BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO STRUGGLE

by Pastor E - Reverend D. Anthony Everett MDiv 

(One of two keynote speakers at the 2017 Lexington, KY NAACP Flora Mitchell Freedom Fund Banquet)

Friday, November 10, 2017 at the Lyric Theatre, Lexington, KY

 

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO STRUGGLE

Good evening to the leadership of our very prestigious Lexington, Kentucky Chapter of the NAACP.  Just as I was honored to be the keynote speaker at the Social Justice Luncheon for the 64^th State NAACP Convention, I am honored to be one of our guest speakers this evening!

In every place that I have lived, there were always community people who continue to stand up and make a difference in the lives of others, even when no one else is looking!  It’s easy to be seen when the cameras are on, the reporters are out, and the people are praising you!  Some people orchestrate and relish that opportunity.

But, oh, when the cameras are no longer around and no one is singing your praises, it takes godly integrity to continue to stand up and make a difference in the lives of others!  One of those persons of godly integrity is the person for whom this Freedom Fund Banquet is named after – none other than Mrs. Flora Mitchell!  Mrs. Mitchell has been a Sheroe of mine ever since I came to Lexington, Kentucky from Washington, D.C. via Flint, Michigan, via Dallas, Texas.  Let us applaud Mrs. Mitchell and the work that she has done for our community in Lexington!

I am honored today to be one of the two keynote speakers this evening, the other being the phenomenal Dominique Wright, someone who is well known in this community for her selfless service to others.  Let us applaud her and the children that spoke, also.

I am a preacher and I am used to preaching every Sunday at Wesley United Methodist Church and I want to share with you this passage of scripture.  It’s a different kind of scripture, a “Beatitude” if I may.  You won’t find it in your Bible or other Holy Book.

It goes into great depth in speaking to the movement that is, has been, and will continue to be underway for the victory of the oppressed over oppression.  This beatitude is in the form of a poem, written when I was coming of age as a seventeen-year old senior at Cardozo High School in Washington, D.C. and becoming a first-year student at Howard University.  The poem sounds more like modern day hip hop.

I didn’t write this beatitude poem, but I remember it.  This Beatitude comes from the scriptural text of the 8^th Book of the Last Poets – Delights of the Garden – the 3^rd Chapter entitled “Blessed Are Those Who Struggle!”

“Blessed are those who struggle
Oppression is worse than the grave
Better to die for a noble cause
Than to live and die a slave

Blessed are those who courted death
Who offered their lives to give
Who dared to rebel, rather than serve
To die so that we might live

Blessed are those who took up arms
And dared to face our foes
Nat Turner, Vesey, [Mandela], Chinque
To mention a few names we know

Blessed are the memories of those who were there
At the Harper's Ferry Raid
Strong were their hearts, noble their cause
And great was the price they paid

Blessed are the voices of those who stood up
And cried out, Let us be free!
Douglas and Garvey and Sojourner Truth
Dubois and [Muhammad] Ali

Blessed are the giants that we have loved
And lost to the bullet's sting
Like Malcolm and Medgar and the Panthers who fell
And Martin Luther King

And blessed are the bodies of those
Who were hung from the limbs of the sycamore tree
Who found end to their hope at the end of a rope
'cause they dared to attempt to be free

Up through the years we've continued this fight
Our liberty to attain
And though we have faced insurmountable odds
Yet the will to resist remains

Blessed are the spirits of those who have died
In the prisons all over this land
Who committed one sin, stood up like [women] and men
And got iced for just being a [human]

Blessed all you who will join with us now
In this struggle of life and death
So that freedom and peace will be more than a word
To the offspring that we have left

[So] Blessed are those who struggle
Oppression is worse than the grave
Better to die for a noble cause
Than to live and die a slave”

These prophetic poets are no different than the poets, like King David, who wrote psalms to address the life and death issues of oppression they faced each day.  They are like Nas, Lupe Fiasco, M.I.A. doing “Bad Girls,” or NoName Gypsy talking about “Sunday Morning.”  These are the “new” Last Poets speaking to the present and future times.

I know that President Colt 45 will have many people believe that the name of the game is how much money you attain in your life time that makes you a great person, regardless of how unethical, corrupt, and immoral your methods might be.  For him, it’s okay to be the liar and thief in Chief!

