Out of Touch: Issues with White Christianity

"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" 1 John 4:20 KJV The Church does this often, and that's a problem.

There's a particular ministry that I started listening to back in 2011 that really helped me in my spiritual journey. They have a plethora of sermons and articles about Biblical truth that answered many of the questions I had as a young believer. I am greatful for their ministry, but that doesn't mean I haven't noticed a fatal flaw in it as well.

Last night, they kicked off a series that I thought might be interesting so I set my alarm and made sure to tune in to YouTube in time to catch the broadcast. The pastor was only moments in when he mentioned dressing up like pilgrims and "Indians" as a kid, associating it with the quintessential American experience. He followed that up with the backstory of why the pilgrims came to America, and doubled down on the heroism of the pilgrims by asserting their bravery for traveling to the undeveloped "New World." In the midst of this narrative he casually repeated what people would have been saying about America: "there are cannibals and savages there; you could be eaten!" As though that weren't cringey enough, he continued down this theme of glorifying the pilgrims with a phrase similar to "we are pilgrims passing through the Earth."

It was at that point that I had to stop listening. I want to try to provide some balance and discussion about this issue, because I see it often, and it does more harm to the Kingdom of God than I believe those who perpuate it realize.

Meeting Halfway

Let's start with the fact that none of what this pastor was saying was untrue. At 33 years old, it is true that if you dig through my mother's photo albums you will in fact find a photo of 3 or 4 year old me at my preschool dressed up as a Native American. He was not wrong in the assumption that most people his age had that experience as a child or that many would relate to that sentiment. What is wrong with the statement is that there is no acknowledgement of growth.

First, the pastor refers to indigenous tribes as "Indians" without any indication that this is an incorrect term. This would be like him refering to black people as "Coloreds" or "Negros"—can you image a pastor standing before the people saying "We all gathered around to watch the Negros play sports when we were kids"? Yes, I know, pilgrims and Native Americans sounds weird to the ears because we're used to the phrase "pilgrims and Indians," but that brings me to the second gaffe in his sermon.

Each of us starts life in ignorance. As I said, I too grew up in the era where it was normal to dress up as a Native American (particularly once Disney release Pocohantas and people were dressing up specifically as her for Halloween[2]). However, 33 year old me is aware that this is disrespectful and could be likened to black face in terms of how someone from an indigenous tribe might feel. If I were to show a picture of myself from childhood partaking in the activity, I would acknowledge my growth from that point in my life until now; I would point out that even though it was common practice then it's not acceptable now. This is the major issue with the sermon in general, lack of awareness or acknowledgement.

The pastor is probably right that people in England viewed America as a place were there were "savages" and "cannibals"—it is factually correct in stating that is how Europeans felt about the native population. Again, what he said isn't wrong, but the way he said it was so casual and the reason he was able to say it so casually is because he is removed from the situation. The words are not offensive or hurtful to him because they were not aimed at his people. To him this is simply a piece of history that everyone already knows. In fact, he may have mentally assumed people knew it was wrong, but he didn't verbalize that the way Europeans saw Native Americans was both inhumane and un-Christianly.

Out of Touch

How is it that I, as a black person, can listen to the sermon and instantly feel uncomfortable for my Native American brothers and sisters, but this white pastor remained oblivious? How is it that I, as a "lay person," can see how this would turn people away from the gospel, but an ordained pastor cannot?

In many cases, pastors deliver sermons that probably have a profound meaning hidden in there somewhere, but it is lost by the insenstivty surrounding it. This particular sermon was on the fulfillment of prophecy in the arrival of the pilgrims to America, which is actually a profound topic. Knowing the symbolism of Revelation, I saw exactly where he was trying to go with the sermon and that message is what made me interested enough to tune in. If I didn't already know that symbolism, I'm not sure I would have saw where he was going and the whole point would be missed.

Minorities, and people who are able to understand the minority point of view, are leaving the body of Christ because the gospel is buried under this type of rhetoric. We fail at representing Him when we behave this way and we fail to introduce Him to others when we behave this way. There will be a lot of people explaining to the Most High that their disbelief in Him was caused by our ignorance and mishandling of the gospel and He's going to hold us accountable for that.

The Fantasy of it All

I could stop right there, but there's one more thing that pastor said that is mixed up in this. We spend a lot of time distancing ourselves from this world and focusing on the Kingdom to come (I was actually reading about just that before the sermon![3]). In truth, we are Biblically commanded to do so. We can find evidence of this Biblically. While both Paul and Yeshua/Jesus instruct us to be respecful of government (Matthew 22:21; Romans 13), we see both men (along with Daniel), disrupt the govenment when it conflicts with God's kingdom (Matthe 6:24; Acts 26; Daniel 6). The Bible clearly instructs us to store our treasures in Heaven, not on earth (Matthew 6:19-21). In truth, the Bible supports the statement that this is not our home; we are just passing through (as the pastor said). I even have a podcast episode where I echo a similar sentiment about us merely being ambassadors for the Kingdom as opposed to citizens of the U.S. (or whatever country your citizenship is with).

However, there's a tiny flaw with the way we opperate after internalizing this belief: we leave the world to crash and burn. Yes, we know that it will eventually crash and burn literally, but has God called us watch the world plummet into darkness, or has He called us to be lights in the darkness (Matthew 5:14)? Often, though, we let our focus on the spiritual to allow us to forget that there are people in need physically amongst us.

In my podcast episode Christianity and Climate Change, I touched on the fact that despite the fact that Adam's given role at creation was to take care of the earth, the Church has nothing to say about the topic. We aren't promoting lifestyles that produce less waste, concious purchasing (re: buying from companies that are not harming the planet in the production of their products), or conservation of resources (e.g., not wasting water, fuel efficent/electric cars). Yes, I know that this earth will be destroyed, and a new purified earth will take its place (though increasingly, I wonder if this verse is meant literally or spiritually--that's another blog post though). I know that this earth is doomed, but does that mean it's ok to help sabotage it? If we aren't cultivating and exemplifying behaviors that protect and care for our home now, how are we suddenly going to be able to do so in the Kingdom?

The same conundrum exists with issues of diveresty and socio-economic disparity. If we are unable to make all feel welcome in our midsts on this earth, how will we learn how to foster an inclusive society in Heaven?

References & Footnotes

1. 2CDBN Tv. "America's 11th Hour with Scott Ritsemal". YouTube. November 26, 2021
2. This is not an endorsement of Halloween either. Please see my post Halloween for more on that topic
3. Jeremy Myers. "Meeting Physical Needs to Get at the Spiritual". Redeeming God"; visited November 26, 2021

Why I Miss the Segregated Church

Sometimes God has a message for the 1 and we're the 99 that's left behind.

As children we are taught to be tolerant and inclusive. It is in our very nature (well, for most of us at least) to reject the idea of being exclusionary. Yet, not quite a year ago, I found myself deeply missing the segregated churches I grew up in. I missed Negro Spirituals and Black History programs. I missed how black pastors related the trials of the Israelites to the trials of black people today. I missed the fact that the people at city hall fighting for justice where the same people sitting in the congregation. I missed the unity that comes from shedding some aspects of diversity.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

The Straw That Broke The Camel's Back

Last May, after the death of Ahmaud Arbery, Breona Taylor, and George Floyd, mayhem insued. I don't mean the riots. I mean the conversations between members of "the church." We were 2 months in to COVID, and where the church was already struggling to maintain meaningful communication, the fracture of race and culture became truly apparent. It felt like every day some non-black church member was saying something insensitive. Leadership was quiet and when those of us with a short fuse (like myself) chose to speak, we were repremainded. The ire I felt culminated with me blurting out that I no longer wanted to attend a multicultural church and removing myself from all church communication.

