Faith in Action

Internet surfing on Saturday revealed that the NAACP had elected its new leader - Benjamin Todd Jealous, a Rhodes Scholar and Human Rights Activist. Jealous at age 35 is the youngest President and CEO in the 99 year history of the organization.

Not knowing Mr. Jealous, there are two things that struck me at first glance when I read the news. First, his age. I thought it was a bold and encouraging move by the organization to elect a young man to lead the organization forward. It sends a signal that the NAACP is serious about recruiting more youth to the organization to be true partners in determining future steps. It’s no secret that the NAACP - like other “old guard” civil rights organizations/figureheads- has struggled to remain relevant in quickly changing times. Hopefully, Jealous will help.

The second thing that struck me was his image. To be quite honest, when I first saw his picture I thought that he was caucasian. I was shocked to think that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had elected a White man to lead the organization into the future! Now I know that this wouldn’t have been a first for the NAACP (White people have always been involved with the leadership and funding of the organization), but let’s just say I would have considered it a very surprising move. I can hear Jasmyne Cannick already saying that White people are not stealing our cultural distinctives - WE’RE GIVING THEM AWAY!

Thank goodness I kept reading the article.

Jealous’ mother is Black and his father is White. Jean Marbella from the Baltimore Sun calls him “very Obama” - with the parallels of ivy league credentials, biracial parentage, lawyer spouses, and contentious battles to win versus older, established candidates.

One of the other candidates for the presidency - Dr. Freddy Haynes, pastor of Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas, was my choice. Knowing him personally and his rootage in the Black Church experience would have poised the organization to continue blowing the trumpet for justice no matter how unpopular it would be. (I would be curious to learn how Haynes connection to Dr. Jeremiah Wright impacted the Board’s decision. It’s no secret that Haynes is a protege of Wright and is doing a fantastic job continuing in the Black Liberation Theology tradition.)

Well apparently, the “social justice” trumpet won’t be the bugle nearest Benjamin Jealous’ hand - his top priority is fundraising. According to a Baltimore Sun article:

Jealous said he will make financial stability a priority for the organization and plans to use his personal relationships with top foundations around the country to build fund-raising.

This is of great concern to me because I do not believe that the nation’s foundations are going to make contributions without strings attached. My boy “E Double” shared a Haki Madhubuti quote with me sometime ago that went something like, “It is generally understood that he who butters your bread dictates your appetite.”

Toward that end, I recently finished reading a fascinating book entitled, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond The Non-Profit Industrial Complex edited by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence. The book demands your eyes to be opened to the fact that Foundations and other Grantmaking Institutions have historically been used to indirectly control the activities of organizations that claim social change as their goal. Nonprofit organizations are, by and large, used to dissiminate crumbs to the poor, oppressed masses and manage their dissent as opposed to nourishing the seeds of revolution that are present in their souls. It is the blossoming of those seeds that is needed to bring this system of government which is unjust at its core to an end. According to this must-read book, the Non-profit Industrial Complex (NPIC) is used to:

If these concepts hold to be true, and I suspect they will, we can look forward to a NAACP that becomes further “americanized” and absorbed into the corporate realm rendering it unable to truly challenge an unjust power structure that it will rely so heavily on for financial support. They won’t bark too loud - lest the hand that feeds them gets offended.

Not only will the revolution not be televised, but I agree with argument of the book, the revolution will not be funded either!

Tell ‘em Gil Scott Heron.

We’ve seen this movie before. Philadelphia police officers - more than a dozen of them assaulted 3 Black men - Dwayne Dyches, Brian Hall and Pete Hopkins over allegations that they were involved in a shooting earlier in the day. The officers caught up with them and decided to play judge and jury, but thankfully not executioner this time.

Rev. Al Sharpton is up in New York leading a protest of thousands - blocking traffic and engaging in civil disobedience in an effort to force a federal investigation of the Sean Bell murder where officers shot off 50 bullets into Bell’s car on his wedding day.

This video of the Philadelphia beating is eerily similar to the Rodney King beating tape.

No, Rodney. We can’t just get along. All over this country African Americans are being brutalized by individuals with badges and guns who seem to operate above the rule of law - including right here in Baltimore. The cops who engage in these types of vicious acts are often described as rogue cops or “bad apples” on the force.

However, I believe that the police department as a system was never designed to engage the African American community lawfully or with fairness and respect. Don’t miss that - I said the SYSTEM. I’m not talking individuals now - I’m talking about the set of connected policies and organized procedures which characterize how things are done.

The historic foundation of that Police System is one that has near its root, the terrorizing of Africans in America going all the way back to slave patrols. It’s so commonplace in our thinking that we don’t even pay much attention to the fact that it was police officers who didn’t just allow the lynching, raping, and brutalizing of Black people in America, but they often participated themselves! Their participation in the terrorism then gave legal cover to their peers who joined them. Thus, for example, with the thousands of lynchings that have occurred in America, not one person has ever been convicted of this heinous crime despite the fact that we have pictures to prove who was involved!