When I look at the news coverage of this president in comparison to President Obama, the real president, I am thinking that I am watching another reality TV show.  I think I can just turn it off and everything will be alright.  The Real Poli-tricks of the White House!  But then I wake up to the reality of a Nightmare that I seem to have no control over!

Everything that President Obama has done, 45 wants to change it for no other reason than his ego cannot handle a less wealthy, person of color doing anything better than him.  We see this in Tax Reform that takes away from the poor and provides for the privileged.  We see this in Health Care Reform that takes away from the poor and provides for the privileged.  We see this in a Prison Industrial Complex that imprisons the poor and provides for the privileged.  45’s mandate is to take away from the poor and provide for the privileged!  He has had practice as a New York ghetto slumlord!

Each of these have a component of racism attached to them, but they have a new twist today.  What was once covert has become overt systemic racism.  Because we can turn to CNN or MSNBC and see Neo-Nazis’ and Klansmen terrorizing people in the streets of Charlottesville, and in an instant, see and hear a president who says that these were decent and moral people, Americans have become desensitized and think that this is okay.

We can see mass murder by gun violence at the Pulse night club in Florida, at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, and now at a little country Baptist church in Texas and become desensitized.  All of this is not race-based.  Let’s not begin to talk about the continued killing of unarmed Black women and men in this country for no other reason except being Black.

It’s a culture of violence by domestic terrorists and racists, especially gun violence, that begets more violence!  I am not surprised when I see 45 throwing toilet tissues to hurricane victims in Puerto Rico but fighting against people, based on sexual orientation, for their right to use the bathroom of their choice.  It’s the same mentality that says it’s okay that more than 20% of voting age African Americans cannot vote in Kentucky.

It comes down to who is in control of whose body.  Well, 45 has already told us what he thinks about women’s bodies, and he still got elected.  He’s told majority Black NFL Players that their bodies need to stand for a national anthem whose third verse says, “no refuge could save the hireling and slave from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.”

Those lyrics celebrate the deaths of enslaved Africans who were fighting for their freedom in this country!  Like the California State Branch of the NAACP which is pushing to replace the national anthem, we have to stay awake and we have to take action!

The NAACP has been in the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.  Now it’s time for all of us to take action in the intersectional human rights movement!  This is a movement of those who are oppressed against a common oppressor.

This movement includes Black Lives Matter!  We can’t be afraid of Black Lives Matter like some were afraid of the Black Panthers.  Fear comes from ignorance.

We are struggling for the very same things that we have had to struggle for since the first enslaved African landed in America.  It began with the Abolitionist Movement because we were enslaved and sought our freedom.  Then, it was Emancipation because freedom was not enough.  Then, it was the Civil Rights movement because we didn’t get everything with emancipation, and now it is Black Lives Matter because we are on the short end of the stick once again!

But, because it’s more than Black Lives at stake, this struggle is now more diverse, intersectional, and connected.  Not only do we stand against the continued racism and bigotry that threatens to destroy the lives of our progeny.  Like Colin Kaepernick who took a knee to protest the ever-present violence and taking of Black lives in America, at this time we too must take a knee!  If you hear something that touches you join me in taking a knee!

We take a knee in solidarity with women, girls, men, and boys who suffer the ill effects of sexual harassment and abuse from powerful misogynist and sexists who prey on them.  We take a knee in solidarity with our Jewish sisters and brothers who fight anti-Semitism from Neo-Nazis terrorist who frequent bars in Lexington.  We take a knee in solidarity with our Muslim sisters and brothers who fight against religious terrorism and violence just for wearing a kufi or hijab.

We take a knee in solidarity with our LGBTQ sisters and brothers who fight against homophobia and heteronormativity.  We take a knee in solidarity with our Immigrant and Refugee sisters and brothers who fight against Xenophobia and unjust and unsafe deportations.  We take a knee in solidarity with our first nation sisters and brothers who fight against centuries of genocide from land rights to polluted drinking water.

We take a knee in solidarity with the poor over the powerful and privileged.  We take a knee in the continued fight of good over evil, oppressed over oppressor, and life over death!  We take a knee for the Noble Cause represented by all who struggled before us!

