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Justifying Racism – How Bible Passages Get Twisted

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Justifying Racism - Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

There is only one Race on this planet… The human Race.

The Evolution Of Race

With the mapping of the human genome, the myth of race or ethnicity has been laid bare. Despite our outward appearances which are merely the result of the evolutionary process of adaptation to the climates of geographic location, there is no such thing as Race. We are all the same species. Our parts are interchangeable, thus should we need a heart or lung transplant, a Black, White, Asian is not limited to a donor from their same “Race.” Why? Because really, there is no such thing as race. Dr. Nina Jablonski gives an excellent presentation on this subject at a “TED Talks” presentation.

This is well worth the viewing and I will be referring back to it a bit later.

Define Race

This question is rarely if ever asked. Everyone simply assumes they know the answer. The reality is, in our culture, race is totally based on skin color. Skin color is entirely based on the geographic location humans evolved. Think about it. You can see evolution at work every year. In the summer, you get darker. Whether you’re “Black,” “White,” “Asian” or any other arbitrary ethnic genotype. In the winter, you lighten back up. These changes occur over the space of a few days or weeks at most.

Justifying Racism - Angle Of Sun's RaysWhat would happen if you/your family lived for generation after generation closer to the equator where the amount of sun you received was like a perpetual summer? Your family would grow darker and darker with each successive generation. Again, you see this process begin each summer. By the same token, if you were dark skinned and you/your family moved to northern Europe, over successive generations, your family would lose skin pigment and grow lighter. Why? Because you would be receiving less UV radiation from the Sun. This is because of the oblique angle the Sun’s rays strike the surface of the Earth in the northern latitudes. This is not theory, it is scientific fact.

Even the classic European features are adapted to living in a cold environment. Where it is hot, you want your nose to be wider to take in more oxygen. However, where it is colder, a narrow nose is more efficient to pre-warm the air you inhale. Most of the heat in your body is lost, dissipated through your head. More surface area is more efficient. Broad nose, thicker lips, curly hair helps to protect you from the heat of the Sun and dissipate the heat. In a colder climate, straight hair helps to form an insulating layer to keep heat in. Thin lips provide less surface area for heat loss.

Moving to a different location does not change your race. Over generations you may adapt to your environment – it’s what humans do – but you are still the same race you always were. Human.

Justifying Racism

The primary cause for the very notion of Races comes from people who were historically, anthropologically and archaeologically ignorant, attempting to understand Jewish mythology and take it as historical fact. You may want to read that again. What they fail to understand when reading Biblical accounts, is that the Bible was talking about families and tribes of people. Indeed, “family” and “tribe” are distinctions without a difference.

If you believe the Genesis myth, how many races of man did God create? When did he create a new race of man? At what point did this happen? The Garden of Eden story is what we call a “choke point.” Supposedly, the only two human beings on this planet were Adam and Eve. According to the Bible, Adam and Eve were of one flesh. Thus, no other Races were created in the Garden, fair to say? The next “choke point” recorded in the Bible is the “Great Flood of Noah.”

The Great Flood Myth

Without going into all the reasons why this never happened, suffice it to say, prior to Cable News Networks allowing you to have a global perspective on events, if you look out your door and all you see is water, as far as you’re concerned, the entire world is flooded. The point is, following the Flood, there are supposedly only 8 human survivors. Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. If there had been any other “Races” that sprang up by magic, there were none after the flood. So again, there was only one Race on this planet.

A cottage industry has sprung up with people writing books and creating DVDs on the subject of the Nephilim. This comes from a passage in the 6th Chapter of the book of Genesis. It is an interesting story. According to these Biblical researchers, this story implies that humans were interbreeding with alien – or demonic – beings and it is this corruption of the human bloodline which causes God to send the flood to cleanse the Earth. According to the story, the Nephilim were giants. They were more than human with super human abilities.

In their narratives, they explain all the megalithic structures by pointing to these Nephilim. The Great pyramids and the pyramids around the world are all works of the Nephilim according to these researchers. They sell a lot of books, give a lot of speeches and make a lot of money. They also tie up all historical loose ends quite neatly. One might overlook the fact that the only places where these Nephilim built all these megalithic constructions were where Black and Brown people lived. The not so subtle implications are that people of color couldn’t possibly have possessed a technology that White people cannot duplicate or figure out today! So, to preserve the White psyche, it is much more attractive to theorize that space aliens or demonic beings and their hybrid offspring did these great works. Ironically, they rarely ever reference Stonehenge in their conjecturing. Why? Because that megalithic site is in Europe. Those White people were simply clever!