I thought I was reacting in the moment. I thought a month would pass, and the feeling along with it. I thought I didn't really mean it...

Months passed, and to my surprise, I ended up in a few more heated conversations. I didn't feel any different, and realized I actually do miss attending an all African-American church.

The History of Racism and the Church

The western church (re: Catholicism and it's offspring, known as Protestantism) is responsible for racism. Europeans twisted the curse of Canaan into a non-existant curse on Ham and attempted to legitimize the mistreatment of Africans based on this fradulent interpretation. From there, we saw "devout" Christians torture, maime, brand, rape, and otherwise dehumanize black people. From Europeans whitewashing the people discussed in the Bible during the renissance, to white Americans refusing to let blacks worship in the same spaces, to the KKK, racism and Christianity in America are almost synonymous. I did a three part series going over some of this history along with my personal experiences last year. I'm linking them below instead of repeating myself.

Previous Blogs on Racism in the Church

• A Personal History of Racism in Church
• Healing the Wounds
• Promoting a Culture of Inclusion

The Colorblind Church

Instead of admitting to the role white America has played in racism, there is a push to leave it in the past. Instead of white pastors openly admitting that the white man pictured in churches and homes accross the world is not Christ, they defend those who don't want to part with the tradition of breaking the second commandment to honor some random European man. Instead of addressing white flight, pastors ask minority congregants to make sure they invite their white friends. Instead of uttering a truth that might offend one group, we stick to sugar coated messages that don't challenge anyone. And while churches are fighting desperately to create these diverse congregations to show they are colorblind, black youth are leaving God becuase the message they need to hear is too much for the white people who put us in this position in the first place.

A Lesson In Colorblindness

I've known for a long time that homes owned by black people appraise for less than similar homes owned by whites. We're not going to derail the post by getting too deep into that (I'm sure you're already confused as to why I brought it up, just go with me for a minute). If you're curious about the validity of my statement, read up on some of the recent incidents involving the appraisal of black homes.[1][2]

I'm currently in the process of selling my house to move and for the first time, had to assess the "blackness" of my home.

There was a portrait of an African woman I painted with my friends that needed to come down, as well as a professional painting of a black Southern Belle. Of course any and all personal photographs of me or my family. Just as I'd tucked away all the photos, a book on my bookshelf caught my eye: How Long Til Black Future Month Scanning the shelves, I saw enough black literature to open a library. So I started removing the obvious ones: Is Christianity the White Man's Religion, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, The Autobiography of Malcom X, a collection of African folk tales, everything by Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, Nikki Giovanni...

As I struggled to move the heavy box to the garage, I passed my DVD collection. I stopped to remove the obviously black DVDs from the shelf: The Boondocks (season 1-3), The Babershop, First Sunday, Eve's Bayou, For Colored Girls..., Drumline, Stomp the Yard... It was too many to fit in a box. So I loaded the self back up, and stacked Disney movies in front of them. Then placed a decorative candle on the now empty Disney shelf.

I thought I could finally relax, so I went to my bathroom to take a relaxing bath. There I was greeted by my bonnet, the various oils and moisturizers for my afro-textured curly hair, the wide tooth comb and wooden-handled brush... This was obviously the bathroom of a black woman.

Every where I looked my house testified to the fact that I am black. Even after removing as much as I could, there are still things that made it into the staging (e.g., the poodles that decorate my house which are actually a reference to my sorority, which has non-black members but is a historically black sorority). In the end, I could not completely separate who I am from the space I live in without getting rid of everything.

As I stared at the house that only represented a fraction of me, I felt empty and unsettled. It no longer feels like home and wash day means I have to trek all the way to the garage to dig out my deep conditioner. As I reflected on the inconvience, I realized my life is like this house.

One of the posts above talks about my experience with racisim in the church, but it doesn't detail all my experiences with racism—we might need a book for all of that. Nonetheless, these traumas, hurts, lessons, and conversations have shaped who I am. It is from these experiences that I have the boundaries I have. It is from these experiences that I react the way I do. It is from these experiences that I value this or that. It is from these experiences that this passage hits differently than when you hear it...

When I approach the throne of YHWH, the Most High God, those expereinces come with me. YHWH was there when I watched my grandmother panic over the possibility of white men taking our family's land. YHWH was there with me when little white kids were calling me a n*****. YHWH was there with me when my Asian aunt told me she was glad her half-black daughter didn't have hair like me. YHWH was there when my white teacher said I'd end up pregnant or in jail because that's what happens to black youth. YHWH was there the Asian department chair told me I didn't have what it took to earn a PhD (and YHWH walked across the stage with me when I earned that PhD). YHWH was there when I learned to love my hair. YHWH was there when I learned not to shrink myself into a corner trying to blend into the whiteness around me. YHWH understands my blackness, my womanness, my Americanness, my singlness...

And sometimes YHWH has a message just for me.

“What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains, and go and search for the one that is lost? Matthew 18:12

Leaving the 99

A few weeks ago, I watched a sermon that spoke straight to my heart.[3][4] Seven men and women of God spoke on the last seven things Christ said before He died on the cross. Each message was tied into justice and the black experience here in America. The speakers were black, the audience was black, and the message was specifically for black people. It ranged from a reminder about forgiveness, to a warning about protecting our spirit. There were messages and nuggets of truth that anyone could (and should) appreciate, but the core of the message was a message of hope for the down troddened souls of black America. It was a reminder that YHWH is our YHWH too.

As I listened to the sermon, I realized that was what I was longing for. I wanted to hear that message that God had for me in my time of need. Contemporary churches love to sing "Reckless Love" and belt out the line about Him leaving the 99 to search for the one, but we often forget we're not always the one. In a society where certain groups of people are being mistreated, abused, and belittled, those groups are the people God is going after. He's going after the black person longing for justice. He's going after the people in the LGBT community with questions. He's going after the Asain person scared to step out of their house. He's going after the women who have been abused. He's going after the immigrants who were locked in cages. He's going after the refugees that survived brutal wars. He's going after the poor/homeless, the drug addict, the orphan, etc. And that message may hurt your feelings—it may hurt my feelings—because maybe we didn't do enough for that group, maybe we are part of the reason that group is hurt... But it's not about us, it's about the message for the one.

Finding Love in Diversity

Most of my friend circles have been characterized by diversity. Even here, in South Florida where 90% of my friend group is black, there is diversity—some are Jamacian, some Hatian, some Bahamian, and some Canadian. It is amazing to learn about different cultures and to experience the world through someone else's eyes. It is equally heartbreaking to expreince trauma in the midst of people who refuse to acknowledge the trauma (or the history of that trauma). You cannot obstruct the message for the one because the 99 aren't ready to admit the church has played a role in the suffering of the one. A year later, and I understand where that longing is coming from. I can't say what type of church I'll seek out when I move in 3 weeks, but I can say I want to belong to a body that isn't afraid to leave the 99 to go after the one.

References & Footnotes

1. Julian Glover. "Black California couple lowballed by $500K in home appraisal, believe race was a factor". ABC 7 News. February 12, 2021
2. Debra Kamin. "Black Homeowners Face Discrimination in Appraisals". The New York Times. August 25, 2020
3. Mount Sinai Church. "The Seven Words of Justice". YouTube. April 2, 2021
4. No one is perfect; we're all human. If I gave a sermon, my human-ness would creep in as well. The only reason I'm pointing out this particular nitpick is because it's about doctrinal truth and since I'm "promoting" the sermon, I need to point out what I disagree with doctrinally. Good Friday is tied to the pagan Easter. Passover was last week (March 28). Even if the Bible asked us to celebrate "Good Friday," based on Biblical doctrine, it should occur before Passover and would have been last week.

