I see prejudice all around me. It is prejudice not racism that is the problem. When I was growing up we were taught that pre-judging a person before you got to know them was prejudice. Yes there are prejudices based on race but there are also some that are based on religion and sexual orientation. New words were created to increase the divisions among the people: racism, sexism and homophobia- “isms” are not the problem.
When I discuss socio-economic issues with African-Americans: employment, housing, education, and even health care, deficiencies in access to needs are more often than not (among Democrats) blamed on someone else. When I travel up north, among other people of color, I hear complaints about White people being the problem more so than any other pigment. When I am socializing with African-Americans here in Florida, Cubans are the problem, even though not everyone that speaks Spanish is from Cuba. It is a predetermined conclusion not based on facts. I have heard the same complaints for over 20 years, which is how long I have lived in South Florida and visited friends and family in the north.
What fuels this ignorance? It is not just politicians but generational ignorance and feel good church messages facilitate the promotion of such ignorance. It is neither White people nor Spanish speaking people that have stopped those people of color from succeeding, in fact many are very successful despite their rhetoric.
The church has become a place for people to fulfill their godly obligations and develop superficial relationships with others. Churches increase in population and size, a place where people gather and are motivated but I question if YHWH’s Truths are really taught. Many of today’s churches do not teach the wrongs of abortion, homosexuality or other sexual perversions; it is this silence that creates a division of those who study Scripture and those who just want to hear “Yes you can!” Thus, even in the House of God there are prejudices: who is holier than whom. If you sit in the back of a church you will see the unintentional segregation of it’s members, by culture, community and even pigment.
How many traditional church leaders will tell their members to invest in a book before investing in the building fund? In having liberals enter their church to speak during the election cycle many churches are yielding God’s truth to man’s ideology. This makes it easier for the hearer to develop a victim mentality and blame others who look different for their troubles. History is full of people, including Black men and women, who worked hard and studied in order to escape the bondage of ignorance.
What many elderly do not understand and the church does not teach is, the Democrat party is composed of liberal anti-biblical beliefs. Just as they have in times past and still today, Democrats have learned how to blame others for their behavior; the Ku Klux Klan exist today because people ignore what they see and live by what they are told to believe. The Democrats have convinced church leaders that guns are bad and have chosen to put abortion clinics in low income Black communities and do nothing about the Black on Black crime; the church leader preaches against violence while young ladies go often to kill their unborn. My point is: The problem is not White Republicans.
There are people of all colors, genders and even sexual orientations in all the political parties. As a rule Conservatives believe just as Jesus did that we all have gifts but not all the same amount, we should all be able to use our gifts each according to our ability (Matthew 25:14-30). Conservatives believe in giving people a hand up and not a hand out. Yes there are people who need a handout but even they can do some things to help themselves.
The biggest obstacle we face as a people group is not the “isms” but prejudice. A person has to prejudge in order to assume a Spanish speaking person is Cuban. A person has to prejudge in order to assume he did not get the job based on skin pigment and not qualifications. Scripture teaches we perish, do not succeed, because of what we do not know and not because of how we look (Hosea 4:6). To admit prejudice is the beginning of assuming personal responsibility.
Even if they don’t like you because you are poor, Black or even homosexual once you assume personal responsibility for your life man cannot stop you. Sarah Breedlove was the first wealthy Black person, we know her as Madam C. J. Walker (December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) she grew up in a time when many White people hated Black people yet she succeeded. George Washington Carver (January 1864- January 5, 1943) a very educated Black man in a time when not many people of color were. (Date of death: February 20, 1895) born a slave died a free man who had traveled through out the country and abroad speaking against slavery. Hiram R. (Rhodes) Revels .(September 27, 1822-January 16, 1901 ) a teacher, minister and the first Black person to serve in the United States Senate. These four succeeded when racism, homophobia and sexism were not words in the dictionary, but prejudice of all types existed.
What really gets my goat is Christians who complain about people not letting them succeed despite the Bible declaring we do all things THROUGH CHRIST (Philippians 4:13). What angers me is these same Christians speaking against others without really knowing the people they are talking about. In developing opinions about people who do not look, speak or behave as you do then blaming them for what is wrong in your life it is my belief that the speaker is prejudice, talking out of ignorance.
Do yourself a favor and find a church that teaches YHWH’s word from Genesis to Revelation and insist that you study your Bible. written by Marsha L F Randolph
NETTIE-OLOGY /NETTIE-ISM reflects the opinions of and is the soul property of the author MARSHA L F RANDOLPH. All rights reserved- do not use without permission. Disagreeing with what is written is not offensive to the author a disagreeable comment will be deleted.
No comments:
Post a Comment