sometimes my fingertips itched for a keyboard to broadcast my thoughts and questions, but I resisted. Now, however, I can let loose! Here are a few stories that caught my eye while I was away.

First, thanks for everyone who voted for me in the 2008 Black Weblog Awards. Faith in Action was a finalist in the running for best Faith-based site of the year, but we came up short. A blog called Gospel Fab won the People’s Award and The Infidel Guy Show won the Judges Award. (I must have gotten it wrong about this “Faith-based” Category. Gospel Fab is a gospel concert promotion site and The Infidel Guy Show is run by a self-described atheist. Not knocking the winning sites for what they do, but I thought that the category was supposed to recognize those who talked about…oh…I don’t know - their Faith maybe?) Again, thanks for everyone who voted for FIA and a special thanks to Chip for nominating this site. Click here for the full list of winners.

Now what in the world is going on in Detroit!?

This whole situation is a crying shame. The “Hip Hop Mayor” is going to jail. I remember reading a very inspiring article about Kilpatrick in Dr. Jeremiah Wright’s Trumpet Magazine a few years ago. It’s sad to see the Brotha fall like this. Who knew sitting mayors could get thrown in the slammer. Something in me wonders if this is an ominous foreshadowing of events for Baltimore.

Did anybody catch the Republican National Convention? I must admit, I loved it! Not for the talking heads who spewed venom into a highly amplified microphone broadcast across the world, but I loved the RNC and the DNC for that matter for the everyday citizens who interrupted the regularly scheduled puppet show to decry what is happening in this country. Live TV is great for so many reasons and The Uprising would not be hid from the focus of the government’s media glare. I saw “9-11 Truthers” disrupting “political” conversations, protestors giving riot police fits, and journalists like Amy Goodman getting arrested while trying to report what was going on outside the propaganda convention halls. Even the “ground noise and static” that was John McCain’s speech fell victim to the courageous expression of Code Pink and Iraq Veterans Against The War. Check out this vid of Iraq War Vet, Adam Kokesh, at the RNC Convention.

By the way, you’ll remember my admonition not to sleep on the Green Party, but keep your eyes open as well for the “Ron Paul Movement“.

Paul has attracted a very dedicated following which gathered in Minnesota to hold its own convention called the Campaign for Liberty after the Republican National Convention wouldn’t allow him to speak. Ron Paul’s convention brought together some 10,000 people! The “Ron Paul Movement” does a fantastic job of breaking through the mainstream blackout on their candidate. Ron Paul gets more coverage on mainstream media than any other grassroots or third party candidate and that’s largely due to the demands of his followers. They flood the mailboxes and clog the phone lines of mainstream press until Paul is invited as a guest. This political machine is very organized and strategic. In addition, I must admit that after watching Paul’s convention on the greatest show on television - CSPAN - I may have been baptized a bit into the Ron Paul pool. If there was ever a modern republican that I agreed with on some major policy issues, then Ron Paul is that republican. In a move to strike against the establishment, Paul will have a major press conference today encouraging his followers and all others disenchanted with the two-party political system in this country to vote for a third party candidate. Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader, and Bob Barr are among the candidates invited to the press conference. I’ll post the vid as soon as I have it.

And here are a few that I’ve been checking out lately.

Our resident scholar/theologian/cultural commentator himself - Rev. C. Solomon has just released a tribute to Dr. Jeremiah Wright. Here’s a piece of it:

The Wright Reverend ought to be America’s man of the year! And even though his presence is not welcome at the Democratic Convention in Colorado, he is a substantial part of the reason for America’s profound new hope, for it is he who gets much of the credit for producing Senator Obama and family. If only more individuals in the nation, particularly its former and current leaders had been shaped at Trinity United in Chicago! READ MORE

Hard-hitting Glen Ford from Black Agenda Report brings the FIRE again with his latest piece entitled, “The Age of Katrina - Not Obama.” Take a sip…

The more delusional Obama supporters behave as if “their candidate’s speech on Thursday will herald a crack in time, after which posterity will speak of Before-Obama (BO) and After-Obama (AO) eras, and the transcendental Age of Obama.” They draw straight lines from Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech to Obama’s nomination acceptance oration. However, the event that far more accurately defines the age is Katrina, the unfolding catastrophe that descended on New Orleans three years ago, this week. Katrina is “the most dramatic manifestation of an implacable racism coiled deeply in the ruling structures of American society, primed to remove concentrations of Blacks from places of value.” READ MORE

Then there’s the Chicken Bones Journal - a great online resource for independent African perspectives on world views. (They need your financial support by the way.) Check out this piece I found there. It’s a letter of support for Cynthia McKinney from the President of the Socialist Party of South Africa (Azania)!