“Blessed are those who struggle
Oppression is worse than the grave
Better to die or [take a knee] for a noble cause
Than to live and die a slave”

Keynote speech by the Reverend D. Anthony Everett at The Lyric Theater in Lexington, Kentucky at 6 pm Friday, November 10, 2017 for the 2017 Lexington NAACP Flora Mitchell Freedom Fund Dinner.  The title of the speech and the adapted poem, “Blessed Are Those Who Struggle,” are copyrighted by the Last Poets from their 1977 album, “Delights of the Garden (Poets: Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin and Sulaiman El-Hadi).”

FAITH Trump's Fear

by Pastor E - Reverend D. Anthony Everett MDiv 

Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at the Highland Research and Education Center

Faith-Rooted Organizing Summit Devotion

 

Prayer – Psalm 139 (NLT) [1]                

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of [your righteousness.]

Then, if you would be so gracious to allow the words of my mouth and the meditations of our collective hearts to be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer, we’d give you all thanks and praise!  Let the church say Amen!

Scripture: Matthew 23:1-12 (NRSV)

¹ Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ² “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; ³ therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. ⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. ⁶ They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷ and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. ⁸ But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. ⁹ Don’t call anybody on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is heavenly. ¹⁰ Don’t be called teacher, because Christ is your one teacher. ¹¹ But the one who is greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² All who lift themselves up will be brought low. But all who make themselves low will be lifted up.”

Matthew 23:1-12 (MSG)

^1-3 Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. “The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.

^4-7 “Instead of giving you God’s Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual [reality TV] shows, [The Bachelor & Bachelorette] one day and [Divorce Court] the next. They love to sit at the head table at [church dinners], basking in the most prominent positions [on church committees], preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor’ and ‘Reverend.’

^8-10 “Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let [God] tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and [God is] in heaven. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.

^11-12 “Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.”

Servant Leaders Serve Others! Their Fears are Trumped by Faith!

God Is Driving: [2]

“One evening a father and his seven-year old son were returning home after car shopping. The father decided to turn down a side road that was not traveled as much in the evening in hopes of avoiding traffic.

As they rounded each bend, the father noticed his son was very quiet. The father thought maybe his son was a little fearful, after all it was almost completely dark and they were in a wooded area near the Highlander Research and Education Center.

Midway to the main street, the father asked his son if he was afraid. The son responded, ‘No.’ The father asked, ‘Do you know where we are?’

The son said, ‘No.’ Pushing his son to say he was afraid, the father probed further. ‘You are usually afraid when you don’t know where you are. Why not now?’ The son said, ‘Well, as long as you know where we are, I don’t have to be afraid.’”

[The son spoke volumes about how we should have faith in our ‘Heavenly Parent’ when we don’t know where we are in this political season.] There is no need for us to be afraid because God, the true Parent of all, knows where we are. After all, God is driving our car. Our Faith in God Trumps Fear every time!

Last Tuesday evening, after seeing Kentucky go completely red, I decided to get some sleep. At about 2:40 am on Wednesday morning, my wife, Angelique, had awakened me to the reality that Donald J. Trump, the billionaire businessman and host of the reality TV show, the Apprentice, had won the US Presidential Election. I yelled out ‘Oh, No!’ as if awaking from a nightmare.

Turning to Angelique, I told her that I wished that she would have let me continue to sleep. And then, I realized that my wife was upset and crying. I couldn’t sleep anymore, so I remained awake as we prayed together and I consoled her.

She was fearful because after January 20, 2017, the President of the United States of America, one of the most powerful leadership positions in the world, will no longer be the first African American president of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, a former community activist out of Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity UCC who at least has a heart for people. Instead our president-elect, Donald J. Trump, is a billionaire, who, by all evidence shown thus far, makes mockery of all faiths, including Christianity, and has a heart only for himself!

Angelique was fearful because of the agenda of hate that Trump promoted throughout his campaign with a disdain for African Americans, Hispanics, Muslims, immigrants, LGBTQ, and 1^st Nation people.

She was fearful because Trump has sexist, misogynist, objectifying attitude and actions toward women as displayed by his comments and videotapes!