Justifying Racism - David and Goliath

David and Goliath. But I thought all the giants died in the flood?

What everyone seems to miss is, there were giants after the flood! Since the Bible says that all living flesh was destroyed by the flood except for that which was on Noah’s ark, where did these giants come from? If God was trying to destroy the Nephilim and their hybrid offspring, what a waste! It really makes God out to be incompetent! All that death and destruction and he still did not achieve his ends.

Noah’s Three Sons

In Genesis 10, yet another place people like to point to and declare this is where the various races come from, we are told that each of Noah’s sons became the fathers of various nations. Japheth was the father of the Gentiles. Shem was the father of the Shemitic or Semitic peoples and Ham was the father of the African people. There are two things that are important to note. The first is, Noah’s sons were all of the same race. So, you’ve got a problem saying that their offspring who would all be cousins in the same family, suddenly became different races. The second glaring problem is, they left out quite a few ethnic groups that we recognize as races today. Whom was the father of the Asians? How about the Native American people?

Of course, at the time this myth was put together, these people were unknown. There are a few often overlooked other points such as, the descendants of Ham – Black People – are not Gentiles. Only the descendants of Japheth – Europeans – are Gentiles. Ever hear of the Ashkenazi Jews? Ashkenaz was a descendant of Japheth and thus a Gentile. Thus, an Ashkenazi Jew is something of an Oxymoron. I may explore this little problem in a future article.

So we have three sons from the same father, same bloodline, same race – human – supposedly being the progenitors of all the different arbitrary racial distinctions we make today. In a word, nonsense! Everyone present on the planet at this mythical point in time was of the same “Race.” My parents had 3 sons and 1 daughter. We all have different personalities, different interests and different abilities. We are all the same “Race.” We have the same parents and we are of one family. 

What about skin color? At the time of Noah, everyone had Black skin. There were no White people on the planet. If you need to, read that again. This is not theory, this is scientifically proven fact. If we place the “Great Flood” in time, based on the lifespans – generations – listed in your Bible, mankind had not yet left northern Africa and the Mediterranean. This means their skin was still adapted to high UV light.  White skin would not develop until mankind spread into the northern regions of the planet. Thus, Noah, Ham, Shem, Japheth and their descendants were all Black skinned people.

Kemet The Land Of The Blacks

Justifying Racism - Pyramids Of GizaYou are probably more familiar with the Greek name for Kemet, “Egypt.” Kemet is very important to human history. First let me dispel some popular myths. Back in the 70’s when President Carter was brokering a lasting peace between then Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli President, Menachem Begin, they had all met in Egypt and President Sadat was giving them a tour of the Pyramids of Giza. As they’re walking along, President Begin looks up at the Pyramids and remarks, “these remind me of the suffering of my people.” At which, President Sadat turned to him and informed him, “your people didn’t have a damn thing to do with these!”

President Sadat was of course correct. Based on the Bible and the Torah’s representation of time, the Pyramids were built long before Abraham the Jewish patriarch was born. It is beyond the scope of this article to go into all the proofs that show that the whole Hebrew bondage in Egypt and the Exodus story is a myth. Nevertheless, suffice it to say, at any conceivable placement in time for Moses and the Hebrews being in Egypt, the Egyptians were a Black African people. The first European presence in Egypt came about when Alexander the Greek conquered Egypt.

Justifying Racism - Coat Of Many ColorsWhy is this important. It is important for two reasons. Let’s explore the first. Remember the story of Joseph being sold into bondage in Egypt. This is the whole “Joseph and his technicolor dream coat story.” Joseph has these dreams. His brothers become jealous and plot to get rid of him. He winds up in Egypt and rises to become second only to the Pharaoh.