Book Review: The Feast of All Saints

I can't remember whether I saw the movie or read the book first, but The Feast of All Saints by Ann Rice is a book I hold very dear to my heart. The book covers the life of a young man who is a member of the gens de couleur libres (free people of color) in New Orleans during the 1800s. Despite being penned by a white woman who specializes in gothic horror and erotic ficion, the story moved me in a way no other historical fiction novel has.

I read this novel in high school, and given the subject matter, wouldn't recommend it for anyone younger. The story is wonderfully written with a few tastefully done references to sex. (I didn't know the author had a history of writing erotic fiction until well after I read the novel, so fear not, it isn't anythin too racy). The characters are wonderfully fleshed out; there will be times when you despise characters, but every character makes perfect sense and because of that, you will yearn to see where they end up.

This book should be required reading. The author did a wonderful job of researching the history of the gens de color libre and bringing that history to life. I learned so much about complexities of racism and American histrory from this novel, and I wish everyone understood these complexities.

Lessons I Learned

The following section is for those who have already read the book or seen the movie (or don't mind spoilers). Since the bulk of why I love this novel stems from what I learned from it, I feel it is impotant to share that, but I'm not sure I can do that with out spoilers. As such, anything you read from this point on may contain spoilers.

The Love of A Mother

By far, the worst character in the book is Cecile Ste. Marie, the mother of Marcel. The first time I read the book, I despised her character. I thought she was just a horrible person with no redeeming qualities. Truthfully, I still think she's a horrible character with no redeeming qualities; however, as over time, I actually came to undestand her character. Cecile was born and raised in a world where white people were the only ones with rights. By participating in plaçage,[1] Cecile sets her children up to have the best chance she can give them in the world they live. Her "relationship" with a wealthy white man grants her son a promised college education in France (even though this fell through) and her daughter the ability to pass for white. Although this is recognizably problematic in today's society, the truth is, she set both of her kids up for a privileged life. There's a lot about her character that I think was selfish and not particularly motivated by the desire to better the life of her children, but it did remind me that there were women during this time who made similar decisions for their children.

Black Masculinity

Marcel and his best friend Richard are young boys growing into manhood. Marcel is privileged and looking forward to a trip to Paris; Richard is in love and ready to marry. However, when tragedy stikes Marie (Marcel's sister and Richard's fiancee), neither of them have the right to do anything because the perpetrators are white men. Throughout history black men and the black family structure have targeted. Today you will often hear black men say things like "black women won't let men be men," and while we could probably do a whole post on that sentiment, the origin of emasculating black men started in slavery. White men could defend their wives and children, even their property. However, black men were powerless to stop white men from raping their wives, selling their children, beating their family members, etc. The trauma of this dynamic has been passed down and learned throughout our generations.

Colorism

Colorism is another topic that is too large to fit into a single paragraph, but The Feast of All Saints surprisingly taught me a lot about colorism. Colorism actually has many layers. Black people were taught to hate ourselves and developed an unhealthy desire to fit European standards. We bought into the lie that they were the standard of beauty. Within the black community there has been a history of favoring light skined women over dark skinned women. It has only been in recent years that dark skinned women such as Lupita Nyong'o have been showcased as the beautiful women they are. Yet, colorism is a lot deeper that. One of the things I learned from this novel was that proximity to whiteness wasn't just about color

In the novel, Marcel's family lives lavishly because their white father is footing the bill. Though relationships between slaves and masters can only be considered rape, sometimes these white slave owners took a "liking" to their bi-racial children. In real life, the only slaves Thomas Jefferson set free were his own children. In the novel, Marcel's father renegs on his promise to set his slave child free, but does spare both the child and the mother from having to work in the field. Marcel was granted a "gentleman's education" and in real life, many children of white men were able to learn how to read because they were raised in the house with the white man's white children (who wouldn't have understood at young ages that black children were not allowed to read).

Remember how I talked about the fact that Marcel and Richard couldn't do anything to avenge the crime committed against Marie? Marcel's father's brother-in-law (a white man) takes it upon himself to avenge her honor. You see, being lighter was simply the evidence of a white benefactor. The man who avenge's Marie's honor states that the white men who harmed her "should have seen the family resemblance." A white man encountering a light skinned black person didn't know if their white father was "attached" to them or not. A black person with black family had no recourse, but one with a white family could be avenged.

Seeing how proximity to whiteness wasn't just about color explained a mystery of my own life to me. When a new girl came to my school, she was welcomed with open arms into the rich white circle of my classmates and my teachers. I had never experienced that. We were both black, we were about the same color, and we both came from middle class families. The difference is that she was raised by her white mother. Her mannerisms and influences were very white, while mine were still black. When parent teacher conferences happened, teachers interacted with her white mother, whereas both of my parents are black. She had a different proximity to whiteness because there was a white benefactor directly involved in her life, not simply because she was light skinned. This realization added another layer of complexity to the topic of colorism for me.

Generational Wealth

Speaking of privilege, the book also subtly speaks on generational wealth. The fact that these white men could afford to keep two families is one thing, but the ability to pass something on to your children is a huge deal. Despite America not having an offical caste system, being born into wealth increases your likelihood of continuing in wealth. Marcel's father inherits a whole plantation simply because he is related to a man who's son is too young to take over the reigns. The gens de couleur libres have the money to give their children opportunities and education as opposed to sending them into the field. For example, Marcel ultimately becomes a photographer, but the only reason he is able to jump start this career is because he inherits the house a white man built for his mother and uses it for collateral.

The Fate of Women

The main character of the book may be a boy growing into a man, but the book gives a heartfelt commentary on sexism and the hardships women of that time felt. Every single woman in the novel experiences some form of trauma and heartache. Marcel's grandmother kidnaps his mother in desperation because she is barren and lonely. Marcel's mother resigns herself to sharing a man who doesn't really respect her just to live a comfortable life. Marcel's best female friend, Annabella, is forced into plaçage when Marcel can't (or won't) speak up for her. Dolly Rose runs a brothel of sorts to avoid the lies of plaçage but maintain an income. Marie is drugged and gang-raped in her attempt to escape the cycle of plaçage. Each woman in the novel experiences loss and heartache because they are not allowed to be independent. This was my first experience with the concept of intersectionality, though I wouldn't learn the word until much later.

I Highly Recommend

Despite the adult themes, the harsh realities of this book still effect the world we live in today. You could read scholarly articles on the topics I meantioned above, and you probably should, but this story will make the topics come alive. It humanizes the theories and philosphies.

References

1. Plaçage". Wikipedia; visited September 11, 2020

When Blood Cries Out

⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. ¹¹Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. Genesis 4:9-11 NASB

Photocredit: Unsplash.com/Jeppe Monster

Blood cries out from the depths of the sea,
From the bodies thrown overboard by the burgeoisie.
That ocean floor, where souls were left to die
Sends up a wrath of fire toward the sunny sky,
Stalking the heels of this monstrous boat
From shore to shore, the enemy it smote.

Blood cries out from the depths of the land,
From the bodies beaten and buried deep in this sand.
Stripped of dignity and herded like cattle,
A wrath rises up ready for battle:
Stalking the heels of this monstrous deed
It will not stop until we are freed.

Blood cries out from the depths of the trees
From the bodies hanging, swaying in the breeze—
Wafting the putrid smell of burning skin—
As a wrath rises up from the deepest depth within,
Stalking the heels of these monstrous people
Fraudulently hiding beneath the steeple.

