A Pre-Memorial Day Episode of "All I Can Do is Shake My Head"

Once again, please go over to my daughter's blog at  http://sbmaige.blogspot.com/. Take a read and comment on what she is talking about. She loves the feedback and the debate. I love you Shuggy. Now on with the show...

After a very dramatic day yesterday, I had decided that I would take a break from Facebook for awhile. I wanted to step back a bit and get my head and spirit recharged and back aligned. For the first time in 3 months, I went back in the lab and spun out a stress relief mix, after which I prayed and read. In my reading I did log back onto Facebook to observe the chatter. I see that once again, my home state is making national news. 1) The pastor at the Providence Rd Baptist Church in Maiden, NC (my home is between Newton and Maiden. We claim Newton of course.) speaking from the pulpit some really hateful rhetoric about gays and lesbians. Catch the synopsis here (http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2012/05/24/ac-intv-tuchman-lesbian-church-member-pastor-worley.cnn?iref=allsearch)Then to top the sundae off, 2) The Stateville, NC paper (http://www2.statesville.com/) the Statesville Record and Landmark, reported that the Klan is going to rally in Harmony, NC upon this weekend. Yup, that is right that Klan, the Ku Klux Klan. Nice. Lets deal with this in reverse order.

The Klan rally. For readers who aren't from my neck of the woods, I bet you are stunned at this development. I can say in my younger years living in Newton, NC, the Klan has marched downtown on several occasions. Am I surprised, no I am not. But in my eyes, the Klan is not, let me stress NOT a group that can be discounted. This is not fear speaking but as of knowing history and truth. Some have compared the Klan to other groups that have or is currently promoting some type of "supremacy" in regards to an ethnic setting. On its face, this can be argued, but take the time to dig deeper. I would argue that the Klan is the American Terrorist Group. All of the black men who were lynched. All of the families that were terrorized. All of the churches that were burned. All of the kids that we killed in the cross fire. All of the kids that subjected to the culture of hate. The Klan has a trail of blood attached to it that can only be matched by groups like the Taliban. This is why the Klan stirs up emotion in African-Americans. To hear anyone discount that is truly insulting. I understand the kumbayah stance put please people, brush up on your American history. (Billie Holiday's song "Strange Fruit" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs puts the lynching aspect in perspective. This song was originally recorded in 1939.)

Yet, under the great laws of our land, and strangely enough, the Citizens United ruling, the Klan has voice and a right to speak like everyone else. Hell they have been exercising that right for well over 100 years strong. Now with the Citizens Untied ruling, that gives them a bigger foot hold in the political process. I would argue that the foothold has been strong for well over 100 years too. Folks are expressing anger at the Record and Landmark put they were reporting it as news. Taking it out on the paper is easy. Having the stones to stand up in one voice against hate is something completely different. That stand requires us to become even more engaged with the political and social aspects of our communities. Change has to occur within to exert change. Meaning, you gotta change on the inside to see change on the outside. More on this if needed...

Now to Pastor Worley down in Maiden, NC. The home of the largest Apple Data Center in the world. NICE Pastor. I would love to ask him simply this, from clergy to clergy. "How in God's name do you think what you said benefits the Kingdom of God?" How can anyone get Jesus' love, grace and mercy out of what he said? He doesn't have to agree with the gay and lesbian lifestyle and the idea of same sex marriage. Got that and doctrinal terms, he can't agree with it. But the hate and the language that he put out there is grounds for getting his tail canned. That is spiritual malpractice. I never knew that Jesus was down with the hate? I guess Jesus is out of the saving business. How can you bring anyone to Christ like this? Bottom line, bringing souls to Christ at this moment is not important to him. He got what he wanted, his time in the sun. This is why many people have lost trust in the church and in the faith. It is truly time for clergy to be true to the calling instead of political puppets. Just my .02 cents worth. Back to being quiet.

A Continuation from My Last Episode of "All I Can Do is Shake My Head"

Once again, please go over to my daughter's blog at  http://sbmaige.blogspot.com/. Take a read and comment on what she is talking about. She loves the feedback and the debate. I love you Shuggy. Now on to this hot, fresh, Krispy Kreme doughnut off the line fresh blog. Can Krispy Kreme make a sugar free edition of the famous glazed doughnut for a brother??? Sorry, I digress...