Here is the point you need to pay attention to. Famine was in the land and Jacob – Israel – sent his sons into Egypt to purchase grain for the family to eat. The brothers had to present themselves before Joseph to buy grain. They did not recognize him standing alongside the other African Egyptians. Had Hebrews been light skinned or fair of complexion, Joseph would have stood out like a sore thumb standing beside the other Black skinned African people. If nothing else, it would have caused his brothers to scrutinize him closely and I’m certain that recognition would have set in.

The next story I want to direct your attention to concerns the story of Moses and the Exodus. If you will recall the whole “burning bush” affair, God sends Moses back to Pharaoh with the message to let his people go. Moses asks why would Pharaoh believe him and God gives Moses several signs. One of those signs was for him to put his hand into his shirt, pull it out and it would become all white and leprous. Think about that for a moment. A White man putting his hand in his shirt and pulling out a white hand wouldn’t really cause much sensation. The Bible specifically says that his hand turned leprous as snow. In other words, white. Clearly Moses wasn’t White to begin with. In fact, nobody in the area was White.

Tribalism Not Racism

Justifying Racism - 10 Commandments Movie

Charlton Heston as Moses

One of our biggest problems with understanding ancient texts, whether it be the Bible, the Torah, Sanskrit you name it, is that everything we read, we filter through the lens of modern understanding and prejudices. Most people when they think of ancient Egypt, are visualizing a Cecil B. DeMill fantasy. Yul Brenner as Pharaoh and Charlton Heston as Moses. The movie, “The Ten Commandments” was so divorced from reality, they might as well have begun it with, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”

Back then, no one had any concept of what we now call Race. Since everyone had the same skin color, what was important was where you lived and or which family you belonged to. Conflicts arose over resources. Water, land to grow crops, access roads etc. If you lived in Egypt, you were considered Egyptian. If you lived in Babylon, you were Babylonian. If you lived in the land of Canaan, you were a Canaanite. Where you lived determined the style of your clothes, your armaments and your accent. If you were dressed like a Greek and either spoke Greek or spoke with a Greek accent, you were considered a Greek. Skin color was never an issue.

Dawn Of The Neanderthals

There actually was a time – not long ago as geologic time goes – when there was more than one race on this planet. This was the period when there were Neanderthals. As it turns out, it may be that the gene for white skin comes from Neanderthals. Thus white skinned people are white because of they are closer to Neanderthals than people of color. This certainly would explain their propensity for savage brutality. It turns out that white people have 4 – 5% Neanderthal DNA in their genome. Africans have hardly any and other people of color have anywhere from 1 – 2%.

4 – 5% may not seem like a lot, but when you have 1.1 billion pieces of DNA, and when just one piece can determine your eye color, you can have quite a few instructions contained in that 4 – 5%.

The Geography Of Skin Color

Justifying Racism - Map Of Indigenous Skin Colors

What color is your skin? Which latitude did your ancestors come from?

The simple fact is, human beings need vitamin D to live. The further north or south you go on the surface of the Earth, the more oblique the angle of the rays of the Sun. You do not require the protection of Melanin. You need as much sunlight penetrating the layers of your skin as possible to create that vital vitamin D. Thus, we see that the further one goes into these upper northern and lower southern latitudes, the lighter their skin becomes. It is a human adaptation, not a change in race.

The sad truth? If all people of color suddenly disappeared off the face of the Earth, leaving only white people, there would be a new definition of race. Blond haired, blue eyed white people would become the models of perfection and they’d begin discriminating against their dark haired and dark eyed counter parts. How do we know this? It has already been done in the United States of America. As each new ethnic group immigrated into the United States, they were at the bottom of the social order. They discriminated against the Irish, and the Italians when they first arrived, even though both the people doing the discriminating and the victims of this discrimination consider themselves to be white.

Religion and Discrimination

Justifying Racism - Pope Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas V

It is a fact that the Bible has been used to condone and justify some of the most horrific genocides in human history. In almost every instance, the victims were people of dark complexion. The holocaust of the African Slave trade was started by the Catholic church. In 1452 Pope Nicholas V penned his “Papal Bull” known as the “Dum Diversas.”

“”We grant you [Kings of Spain and Portugal] by these present documents, with our Apostolic Authority, full and free permission to invade, search out, capture, and subjugate the Saracens and pagans and any other unbelievers and enemies of Christ wherever they may be, as well as their kingdoms, duchies, counties, principalities, and other property […] and to reduce their persons into perpetual slavery.”