That’s why the next book that I’ll be adding to my library is Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Powers in America. The author, Kristian Williams will be in Baltimore Monday, May 12, 2008 7PM at Red Emmas. It’s sure to be an enlightening presentation.

Dr. Joy DeGruy Leary, author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Enduring Legacy of Injury and Healing, addresses the residual impacts of trauma on African Descendants in the Americas. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome lays the groundwork for understanding how the past has influenced the present, and opens up the discussion of how we can use the strengths we have gained to heal.

The book has been praised by Randall Robinson, Bill Cosby, Al Sharpton, and many more. Susan Taylor, Editorial Director of Essence Magazine says that “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome is a master work…Her book is the balm we need to heal ourselves and our relationships. It is the gift of wholeness.” Adelaide Sanford, Vice Chancellor of the Board of Regents for the State of New York states that “Dr. Joy Leary’s mesmerizing, riveting book is vital reading for our time…With Dr. Leary’s potent words we can and will heal.”

WHEN: Wednesday, May 7, 2008
TIME: 7:00 PM
WHERE: Clarence Mitchell School of Engineering Building
Morgan State University
1700 East Cold Spring Lane
Baltimore MD 21251
ADMISSION: FREE and Open to the Public
For Further Information: Charlotte St. Pierre at 443.885.3006 or Ray Winbush at 443.722.0783

Hat Tip: Christian Post

By Anne Thomas
Christian Post Correspondent
March 3, 2008

The Poverty and Justice Bible, the latest release from Bible Society, has broken new ground as the first ever to literally highlight the more than 2,000 passages that reveal God’s sorrow over poverty and injustice, and His command to believers to act to eradicate them.

The new edition challenges the notion that the Bible is a dusty, outdated rulebook, and shows that God – through the Bible - was already speaking out on poverty long before anyone else.

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Tom Wright, bishop of Durham and Bible Society’s president, said, “Poverty and injustice are two of the biggest issues of our day, challenging the minds of politicians and social activists around the world.

“The imbalance of global wealth, famine, water shortages, exploitation and corruption are all issues that invoke outrage – and demand attention. But The Poverty and Justice Bible shows that, in speaking out on these issues, God got there first.”

Far from being irrelevant, the Poverty and Injustice Bible demonstrates that God’s Word has “something to say about issues that resonate today”, the bishop added.

“This Bible connects with the very fabric of today’s world, with all its problems and messiness – and has something powerful to say,” he said.

Bible Society was inspired to develop the new Bible after Pastor Rick Warren, author of bestselling The Purpose Driven Life, admitted that had missed more than 2,000 verses that speak of God’s heart for the poor despite studying theology and being a pastor for decades. He claimed that Christians risked losing their credibility if they failed to speak out against poverty and injustice.

Christian leader and commentator Tony Campolo added, “Here’s proof that faith without commitment to justice for the poor is a sham, because it ignores the most explicit of all the social concerns of Scripture.”

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I think it was Dr. Na’im Akbar who, in one of his books, makes distinction between being “informed” and being “aware” (or conscious).  To be informed means at the very basic level that you’ve been exposed to a body of information. Not necessarily that you really grasp the meaning of what you’ve been exposed to - most times it just means you can regurgitate it upon request - or at least that’s one of the goals of the american public school system.  To be aware or conscious means that you possess the tools and faculties to thoroughly engage information, examine its context, analyze the symbols therein, and apply the deeper truths to your existential reality.

I, like thousands of other Afrikans in this country, spent 16 years trying to regurgitate facts, stats, and figures in order to get pieces of paper that would prove that I am “smart.”  During this 16 years (k-12, 4 years of undergrad), I was unknowingly conditioned to embrace the ideals of white supremacy and socialized to find my “proper place” as a cog in the wheel of the White Power Structure.

It was during seminary that my “eyes” finally began to open.  I credit my professors for totally dismantling almost everything that I thought I knew about God.  During the process of demolishing my theological foundation, they shook loose the psychological chains on my brain as it related to Afrikan inferiority.  In my second year of seminary, I was undergoing a major transformation which was cultivated by the renewing of my mind.  During that second year, I agreed to take a class in Ghana, West Africa on African Traditional Religions and that month-long learning experience tremendously accelerated my thinking as it related to my place in this world.  We visited the slave castles in Elmina, I stood under a waterfall in the Volta Region, we studied the Akan culture, and we visited the last earthly home of W.E.B. DuBois - even enjoying a time of meditation next to his casket.  I learned of my Ancestor -Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah.  I waded to the middle of the waters of Assin Manso - the last bathing place before enslaved Afrikans entered the slave castles and I stood in the Door of No Return…the doorway that led to the slave ships destined for the West.