She was fearful because Trump is not a servant leader but has the propensity toward autocratic leadership with a hubris to match it.

She was fearful because Trump, with no knowledge of global or domestic affairs, will soon be the leader of the richest and most powerful nation in the world with nuclear codes at his fingertips.

She was fearful because Mr. Trump has pledged to do away with the Affordable Care Act; cancel every executive action, memorandum, and order issued by President Obama; cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs; cancel funding to Sanctuary Cities that do not prosecute undocumented aliens; deport undocumented aliens while eliminating immigration as we know it today; and increase funding for an already failed criminal justice system.

I know many of you feel the same way as Angelique. I feel your pain. Our faith as social activist and organizers is being challenged to its very core thru policies that are indifferent to the marginalized members of society. If the truth be told, our faith has been challenged by political leaders from both parties for a long time. Right now, with the right-wing conservatives about to take control of every branch of our government, we are in a fearful place because we have that red target on our backs.

We may be fearful because our tomorrows look like they may be completely darkened by the threats of self-serving political leaders who speak over everyone, place a price tag on everything, and seek to control every aspect of our lives. We may be fearful because we feel abandoned in the wooded wilderness of indifference. But when you know that your heavenly Parent knows where you are, like the seven-year old boy, there’s no need to fear!

To quote the prophetic voice of Kendrick Lamar, “We gon be alright!”[3] “We’ve come this far by faith,”[4] not by fear!

Jesus says, when you prophetically challenge the powers that be, you “have no fear of governors and kings.”[5] He says “have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not be known![6]

Do not fear those who kill our bodies” with their physical violence and corrupt policies, “but fear those who can destroy our souls.”[7]

The background behind the text is where Jesus, in the past 22 chapters, has already displayed His servant leadership to the world. As an infant, wise men from the East came to visit Him. They paid Him homage. Insecure men, like Herod King of the Jews, feared Jesus and sought to kill Him.

Like the children of the dream, 1^st nation, Appalachian, and Flint, Michigan babies who need clean water, and Black and Hispanic children in the cradle to prison pipeline, Herod commissioned genocide against all children two years old and younger in and around Bethlehem, intentionally attempting to make Jesus a victim thru unjust policies. The people feared Herod’s political policies and some feared Jesus because Herod’s hatred for Jesus was killing their babies.

As Jesus grew in stature, John the Baptist prophesied about Him. Then, John baptized Him! The Holy Spirit anointed Him! The devil tempted Him!

The crowds followed Him! The Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes challenged Him! The elders and chief priest questioned Him! But God the Father Transfigured Him!

In today’s text, Jesus told the crowds and disciples to follow the teachings of the religious leaders but don’t follow the leaders! They have the right teachings but they don’t practice what they preach. They are hypocrites!

Jesus said they will show up at church but you won’t find them in any ministry! They try to show others how smart they are but it’s only for show! They’ll want you to sacrifice, but they won’t make a sacrifice themselves!

They want to be seen and respected by others as being knowledgeable and educated! They love to be honored at banquets and sit in synagogue seats where everyone can see them! They like to be recognized in public with a title in front of their names!

They mistakenly think that displays of intelligence, that seats in the VIP section, and that titles of prominence, automatically gives them respect! They are self-serving and always looking for someone to follow them!

The scribes and Pharisees saw themselves as better than the ordinary people who followed Jesus. But Jesus saw them as pretentious leaders! He told His followers to learn from them but don’t be like them for they are like the blind leading the blind!

Jesus said don’t pump your head up with titles and don’t give others undue respect! God is your Parent and Jesus is the Messiah! Pretentious leaders will be your servants! When you promote yourself, God will humble you! You may be a big tree, but remember, it only takes a small axe to cut you down! When you go low, God will lift you up high!

           The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day were like the church leaders of today when it comes to the “weightier matters of fairness – things like justice, mercy, and faith.”[8] Instead of freedom and liberation many seek admiration. They desired to be admired!

The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day were seeking advancement. Like the leaders of today, they all wanted to be the leader of the pack! They achieved to lead!

The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day were seeking adulation. They wanted to be praised but they didn’t want to share praise with God. God is a jealous God! God will get God’s praise!