For the first time in recorded human history, perpetual slavery was created. For the first time in recorded human history, a baby could be born into slavery, grow up a slave and die a slave having never known freedom. During the period that the African Slave trade was in progress, 100,000,000 million Africans were murdered before they ever made it to the auction blocks. This doesn’t include the 100s of millions who survived to be sold into slavery and live out their lives in misery.

Hitler amongst his other delusions, used as a justification for creating the Jewish holocaust, the notion that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus. Many Christian nations – the Catholic Church included – were content to look the other way. You can get away with quite a bit, if you use the Bible to justify whatever it is you’re trying to do. The irony is, Hitler looked more like the people he was murdering than his idea of the ideal genotype of blond hair and blue eyes.

Why We Identify With A Racial Group

The delusion of racial typing confers upon certain groups by accident of birth, the presumption of traits and abilities that one neither has to earn nor achieve. Thus, Jews are good with money, Blacks are good athletes, Asians are smart in school and so on. This even carries over into human sexuality. There are myths about white, women, Black women, Asian women, indeed women of all nationalities that are just that… MYTHS! The same should be said for males.

Thus, we limit the human race by embracing these delusions which cause us to squander the most valuable resource on this planet… the human resource! We don’t fund inner city schools because those students are minority students. The mind that may contain the cure for cancer or the solution to a faster than light drive, allowing us to leave this solar system, never gets developed because of racism. We simply can no longer afford racism. Our continued survival depends on the realization that there is only one race on this planet and that race is the Human Race!

Christianity And Modern Black Enslavement III

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Christianity and Modern Black Enslavement Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr

The Information Vacuum

Children And The Bible

Indoctrination begins at an early age

In an information vacuum, the injection of any piece of data or information is seized on and subsequently becomes the basis or foundation upon which all subsequent data is judged. Those raised in Christian homes are introduced to the Bible and it’s concepts at an early age. At a time when one is not only too young to ask questions, but doesn’t even know which questions to ask, these concepts are imposed on the blank slate of a defenseless mind.

It is often easier for a parent to apply God as a cause than actually give a comprehensive explanation to the questions of a child. For example, I have a grandson whom when he was very young wanted to know the secrets of the universe. He wanted to know the answer to everything and he would ask me questions incessantly. In an effort to gain some peace and quiet I would often have to impose a moratorium on his questions. Usually 10 minutes or so. He would watch the clock until the moment his 10 minutes were up and begin again.

I don’t know if I did myself any good because he probably used his time to think of even more questions to ask. When dealing with children I always try to be mindful that my interaction with them will be a part of the foundation they use to build on for the rest of their lives. Thus, I do not talk down to them. I do not lie to them. If they ask me a question, I will give them the most accurate and comprehensive answer I am capable of. I tend to treat them as though they are miniature adults.

Why The Sky Is Blue

Why is the sky blue Papa?

On one fine day, my grandson was in rare form and I was on auto-pilot answering his questions while I cleaned the kitchen. My oldest son was sitting at the table working on some college level homework and evidently was monitoring our exchange. My grandson asked, “Papa, why is the sky blue?” Without giving it a second thought, I launched into an explanation covering the chemical composition of our atmosphere and how certain gases absorbed various frequencies of light. This of course necessitated an explanation of the electromagnetic spectrum. I finished, drawing everything together by saying that the red frequencies of light were absorbed by the various gases, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and the blue frequencies were allowed through thus giving us the impression that the sky is blue.

I continued cleaning the kitchen until I noticed the deafening silence. I turned to look at my grandson – he was about 6 at the time – he was staring at me with his mouth open and a totally confused look on his face. My oldest son was doubled over with his shoulders shaking trying valiantly to conceal the fact that the was cracking up with laughter. It was then I realized my mistake. At which point I told my grandson, “the sky is blue because that’s the way God made it.”

A smile of understanding broke across his face and all was good. It was a simple answer that he could understand and it satisfied him on that question. This happens all the time. God is used at the ultimate explanation for everything and in particular anything we do not understand. In an information vacuum, the first piece of information we are given becomes the basis or foundation for which all other data is judged.

