The eyes of those who choose to ignore what they see, are deceptive transmitters of optical and earthly illusions. Wearing sunglasses can deflect the sunshine that may shine and warm your face, but in that sunlight there is energy and imagery from other places. Just as we are bombarded by with rhetoric from right-wing conservatives who are as ignorant as they can be, and disparage our president, Barack Obama at every opportunity. They even set side large sums of money to purchase news media outlets and delight in their foolishness, like professional, racist clowns.
We are living in unparalleled times, when a black man is representing our race in a new and much more enhanced way. He is not only putting a different face on the African American race, he is showing the entire human race that we can move to elevated ground and a higher place, where all are created equal and have the right to the pursuit of happiness like the Constitution states. But there are those who don’t want the playing field leveled for people like you and me. They are wearing blinders and turn away from the possibilities of how great the nation can be.
There are those who have lost their jobs and those who truly don’t want their children born into similar despair. This is not the time for silence and apathy, it is a time for action and to stand united against hypocrisy, for that coupled with bigotry diminish the value of the democracy. But it is the silence from the pulpit that worries me. It quiets a population and negates their motivation to move intelligently against those who would wrong the innocent and further oppress the already disenfranchised and disillusioned.
The silence of the church turns a blind eye to the spilling of our children’s blood on school and neighborhood playgrounds. The question is how can we stand by and allow these vitriolic attacks against the president to continue without redress in some way? We must understand that we need instruction from the pulpit to make hatred go away.
We cannot afford a silent and complacent citizenry who chooses not to exercise their First Amendment constitutional right to speak against injustice and inequities wherever they may be. We are obligated to denounce companies and policies that perpetuate political and social negativity. We should file class action suits en masse to counter the fear of expressing our concerns regarding unfair practices and regressions in policy.
Are religious leaders only wearing glasses and focusing on the offering plates as they are passed around. Each of those who have not written or emailed their congressmen are letting the incarcerated brothers down in actuality, by not preaching and giving testimony against the bigotry of the prison system and its illegality.
In the past we shared about how a community could get ahead by working collectively instead. Now millions are being displaced from their homes because of the greed of lenders and the banking industry. It happened under the Republican administration, but that has been dismissed much to our dismay and is now attributed to the man who inherited that melee. This calamity, this economic recession didn’t start with Obama. No, it began with the hatred and greed that propels the system of capitalism and corruption and all of its obliterating circuitry.
So here we are at a moment where the sun is shining in my face, but there is a question that my mind won’t allow me to erase. Do black people hate their own race? Are they afraid to stand up and show courage when they are called upon? People criticize the president, who urges children to be responsible for themselves and each other right now.
But parents recoil and admonish him for telling them to do a better job and how. These ill-conceived responses create a mockery of everything we are attempting to do. Tell your children tales of strong and noble black people and how Obama is working to make a better and more balanced society. They need to hear from their parents and their president that they are first and foremost in our minds.
The preachers need to help establish a new vision and grow some spine, and tell the truth about our condition. Those who bear the cross must remove their sunglasses and reach out to the lost. They have to promote the cause and encourage us to take a stand without question or pause.
For all of us who know the truth, stand-up for the president, form a united front and show that bigotry and hatred will not move us to a spiritual and moral low. It’s all right to put on your sunglasses if they make you feel cool, but don’t let them shade your thoughts or dim your intelligence as they are sometimes prone to do.
Let your light reflect the greatness of the people we are to be. The challenge today is to make the sun you shade not blind you to the advances and progress that there is to be made.
Peace. –Munson Steed