            As I toiled with the text, I came to the realization that Jesus was calling out the religious leaders of the day to lead with faith, not fear. In doing so, He encouraged the crowd and His disciples to have a mind of their own and learn from the religious leaders, but not to follow their ways.

The religious leaders had power and authority in the synagogue, but they weren’t servants of God! They were slaves to their own selfish wills. They sacrificed nothing to obtain positions of power. They perpetrated faith to instill fear in others.

Our challenge in the next four years is to not be overcome by fear! When you attend a Black College or University, there are some non-negotiable things that you must learn. This is a lesson one learns only in the residence halls or dorms of a Black college. One of those non-negotiable things that you must learn is the game of spades.

In the game of spades, spades trump everything. One day, we were playing spades Joker, Joker, duce, ace. We were almost on the finish line with the score. The score is 440 to 400. We needed six books to win.

After playing a few hands, my partner and I got our six books we needed but my partner reneged and we lost three books. Then he got nervous. But his fear activated my faith! We had the books that we needed. Little did he know, I held the trumps at bay.

On the next hand, I threw out the duce of spades. That’s one book!

Then, I threw out the Little Joker of spades. That’s two books!

I knew we had them on the run! That’s when I threw out the Big Joker of spades. That’s three books! That gave us our three books we needed to get to the finish line! My faith trumped my partner’s fear!

• You may fear our president-elect’s agenda of hate!
• You may fear his sexist, objectifying attitude toward women!
• You may fear his dictatorial leadership style.
• You may fear that there’s a loose nut on the nuclear keyboard.

But when you activate your faith, fear gets TRUMPED every time! That’s

Good News! I got happy to know that my faith in Jesus can never be TRUMPED!

• The righteous will live by faith.[9]
• For we live by faith, not by sight.[10]
• Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.[11]
• By grace we have been saved through faith.[12]
• The shield of faith can extinguish the arrows of evil.[13]
• Faith comes from hearing the message through the word about Jesus.[14]
• Jesus is the pioneer and perfector of our faith.[15]
• For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes, [has faith,] in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.[16]

If you know that your Faith in Jesus can never be Trumped, you ought to stand to your feet and throw up your hands, one for the Father, two for the Son, and three for the Holy Ghost. Give God the praise!

 

[1] All scripture is NLT, NRSV, or The Message Translation unless otherwise noted.

[2] The following illustration is adapted from “God Is Driving” by Reverend Dr. William D. Rosser, pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.

[3] From lyrics from the song “Alright” from the “To Pimp A Butterfly” album by Kendrick Lamar. This phrase is a theme for the Black Lives Matter Movement.

[4] Title of the gospel anthem of the same name by gospel pianist Albert A. Goodson.

[5] Matthew 10:18.

[6] Matthew 10:26.

[7] Matthew 10:28.

[8] The Wesley Study Bible, Abingdon Press, 2009, p. 1195.

[9] Hebrews 10:38.

[10] 2 Corinthians 5:7.

[11] Hebrews 11:1.

[12] Ephesians 2:8.

[13] Ephesians 6:16.

[14] Romans 10:17.

[15] Hebrews 12:2.

[16] John 3:16.

 

 

 

Liberty and Justice for Some

by Pastor E - Reverend D. Anthony Everett MDiv 

Thursday, September 29, 2016

 

 

Invisible, Yet Awake

by Pastor E - Reverend D. Anthony Everett MDiv 

Thursday, July 19, 2016

When I was young, my mother would call my name and attempt to wake me up on Saturday morning. To me, Saturday morning was a sacred time to sleep as long as you wanted and watch cartoons while eating cereal. My mother had her own vision of what Saturday morning meant. It was a time to clean the house by mopping the floors, cleaning the kitchen, changing the linen on the beds, and washing and folding loads of clothes.

Every once in a while, I would play a game in which I pretended to be invisible. I would pull a blanket over my head and with my eyes closed, I would pretend that no one else could see me. My mother, however, would call my name, gently at first, then with a raised voice, and eventually she had to shake me to make sure that I was awake. All the time that I pretended to be invisible, my mother was determined to make sure that I was awake. We had things to accomplish in a brand new day and playing the invisible game was a deterrent from us accomplishing our Saturday morning chores set before us.

