KEEP ON DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING, BETTER!
April 29, 2015
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
As the embers and tempers of Baltimore, Maryland, simmer and cool, the same inevitable—and stupid questions again arise, like before in other cities—how did this happen? Why? and what can be done to prevent it from ever happening again?
Short answer: Read the prior reports of other American “riots” or “rebellions” from the 1967 Kerner Commision et. al . report ; or, even farther back, you can go to Gunnar Myrdal’s AN AMERICAN DILEMMA: THE NEGRO PROBLEM AND MODERN DEMOCRACY, VOL.1-2 (1944, 2002), or farther. It is no secret.
I already know. Pent-up steam bursts a tea kettle, even dust spontaneously combusts.
There is no one, infallible, way to freedom for blacks in America. Every option or pursuit must be tried, and pursued relentlessly, expertly, even as our subjugation and repression is pursued relentlessly, by external and internal forces to our black race.
Politics was once touted as the key to victory and to racial redemption, as was the exercise of the right to vote, following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. We have pursued that option with vigor to the point that in 2015, we have had a two-term, black President, and a second, consecutive black Attorney General. We have had several U.S. Senators, a couple Governors, a smattering of Congressmen, and a multitude of Mayors. So, we have measurably progressed politically from where we were in 1968, happily, even amazingly, given our rebuffs.
Yet, despite this apparent progress, the riots ensue in city-after-city, as police kill black males—usually for nothing illegal—with criminal impunity, often civil immunity, and with paid vacations to boot! So, subjectively, oppression still persists in the law.
Worse yet, police clearly enjoy impunity from killing black men and boys, particularly, based on U.S. Supreme Court judicial decisions applied in the lower federal and state courts, since the 1980s under Reagan-Bush judicial appointees. One harmful case is Graham v. Conner, decided in 1989. I write about it, and its juridical predecessor, United States v. Cruikshak (1867), elsewhere, in my essay, ‘Common Law, Uncommon Hypocrisy’ No less shielded by law from their misdeeds are prosecutors and judges whose duty it is to protect the police, or private “stand your ground” citizens,—like George Zimmerman—from prosecution or conviction, if prosecuted.
So, while politics has helped some people, somewhat, the great mass of black people remain, as ever, impoverished, by public policy decisions, confined to urban areas, vulnerable to exploitation and victimization of all kinds, legal, illegal, and extralegal.
Herein lies the challenge: ventilating, hydrating, nourishing, and liberating ‘the least of these,’ still-oppressed, people. Of course, ultimately, “each one must work out its own salvation with fear and trembling.” Or to state the scripture, Philippians 2:12, with particularity: 12So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. That means each person must singly, jointly, and preferably in combination with family, friends, associates and/or affiliations, uplift each other in buying, selling, saving, sharing, and/or investing decisions and endeavors, fervently!
While self-reliance is essential—since no one can breathe, eat, or drink for another—there yet abides charity, the application of love to the human condition. “As you have done it to the least of these, my brothers, you have done it unto me. Or, to state the scripture, Matthew 25:40, directly: (KJV)
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. This means share and share alike, when we have wherewith to share; it redounds to us many fold from many directions—it being the love, spread abroad, also known as charity. Each life is of value.
These scriptures are cited “because we have come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord, trusting in his Holy Word. He’s never failed me yet.” Our struggle is spiritual, political, economic, educational, legal, and social all at once, all at the same time! It is not linear, involving sequential progression. It is quadratic and dramatic and emphatic, all forces and powers operating at once. A miracle equivalent to any in the Bible, we are peculiar people : Whether “resurrection from the dead”—our slave-ship survival and arrival; our changing “water to wine,”—moving from slavery to freedom; or, “crossing the red sea”—overcoming racist redneck lynching and brutality.
“My way may not be easy, you never said that it would be. But if I can hold out the Lord will take care of me! Lord help me to hold out, until my change comes.” Lines a familiar gospel refrain. So, in answer to the question: what must we do? I say do all that the spirit would have you to do, would have us do. Singly, jointly, preferably in combination. Only better. Do whatever it is, you were sent here to do, in combination with those of like mind, fervently; employing both faith and works in doing so, in Jesus’ name, to the glory of Almighty God and mankind and yes to the United States of America--home
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
KEEP ON DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING, BETTER!