Blood cries out from the depths of the pavement
From the bodies that fell in the streets of Flint,
In Ferugeson and Charleston and Minnesota and Kentucky—
The earth trembles as a wrath rises up out of the lucky,
Stalking the heels of this monstrous oppressor
Seeking vengeance on this ruthless aggressor.

Blood cries out from the depths of the cloth
From the bodies of the ancestors of the cultures wroth,
From the souls that made it across the depths of the blue
Who were whipped and stolen from and never given their due,
And watched the red of the blood shed at their expense—
Afraid of the white and longing for justice.
There is a wrath rising up from the soul,
By a people that were never yours to control.

An Army of One

PSALMS to God · An Army Of One

Knowing their thoughts, he told them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.Matthew 12 CSB

The US was built on division. This idea permeates through every fiber of our being. Despite being victims of oppression, assimilation, and injustice, we take these same ideals and inflict them on others (as well as ourselves). We cause harm to those hurting as we are, and we receive harm from those hurting as we are, so we segregate ourselves. We push away even those willing to help in anger, fear, and uncertainty. We are fighting a war as an army of one when we could be fighting as a united front. There is a history of minority groups being pitted against each other and it's time that we educate ourselves on these divides, the similarities and differences of our cultures and on the way white supremacy is propagated and inflicted between minority groups. It is time black lives matter to everyone.

The History of Division Among Minorities

From the inception of the US, there has been a plan to keep the elite rich and in power. Since they actually make up the minority, they had to make sure the majority didn't overthrow them. This is where we see division begin. Rich whites instilled a fear and hatred of slaves in poor whites, telling them that they were losing jobs (and therefore money) to slave labor. They elevated them by the nature of being white, as they were free and still "better" than the enslaved blacks, but worked to keep them poor and powerless.[6] As a result, poor whites and enslaved blacks were taught not to trust each other and most importantly, not to work together. If they had, they could have completely changed the landscape of the country.

This tactic was replicated within communities (namely by way of colorism) and between minority communities. By teaching one community to think they are not receiving resources because another community is getting that funding and then painting that community as undeserving, the system redirects the anger we should focus on policies and the rich, to people suffering just like us.

Many of our communities have the same problem manifested in different ways. For example, take the media. There isn't enough positive representation for any minority group. We're all relegated to stereotypical roles—the black athlete, the Asian nerd, the Hispanic/Latino maid (just to name a few). We shouldn't have to fight each other for a role or see another race's success as our failure. I was just as happy to see Crazy Rich Asians as I was to see Black Panther. Together we could have the power to force Hollywood to cast more people of color (in quality roles) and hire more people of color behind the scenes.

In some cases, however, the history is more nuanced. For example, when Asians began migrating to this country, they weren't received well. It's true that they weren't stripped of their heritage or forced into slavery as blacks, but it wasn't smooth sailing. Despite the education system teaching us WWII through the lens of the Holocaust and painting Germany as the big bad, it was Japanese Americans that the US put in internment camps[7] while the government hired Nazi Scientist (research Operation Paperclip). Even before that, Asian immigrants were heavily discriminated in the workforce (just like blacks). Since they were not allowed to become white collar workers, this led to the rise of small businesses like nail salons, restaurants, and beauty supply stores. These businesses were often opened in black neighborhoods. Today, Korean Americans own most of the beauty supply stores in the US and blacks spend the most money in this industry. For centuries, black people have indoctrinated to believe we are ugly and unprofessional in our natural state (research Sarah Baartman/The Hottentot Venus). From bleaching creams to toxic chemicals like lye for our hair, we are sold products to help us blend in and look more European. This is may not be overt racism, but it is a product of white supremacy or Eurocentric beauty standards. As such, the livelihood of these Korean American beauty supply store owners is dependent on upholding the belief that black women need these products and by controlling the flow of these products so that we don't "usurp" these businesses for our own community.[1][2][3][4]

On the other hand, many businesses in the black community that are owned by Asians (not just Korean Americans) have been targets during rioting. Not only does this add confirmation bias to negative attitudes they may have picked up from our society's general narrative about black people, but it adds personal hurt and damage into the mix.

Yet in 2020, the fact remains that there are immigrants being sexually assaulted and kept in cages at the border (many of them Hispanic or Latino), Asians have been violently targeted during the COVID-19 pandemic, black people are still being murdered or reported to the police simply for being black, and none of us can win our individual battles alone.

From A Christian Perspective

We have a duty to stop saying, "Me, me, me" and start working together. We have a responsibility to go beyond simply learning the gospel, but learning about each other. James 2:14-16 reminds us that we can't spread the gospel to people with out meeting their needs first. In that particular verse, the need is food or clothes, but in our society that need might be justice, validation, or support. We have to educate ourselves about how we internalized biases and how the system is structured to keep us at odds with each other so that we won't be at odds with each other.

Christ said a nation divided is headed for destruction and a house divided cannot stand. The adversary wants us divided. It hinders the spread of the gospel and it endangers our salvation. Racism is a concise way of saying, "angry with your brother without cause." Christ said that if we are angry with our brother without cause, we are guilty of murder. We cannot harbor hatred or prejudices against people without sinning, that's how I know Satan orchestrated racism. As a Church, however, we have all the tools we need to combat this particular epidemic.

We Are Called to Justice

Matthew 23:23 and Isaiah 1:17 are just two examples of God calling us to do justice. That justice isn't just for our own community. We much rally the troops whenever one of us calls. Every Church should be on the forefront of the fight for justice and equality of people. Whether my local Church is 99% or 1% , they should be fighting against injustices happening to .

Diversity Training

Most businesses invest in diversity training. Why doesn't the church? We're so busy claiming we are "neither Greek nor Jew" that we forget society doesn't see it that way. Never mind what happens inside the church, the truth is the world at large sees differences in us and we each have different experiences—race, class, gender, etc. all shape our experiences and world view. Public schools don't teach the history of each culture, and they definitely don't go into the nuances of racism. When you take that into account, and remember as stated earlier that racism is a sin, you would think we would create programs to combat it. Churches have AA meetings, singles ministries, family life programs, and more to help Christians adapt and grow in Christ. Why don't we have a diversity ministry?

Bible Verses to Review

• Matthew 5:23-24
• Matthew 12:25
• Matthew 18:15-17
• Matthew 18:21-22
• James 2:14-16
• Habakkuk 1
• Isaiah 1:17
• Matthew 23:23

#BlackLivesMatter

If you study the history of black people in America, you'll find that we've been paving the way for others for a long time. Blacks fought in WWII to liberate Jews from concentration camps and came back to a society that treated us like second class citizens. We fought in the American Revolution. We fought for Civil Rights that keep other minorities from being segregated as well. Yes, we have been helping (and occasionally hurting) other communities and yes, we need to be educated/invested in your plight too. I promise to stand with you when your life and your rights are at stake. Right now, however, it is the lives of black people that are being threatened. Do not leave us as an army of one, instead stand beside us, acknowledge that historically black lives have not mattered to the US, and affirm that black lives matter to you.

Educate Yourself

The only way to improve is to eliminate biases through education. We have to read and understand our own history (many of us don't even know that much). We also have to read and understand the history of others. It is 2020 and there are countless books, documentaries, tv shows, essays, short clips, TED talks, etc. about these topics, we just have to take the time view them. Once we clearly see the enemy's strategy, we can come together to dismantle the walls between us and start fighting together.

