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....
4 comments:
see,, you get it. just like whites used to parade around slaves, watch them fight, test their strength; so does the white community still parade around the gays: Ellen, Glee, Will and Grace, Ricky Martin. They're wonderfully entertaining, but some in this community don't regard them as "people". They are show ponies. They are not allowed in our schools as teachers and for many, they are not allowed in churches. They are told: we don't hate you we just don't want you to be gay. The same people who went out to see "The Help" and cried, yet still go home and tell their children that they cannot date a black man. They miss the humanity. The empathy. I can only speak for the white community that I know though. Seperate but equal didn't work then and it won't work now. I did not come from a family that marched for civil rights. I will not sit back during this. I will correct people when I get the chance. Women's rights are next...I figure 3 years and we are looking at abortion and how many kids we can have. The government knows that they can seperate people based on religion, but if they can convince minorities that they should also hate each other, then chaos means we are too busy fighting each other than THEM. I don't know if that's what anybody wants to hear or even what anyone else sees....but it's where I stand. You do not have to approve this...I just needed to say it because I am so heartsick over what ignorance I see. Today the question was asked "how do we know when we have infringed on people, how much infringement is allowed?" The answer is: It's a FREE country. you can't infringe a little and feel any better than infringing ALOT.There should be no infringement on freedom. And if you don't have the empathy to know when you have crushed someone, then...there is no way to explain to you what infringement really is.
All respect, please know I am not trying to bring trouble, just my view from what is a "white" town.
@Sherry: You know I understand this. You see our society hasn't learned a thing from my parents struggles. I am truly not understanding it....It is like transferring the hate...
yep. and I see my elders don't change and behind my back they tell my kids that they shouldn't date the Mexicans...which are really columbian, ya know? But it is a white power struggle. I stand behind that statement. the racism and bigotry behind closed doors is terrible. I know a lovely boy here locally. he's african american, 15, uber-talented and gay. how do I look him in the face and tell him how awesome he is but then say, I'm sorry, but you can't have a real life...it hurts. These are "my kids" these are "our children". And let's not forget that in Meck. county that the emails have already been sent out asking when the benefits can be dropped...so now rather than a gay couple PAYING their own way, some will be put on Medicaid or some such social plan...we are right back to poverty. It's a cycle. It's just a cycle. And becasue of that the white people will hate them more for being on public help... I am so very sorry for the state of all things, not just this issue, but all things. Thank you for letting me vent and talk. I appreciate your honesty above all else.
@Sherry: You know you always have my ear. All you have to do is vent. The thing I am worried about is that the Church will just fall in line with that thinking you are talking about. I guess we don't how the theological and testicular fortitude to love everyone and to speak for those at the margins.
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