I often wonder if grown men like Dyson and Jackson have completely lost their sense of irony? The title of your post made me laugh (I’m still smiling, and probably will be for the rest of the morning).

But I’m reminded of something I once read: all humor has an element of pain in it. How far these people have fallen, to comport themselves like this in public.

You said what I was hoping you would say:

“That doesn’t mean succumbing to what afflicts them and if definitely doesn’t mean compromising the Gospel to make them feel more comfortable. The scriptures were written in the language of the common man; so should the Gospel be spread.”

“I don’t dig hip-hop either, but I won’t diss (sorry, that was slang again) those that use it as a way to get their foot in the door to reach someone that may not hear them and the Gospel otherwise.” Is a bit misleading of what you mean. I am hoping you meant songs, that happen to have the beat of what is labeled hip-hop, but with a postive message. Yes??

Please clarify if I missed what you mean on that.

JMB

You are exactly right that I did have what you would consider “racist” thoughts about what it meant to be Black in America. I thought I was Black because of the culture that I grew up in and embraced as my own. It was a worldly culture of SIN, plain and simple. I got my views from my Black friends, from BET, and later on from all my Black professors and “mentors.” There was a time, from the end of high school all throughout college, that I would not listen to a white person. I saw every white person as a racist, bigoted oppressor who was only there to hold me down. The views I had about Black Americans and myself came only from my Black professors and other Black scholars such as Dyson, West, Gates, DuBois, etc. I thought you were Black if you listened to rap, spoke slang, walked with a limp, abhorred marriage, was disrespectful, was loud, defiant, etc. If you were Black but you wore a suit and tie, spoke proper english, had a steady job, was married, owned property such as a car or house, was responsible, didn’t rant about racism and the “man” then you were not Black but rather “a puppet of the White oppressor.” This view was supported by all my Black peers, friends and professors. It was the very people who claimed they were against racism, that was pumping nothing but racist ideology, mentalities and attitudes into my mind. But after being cleansed by the washing of the blood of Jesus Christ and the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2) I rejected all of my past liberal racist ideologies and began to seek the truth. Now I am against the very culture that I grew up in and embraced. I am against hip hop and rap that does nothing but glorify the flesh and the world, which is also a secular humanist religion (check out exministries.com). I am against the hip hop culture that promotes speaking in slang, walking with a limp, dressing disgracefully, etc. because it is a culture born of SIN and the Devil. I know, I was of the Devil and went doing his work and spreading his message. Now I don’t see things in terms of Blacks or White culture but rather in terms of a culture of Jesus Christ. When people dress a certain way, such as the way I did when I was a sinful pagan, I ask myself, is that glorifying to God and is that a culture born of Christ, or is it worldly, fleshly and of the Devil. Same with speech, same with music, etc. Yes, I will be honest. I may lose some friends or even some allies, but I get extremely mad when others speak to Black youth using slang, wearing urban apparel, rapping, etc. glorifying the same sinful worldly culture that true Christians are trying to snatch youth out of. I get especially mad when it is so-called Christians who are glorifying and promoting this sinful culture to reach those trapped in sin. We need real Christians who are willing to renew their mind, surrender their entire life to Christ, no matter how strong a former sinful, worldly culture had them wrapped up, and conform to the mind and culture of Christ. We need sensible MALE leaders who speak proper english, who tuck their shirts in and wear clothes that fit them, who walk properly, who value marriage and family, who denounce hip hop and rap and the sinful culture that permeates throughout them. It is not about “what does it mean to be Black?” but rather “what does it mean to look, act, think, like Christ?”

I once had a political argument with an Irish socialist, and in a final flurry of desperate energy he accused me of being a racist. My crime? I had stated that France had become irrelevant in the setting of world priorities. Ok, that’s a fair point to debate. But to call me a racist is beyond any rational comprehension. All I can assume is that he had the bizarre notion that the French are a different race than Americans (as if each country were homogeneous in the first place), or more likely that he simply ran out of legitimate arguments and resorted to typical left-wing hyperbole.