As I sat in a courtroom the morning of Wednesday, July 13, 2016 and listened to arguments made by an attorney with the Public Defenders Office of Lexington, Kentucky and counter arguments from the attorney representing the Office of the Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney, I closed my eyes and covered my head in prayer. I could hear the court proceedings but cloaked in a cover of invisibility as everyone was fixated on the trial, no one could see me or hear my prayers but God.

As I remained under the cover of invisibility, I listened to the arguments about how a teenaged African-American male, the grandson of two church members, took the life of an adult African American man in self-defense. The victim attempted to take the life of the teenager, who was sitting in the driver’s seat next to another teenager in a parked car while eating a box of fried chicken. As the man approached the vehicle, the teen in the passenger seat witnessed the victim pull out a gun aimed with an intent to kill him and the driver, but the driver, who also carried a gun, was able to get off the first round and kill the victim.

The grateful teenager in the passenger seat was an eyewitness in the courtroom as the defense attorney made a case for self-defense using the Stand Your Ground Law of Kentucky (similar to the law that was effectively used in Florida in defense of George Zimmerman, the man who murdered the African American teenager, Treyvon Martin). The prosecutor made a case for inadmissible evidence and the lack of credibility of the witness. The judge decided to dismiss the witness’ testimony. It was as if the eyewitness and all of the evidence were invisible to the judge. The case was clear and closed based upon the evidence presented, but the judge disagreed.

The judge – a white male, the prosecutor – a white female, the defendant – a black teenaged male, and the witness – another black teenaged male, were not on the same page. While both teenagers were handcuffed and shackled, the judge and prosecutor were free. While both teenagers faced the reality of time in jail beyond their current imprisonment because they defended their lives from impending death, the judge and prosecutor were headed home to comfortable safe neighborhoods where criminals are quickly apprehended and not seen.

The judge and prosecutor were blind to the defendant, a boy who should have never had access to a gun but did what is considered the right thing by the law in defending himself. The judge and prosecutor were blind to the defendant, another boy who should have never been near a gun. Like me in my cloak of invisibility, like the blanket covering my head, the defendant, an African-American teenager, was invisible to the judge and the prosecutor. The evidence was before the judge and the prosecutor, but it too was invisible. The eye-witness told them the truth, but once again, he was invisible.

As I left the courtroom, I was outraged. I was outraged that had these two boys been white, their behavior would have been justified and they would be free. I was outraged that because the judge and prosecutor saw the case through the lenses of white privilege, they would not know the basic humanity of these two boys, the potential for them to be leaders amongst their peers, or the support and love of their families and community. I was outraged that because these boys were placed in prison, the chances that any type of restoration of their lives, their families, and their communities will take place is slim to none because prison does not reform but only teaches children how to be criminals.

I was more outraged that this was clearly an example of the cradle to prison pipeline and mass incarceration. I was outraged because this was an example of systemic racism at its core. I was outraged because the verdict of a white man, who had never known the defendant until he arrived in court, determined the fate of another black teenager who had not yet reached manhood.

Then, I became even more outraged when I saw the video of Alton Sterling, an African American man with five children, being executed at point blank range by a thug police officer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana because he was selling CDs on the parking lot of a store. My outrage continued as I watched a video of the chilling death of Philando Castile, a role model in his Minnesota community, who was murdered by another police officer. As Philando reached for his identification and let the officer know that he possessed a firearm, his girlfriend and her daughter watch as the officer placed four bullets in Philando’s arm, tearing it apart, and allowing him to bleed to death. Yet, the outrage continues as Dallas police, of which I have several friends, protecting a peaceful #BlackLivesMatter protest, are fired upon by an unconnected war veteran who changed his outrage into gun violence. Still, everyday the madness continues and I cannot be invisible. I have to stay awake.

I only wish that the majority of American citizens would recognize that all of this is not in a vacuum. The data distinctly shows that police brutality against Blacks, Latin@s, and poor people, as well as mass incarceration, is alive and well in the United States. Maybe my outrage could be subdued if the people of this country were to deeply empathize with the plight of those of us who want to keep the blanket over our heads and remain invisible but wake up each day wondering which forms of racism we will incur and need to endure on any given day, if we make it through the day alive.  Outrage is what many Black, Latin@, and poor people feel when members of our demographics are senselessly humiliated, beaten, demoralized, or murdered by public servants which is most often the root cause of reciprocal violence from these communities against public servants.  Human beings pushed to the brink of their existence like animals either die or push back.