KEEP ON DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING, BETTER!
April 29, 2015
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
As the embers and tempers of Baltimore, Maryland, simmer and cool, the same inevitable—and stupid questions again arise, like before in other cities—how did this happen? Why? and what can be done to prevent it from ever happening again?
Short answer: Read the prior reports of other American “riots” or “rebellions” from the 1967 Kerner Commision et. al . report ; or, even farther back, you can go to Gunnar Myrdal’s AN AMERICAN DILEMMA: THE NEGRO PROBLEM AND MODERN DEMOCRACY, VOL.1-2 (1944, 2002), or farther. It is no secret.
I already know. Pent-up steam bursts a tea kettle, even dust spontaneously combusts.
There is no one, infallible, way to freedom for blacks in America. Every option or pursuit must be tried, and pursued relentlessly, expertly, even as our subjugation and repression is pursued relentlessly, by external and internal forces to our black race.
Politics was once touted as the key to victory and to racial redemption, as was the exercise of the right to vote, following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. We have pursued that option with vigor to the point that in 2015, we have had a two-term, black President, and a second, consecutive black Attorney General. We have had several U.S. Senators, a couple Governors, a smattering of Congressmen, and a multitude of Mayors. So, we have measurably progressed politically from where we were in 1968, happily, even amazingly, given our rebuffs.
Yet, despite this apparent progress, the riots ensue in city-after-city, as police kill black males—usually for nothing illegal—with criminal impunity, often civil immunity, and with paid vacations to boot! So, subjectively, oppression still persists in the law.
Worse yet, police clearly enjoy impunity from killing black men and boys, particularly, based on U.S. Supreme Court judicial decisions applied in the lower federal and state courts, since the 1980s under Reagan-Bush judicial appointees. One harmful case is Graham v. Conner, decided in 1989. I write about it, and its juridical predecessor, United States v. Cruikshak (1867), elsewhere, in my essay, ‘Common Law, Uncommon Hypocrisy’ No less shielded by law from their misdeeds are prosecutors and judges whose duty it is to protect the police, or private “stand your ground” citizens,—like George Zimmerman—from prosecution or conviction, if prosecuted.
So, while politics has helped some people, somewhat, the great mass of black people remain, as ever, impoverished, by public policy decisions, confined to urban areas, vulnerable to exploitation and victimization of all kinds, legal, illegal, and extralegal.
Herein lies the challenge: ventilating, hydrating, nourishing, and liberating ‘the least of these,’ still-oppressed, people. Of course, ultimately, “each one must work out its own salvation with fear and trembling.” Or to state the scripture, Philippians 2:12, with particularity: 12So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. That means each person must singly, jointly, and preferably in combination with family, friends, associates and/or affiliations, uplift each other in buying, selling, saving, sharing, and/or investing decisions and endeavors, fervently!
While self-reliance is essential—since no one can breathe, eat, or drink for another—there yet abides charity, the application of love to the human condition. “As you have done it to the least of these, my brothers, you have done it unto me. Or, to state the scripture, Matthew 25:40, directly: (KJV)
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. This means share and share alike, when we have wherewith to share; it redounds to us many fold from many directions—it being the love, spread abroad, also known as charity. Each life is of value.
These scriptures are cited “because we have come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord, trusting in his Holy Word. He’s never failed me yet.” Our struggle is spiritual, political, economic, educational, legal, and social all at once, all at the same time! It is not linear, involving sequential progression. It is quadratic and dramatic and emphatic, all forces and powers operating at once. A miracle equivalent to any in the Bible, we are peculiar people : Whether “resurrection from the dead”—our slave-ship survival and arrival; our changing “water to wine,”—moving from slavery to freedom; or, “crossing the red sea”—overcoming racist redneck lynching and brutality.
“My way may not be easy, you never said that it would be. But if I can hold out the Lord will take care of me! Lord help me to hold out, until my change comes.” Lines a familiar gospel refrain. So, in answer to the question: what must we do? I say do all that the spirit would have you to do, would have us do. Singly, jointly, preferably in combination. Only better. Do whatever it is, you were sent here to do, in combination with those of like mind, fervently; employing both faith and works in doing so, in Jesus’ name, to the glory of Almighty God and mankind and yes to the United States of America--home