Racism In The Media

When it comes to our society, segregation of the races has been practiced from the beginning and although there are cracks beginning to appear in the bulwarks, we still tend to enclave based on our ethnicity. Thus, white people don’t know a lot about black people, don’t know a lot about Hispanic or Asian people.

Charlie From Mr. Magoo

Racist indoctrination through the use of sterotypes

The media through movies, radio and television programming floods this information vacuum with often stereotypical portrayals of the various races. Some of these stereotypes are delivered in cartoons when children are extremely impressionable. Consider the Character of “Charlie” in the old “Mr. Magoo” cartoons. You have a totally stereotypical depiction of a Chinese man.

Antonio Fargas as Huggy Bear

Antonio Fargas as Huggy Bear

Sitcoms are another source of stereotyping. When you have no reality to base things on, what you see depicted on television becomes your reality. While you’re laughing at Jimmy Walker’s portrayal of “J.J.” what are you being taught about Black people and the Black lifestyle? Remember the old Starsky and Hutch serial dramas from the 70’s and 80’s? What was the only Black character with a recurring role? He was a pimp. Now if you went to school with Black people, worked around Black people or even attended Church with Black people, you would have had some actual experiences to balance these depictions. However, in our society, this is often not the case.

All Black people cannot dance. I’m one! All Black people are not good at playing basketball. I’m going to have to admit to being in this group as well. I competed in Track and Field and was a member of the Chess Club in school. Although I cannot dance, I’m a fairly accomplished Jazz musician; Saxophone. The point is, there is as much variation between individuals in the Black race as there are in any other race. Images and depictions do matter.

Christianity And Modern Black Enslavement

Image of Jesus

Even in Church, the white man is watching your every move.

When we apply this imagery and iconography to the religion of Christianity, the effects can be profoundly detrimental. No matter how we couch the theology, the subliminal subtext remains that:

  • The white man is your God.
  • You are hopelessly lost without the white man.
  • You must look to the white man for your salvation.

Until the iconography is corrected and the imagery restored to what it was in the beginning, so long as Black people continue to embrace Christianity, it will be difficult if not impossible for them to achieve self-determination. Yes, there may be a Black preacher in the pulpit, but there’s a larger than life white Jesus looking over his shoulder.

Part I and Part II

Christianity And Modern Black Enslavement (Part II)

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Christianity and Modern Black Enslavement Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

Christianity And Modern Black Enslavement

When we speak of Christianity and Modern Black Enslavement, we’re not so much talking about the enslavement of the body so much as the mind. If nothing else, Black people are people of faith! In some very real ways, this has worked to their detriment. When you look at the actuarial tables, you will notice that Black people here in the United States, have a lifespan significantly shorter than that of White people on average. Why? Ironically, the age at which one receives Social Security seems to be linked to the average lifespan of the Black male. As the lifespan of the Black male has increased, so too has the age at which one can begin receiving Social Security. Of course – tongue firmly pressed in cheek – that is merely a coincidence.

Actuarial Tables

Notice that based on statistics, a Black Male living an average lifespan will only get a couple of years of his Social Security.

African-American Health Care

When we finally do go to the doctor, our condition is much worse than if we’d gone when we first developed symptoms.

One of the things that must be considered is the teachings within the Black Church that encouraged Black people to trust Jesus and to pray for their health and healing. Going to a doctor was almost seen as a lack of faith. Of course if you don’t have medical insurance because you cannot afford it, trusting Jesus becomes your only viable alternative. When Black people do go to the doctor, often the problem has become so advanced that the treatment options are limited and extremely expensive. Thus our mortality rate. I have several relatives who were born at home with the aid of a midwife. Not because there were no hospitals readily available, but because that was our culture at that time.

You can have a perfectly healthy home delivery. However, what happens if there are complications? What if the child has some sort of issue? I have a son who would not be alive today had it not been for the attention and skill of the hospital and the attending physician.

Black Student

It is easy to slip through the cracks.

The effects of Christianity and Modern Black Enslavement are also manifested in the Black culture’s approach to education and employment. Faith and belief supersede preparation and performance. If you’re not getting your lesson in school, pray and ask God for help. I have no problem with prayer, but the reality is, a tutor or an after school session with your instructor will probably do you more good.

Christian Iconography And The Work Place

Earliest Depictions Of Virgin And Child

If the earliest depictions of Jesus and the Apostles showed African looking people, why was it necessary to change them?