To Sister Cynthia McKinney:

We were particularly and greatly thrilled by your nomination as the presidential candidate of the Power to the People Committee and also that of your vice presidential candidate, Sister Rosa Clemente. These are indeed critical times for the United States but much so for the world and most particularly Africa and its people. We are excited and also support the endorsement of this nomination because of how we have come to know you, Sister Cynthia McKinney, and what you stand for.

The people of Africa and Azania, better known as South Africa, are greatly heartened by the fact that it is not in your character and style to keep quiet or turn a blind eye to the challenges that face you. You have consciously taken sides a long time ago and have been outspoken about countries such as Zimbabwe long before other people discovered where they were on the world map. READ MORE

And Renita Weems asks the question, “What’s wrong with being Nappy and Happy?” In this thought provoking commentary, Weems, highlights the Obama girls to raise the question of why Black women perm their hair. Is perming one’s hair a sign of self-hate? Take a sip…

I guess there’s no place in the White House for little black girls with nappy hair, huh? I know many of you can’t tolerate any criticism of the Obamas. And I’m not criticizing the Obamas. Not really. I’m raising a question about a black girl’s hair. And public perception. We’ve talked about this topic before when it was Michelle Obama. You can be sure that when this month’s issue of Essence Magazine arrived in the mail with Malia (10) and Sasha Obama (7) with hair straightened and curled around their shoulders, some black mother lost a battle with her ten year old about not straightening her (just yet). Why do we perm or straighten our daughters’ hair at such a young age?
What other ethnic group does this to their children? READ MORE

Ok - that’s enough for now. I’ll share more great blogs a little later this week.

Perhaps they didn’t think of themselves as Socialists. Perhaps they were just living in a hostile environment that made Community a necessity for survival and much less an optional lifestyle.

But even if they wouldn’t have thought themselves to be Socialists; at the very least they were exhibiting many of the ideals of Christian Socialism. There was no such thing as private ownership. They lived together. They ate together. They served each other. And as a result, Almighty God blessed their efforts toward a Beloved Community by performing miracles in their midst and adding to their community daily. Let’s look at Acts 2: 42-47 with fresh eyes:

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. [New Living Translation]

This, to me, is an awesome example of what is possible when Humanity commits to “being together” and trusts God to “dangerous” levels. When I say “being together” I mean intentionally working to chip away at the barricades that divide us like the Berlin Wall. This past Saturday, I volunteered with an organization called Baltimore Free Store. As the name suggests, it’s a store where everything is absolutely free. You walk in - see what you want and take it. Or you drop off something that someone else might need. I had great conversation and served alongside people who I wouldn’t get a chance to connect with in my normal daily routine.

They were White, republican, county residents, “Blue Dog” Clinton Democrats, etc. And we were all desperately trying to serve God and our sisters/brothers together…and no one surrendered their preciously guarded socio-political ideology, theological understanding, or world view. One sister said loud and proud, “Heck yea I’m a republican and I LOVE George Bush!” Another guy quipped, “Well, I wish we could go back to the Clinton years” and then he proceeded to criticize Israel for its foreign policy injustices against Palestine. Admittedly, I held my cards close to my chest. After all, this was my first time meeting these people, but on the inside I wondered if they knew if the Black guy in the room was a Pan-Africanist who holds Jeremiah Wright in high esteem, embraces Liberation Theology, and feels a little funny about interracial relationships.