It is difficult for me to articulate all that I felt and experienced back Home in Ghana, but suffice to say it was the place where I was Born Again.  I left the U.S. as an African American, I returned to the states as a Afrikan in America.  Since that experience in 2003, I have been on a Sankofa Mission - going back in history to study my Ancestors and Elders - their stories, their struggles, their lives, their sacrifices and coming forward to examine where I am in order to live a life which honors Almighty God and my Great Ancestors with hopes that I’ll one day join that Great Cloud of Witnesses. 

The 45 books below, listed in random order, have been essential reading in my journey.  This does not by any stretch of the imagination represent an exhaustive list of “must reads for Afrikans”.  These books (and some DVDs) have simply helped me to find and keep my righteous mind.  There are many many more that deserve prime placement on our shelves.  Feel free to add books that have been impactful for you as well.

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My Saturday didn’t work out exactly like I planned it.  The culmination of the day was supposed to have me sitting with my brothers and sisters at the School of Original Thought to hear The Plan which was produced by the Zero Murder Rate Movement.  However, I never made it to the meeting.  An unexpected family matter required my attention so I had to miss the unveiling of The Plan.  I pray that the community came out and supported the Zero Murder Rate Movement.  I look forward to being filled in.

At least the first half of my Saturday went pretty much according to schedule.  I spoke at a “Gang” Summit sponsored by Sen. Verna Jones in the morning at Mt. St. Joe High School.  I had to cut my speech short because mapquest got me lost and I got to the event late.  I’ll send the full article in to a local newspaper in hopes that they’ll publish it.  Big ups to my brother Von Vargas - local Gospel MC with a Global Message - for blessing the mic and the crowd at the summit.  After that shindig, I stopped by the Radical Book Fair at St. Johns United Methodist Church. 

The Radical Book Fair is one of my favorite yearly events.  Last year, I bought this shirt at the Fair to express my patriotism and it enjoys prime placement in my closet and on my chest every time I get the chance.

This year I didn’t buy any shirts (I’d rather spend my $$ to buy shirts from this Black owned company…or this one) I did add a few books to my already bulging personal library though (surprise surprise).  I bought The Huey P. Newton Reader (Hilliard), Putting the Movement Back in Civil Rights Teaching(Menkart), and A People’s History of the United States(Zinn).

Before leaving the Fair I called my cousin and reminded him of it and he met me there.  He is one of the few people in the world that I can talk to about theology, politics, grassroots organizing, and revolution.  After he bought his books we stood on the corner for about 90 minutes catching up, questioning, strategizing, and wrestling - with ideas that is.

Feel free to check out all of my pictures from the Radical Book Fair (and other events) over at my FLICKR page.

Just in case somebody out there stumbles across this blog today; I thought I’d provide a friendly reminder that Christopher Columbus did not discover “America”.  (How do you “discover” a place where others have already taken up residence?)  Columbus was actually a genocidal murderer who helped to spread European imperialism and usher in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

My favorite book about Columbus is written by Ivan Van Sertima.  The book is entitled: “They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America.”  Sertima provides archaeological, linguistic, and literary evidence that Africans had been visiting and engaging the natives of the land that would be called the Americas long before Columbus. 

I needed this book like 20 years ago when my teacher was indoctrinating my young, impressionable mind with poetic grounding for Columbus’ greatness.   

Another great read on Columubus and many others: A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. 

Strange is the land that gives murderers, rapists, and slave traders/owners national holidays. 

I picked this book up at the recommendation of the president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, Dr. William Calhoun. 

I’m approximately two chapters into the book and am thoroughly enjoying Dr. McMickle’s position that far too many preachers and churches today have laid down the cross of justice in order to pick up the tambourine of selfish praise and shallow prosperity.  He advocates for a broader definition of “moral values” and justice as opposed to the co-opted and perverted definitions offered by neo-conservative strategists and others.  What I’m really enjoying is his suggestion that “praise” (which is an authentic component of African Christian worship in America) must be balanced with justice. (notice that I did not say “charity”)  Dr. Vernon Dobson, former pastor of Union Baptist Church in West Baltimore, is known to say “let your service be greater than your shout“. 

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This is really an intriguing and thought provoking read.  So interesting in fact, that I bought it as a birthday present for my 15 year old brother who is having some struggles in AP European History.

Loewen suggests that the way American History is taught in American schools is boring to students and devalues the weight of this nation’s experiences by trying to “teach” ready minds soundbytes of dates, selected personalities of historical persons, and opinions presented as facts.  He posits that the most valuable component in teaching American history are the “ideas”.  Ideas have a greater ability to transcend time and retain present day applications.  For example, he says that if teachers shared with students the ideas, conversations, and debates surrounding the Vietnam War that students would be able to ,on their own, draw parallels to America’s invasion and occupation in Iraq.  He also dispels some of the myths associated with  Columbus (I still have that erroneous, “In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue” poem in my head from the 4th grade!), Washington (the great slaveowner himself), and Lincoln (the opportunistic “emancipator”). 

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