The earliest depictions of Jesus and the Apostles all showed extremely dark men. Many wore “Afros.” So how did we arrive at this blond haired, blue eyed, white skinned Jesus? According to the stories, this was by design. None other than Michael Angelo was commissioned to paint the image of Jesus that is still widely used today. You say but it doesn’t matter what color Jesus is? Oh, but it obviously did matter. If it didn’t, Michael Angelo would not have been paid to do it.

Jesus entering Jerusalem

Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem

Let’s examine the ethnicity of Jesus and the real Hebrews/Jews. First of all, the only Europeans in the area at that time were the Greeks and the Romans. Jesus was neither Greek nor Roman so he clearly wasn’t what anyone could mistake for white. In the Gospel account of Herod seeking to kill him, Joseph takes Jesus and his family and flees into Egypt. The Egyptians were predominately African except for those who had mixed with the Greeks. If I were trying to hide from an assassin, the RNC Convention wouldn’t really be my first choice. I would be pretty easy to spot. You would want to blend into a crowd that looked a lot like you.

Black Jesus Wearing A Hoodie

If Jesus were walking down the street at night wearing a hoodie…

The facts are that if Jesus were walking down the street today, dressed as we are, he would find it extremely difficult to hail a cab. He probably would have cause to be concerned when passing a policeman. Wearing a “hoodie?” Definitely out of the question! So why do we have this white skinned, blond haired, blue eyed Jesus today? Because It is much easier to worship a God who looks like you look. If God is white and you’re white, you’re much more related to God than someone who is not white.

Looks Like Jesus?

If when you close your eyes and picture Jesus, the image you’re seeing looks like your boss… or a co-worker, you’re at a disadvantage.

Now think about this from the Black perspective. If you have been programmed in your mind to believe that Jesus looks like a white man, how then can you deal from a position of equality with your boss, the police or your school teacher? They look like your God. Close your eyes and picture Jesus. What do you see? Whom does your “Lord and Saviour” look like? Lord and Saviour or Lord and Slaver?

One thing that must be asked, had the original iconography not been supplanted with the Europeanized versions, how would that have affected the way Europeans interacted with and treated Africans? Would the African Slave Trade ever occurred? Prior to every atrocity the victims of that atrocity are first dehumanized, then demonized.

WWII anti-Jewish Propaganda

Before Auschwitz, Dachau, Chelmno, Jasenovac, the Jewish people first had to be demonized.

We saw this in graphic form during WWII. Government propaganda departments produced posters, cartoons and movies designed to dehumanize and demonize the “enemy” to gin up public support for their war efforts. Jews in Germany were depicted as money grubbing, bestial, rats and described as being parasites, feeding on German society. We know how that turned out.

Over here, the Japanese were done the same way. They were depicted as slant eyed, slope forehead, fang toothed, nearly simian beasts. They were depicted as creatures of nightmares. The added problem here in the United States was, we had naturalized and American born, Japanese citizens who had been living here for years. The racial hatred engendered didn’t just apply to the Japanese soldiers we were fighting. It crossed over to the Japanese Americans living and working right alongside us.

Anti-Japanese Propaganda Poster From WWII

Like Germany did to the Jews, we also demonized the Japanese.

The results? Many Japanese citizens were rounded up and placed in concentration camps just like the German Jews in Nazi Germany were. The difference? We called ours, “Internment Camps.” It might well have gone the same way for the Japanese here as it did for the Jews in Germany. Let us not kid ourselves into believing that human nature is somehow improved based on geographical location.

The only thing that prevented a Japanese Holocaust right here in the United States was, our form of government – thankfully – spreads power between 3 branches. In Germany, Hitler’s word was law. Even so, we dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan – which were unnecessary – wiping out soft civilian targets. This met the definition of a war crime. Perhaps this has something to do with why we never signed on to the Geneva Convention?

Iconography And The Enslavement Of Black People

Birth Of A Nation PosterThe depiction of Black people historically and currently has been used to foster and maintain a policy of degradation and oppression. The 1915 film “The Birth Of A Nation” by D.W. Griffith is an excellent example of this. The film is based loosely on “The Clansman” which was a propaganda piece for the Ku Klux Klan. It is a silent film which shows two families, one from the North and the other from the South, going through the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Birth Of A Nation Statehouse Scene

Eating chicken and trimming their toe nails in the Statehouse… Really???