That’s the point. We couldn’t have been more different. However, though we were different and proud of our differences we found the….courage(?) to break down the Berlin Walls in our cultural worldview and serve alongside one another. Not a “Kum Ba Ya” experience in the least, but I did see glimpses of what it would be like to really live out Acts 2: 45-47. The truth of the matter is that Community doesn’t have to mean Uniformity. I am proud of the distinctives that God deposited within me. I love my culture. I love…no you don’t understand….LOVE being an African man and I shouldn’t have to surrender that in order to be a part of the Community - and neither should anyone else. As long as we can look at each other as HUMAN BEINGS and regard the value in each other as Thee Divine does - we can start dislodging those things that divide us, serve each other, share all we have, and I believe experience the miraculous. TOGETHER.

TO BE CONTINUED.

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a reporter for The Dallas Observer Newspaper. He wanted my take on the then recent news regarding the new president of the NAACP. He had read the piece I did about this issue and wanted me to elaborate and provide some quotes for his article.

Unfortunately, he called me on a late Friday afternoon and needed my input before a Monday afternoon deadline. Well, I’m extremely suspicious of mainstream press these days because of recent mischaracterizations so I wouldn’t be rushed into an interview on the spot. Also, I’m quickly learning that weekends are extremely busy for Pastors so long story short we weren’t able to conduct a full interview before his deadline, however, he did pull some quotes from my blog.

His focus was on Dr. Freddy Haynes - one of the frontrunners for the position of President of the NAACP. The piece is entitled, “The Man Who Would be King” with the byline: “Freddy Haynes seemed a shoo-in to lead the NAACP. Then Obama’s Ex-Pastor came to town.”

Here is the reporter’s reference to me and the Faith in Action blog:

Not long after [the election of Benjamin Jealous as President], on blogs across the country, supporters of Haynes expressed their disappointment with the decision. Some wondered if NAACP chairman Julian Bond’s alleged support of Hillary Clinton had been a factor. Others wondered if Haynes was too polarizing a figure for the organization at a time in which it seemed a great possibility the United States would elect its first black president. Heber Brown III, a black liberation preacher in Baltimore, wondered on his blog, Faith in Action, if Haynes’ ties with Wright had been a problem for the board.

“It’s no secret that Haynes is a protégé of Wright and is doing a fantastic job continuing in the Black Liberation Theology tradition,” Brown wrote.

Click here to read the full Dallas Observer article with Faith in Action quote included. (Who knew that eventually this blog would bubble up to “mainstream” press?)

Obama and the New World Order
by Rev. C. Solomon

I have been discoursing with purported members of Senator Obama’s political inner-circle. These individuals cannot see any conflict between Tavis Smiley’s outrage given that Senator Obama attended and spoke so gallantly (to defend Israel) at this Jewish conference, when on the other hand he snubbed the State of the Black Union Conference.

Many black Americans do not see a conflict between Obama’s politics as usual and his pledge to continue America’s venal and unbalanced support of Israel in deference to balancing the scales between Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah…! Some Americans have been duped into believing that Obama is simply playing possum, but once he gets elected Superman with his unfurled cape streaming in the wind is going to spring into action.

Folks, in my opinion, the reason that the USA is having so much turmoil and trouble with respect to Middle-Eastern and Near-Eastern nations, among other things, is its unfair and unbalanced support towards Israel against not only Hamas and Hezbollah but against other nations within close proximity like Syria, Iran…, and other nations that are at a greater distance!

America has pledged to destroy itself and its standing in the world right along with its 51st state, Israel. And even though American Christians have biblically inspired and romantic feelings toward the Israel of antiquity, the Israel of today was formulated, created and populated as a result of actions that took place in the UN in 1947/48. Much like it is within American leadership circles, many within Israel’s leadership ranks are nothing more than ungod-like natural born killers.

The Palestinian (Arab and Muslim Semitic people) were summarily evicted from their homelands and their homes, neighborhoods…., their homelands were turned over to the mixed European Jewish Diaspora who returned to Israel from European nations following WWII. When you hear Arabs and Muslims say that Israel does not have a right to exist, they base their opinions on the actions that were decided in the U.N. in 1947/48, having been pushed particularly by Great Britain, the USA and a few other nations. A nearly equal amount of nations abstained from the western backed insouciant injustice that took place in the United Nations in 1947/48.