I don’t mind being called a grouch, or a hard-nosed conservative, because I am. I don’t mind being called wrong when I’m wrong (I hear that at home a lot). I don’t even mind being called wrong when I think I’m right; that’s open for discussion, as is my degree of sanity when it comes to Cubs baseball. But I surely do mind being crudely and cheaply tagged as a racist.

You can call George Bush a racist, for example. But when commenters say that to each other, the whole thread gets off-topic and the original points are lost.

Mam, I agree that “Illegitimacy, crime, drug use, underemployment, low academic achievement, delinquency, etc. are factors affecting all segments of society to a certain degree”. I did in-fact grow up in such an atmosphere, having grown up in Brooklyn, in Crown Heights. My father was in fact home, but many of my friends did not have their fathers at home. some of my cousins did not know their fathers, and were poor, somehow their lives did not follow the path of Aaron’s. I am not sure how he would explain that. I have a cousin who did end up in jail, but his father was there for him his whole life. He ended in jail because he was stupid enough to steal car. They were not poor, they were not rich, but certainly they were not poor. How does Aaron account for that. I do paint Aaron conclusions as racist, because this is more of the same thought that has fueled the kind of disruptive, and disingenuous, and frankly false assertions by white America that this is just they those people are because they have no father, and they are poor. With regard to checking out rap videos, I am in few. I am on a ton a rap records, I have toured with many of them, as I am a musician. This can easily be verified by looking up my discography. I have travelled in and out of this music industry, and irresponsible behavior comes from the same place in rap artist, as they do from rock and roll artist who throw televisions out of hotel windows, and routinely travel with cocaine in their possession, and treat women like badly use meat. Some of these rock stars even commit crimes, but they is never a discussion to suggest that we could understand why they may have rape a women, by looking at his music collection. This kind of thinking was even use and well illustrated during 911. One man out of the 20 men who were plotting the 911 event(the darkest man) was arrested before it happen. We all listened as our Attorney General described him as pure evil. But when asked what drove a white man from California to join Al-Qeuda, become muslim, and fight against American troops, it was said well he would listened to KRS-1, and read Alex Haley’s Auto Biography of Malcom X. Ms. Barber they white criminal was said to be a victim of black culture, and therefor not responsible for his actions. Somehow, many of these assertions were from his own father. Our music is not the problem. Our clothes don’t make us do the wrong that we do. Mr. Hawkins does have right to his opinion, but I sincerely disagree with his opinion.

You are right Ms Barber, I am black, and you are also right to assume that these things (urban ?black? neighborhood, read crime statistics, talk to some of the young people) are not knew to me. I am these young people, I am only 38 years old, and would be the first to admit I don’t know it all. But this I can say, I do not “feign shock” at Mr Hawkins conclusions, I recognize them.
If this disqualifies me from this discourse, then I sadly will submit to you decision, what ever that will be. You are right, I have not been reading your posting long, but I have really enjoyed your insight, and also the response of the comments posted to your blog. I do really enjoy coming here and reading your opinions, but I certainly do not want to be a spoiler to your forum. If I have then I do apologize for my ignorance.

Sincerely

Leo.

Question: when did the Reconstruction(s) take place?

History refresher timeline and distribution of political power

1857: Supreme Court declared Missouri Compromise unconstitutional in the Dred Scott decision
[Buchanan (D), Sen:41|20 (D 62%), House:132|90 (D 56%)]

1866: 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. Ku Klux Klan established in Pulaski, Tennessee.
[Lincoln (R)/Johnson (D), Sen:11|39 (R 72%), House:38|136 (R 70%)]

1867: General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Grand Wizard of the Empire, converted the Klan into a paramilitary arm of the Democratic party to oppose Republican governments set up by Congressional Reconstruction acts.
[Johnson (D), Sen:9|57 (R 84%), House:47|173 (R 77%)]

