Bishop E.W. Jackson, Sr., has set up the Stand America PAC to challenge members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Jackson tells OneNewsNow that that contingent of lawmakers does not represent black Americans.
"They are pro-abortion, they are pro-homosexuality, they are pro-gay marriage -- and the black community doesn't agree with any of these things...and it is time [those lawmakers] were challenged," he vows. "[O]ur PAC is going to challenge them, recruit candidates, and ultimately see to it that they are defeated, and that the black community has an alternative leadership to look to."
In other words, E.W. Jackson is aiming to be another Harry Jackson, i.e. a black leader claiming to speak for black folks against the Democratic party while surreptitiously propped up by right-wing (i.e. white) money.
Which will probably be the reason that other in his own head and the press releases on the right, this announcement will go over like a burp of an infant - cute and funny but ultimately meaningless.
Granted, I'm sure he will catch attention with the remark about abortion and homosexuality. Folks in the anti-abortion movement have been trying to gain a strong foothold in the black community.
But it's the comment about homosexuality where Jackson fails. He should have just stuck to gay marriage. You see, usually when a black leader of Jackson's, shall we say ilk, talks about homosexuality in the black community, they usually confine the argument to gay marriage.
And that is because they know that the issue of what the African-American community on the whole feels about homosexuality is complex.
Oh sure, you hear voices telling you how black folks don't agree with homosexuality and how blacks "resent gays," but allow me to let you in on a secret that I'm beginning to discover:
What has been said and believed about blacks and gays isn't necessarily the entire story.
Unfortunately this hasn't been explored as much as it should have and it speaks to how the black community has been shortchanged in regards to media coverage of our issues. Folk on both sides of the spectrum seem to be content with offering inaccurate generalizations of the black community on the whole rather than exploring the intricacies behind the feelings of the black community regarding homosexuality.
But back to Jackson - another reason why he will probably fail is because he doesn't provide any adequate solutions. It's not that the black community are beholden to the Democratic party. Like any other sensible group in the country, we align ourselves with those who we feel can get us to where we need to be.
And frankly I don't see the GOP being that party with its covert support of birthers, tea baggers, Dittoheads and Beckites.
So long story short, Jackson's announcement is cute and amusing but personally, I prefer the baby burp.
How can someone be so ignorant of their own history? It blows my mind that those who were forced into slavery and forced to take on christianity within that slave system don't throw it off completely. But to actually believe in the white man's religion and buy into it's fallacies, that's just ludicrous.
ReplyDelete@Mykelb
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty provacative, fascinating, and complicated question.
Here's a horrendously simple answer.
1) Remember that the churches were the only places where black folks could meet peacefully and be themselves (and even then it wasn't always peaceful).
2) The Christianity that black folks practiced was nothing like "white folks Christianity" (for lack of a better term) especially when it comes to Biblical interpretation.
Part of this is assimilation into the larger Christian community...
This still doesn't explain why anyone would found a church based on their oppressor's value system(stockholm syndrome?) In effect, building a society based upon fantasy, delusion (buybull) and segregation (saying to the world, this is what we believe in, it makes us special and separates us from others). I would think that if people wanted to really go back to their roots, they would give up their oppressor's belief system, become educated, and create one of their own that would be superior to that which had oppressed them. But no, they kept that old buybull which says "Slaves obey your masters". To me, that's a huge moral problem.
ReplyDeleteWhy assimilate into the larger Christian community? Look what's happening in Uganda. Can anyone with a sound mind say that what is going on there is humane? To me, that's what chritianity looks like, it's infinitely bogus, used to prop up dogmatic fanatics, and used to fool those naive enough out of their hard earned money for the "glory of god" (but really just lining the pockets of the westerners and the papists).