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This sermon got Father Mike removed from his church - the Faith Community of St. Sabina. To their credit, the St. Sabina family is standing with their pastor. Mary Mitchell writes an interesting article in the Chicago Sun-Times about this situation pointing out that Cardinal Francis George moved slow to remove a pedophile priest, but with great haste pushed Father Mike to the side!

Pretty interesting piece on Baltimore from Aljazeera English. They do a pretty good job of presenting news from a different perspective and I’m heartened by their Code of Ethics.

Part 1 deals more with stories from Baltimore.

Part 2 talks about Obama, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and race in America for the first 5:40. Remainder of the vid goes back to Baltimore.

Hat Tip: Baltimore Sun

Black preachers agree to disagree
Area pastors react differently to the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. scandal

By Kelly Brewington
Sun reporter
May 1, 2008

The Rev. Alvin C. Hathaway Sr. considers the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. to be a tremendous pastor and a brilliant theologian. But sitting in the audience of the National Press Club in Washington this week, Hathaway found himself wincing at some of the remarks by Sen. Barack Obama’s embattled former pastor.

“When Jeremiah Wright says an attack on him is ‘an attack on the black church,’ that’s kind of stretching things,” said Hathaway, pastor of Baltimore’s Union Baptist Church. “I think it’s potentially dangerous.”

He is not the only one who thought so.

On Tuesday, Obama condemned Wright’s remarks, characterizing them as disrespectful, offensive and not accurately portraying the perspective of black churches.

Wright’s plunge back into the national spotlight - in which he has defended his fiery remarks, praised the Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan and accused the media of distorting his words - has sparked an intense reaction in Baltimore’s black faith community. Some pastors assert that Wright is not the spokesman of the black religious tradition - one as diverse as the black community itself.

Others have defended Wright’s remarks as rooted in a rich history of black ministers using the pulpit to challenge injustices. They fear that the Wright backlash has overshadowed the black churches’ history, value and good deeds.

“Many of us pastors are pained,” said the Rev. Johnny Golden, pastor of New Unity Church Ministries in Baltimore and president-elect of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance. “We see a lot of what he is saying and we understand it, but his comments have wounded the opportunity of Mr. Obama to make gains and opportunity for America to embrace its ideals.”

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Tuesday I watched youtube videos of Dr. Jeremiah Wright’s presentation at the National Press Club kicking off the Legislative Days of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Pastor’s Conference. After watching them and Wright’s presentation live on CNN Sunday night at the Detroit NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet, I must say that he did a fantastic job of carefully explaining the particulars of Black Liberation Theology and the prophetic tradition in America. I especially appreciated his NAACP presentation Sunday night where he spoke masterfully about differences being just that - differences, not deficiencies. For the past few days, White America has been exposed to a fabric of Black Religious Life that it rarely, if ever, sees. As Dr. Wright said, the Black Church is much like Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man - mainstream culture is trained not to see it and when glimpses of it appear, the conclusion is that it is something backward, loud, and uncouth.

While I’m sure that White America brought its own biases to Wright’s presentation (mainly because of corporate-controlled fascist media’s mission to control and shape the thoughts of the masses), those who came with an open mind saw a different (not deficient) line of thought, life, and belief that all too often flows in the undercurrent of mainstream America.

While I agree with others who have expressed appreciation of Wright’s words, it’s interesting to see how, White America aside, some African Americans are expressing radically different sentiments about the Reverend’s presentation.

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I just received word that Dr. Jeremiah Wright will be delivering the 11AM morning message this Sunday, April 13, 2008 at the Historic Bank Street Memorial Baptist Church (Norfolk, VA) where the pastor is Rev. William Dixon.

I’m sure that Wright’s phone is blowing up these days so I wondered how Bank Street confirmed him for this Sunday. According to this article, Bank Street has the hookup. Someone from the church is related to Dr. Wright and the church will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Booster’s Ministry.

Kudos to my seminary brother, William Dixon for bringing Dr. Wright to the Norfolk area.

Unfortunately, however not everyone considers Dr. Wright’s presence in Norfolk a blessing. Of course you expect certain folks to frown upon his coming, but another African American pastor?!? Oh come on.

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