In this film Black people – usually played by white people in “black face” – are shown taking advantage of white women. They’re is a scene showing newly elected Black congressmen, eating chicken and trimming their toe nails in the House Chambers, with their feet up on the desks. They’re showed preventing white people from voting. Ironically, they’re shown treating white people in the same ways white people treated Black Slaves. I don’t need to tell you that this film scared white people to death. It probably did more to set the tone for Black and White relations from it’s release until today than anything else. Iconography and depictions do matter. They shape not only the perceptions of the public, but the victims as well.

I See Scary Black People

I see scary Black People. From Birth Of A Nation

To Be Continued In Part III

Christianity And Modern Black Enslavement

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Christianity and Modern Black Enslavement Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

A Brief Glimpse Inside A Black Church

Black Church Service

Black Church Service

If you’ve ever attended a “Black Church,” you know that in almost every service they set aside a portion for what is called “testimony service.” For those of you that don’t know, this is a specially set aside portion of the service where members in the congregation, rise to their feet and wait to be recognized by whomever is leading the service. When recognized they relate something they believe God has done for them over the past week, or at least, since the last time they had the opportunity to “testify.”

There are some who have developed what may only be described as a “Testimony Template.” It goes something like this:

“First giving praise and honor to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is the head of my life…” What follows next is their “testimony.” It might be how they were sick, prayed and got better, or how they didn’t have the money to pay a bill that was due and almost miraculously they acquired the money. It could be about some problem they were having on their job, you name it. I’ve even heard of broken washing machines that miraculously began to work again. The testimony ends with some version of the following: “I ask the Saints to pray my strength in the Lord, I started with Jesus and I am determined to go through!”

Personally I always wondered, with all the starving children in the world, and with Jesus being recorded as expressing a great deal of concern for little children, why Jesus would be fixing washing machines and paying bills while children were starving and dying from disease and malnutrition? But that’s just me.

If we were to break down the formula for the “Testimony Template,” you have the supplication, you could call it the flattery part. This is where in almost medieval terms, the “Patents of Nobility” are recited for Jesus. “Lord and Saviour,” “head of my life” are terms that exalt Jesus while abasing the person giving the testimony. You will also hear these in prayers often given by preachers in what I call “The Grand Eloquent Introduction.” There is almost a competitive spirit as each one tries to out do the other in the art of flattering God. Here’s an example of how one such prayer might begin:

Black Preacher Praying

Yet another “Grand Eloquent Introduction.”

“Oh most gracious and heavenly Father, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. Thou who spoke creation into existence, thou who stands outside of time yet reached into time to make manifest thy majesty. Oh God, heavenly father, master of the infinities, thou who stretched forth thy hand and caused life to spring forth…” 

This can go on for as long as the preacher can keep the polysyllabic superlatives flowing. You will notice that much use is made of the “King James English.” I suppose God appreciates that archaic lilt when being addressed. Of course I would be extremely surprised and more than a little disappointed to think that God could be moved by human flattery.

Jesus Whipping The Money Changers

Regardless of the context, a whip in Jesus hand is powerful iconography.

Indeed what we have is the anthropomorphising of God. We assume that God will be moved by the flattering compliments that work on our fellow human beings. Hidden deep in this process is the implicit separation between Man and God. God is placed a top a rocket of archaic prose and flung high into the outermost reaches of deep Space, while Man is diminished to the lowest most abject recesses of the Earth. The Gulf is truly staggering. God is the Master and Man will forever be the Slave, to be used and disposed of as God sees fit.

The irony for those who subscribe to the Christian faith is, this is exactly the opposite of the message of Jesus. When you distil the message of Jesus and his stated mission down to it’s bare essence. Jesus came to bring “atonement”  – At-One-Ment – between God and mankind. Yet, in almost any Christian church around the world, you will hear time and again how wretched and worthless human beings are and how majestic God is. Within the Black Church over and over again, you will hear Black people referring to Jesus as their “Master.”