I just watched the first segment of the Ed Show on MSNBC. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson is guest hosting tonight and he posed a dilemma that I will admit that I did not fully catch initially in the gay marriage rights debate. I have also read many of my friends responses to the Amendment One vote both for and against. I am not trying to stir more of the pot up but right now, the Black Church has a dilemma. Dr. Dyson eloquently put this out in the public forum. I will try to simplify the dilemma down to this...Our history of the Black church, where our foreparents worshipped the Lord from the bushes of the brush arbor at night, to free slaves building many of the churches that we attend today, through Jim Crow, Separate but Equal, the Civil Right Movement, our churches historically have been the first and many times LAST line of defense on the subject of justice. The Civil Rights Movement was incubated in the womb of the Black church. The church was the only place for us to safely talk about the topics of the day. That tradition is still in place because when politicians need to make the round to gin up votes from Black folk, they hit the Black church. 

Being in the clergy, I guess my opinions should be a bit softer, more seminary sounding, I guess more pastoral. But I will call this how I see it....So here goes...How can we in the Black church truly front on ANYONE in the margins when we have battled (and still battling) so long from the margins ourselves? We have gone from glorified farm equipment and property, to 3/5's of a citizen, to not eligible to vote, to not being worthy of using the same bathrooms as everyone else and on and on. Who are we to look upon gay and lesbian people with scorn and fold them up with the Bible as Massa did hundreds of years ago? So now when a new set of people are on the margins, we just turn our backs right?

I guess I can be accused of talking out of both sides of my mouth but this dilemma hits me too. Could I marry a gay couple? No I could not. Would I ever get there, not sure. But I don't want my people to get on the Super Righteous soapbox quite yet. So it is time to really do some soul searching. Before you put King James on your sleeve, what do you do with the many choir directors and choir members who are gay and lesbian that we pat and sway to on Sunday morning? What do you do with the many Pastors that are in the closet? What do you do with the many gay and lesbian Gospel singers that are out? What do you do with supporting actors who like to dress in drag? Do we sit all of these people down? Stop supporting them??? Do we shut the doors to the church to them? Do we quarantine them like they have the plague? Or do we give the weak answer and say, "Aww, we will just pray for them?" I guess loving one another as Christ loved the Church is a bit much. How do we reconcile our struggle and the place of the Black Church in that struggle with newer members of the marginalized? Just my .02 cent worth....

Another Episode of "All I Can Do is Shake My Head"

Before I get started here, I encourage everyone to check out my daughter's blog "Made Anew In God's Eyes" at http://sbmaige.blogspot.com/. It is great reading from a young sista, trying to do her thing. Give her a read and be encouraged. Now onto the rest of this program.

Tonight, not to my surprise, the state that I was born and raised, the state that educated me, the state that I still love, even though I am in Texas now, decided that Amendment One was a good idea. I stress that I am not surprised that it passed. I see that a lot of my friends on Facebook are disappointed at the outcome. I also see that a lot of my clergy collegues are disappointed as well. Truthfully, I am very disappointed too. Let me state my stance on it....

Personally and Biblically, I do not approve of gay marriage. Would I marry a gay couple, my answer to that is no. So why would I have voted against Amendment One? Here is my list...1) NORTH CAROLINA ALREADY BANS GAY MARRIAGE! Why in God's name am I voting for something that is already on the books? With all of the people out of work, with the NC public school system struggling, the state is running low on money, roads suck and the Bobcats play in Charlotte, you would think that there are other issues to address than Gay Marriage. 2) The wording of this amendment will bite many in the ass. Just wait until the new flood of domestic an child abuse cases go through the NC courts and smart defensive attorneys uses the loophole provided to get some sleazebag boyfriend off on a technicality. What family has to take the expense to go to the Supreme Court to get this silly provision changed? What family has to go through the pain of having a "Janice and Jeanne Carroll" Law developed to counteract the foolishness that Amendment One has opened? (Jeanne Carroll, my wife's best friend and work mentor here in Texas and her daughter Janice were killed several years ago by Janice's estranged husband.) Domestic violence laws already suck as is....It could be argued that a battered spouse's only chance is being the one to pull the trigger. 3) There is something inherently wrong with denying someone rights. 4) Once again, my state was played by sleaze ball politicians that have accomplished nothing for my state. 5) What happened to all of the "We want smaller government?" folks? If you can govern what goes on in the bedroom, if you can govern what goes on in the church sanctuary, then your precious guns, your precious food, your precious booze and OH yeah, lets not forget, the lottery are all in play now. (I am a gun advocate myself.) This amendment should have failed upon principal alone but....

I am sorry but to my people of NC, you got snowed and played like suckas. You didn't make a stand on anything really. Oh let me get this right, you did take a stand. You took a stand for wasting time, money and denying rights. You took a stand of not solving any problems. You took a stand of accepting and condoning being made a fool. Please tell me, what was accomplished for passing Amendment One??? Just my .02 cents...