"A minister cannot preach the glories of heaven while ignoring social conditions in his own community that cause [people] an earthly hell." Martin Luther King Jr.
Tom Joyner, aka "the Fly Jock", is a well known African-American DJ and talk show host. His morning show, "The Tom Joyner Morning Show" is listened to by about 8 million listeners every week in mostly African-American households. Tom Joyner is a huge fan and apologist for President Obama. Mr. Joyner doesn't like hearing criticism of the President, especially if the critics are other African-American leaders. Well, it just so happens that two of the president's biggest critics in recent months have been Tom Joyner's one time close friends - talk show host Tavis Smiley, and Princeton University professor and philosopher, Dr. Cornel West. (Smiley and West have a radio talk show by the same). Although they are both African American and progressive in their politics, they have been open about their opinion that the President has not done enough to address the needs of the poor and working class people in the country, people who are suffering disproportionately in these dire economic times.
As far as Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are concerned, while we should be proud of having our first president of African-American descent, this should not exclude him from being criticized if it is believed that his policies are not helping the most vulnerable amongst us. They have taken to speaking about this publicly in their "poverty tour" around the nation, during which they are trying to highlight the plight of the poor around the nation (see, http://www.povertytour.smileyandwest.com/) . Ironically, Dr. West did support President Obama in his election bid, but is now no longer an Obama fan.
Well, Tom Joyner, who used to be very close to Tavis Smiley and Dr, West (especially with Smiley, who used to have a commentary section on the "Tom Joyner Morning Show"), has now publicly ended his friendship with them in a very scathing blog entry that I have included here:
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=blog_inner/29954/1573138/Cheriewhite/1
Other radio personalities like comedian Steve Harvey have even chimed in, calling Smiley & West "uncle Toms" (a not too polite way of being called a "sellout" or "traitor" to your community). To be fair, I have also included a counter argument to Tom Joyner's remarks, a counter argument made by Dr. Boyce Watkins which I personally agree with, even though I love Tom Joyner and the work he does especially in scholarships for underprivileged kids. Here is Dr. Boyce's Watkins counter argument. Dr. Watkins is professor at Syracuse University:
http://yourblackworld.com/2011/07/04/dr-boyce-tom-joyners-tasteless-assault-on-tavis-smiley-and-cornel-west/
I only gave this backdrop primarily for those who may have never heard of this story or never heard of the persons involved in this drama. In full disclosure, anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of the President. I am glad to be alive to witness the first black President in office. Does that mean I agree with him on everything? No! Does that mean I don't have serious reservations about how Wall Street and large corporations get bail outs (because they are supposedly too big to fail) while regular folks like you and me have to continue to struggle in harsh economic times? Of course not! It is these kinds of issues that have caused a huge disillusionment amongst many in the electorate and made independent voters, who are tired of both political parties, the largest growing voting block in the nation. And while I still consider my politics to be slightly left of center, I understand where Smiley & West are coming from.
My stance on criticism of any leader is simple: In a democratic system, elected officials work for the citizens, not for their own interests or the select interests of huge donors or corporations. In my opinion, no public official should be beyond being held accountable, but there is a huge difference between constructive-criticism and the kind of political vitriol or hatred that we see on our political climate. There is an added sense of defensiveness about President Obama in the black community because of the added hatred and security threats against his life, possibly because of his racial heritage. The Secret Service has noted that he has received 400% more death threats than president Bush, and we all know how much the Left hated Bush. President Obama gets about 30 death threats a day, and the Secret Service is overstretched in their efforts to protect him. You can read this attached article for more details on that:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/5967942/Barack-Obama-faces-30-death-threats-a-day-stretching-US-Secret-Service.html.
For these reasons, there is this sense of protectiveness amongst many in the black community comes from the history of racism & bigotry that people of color have had to face in this nation. While we have definitely come a long way from the kind of overt bigotry that used to be common in the past, every now and then, we get reminders that the more things change, the more things stay the same, like in the recent brutal murder of 49 year old James Craig Anderson (who was black) by some white teenagers' they beat him and ran over him with their truck. They had never met the man, but just felt like doing harm to someone who was black. To be fair, these kinds of incidents are not as common as they used to be, but as we see even with currents riots in London, the issue of race and racism remains one of the most intractable issues facing humanity.
There is also the sense by many in the African-American community that President Obama has been disrespected in ways that previous presidents have not. Whether it is being yelled at as a liar during a speech in front of congress, or the speaker of the house walking out on the President during a meeting on the debt ceiling, or being called a "boy" or "tar baby" by a conservative foe. Yes, conservative Presidents like Bush were highly vilified by the Left; he was called everything but a child of God: "dumb", "stupid", "Nazi" etc. So this argument goes both ways, but many in minority communities believe that Obama's race plays a significant role in the animosity towards this President. But the issue of race, racism, and overcoming it is a subject too complex for one blog entry. The problem with most of the criticism we hear in politics is that it is personal, filled with character assassination without adequately addressing the core issues.
I don't believe any leader should be idolized. We should respect our leaders, pray for our leaders, and it's okay to admire them. But when we idolize a human leader, that person can easily form a cult or potentially lead you astray. We should never idolize them, because they are fallible beings just like we are. Any leader, no matter how charismatic, can easily fall prey to the lusts of power and all that comes with it.