1869: The Colored National Labor Union, the 1st national Negro labor group is established (No blacks on radar?)
[Grant (R), Sen:12|62 (R 84%), House:67|171 (R 70%)]

1870: Joseph Rainey and the Reverand Hiram R. Revels, both black, take seats in Congress and Civil Rights Act (Enforcement Act) is passed
[Grant (R), Sen:12|62 (R 84%), House:67|171 (R 70%)]

1871 – 1872: Tho not all southern whites were KKK, many did sympathize and did not attempt to prevent the atrocities against blacks. Law enforcement was weak so to federal intervention was necessary to stop the reconstruction era Klan. Congressional legislation was enacted to enable law enforcement by the federal government. 1st era KKK is snuffed out
[Grant (R), Sen:17|56 (R 76%), House:104|136 (R 56%)]

1876: In the United States v. Cruikshank, the Supreme Court restricts 14th Amendment to Civil Rights violations committed by states instead of individuals
[Grant (R), Sen:28|46 (R 61%), House:182|103 (D 62%)]

1877: Rutherford B hayes is sworn in as President. Appoints John Harlan to SCOTUS. Note the balance of power
[Hayes (R), Sen:35|40 (R 53%), House:155|136 (D 53%)]

1888: Negro banks founded in Washington D. C. and Richmond, VA. Cleveland did the following; spoke out against injustices on the Chinese in the West, sympathized with the South’s balking at treating blacks as social or political equals, thought Indians should be assimilated into white society and took care not to speak out against female suffrage but never supported women’s right to vote.
[Cleveland (D), Sen:37|39 (R 51%) House:167|152 (D 51%)]

1895: Frederick Douglass spoke at a meeting of the National Council of Women in Washington, D.C then passes away that evening.
[Cleveland (D), Sen:44|40 (D 50%), House:218|124 (D 61%)]

1896: Supreme Court declared “separate but equal” is constitutional in Plessy v Ferguson. The lone dissenter, Justice John Harlan, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1877 by President Rutherford B. Hayes, wrote
“Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law…In my opinion, the judgment this day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott case…The present decision, it may well be apprehended, will not only stimulate aggressions, more or less brutal and irritating, upon the admitted rights of colored citizens, but will encourage the belief that it is possible, by means of state enactments, to defeat the beneficient purposes which the people of the United States had in view when they adopted the recent amendments of the Constitution.”

Lisa, do you understand why Bush mentioned Dred Scott in his debate w/ sKerry?
[Cleveland (D), Sen:40|44 (R 49%), House:93|254 (R 71%)]

1897: William McKinley is sworn in as president. Lisa, you owe McKinley an apology.
[McKinley (R), Sen:34|44 (R 49%), House:124|206 (R 58%)

1900: G. H. White, a representative from North Carolina, introduced a bill to make lynching a federal crime, but the bill is defeated.
[McKinley (R), Sen:26|53 (R 59%), House:161|187 (R 52%)]

1905: Publication of Thomas Dixon’s novel, The Clansman. KKK spreads thruout the South, North and Midwest w/ over 3 million members by the 1920s. In addition to their violence against blacks (cross burning became popular), they were also opposed to the modern music and culture of the Jazz Era, and viewed alcohol, smoking, and gambling as morally decadent.
[Roosevelt (R), Sen:33|57 (R 63%), House:176|207 (R 54%)]

1910: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People established.
[Taft (R), Sen:32|60 (R 65%), House:172|219 (R 56%)]

1929: An all negro union receives a charter from the American Federation of Labor. 2nd era KKK is irrelevant. Oh yeah, Stock Market Crash.
[Hoover (R), Sen:39|56 (R 58%), House:164|270 (R 62%)]

Late 1940s: 3rd era KKK surfaces w/ Samuel Green behind it. However, they faced obstacles as states began banning its formation. Justice Hugo Black was an anti-catholic & Klansman who introduced the phrase “separation of Church and State” into law in Everson vs. the Board of Education.
[Truman (D), Sen:45|51 (R 53%), House:188|246 (R 57%)]