Posts from Last Week (Series on Christianity and Racism)

• A Personal History of Racism in the Church
• Healing the Wounds
• Promoting a Culture of Inclusion

References & Footnotes

1. Nikki Brown. "Being Followed Around a Korean Beauty Supply Store Made Me Rethink Where I Spend My Money". Essence. March 20, 2017
2. Danielle Kwateng-Clark. "Outrage After Beauty Supply Store Owner Strangles Black Woman In Disturbing Video". Essence. March 14, 2017
3. Interminority racism in the United States". Wikipedia; visited June 9, 2020
4. Chelsea Black. "'Model Minority' Myth Again Used As A Racial Wedge Between Asians And Blacks". NPR. April 19, 2017
5. Juliana Menasce Horowitx, Anna Brown and Kiana Cox. "Race in America". Pew Research Center. April 2019
6. Keri Leigh Merritt. "Keeping Poor Whites & Blacks Apart: a Southern Tradition". The Bitter Southerner; visited June 9, 2020
7. "Japanese Internment Camps". History. October 29, 2009

Black Israel

Three years ago I read Deuteronomy 28 and was shocked at how much it parallels the experience of Black people in the Americas. Before I ever read those verses, however, I knew something was missing. I kept asking the question: Why do they hate us so much?

Season 1 Episode 25

Before the stars escaped the night sky each morning, those fluorescent eyes crept into my bedroom, slithered through the entanglements of my mind and found themselves in my reoccurring nightmares—staring and waiting. It was always the same dream, nothing but trees would surround me as my body was propelled through a spectacular rainbow of green jungle, and an engulfment of wind would whip my body shamelessly until the blackness of my skin would cry out with even darker whelps of agony. All the while, those eyes kept flashing in the shadows of the trees—they were always coming for me. And just when my heart would reach its limit, my feet would fall from beneath me. The ground would slowly crumble, fading away, until a gaping black hole no more than a yard in diameter would open beneath my toes and having no desire to pull myself from its unrelenting gravity, I always let myself fall. There, I would find myself on my knees in a soft patch of grass, entwined with colorful wildflowers and fanciful butterflies—a patch of heaven that only existed where my body lay unresponsive. Around me, were crippled faces, skewed in mourning faces; those frail and emaciated bodies with quivering lips chanting, wailing and groaning—I could feel their pains shaking in the core of my bones and my whole body shuddered in their pain.When I would finally get the nerve to lift my eyes upward, there past me and them, buried in a mystery of color and shadow, those eyes would be watching.Then, out of nowhere, iron chains would fall from behind me thrusting themselves upon my own thick arms and legs until they were so tight I feared to even breathe. My grassy plateau disappeared from beneath my innocent knees as they scraped through the scathing dirt of the desert and the ground became red with fresh blood. My blood... Ree Hughes

Introduction (00:03:02)

Hey guys welcome back to the PSALMS to God podcast. So one of the things that I think firmly cements my faith in God and in Christ and in the Bible is fulfillment of Prophecy. When you match up historical evidence or historical fact with Biblical prophecy and what the Bible is telling you, it's kind of mind-blowing. I mean you look at it, and you're like “Oh, wow! Like this is real; this is what... God said this was going to happen and that's what happened. And look this is amazing. Like this is directly pouring out into my life. I see how this is applicable to today.” And it it just does something to you. And so for the second season I was going to go into history—more so the history of the church and some of the prophecies and how they have played out.

So, the series that I'm starting today would have gone in to season 2. It makes way more sense to put it there than in season 1, where the theme is supposed to be about the Fruit of the Spirit. But God has been putting it on my heart to go ahead and share this. So it's out of place, but it's going in here anyway, because the Lord said to speak it, so I'm speaking it. The reason that I know that God wanted me to share this now, as opposed to later, is because of something that happened last month.

Inspiration (00:04:33)

So I have a ton, a ton of files in my Dropbox account, and some of them have some very cryptic names. It's more like I had this flash drive and I backed it up on Dropbox, so it just says “flash drive” or “external drive”[1] and then when you go into that there are more files and folders and directories of other things. And I was just kind of tired of looking at the chaos that is my Dropbox. So I wanted to clean it up and get organized and be a little bit productive. So I dug into this folder called “external drive,” which led me to a lot of things that I did in college. So it has a another folder that is all of the writing that I used to do. I used to write all the time; I was obsessed with writing—I'm still a little obsessed with writing, but I was way more avid of a writer back then.

And I found this story that I had been working on in college; it actually stems from a dream that I had in high school. And when I started reading this and realized that it was planting the seeds for what I've started to learn 3 years ago, I was kind of mystified. I was impressed with the writing, but I was also mystified. So the beginning of this episode I read for you to introduction to that story that I found. So that is the story that I was writing; let me know if you like it, maybe I'll continue it. But it comes from a dream that I had in high school, and at that time—between the dream and between the story—the biggest question that I was asking was: why does the world hate Black people so much?

For all of my non-black viewers or listeners, you probably think I'm being dramatic, but if you walked a day in the shoes of a Black person you would probably empathize with that question. When I was four, is the first time somebody told me I was Black. A White student in my preschool came up and told me that she was White and that I was Black. I still don't know what that has to do with the price of tea in China, but you know what, that's what it is. That's how I found out I was Black, and then shortly after that I was introduced the n-word, and it just kind of spiraled out of control from there. I will confess I have been kicked off of a public school bus and out of a public after school program because people called me the n-word and I retaliated with a form of violence. I am not condoning that—don't do that but that's what I did when I was a child because I didn't know anything else to do at the time.

So growing up in the middle of nowhere South Carolina, racism is a common thing. It's just something that is. People were shocked after Trump was elected and people started doing and saying racist things; I was not shocked, because I have heard and seen those things many times in my life. It didn’t seem that odd[2] to me; I was like “Yeah, I knew those people existed.”

So rolling into college brought about a new change—sorry guys, that's Bubbles—and that was the realization that it wasn't just small town South Carolina that had this problem. I had spent most of my childhood under the impression that all I have to do with leave. Once I got old enough to move out and be on my own, I would go somewhere where there was no racism. But the US is steeped in White supremacy, and the world in general has a problem with racism. Whether it's colorism or actual racism, the entire world has a problem with brown people, and the darker you are the more they have a problem with you.

And I just... At that age I think I was searching for an answer for why. It just... It didn't make sense; and this is where this story started to evolve from… From this dream and from this question. Of course after I graduated from college, I got kind of busy with life, and I totally forgot I was even writing this story. It got to the point that it was so far in the back of my mind, I didn't remember anything about it. I started getting more involved with reading the Bible and becoming closer to God, and like I said, this story passed... The dream, the story, everything just passed totally out of my consciousness.

The Black Israelite Theory (00:09:36)

But about three years ago, I was doing an in-depth study on the book of Deuteronomy, and I came to Deuteronomy 28. When you read through chapter 28 of Deuteronomy, it is mind-blowing. The significance of it, and the parallels that it has to things that have happened in modern times with Black people in the Americas is extremely fascinating, and even without having ever heard the Black Israelite Theory, I was able to look at that chapter, and be like “Yo, this is extremely personal. This is extremely relevant. How did I not know that these words were in this Bible?”

And so I started digging into it and trying to figure out what it was and piece it together, and of course thanks to it being the modern era that it is, Google quickly took me to a lot of websites, a lot of sermons, on the Black Israelite Theory. And so that is how I begin researching that particular theory. There are already posts on my blog about it, nothing that is I guess concrete or anything like that. It's just random research. And so I kept going, and I ended up having some talks with some of my friends about it. We started researching it, reading it... And the deeper you get into it, the more you start to realize that there's definitely something to it—there's definitely something to be said about it. And so I wanted to talk about it here on the podcast.