 

Residents of Black, Latin@, and poor communities fear and distrust public servants sworn by an oath to serve and protect because the residents recognize that the public servants live in fear of anyone who does not look like them. It is the lack of accountability of those very public servants in their interactions which more than often drastically changes the trajectory of a life of freedom to incarceration, prosperity to poverty and homelessness, wellness to a lack of access to healthcare, academic achievement to limited educational opportunities, and even life to death simply because the very humanity, what the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. termed in a 1967 speech in Cleveland, Ohio, "Somebodiness," in Black, Latin@, and poor communities is not recognized or appreciated, bringing into question “whom do the public servants serve and protect?”

The problem of gun violence and police brutality did not build up over the last few years but over the last few centuries in our country that proclaimed all [people] to be equal except enslaved Africans and forcibly made them work as free laborers in a foreign land while European and American colonialists simultaneously brought death and destruction to indigenous people in the Americas and Africa through gun violence and arms, enabling the destruction of a great number of these populations.  This tradition of enslavement continues in the current judicial system through its inclusiveness in the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It continues with a teenage African American boy and a white judge in Lexington.

Our judicial system, based upon retributive justice, is broken, does more harm than good, and must be totally overhauled for the good of the people of our country whom the public servants claim to protect and serve. Change requires that Blacks, Latin@s, and poor people are no longer invisible in our country. It requires that Americans awaken to the basic humanity of all people, especially those who are not in the majority.

I wonder if we, as a country, will ever awaken to the evilness of racism in America or will we continue to sleep in and remain invisible!  I am hopeful for the former!

Peace & Blessings,

Pastor E

#BlackLivesMatter #StopGunViolence

An Appeal to Clergy and other People of Conscience

by Pastor E - Reverend D. Anthony Everett MDiv 

Thursday, July 7, 2016

To my clergy colleagues, friends, and other people of conscience:

I need you to stand up against the atrocities of genocide thru gun violence by police against African Americans. That may mean that someone who is afraid of jeopardizing a clergy career move (what I've been told by than more than enough young clergy in my denomination and conference of the United Methodist Church) stands up and speaks out against white privilege and systemic racism in law enforcement as well as gun violence everywhere. You won't be standing alone. Jesus Christ had no fear of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes.

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his book, Strength To Love, states:

"The ultimate measure of a man [or woman] is not where he [or she] stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he [or she] stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his [or her] position, his [or her] prestige and even his [or her] life for the welfare of others."

I am so tired of waking up to viewing the death of innocent African Americans who look like my brother, my daughters, my sons, my wife, my church and community members, and me at the hands of law enforcement simply because we are Black! I've been a victim of racism from law enforcement and understand that pain, but right now African Americans across the country and people of good will around the world are deeply pained because of the deplorable actions of police officers who have taken the lives of Alton Sterling (Baton Rouge, LA) and Philando Castile (near St. Paul, MN) today simply because they were Black.  The planned shooting of Dallas police officers by terrorists, unaffiliated with the Black Lives Matter Movement as stated by the Dallas Police Department, at a peaceful protest in an open carry and concealed gun environment is equally deplorable.  There is no justification for violence!  Violence begets more violence!

How many more times do African American families have to suffer through fear and inhumane treatment at the hands of those who are public servants sworn to protect and serve us? Clergy colleagues and others of good will, it is time to stand up for change that ends these genocidal trends against our fellow human beings.

I have faith in God that you will pray for justice and mercy for your neighbors, do justice and mercy alongside your neighbors, and walk humbly with God, as God mandates for humanity in Micah 6:8. But just as important, speak up against injustice because it is what God desires for humanity to do.

Peace & Blessings,

Pastor E

p.s. Check out this article for more information: http://religionnews.com/2016/07/07/alton-sterling-philando-castile-government-terror/Links to an external site.

#BlackLivesMatter #StopGunViolence