“…the detection of national White majority interests can be achieved by understanding the sources of White racial alienation that led to the development of an intellectual rationale of polices of ‘failure.’…this rationale was used as a pretext for attacks upon policies oriented toward Black group interests and on the federal government which supported them…the federal government must be weakened… Whites who control that system have always utilized their power to create a subclass of Blacks who are especially attentive to their political needs.”—Dr. Ronald Walters
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Politics is widely defined as who gets what, when and how much.
The midterm elections for United States Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and governorships scheduled for Nov. 2—whichever American political party prevails—will determine who gets what, when and how much.
My interpretation of the connection between politics and religion is simple: Religion determines politics rather than politics determining religion.
That interpretation was tested while sitting with my parents and sister in Richmond, Va. I was surfing television channels and found the Sunday Broadcast of Grove Avenue Baptist Church. What caught my eye was the introduction of Bishop Earl Jackson as the morning speaker. Bishop Jackson, who is an African-American trained lawyer took classes in divinity school, and is the founder of Exodus Faith Ministries, presented quite an interesting case for religion as a predicate for politics to which I distinctly disagreed. Having been raised in a Christian household I found his inferences ungodly.
Bishop Jackson asserted that the “Founding Fathers” were “ordained” by God to establish a Democratic republic in America. It was their God-ordained ethnic annihilation, economic exploitation, rape and the false notion of White supremacy. Captain John Smith was sent to America by the Virginia Company of London to make a profit on the land, albeit the presence of Native Americans. Nearly all the delegates to the first Constitutional Convention legally enslaved Africans. Thomas Jefferson himself wrote of the racial inferiority of dark-skinned people. Moreover, the religion of racial superiority led the founders to use violence to achieve their greedy ends. I do not believe anyone’s interpretation of God condones rape, pillage and plunder in the name of religion.
To further support his point, Bishop Jackson cited the biblical Book of Ephesians, which calls for believers to put on the “full armor of God.” The last time I checked, giving tax breaks to the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans; voting against extending unemployment benefits; and repealing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is not in accordance with Christian belief of “…do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before God,” found in the Book of Micah, chapter 6, verse 8.
Bishop Jackson finally revealed his political hand more directly by encouraging Christians to go to the polls on Tuesday and vote for “Godly” candidates and implied that Tea Party candidates were worthy of elective office because of their religious beliefs. Yet, such Tea Party candidates have admitted experimenting with witchcraft, donned German Third Reich uniforms, and supported taking up arms to enforce their political views. Wow, what a God they serve!
I agreed with Bishop Jackson’s point that Americans, by way of the upcoming elections, are fighting a pitched battle for the soul of our nation. One side believes in suppression and one team believes in liberation. On the paradox of the “Founding Fathers” support of slavery, Bishop Jackson said, “If slavery is what it took to get me here, I am glad to be here.” Seriously?
The Tea Party and their White nationalists cohorts often exclaim, “God bless America.” I believe America must bless God by electing righteous candidates who believe in the policy of people over profits; inclusion over exclusion; and helping the “least of these” within our nation. Who gets what, when, and how much should not be predicated on privilege, but on the godly principles of justice and equity.
Vote conscientiously. God is watching.
(Gary L. Flowers is executive director and CEO of the Black Leadership Forum, Inc.)
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