If we want to put this phenomenon in the best light possible, we could chalk it up to cultural ignorance. Indeed, in the Gospels Jesus is frequently referred to as “Master.” However, in the context of that culture and time period, “Master” meant “Teacher.” It did not infer the relative relationship between a slave and a slave owner. Given the history of the African Slave Trade in the Americas, while many Black Christians may know this intellectually, viscerally there is over 430 years of psychological “baggage” that makes it difficult to separate the term’s connotative meaning from it’s denotative meaning.

The Devil

The Devil attends Church quite regularly.

Thus, when they accept Christ as their “Lord and Master” they are psychologically embracing a slave mentality that makes them ripe for exploitation. How so? I can truthfully say during my 30 year church period, not once did Jesus ever show up physically or manifest in the flesh… met the Devil quite a few times, but Jesus? No. Jesus was always there invisibly and by proxy. The proxy for Jesus is the Pastor who claims to be delivering “the Word of God” or in essence, speaking for Jesus. By extension the Pastor then becomes the “Master.”

Paula White's Rolls Royce

Televangelist Paula White’s Rolls Royce in front of her Italian home

This earthly, human master doesn’t want them to pick cotton or plant fields, but he/she does want money. Lots of money! “Blessed Assurance” has become Blessed Insurance and the premiums on that policy are high! Tithes – 10% of your gross, some churches require a copy of your W-2 – offerings, “give as unto the Lord.” “Give until it hurts.” “Building fund” contributions. I know of some churches who collected building fund donations and never built anything for over 20 years.

Creflo Dollar's Private Jet

Pastor Creflo Dollar’s Private Jet

Let us not forget, “Pastor’s appreciation” contributions. Most Black churches once a year hold a week long fund raiser to commemorate their Pastor coming to their church and there is always an extremely large cash gift for their pastor. This is on top of his weekly salary and whatever other costs the church covers. Often this includes his house or a portion of his mortgage payment, his car and whatever else he negotiated when he took the job. As I heard one Pastor say, “I’m in God’s business and God’s business is booming!” For him, I’m sure it is.

Is Christianity Good For Black People?

Pope Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas V

Given that the African Slave Trade was initiated and blessed by the Catholic Church, the easy answer would have to be a resounding NO! In 1452 Pope Nicholas V issued his “Papal Bull” known as “The Dum Diversas.” This document gave permission to the kings of Spain and Portugal to go into Africa, seize the land, the possessions of and the people themselves and reduce them to perpetual slavery. For the first time in human history, chattel slavery was being practiced. It was being practiced against Africans and in the Americas.

Slaves In Chains

Definitely Not Good For Black People

Let me expand on chattel slavery. Prior to Pope Nicholas’ Papal Bull, slavery had been practiced at various times by various peoples throughout history. However, Slaves had rights and slavery wasn’t permanent. You could not be born a slave. Under Chattel slavery, the Slave was no different than livestock. Slavery was permanent and if you had children – intentionally or otherwise – your children would be born slaves. Think about that for a moment. There is a direct parallel with the Christian doctrine of being born into sin and being literally born into slavery. Getting African Slaves to make this connection required no psychological conditioning. They were living it.

Underwater Sculpture honoring Slaves who were thrown overboard.

Underwater Sculpture honoring Slaves who were thrown overboard.

During the 430 plus years the African Slave Trade was active in the Americas, by conservative estimates we lost over 100 million Africans during the “Middle Passages” alone. The “Middle Passage” was the period from point of capture to the auction block. This doesn’t include the multiplied 100’s of millions of African Slaves who actually made it to the auction block to live out the remainder of their lives in degradation and misery.

Those more astute are probably saying, “but we never had that many African Slaves in these United States!” You’re right! The United States or what became the United States, only received about 4% of the African Slaves. The rest went to the Caribbean Islands, Brazil and other places in South America. The numbers of Africans removed from Africa is simply staggering. We look at Africa today and marvel at how primitive and under developed certain sections are. Think about what the world’s population was back in 1452. If you had taken a similar number of people out of Europe, what might Europe look like today?

If the ancestor of the person who invented the telephone, radio, automobile, computer, rocket engines had died, would those things have been invented? The world would be a much different place than it is today. What might Africans have invented had they been left alone? They built the Pyramids, something we cannot duplicate today even with our modern technology. What knowledge was lost?

Christianity and Modern Black Enslavement Continues in Part II