Taking Smiley & West's argument about justice and compassion for the poor, the question becomes "what kind of attitude we should have towards the poor and vulnerable in our society?" With latest Census Bureau numbers showing that about 1 in 7 Americans (or 44 million people) classified as being poor in America, this is obviously a national crisis. The poverty level in the United States is the worse it has been in 15 years. There tend to be two general ideologies when it comes to reducing poverty in society: the conservative belief that if taxes are lowered, it empowers people to keep more of their money, give to charities that help the poor and underprivileged, and rise through the economic ladder through hard work and dedication; the liberal belief, however, tends to put more focus on government programs fund through more taxes to fund social programs to help those in need. We have had liberal presidents and conservative presidents, both ideologies have been tried, and yet poverty continues to persist, probably because there is no one-size fits all solution to this pervasive problem.
When you study the Gospels you quickly learn that Jesus has a special heart for people who are poor and needy....As Jesus began His public ministry, He proclaimed, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19 (NIV, emphasis added).
What could be good news to the poor other than provision or alleviation from their poverty, and the assurance that contrary to the popular belief, they are people of great worth even though a capitalistic society might not value them. Jesus was so passionate about helping poor people that he once told a wealthy man to go and sell his possessions and give the money to the poor (Matthew 19:16-30). The man believed he was keeping all the right religious rules and wanted to know what he had to do to guarantee eternal life. Jesus, sensing the man's self-righteousness told him to go and sell his possessions and help the poor with the proceeds, breaking the man into realizing that money was his idol, and also reflecting God's heart for poor people. The moral of the story was not that selling your things will guarantee you eternal life if you give the proceeds to the poor, but to reflect that for many rich people, money is their idol, something very easy to see in our society of uber-capitalism.
So what do we do about poverty in our society when the gap between the rich and poor continues to grow. Are government programs enough when most states are cutting funding for these programs. While they are needed, it is obvious that this is not enough. What about private donations to charity and non-profit organizations? While needed, this is not enough either, especially since donations to charities, even churches have dwindled in these dire economic times. The answer is "all of the above". We are interdependent with a moral responsibility to each other - this is why Jesus never separated loving God from loving our neighbor. It is easy to preach a sermon about heaven, but if people are catching hell here on earth, it is very hard to keep their attention. If you come to me talking about the glory of heaven when I haven't had a decent meal in days, I may want to tell you to get the hell out of my face with that bull crap. What I need most at that moment is a meal, not a sermon. As Joyce Meyer's has said before, most of the ministry needed in the world today is not from a platform.
Many argue that poverty is simply a function of laziness, lack of education, the refusal to work, or just wanting to take advantage of "the system". While there are always bad apples that ruin the bunch, this is not true in all cases. In this terrible economy, there are many people with college degrees (even graduate degrees) who are either unemployed or underemployed. Ironically, Jesus does not get into the reasons for poverty as much as he does helping the poor.
May we find the grace and strength to heed his advice. As a huge advocate of the often forgotten core message of the Gospel - God's grace - I truly believe that it is only when we sincerely grasp this message that we shall be compelled to help those who are considered less fortunate than we are. Grace shatters the chains of self-righteousness that keeps us so wrapped up in ourselves.
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Peace & Love,
Stephen Akinduro
1 comments:
First, I want to say I admire Mr. Joyner for his loyalty, this is often hard to find these days. Secondly, through my rose colored glasses I have not seen red, yellow, black, or white people in many years...this thanks to Jesus changing my heart.
Therefore, since I do not see a black President when I look at President Obama, what bothers me is his continued decline in leadership. Though it appears he tries very hard to do what he thinks is needed, I often see that was not the approach we needed to alleviate whatever problem was pressing at the time. Too, I understand there are political parties that clash and cause much havoc (as recently seen with the budget). This never helps any president. President Obama came into office from being a Junior Senator. He had no where near enough years of experience in Washington and any legislative history to give him enough leadership experience and qualify him to lead this country. However, I was happy that finally we had a black President.. but it saddens me that he may be a one term president because so many, had put so much faith, and hope in a "black" man with very little experience to lead and navigate a nation so diverse and complicated. My heart goes out to him. I think he means well in trying to do what he thinks the people want. What is really sad is that it appears he is out of tune with the priorities of this nation. He spent the first 18 months of his Presidency pursuing HealthCare reform - when people were losing jobs, losing their homes, and going hungry. Again, I think he meant well but was just a lack of leadership in seeing the greater need. Then he invovled himself in a local police matter that should have been left to local authorities in stead of turning his back on national concerns (again, unemployemnt, etc.) to have the "beer summit." Just another inidcation of a lack of leadership. Again, this saddens me - he does not need to fail being our first black President of the United States.
Finally, I pray for our President every day. He needs our prayers. It is God and God alone who will sustain him and give him the leadership WE (all the people of America) NEED!
I disagree with my friend Stephen in suggesting that his failure is because of his color. A majority of this nation put him in office, that means many blacks and whites, along with red & yellow. The current polls no longer show that support...which includes blacks, whites and others, the same majority that put him in office. His failure is not because of color, it is because of a lack of leadership. The past almost three years is his track record.
I will continue to lift him up in prayer and pray that God will give him the leadership skills he needs to survive into a second term and leave with honor. No one, no matter what color their skin, needs to finish any other way. We should win with having better lives, a better economy, and a better nation at the end of his term(s).
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