Biblical Race (00:11:27)

And I think for this first piece of the series, I want to talk about the idea of the Israelites not being White. What I mean is... Don't even... You don't even have to go into picturing the Israelites as just being Black and dripping with melanin, and you know, I don't know, like being Wesley Snipes[3] dark. We don't have to go that far, yet, OK? Let's just… Let's just stick to what’s in the Bible and common sense.

Before we go into that, there are some disclaimers that I need to put out there, because language is hard. And when we say things a lot of times things get mixed up. People make associations that are not necessarily the correct associations. We make assumptions. We have different connotations of words, and things get all kind of muddled up. So the first thing I want to say is that I do not subscribe to the Black Hebrew Israelite religion group, etc. They preach a lot of hate and a lot of hate speech, and I do not agree with that. So I want put that out first and foremost. While I think that the theory has some credence, and I want to talk about the actual theory and the information that is present in the Bible, there is a lot of things that some people who subscribe to this theory believe and say and do that is not of God. I want to remind you that anything that is said should be tested with scripture. In the Bible it says that he that does not know love does not know God,[4] so if you are preaching hate there is a disconnect and it is not right. That is a problem. I'm not going down that path.

Another thing I want to clarify are terms and terminologies, because I think that we speak about race and nationality and ethnicity, and we kind of mix them all up together. And a lot of times people say words and use words interchangeably that actually have differences and their... The nuances of those words are slightly different. I think it's important that we actually talk about those up front, so that as we go down this journey that things are less confusing.

Terminology

Israelites vs. Hebrews vs. Jews (00:13:52)

So from the Bible I want to talk about three different groups of people that are often referred to as though it encompasses the same groups of people, and that is: the Israelites, the Hebrews and the Jews. I know some of y’all like, “I thought they were the same people.” These are not exactly the same people. It's roughly the same, which is why people tend to interchange them, but it's not quite the same. OK, so the Hebrews are descendants of Eber— that's where the word comes from: Hebrew/Eber.[6] Eber was a son of Shem;[5] he was a descendant of Shem—Shem being a descendant of Noah and an ancestor of Abraham. Abraham was a Hebrew; all of the Patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—they were all Hebrew, and therefore all Israelites are Hebrew; all Jews are Hebrew. They all come from the Hebrew people, but there are Hebrews that are not Israelites and that are not Jews.

The Israelites are descended from Jacob. Jacob was his given name; God changed his name to Israel, and that is where the name Israel comes from. So all of his descendants are Israelites.

From there, the Israelites became a great nation, and as they were at the height of their power—of their prosperity—after the rule of King Solomon, things got a little muddy. And as with most families, and with most nations, there was basically like a civil war type situation, and the nation split in half. The northern half retained the name of Israel, and the southern half started calling themselves Judah, after the tribe of Judah. The people in the southern part of the nation were referred to as the Judeans or the Judeans, and that is where we get the term Jew. So the Jews are actually from specific tribes within Israel, mainly the tribe of Judah, though some of them might be Levites, or they might be from The Tribe of Benjamin which was also in that southern region. And that is where we get the name Jew. Now, if you really want to get tripped up, then you should note that in modern-day the created country of Israel, that was created by the UN, those people refer to themselves as Israelis.

So yeah. Lots terms. Lots of different groups of people. That's how they're kind of related.

Black vs. African-American vs. African (00:16:41)

Also in modern terms, let's clarify the difference between being Black, being African-American, being African, ‘cause a lot of people just see Blackness and think that it's all the same. I've had conversations with people that just do not understand that just because you are Black does not mean that you're American. It's a very befuddling conversation, but there are Black people scattered across the globe. Some of these Black people have direct ties to Africa, like they were born in Nigeria, and their family moved from Nigeria to Europe or to America or to China, wherever. And so they probably—if you speak to them—refer to themselves as Nigerian. They may have roots to a specific tribe in Africa; they are directly tied to a country within Africa. So that would include people like President Obama, who is Kenyan. His family is from Kenya,[7] and they were not brought over to the U.S. on the transatlantic slave trade. They were not slaves. He is directly from Africa.

Then you have people like myself that have been in America for so long that we don't know where we came from off the continent of Africa and have absolutely no ties to the continent. I cannot tell you what tribe my ancestors are from, or where on the continent they came from—somewhere in Western Africa or Central Africa? I don't really know. All I know is that as far as I can trace back, my family has been in America. This is what people generally term to be African-American: descendants of the slaves that were brought over here from Africa and have been in America for some time.

But not all of the slaves that were taken from Africa came to the United States; some of them went into the Caribbean and into South America. So you also have the people of the Caribbean; so you have Haitians, Jamaicans, people from Trinidad, Guyana, wherever. You have people in Brazil, people in Mexico, people in Colombia, and Peru... All in and out of the Americas that are descended from the “Africans” that were taken from Africa, and brought over here through the transatlantic slave trade.

And then you start getting into terms like Afro-Latino, where you have people who are from the Latin American countries. They probably speak Spanish as their first language, but they still have descendancy (or ancestors) from the continent Africa. And they may look just like me.

So this is what we call the African diaspora and it's confusing because when you really start trying to define what it means to look like a Black person, how to identify a black person, and what it means, it starts getting a little messy. As a lighter skinned Black person, I often get asked what I am, even though I think I look obviously Black. And when I’ve meant people from the continent of Africa, some of them look like me too, because there is a wide range of skin tones, hair textures, shapes, sizes, and everything in between amongst black people. That's something that people typically don't think about or account for when they are envisioning the word black, or envisioning what a Black person looks like. And I want you to keep that at the forefront of your mind as we talk about this theory; because the truth is the people described in the Bible would have been the same.

The Israelites Were NOT White (00:20:55)

Photocredit: Unsplash.com/Oladimeji Odunsi

If you read the Bible and if you look at history, you have to come to the conclusion that the Israelites were not white. I'm sorry. I know y'all been watching all the stuff that Western Europeans have been putting out there. They've been painting White Angels and White Jesus and White everything since the Dark Ages, but this is not what those people look like. It can't be. And this is how I know: on two occasions, at least—just two that I think of off the top of my head, there are probably more—there are Israelites that are confused for Egyptians. In Exodus 2:19, Moses is confused as an Egyptian, and in Acts 21:38, Paul is confused as an Egyptian. Now I know, they depict Egyptians as White too—I wonder why? We’re going to get there. But the Egyptians weren’t White either.

I'm not saying this to say that all of these people were just dripping with melanin, and they were you know, I don't know like that's not what I'm trying to say. Like I said in the beginning, I think there was a range of shades just like there are a range of shades within the Black race today. But I have met people from Egypt, from modern Egypt, and they're like the same color as me or darker. They are not White. First of all Egypt is close to the equator, all right. There is no way... White people would burn instantaneously in that climate; they could not survive.

Secondly, since the beginning of time, people have been coming and going through the Middle East and Egypt, and all of these areas. There have been wars, there have been changes of populations and everything in between. The Romans, who were White, invaded both Israel and Egypt. The Arabs, during the Ottoman Empire, also invaded Northern Africa. And so during all of these changes of power, there would have been intermingling of those races and of those cultures. So for the Romans, who were White, to have come into Egypt and intermingled with the Egyptians, and Egyptians still be the same color I am today, they had to have been much darker beforehand. That's just logic. I don't think... They were either the same color, because they never intermarried with the Romans, or they were darker, but either way they weren't White. I'm standing by that.

