In case you didn't know it, I'm black and I'm proud
(say it loud).
Black Americans are as proud a people as the African ancestors we come from. Yet, there is a growing trend from blacks who do not have enough knowledge one way or the other of their lineage, to discount being born of slaves as though being the offspring of slaves is a shameful condition.
I never knew a slave that sold himself into bondage even if other African's did. Indentured servants had an expectation of freedom and were not beaten to improve job performance. Africans with the tenacity to survive the slave ships and the slave institution are heroes of a special kind.
In fact, I shutter to think about where America would be without black people? Let's explore.
If we differ on anything more than religion I don't know what it is. Christianity alone has evolved into well over 2500 different denominations. At least the Jews and the Muslims only have a reasonable handful of denominational offspring. Though we disagree about Christ (more with the Jew than the Muslim), we do not disagree about Abraham.
So lets lock arms around Abraham who is the father of the Muslim the Christian and the Jew. The God of Abraham, in his infinite wisdom, gave his commandments to the father who begat Abraham. He realized if they all agreed on Abraham then they would root their ideologies in the same soil. What Abraham knew of God, he shared with all of his offspring. While we may differ in practice, we do not in essence.
The road map that Christ outlined is nothing more and nothing less than the same one given to Moses. Christ left the earth washing the feet of man to reflect the message of humility that brought him here. Humility of this sort endured murderous rage so Christ is not angered by our controversial debates over his validity. If mankind could have followed the original plan for life, than Christ would have never been needed. The problem is very few people recognize the two instructions within the Ten Commandments.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" and. Love thy neighbor (mankind) as thyself. All other commandments are achieved in these Great Commandments outlined by Christ.
The power for living contained in these commandments is called forgiveness, one of the commandments which carries a promise. If I had to stack rank sin, which I hate to do, I would put unforgiveness at the top because it distorts our view on the gift of grace.
Grace saw it fit for some of us to leave the cursed soil of our homeland and teach white people how to dance. I've heard Stevie Wonder sing in Swahili, but was there a divine plan for the black American we call Stevie? DuBois. Obama. Thurgood. Oprah. We were needed here for reason's only a God could explain, but needed nonetheless.
The fight against Obama has been ugly at times, but mostly childish. This civil war of conservatism helps me to understand the Word when it says that the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Growing up as a boy, my mother used to have this plaque in our home that basically says "People in power will risk there entire existence before relinquishing one ounce of power". I never knew I would live to see a graphic example of such thinking.
Instead of being a little upset over Obama, they have become desperate. Conservatives are treating Obama like the beginning of Armageddon and waging kamikaze warfare in response. With every over reach (Benghazi) and repeated attacks (you lied, you lied, you lied), they erode their own credibility and ability to win key elections....like the white house.
Despite all of that, the message of example of Christ is timely for Black History month and for +Barack Obama. Black people can strengthen themselves and Obama by upholding the spirit of grace and forgiveness. He is a necessary part of America's history as are all black Americans.
Once we silence all of the political noise, the gospel of grace is the only message that will matter in the end.
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