If you don't even want to believe that from that from a logic point of view, the Bible tells us that they weren't White. In Exodus 4:6, God tells Moses to stick his hand out and He turns his hand white? White. He turns his hand White. His hand cannot turn white if it’s already white. Can you imagine? Like if you're already pale, how you going to tell that your hand turned white? That would be a pointless thing. No one, I mean if I was far enough away I wouldn't even be able to tell the difference, but you would surely know if my hand turned white because it's not white to begin with, it’s brown. When you get to Numbers 12:10, the same thing happens to Moses’ sister, Miriam. She also turns white, and if you read throughout the Old Testament, every time they start talking about leprosy—people think it's the leprosy that we talked about today, but it's not. It's some sort of disease where their skin turns white. That's literally what the Bible says. Every time they say that somebody has leprosy, it’s accompanied with their skin turned white. That means their skin wasn't white to begin with. It was strange for them to have white skin. That is what the Bible says.

Modern Jews (00:25:12)

So these people were brown. So how do we have White Jewish people today?

We know that the Jews went into captivity, the Israelites I should say, were taken into captivity. So the first set of captivity, or the first round of captivity, happened to the northern kingdom. When the kingdom split, the northern kingdom never acted the way they were supposed to. They never followed God; their kings took them down sinful paths, and God punished by scattering them right out—and Deuteronomy 28 talks about this scattering. It talks about how if they didn't follow the Word of God, they would be scattered. So, the Assyrians attack Northern Israel, and these people are scattered who knows where, and they are often referred to as The Lost Tribes. No one knows what happened to them, where they went, who they became. However, somebody has to know. There has to be some way to identify these people, because in Revelation when we talk about the 144,000, they are mentioned there. It says 12,000 from this tribe and from that tribe and it lists those tribe that are lost. So it stands to reason that before the end, those people will be identified, as well.

Then you have those who were in Judea. And they also went into captivity: first into Babylon, then they fell under the tyranny of Rome. When Rome finally crushed them in 70 AD at the siege on Jerusalem, they too, were dispersed. And because the Romans are the ones who started carrying Christianity, people stopped caring about what actually happened to the Jews, or the Israelites, and they started focusing more on the Gentiles. And so this whole period is just never talked about. There was this siege on Jerusalem, all of a sudden, you know, they had squashed out Judaism. They were still persecuting Christians. Then all of a sudden Constantine decided to convert the empire to Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church takes over; a lot of history gets, you know, befuddled and lost, and we pop up into present-day, and now we have White Jewish people.

Where did they come from? Most people just assume that they intermarried with the Romans, they moved into Europe, and that's where you get the Ashkenazi Jews. Mind you Ashkenaz is a son of Japheth.[8] Japheth is from the other son of Noah. So you had Shem, who birthed Israel. You had Ham, who birthed Egypt, and then you have Japheth who had a child named Ashkenaz.[9] And this is the word, the Hebrew word, for Germany. Ashkenazi Jews being Jews who were found in Germany.[10][11]

So the theory would be that, like I said, after the siege of Jerusalem, that the Jews just kind of melded into Rome, and melded into Europe. But that doesn't actually follow the logical pattern of the Israelites. When there was a famine in Canaan, or drought, or any other problem, the Israelites always fled South into Egypt... Abraham went to Egypt.[12] Isaac went to Egypt.[13] Joseph ended up sold into slavery in Egypt, but then when there was a drought, his family came into Egypt, as well.[14] That's why they were there to be in bondage in the first place. When we get to the time of Jesus, when Herod issues his decree to kill all of the children under 2 years old—all of the male children—in attempt to kill Jesus, Jesus and his family flee to Egypt.[15] They always fled South into Egypt. They didn't fly... They didn't flee North into Europe. So why would they suddenly go North now? Furthermore, that’s not what the Bible says.

Conclusion (00:29:46)

So, like I said, we're going into Deuteronomy 28, and Deuteronomy 28 talks about where they went, who they are, because where they went tells us who they are. And I can't wait to get into this, but we're already at 30 minutes—guys there is so much to say! So I want you to stick a pin in it right there, and we're going to come back to this topic of who the Israelites are, where they went, and why the world hates Black people so much. Tune in… I would say that I'm going to wait till Monday for the text episode but I probably won't. Tune in whenever the next episode drops and make sure you like and subscribe. Send me messages or add me on Instagram: shiree.hughes and I hope you'll stay with me. I hope you pray through this, and yeah it's going to be a fun ride. See you next time.

Footnotes and References

1. This is a terrible way of organizing files. Aside from memorization I can never figure out where stuff is or even what I have or don’t have.
2. Odd meaning out of the ordinary. It’s still odd in terms of foreign concepts and behaviors that no one should be thinking, let alone exhibiting
3. I have no idea why this is who popped into my head for comparison.
4. 1 John 4:8
5. Genesis 10:21
6. "Hebrew". Encyclopædia Britannica. April 17 2019
7. Jeff Wallenfeldt David Mendell. "Barack Obama". Encyclopædia Britannica. May 15, 2019
8. Genesis 10:2-3
9. Actually Ashkenaz is Japheth’s grandson.
10. University of Huddersfield. "DNA research sheds light on ancestry of Ashkenazi Jews". Science Daily. October 8 2013
11. "Askenazi". Collins Dictionary; visited June 2019
12. Genesis 12:10
13. Genesis 26 (Actually he didn’t physically go to Egypt; he just thought about it!)
14. Genesis 42
15. Matthew 2:13

Book Review: Just Mercy

Just Mercy:
A Story of Justice and Redemption
by Bryan Stevenson

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson is a phenomenal book. I don't usually put much stock in books being "#1 New York Times Bestsellers," but this book truly deserves that title. I usually fly through books, and putting a book down or making slow progress usually indicates that I won't finish it because the plot or the writing just isn't drawing me in. But this book... It took me a little over a month to read. Part of the reason was because I was reading 2 other books at the same time, but really, the issue was that it's to real to read through in one sitting.

I learned my lesson when I binged watched the Kalief Browder story on Netflix,[1] and Mr. Stevenson's book is full of true stories highlighting the same faults in our criminal "justice" system. The overarching story is that of Walter McMillian who was wrongfully convicted of murder through shady practices and sentenced to death in Alabama. Mr. Stevenson, a young lawyer just beginning his career, started the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) to assist people like Mr. McMillian, and quickly became engrossed in the case. As Mr. Stevenson recounts the long, hard journey to establish true justice for Mr. McMillian, he weaves in the stories of countless other clients he was able to claim justice for. From wrongly accused men on death row to adults who had been imprisoned with life sentences as mere children, we get a glimpse at how unfair the system is to minorities and to the poor.

I had to put the book down every few pages because the injustice was so unsettling. There were times I wanted to quit reading; after all, I know our justice system is rigged. I couldn't, though. It was unsettling to read, but think how unsettling it is to live. Can you imagine knowing you're innocent but being on death row? Watching people leave, smelling their flesh burning from the electric chair knowing you'll never see them again, and knowing that one day it could be you? That's what many of the people highlighted in this book lived through.

The book isn't just about justice, though. It's also about mercy. Sometimes people do commit crimes and sometimes they should be punished for what they did. However, mercy is must come with the judgment. Mercy must be the final outcome. After someone has paid their debt to society, mercy must be granted. Rehabilitation and reintegration into society is no small feat, but it must take priority to avoid reentry to prison or suicides like that of the young Kalief Browder.

...Walter had taught me that mercy is just when it is rooted in hopefulness and freely given. Mercy is most empowering, liberating, and transformative when it is directed at the undeserving. The people who haven't earned it, who haven't even sought it, are the most meaningful recipients of our compassion. Walter genuinely forgave the people who unfairly accused him, the people who convicted him, and thee people who had judged him unworthy of mercy. And in the end, it was just mercy toward others that allowed him to recover a life worth celebrating, a life that rediscovered the love and freedom that all humans desire, a life that overcame death and condemnation until it was time to die on God's schedule.

While I'm 100% positive that the book will always be better, there is a movie in the works. Michael B. Jordan will star as Bryan Stevenson and Jamie Foxx will star as Walter McMillian. It is scheduled to be released on January 17, 2020.[2] Nonetheless, I highly recommend reading this book, and I also encourage you to check out the Equal Justice Initiative,[3] which is still working to provide justice to those society has condemned and forgotten.

References

1. Benjamin Weiser. "Kalief Browder’s Suicide Brought Changes to Rikers. Now It Has Led to a $3 Million Settlement.". NY Times. January 24, 2019
2. "Just Mercy (2020)". IMDb; visited March 2019
3. "Get Involved". Equal Justice Initiative; visited March 2019

With Liberty and Justice For All

Deuteronomy 10:17-19 isn't the only verse that commands us to love and respect those who are not like us, so why are so many so-called followers of God overtly and passively racist? Why are so many willing to ignore the plights of others? Why are so many anti-immigrant? #LoveYourNeighbor

PSALMS to God · With Liberty And Justice For All

Season 1 Episode E

¹⁷For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe. ¹⁸He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹You are also to love the resident alien, since you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt. Deuteronomy 10:17-19 CSB

00:01:25
Hey guys. Welcome back to the PSALMS to God podcast. So this past Sabbath, I was at Sabbath school and we were talking about the inclusion of everybody in the body of Christ. We're talking about a chapter in Ephesians[1] where, you know, it's basically going over the whole thing about how once you convert and once you believe in God, it doesn't matter if you are an Israelite or a Gentile. You're still a body of Christ and you have this—excuse me, you're still in the body of Christ and you still have the same rights; and you gain the inheritance of the Father just like anyone else.

00:02:05
And as we were talking about that concept, we started going through the Bible to a bunch of different verses that talk about strangers or foreigners in the land of Israel, and how the Israelites were supposed to be treating these people. As we were going through these verses I knew that I was going to do the podcast on basically all of these verses. A lot of them are exactly the same, but I just feel like, especially with it being Black History Month, that it's completely relevant and important to talk about.

00:02:46

Nitish Meena

So one of the reasons it's important, like I said, it's Black History Month, and in the US there is a history of discrimination—whether it's because of race or nationality, there's also a history of discrimination based on people being poor and people being immigrants. We're seeing this playing out right now. All of this crazy foolishness that Donald Trump has said about immigrants, particularly about Mexicans. What he said about Haiti. And the whole foolishness about this wall—just there's a lot OK. You have to be living under a rock to not realize that people you're saying very hateful and harmful things about immigrants in our society, which is crazy because everyone's an immigrant or we were brought here as slaves in my case, or you're Native American, but nonetheless there is a problem. And that is deeply rooted in the history of America.

00:03:52
And if you know anything about slavery and about the history of Christianity in America, then you also know that white evangelicals have been trying to twist the Bible to say racist things from the beginning. They were trying to turn curses into things that they're not; they were trying to, you know, oh slaves you know "obey your master"—never mind about the right after that it says "masters be good to your slaves for you have a Master in Heaven"[2]—but they basically tried to make the Bible say what they wanted to say. And here in 2019, we have the issue that because of how they have treated the word of God and how they have perverted it there are a lot of Black people food do not subscribe to Christianity simply because they're viewing it through that lens, and it's seen as a racist religion. By all accounts that man-made version is racist, but that's not what the Bible says—and we're going to get to what the Bible says.

00:05:01
But outside my American experience, and the American context as a black person in the United States, this is also relevant to what's happening in Israel right now. If you follow history and if you follow current events or anything like that, then you would know that there is a lot of conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians—and so there is a lot going on there, as well.[3] And of course, all of what's being said in the Bible also applies to the modern state of Israel and how they treat the Palestinians—and there's a lot of stuff that we can go into about that but we don't have that much time, so I'm just going to go straight to the verses.

00:05:43
So I read in the beginning, a verse in Deuteronomy or a couple of verses from Deuteronomy that basically summarize the whole of what all of the verses say. But just for, I don't know for clarity? For a thoroughness—thoroughness! That's the word I'm looking for. I wanted to read a couple of others, by no means is this all of them, because a lot of these verses are repeated; which means there's emphasis, which means God was serious about what He was saying and He didn't change what He was saying because He was serious about what He was saying. So in Exodus 22:21 it says "You must not exploit a resident alien or a oppress him since you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt."

00:06:26
And then if you continue into Deuteronomy, pass the verse that I previously read and into chapter 24 verse 14, it says "Do not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether one of your Israelite brothers or one of the resident aliens in a town in your land. You are to pay him his wages each day before the sun sets because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he would cry out to the Lord against you and you will be held guilty."

00:07:06
Later in that same chapter and verse 17 it says "Do not deny justice to a resident alien or fatherless child and do not take a Widow's garment as security." So once again you cannot deny justice to people just because they are not like you or because or because they are immigrants or foreign or whatever the case may be.

00:07:28
And then if you jump into the New Testament, because I know some of y'all a little rusty on the Old Testament. The New Testament says the same thing. From the words of Jesus Himself, in Matthew chapter 25 starting at verse 34, it says "The King will say to those on His right, come you who are blessed by My Father. Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you took me in..." And then it lists some more things, but I really wanted to highlight the fact that he is including the strangers, the foreigners, the immigrants in this passage. Those who are blessed and inherit the kingdom of God are the people who took care of all people and not just those who looked like them.

00:08:26
And I think it's very important that we remember this, and that we remind those who are profaning the name of God by claiming that they are believers that they are following Christ, they're Christians, but are still spouting out racist propaganda, racist ideologies. They are discriminating against immigrants, discriminating against people because of their race, because of their wealth status or lack of wealth status, or any of those things.

00:08:59
Throughout my life I have noticed that is always those who have little that are taken advantage of, and a lot of times in our country, that is inclusive of immigrants because many times they don't necessarily know they're rights. Or for instance I've had situations where I've known people—like maybe you have like a child, like kids I went to school with, their parents came over. The children are first-generation American and their parents don't speak English. The children don't know what's going on and the parents can't fight for the child because they can't speak English. And teachers or the school—I should say the school system in general, or the the law system, systems in general are taking advantage of those people and that is not how the Bible outlines a good society and that's not how the Bible outlines God's Society. So we as followers of Christ should be breaking that tradition and we should be standing up for the immigrant, for the foreigners, for those who don't necessarily look like us. And we should be treating them as equals because God created us all to be equals.

00:10:13
So that is the message that I wanted to put out there today and I hope that you guys will think about that, and share that with your friends to need to hear it. If you needed to hear it, then I hope you received it in love and goodness. And I will see you guys for the next episode. If you want the transcript for this episode—and I will try to list out more of the verses,[4] I'm probably still not going to get them all 'cause ya'll the Bible is long and there a lot of them but I'll try to put in as many as I can in that transcript, you can find it at www.psalmstogod.com/liberty. Thanks again, see you guys next time.

Footnotes and References

1. Ephesians 2
2. Ephesians 2:6-9
3. "Israel/Palestine". Human Rights Watch; visited February 2019
4. Exodus 12:49; 22:21; 23:9;
   Leviticus 16:29; 19:10, 33-34; 24:22;
   Numbers 35:15;
   Deuteronomy 1:16; 10:18-19; 14:29; 16:11-14; 23:7; 24:14-17, 19-21; 27:19;
   Matthew 25:35;
   Ephesians 2:19;
   Hebrews 13:2