I’m becoming a huge fan of Broussard…check out kingmovement.com, as the brother is really getting out there, representing for black fathers hard!
Best of all, he’s seeing that they have to be reached long before fatherhood, and that’s the message in the video below. I can’t imagine posting much from BET, but I’m glad for this one.
Check out this short excerpt HERE.
CSD
Big Rob is on the far right. It was Rob who encouraged us (the fellas who all would later attend different churches) to go to the mission, have our own men’s bible study, home church, radio show…and those were just the few of the things I jumped in on!
I want to repost some of our old Mission Men episodes. As we remember the passing of our Brother Rob, perhaps no other episode captures his essence more than this one. Rob is our host this episode, and is running the team like a point guard, as the show only aired for less than 15 minutes.
This one is also special to me because my son Reggie joined the team.
Please check it out as Rob leads us with his favorite topic, The Gospel.
Click HERE.
CSD
Big Rob is on the far right. It was Rob who encouraged us (the fellas who all would later attend different churches) to go to the mission, have our own men’s bible study, home church, radio show…and those were just the few of the things I jumped in on!
I’ve always believed that God has blessed me to have true friends, that are like fingers to my hand. Today, I lost my first finger, my boy Rob. I’ll never forget this dude walking up to me in 7th grade, to ask me, a new kid in his school, to be in a group skit. Only God knew that for the next 33 years, he and I would be asking each other to “help over here” or “join me for this”. I think our last conversation was me asking him to join me in mentoring men at a pregnancy center, and encouraging them to be fathers. Why? Because Rob said in the early 90’s, “I want to write the definitive book on Black Fatherhood.” He said this before he had any kids.
It was Rob that encouraged me to be a father when I didn’t know how to be one. It was Rob who encouraged my wife and I to have another child when we were drowning financially with the ones we already had. It was Rob who encouraged us to homeschool. It was Rob who told me I was stagnant in my life when I was all about getting paid on Friday and hanging out. Rob got his first degree in Sociology, I got mine in Sociology. I didn’t even know how to apply at a college, but he taught me the game. When I graduated at 33, I let the brother know I could not have done it without him as he would say, “You’re going to be that age whether you go back to school or not, so just do it man!” It’s Rob’s influence that makes me post topics in this venue and others that hope to promote dialogue and make us think, because that’s what he was always all about. “We need to stop jaw-jackin’” was his common phrase, and he always threw stuff out to get an argument going. Even if you didn’t agree, you left the debate smarter and with a sharper argument for your own position, because he’d force you to get it tight.
I found out the news, sharing the gospel at my church. How fitting. It was Rob who pushed me and the other “Mission Men” to preach the gospel whenever we had the opportunity, to do it boldly, and know our Word. It’s now Rob, seeing Christ face-to-face. We talked about death more than most, and Rob knew that when he died, he’d spend eternity with Christ because he had repented for his sins and trusted in the Cross for his salvation. There was no doubt in his mind.
But what about you reading this? If Rob was a fool and believed in a made-up religion handed down by the white man to enslave the masses, he lost nothing, but you gained. You gained because he lived his life from the time I met him at 12 until 45 always knowing that whatever he did, he’d have to answer to a Holy God some day. Therefore, you have benefited from his “ignorance”, as it was that belief that made him such a good friend to many and want to reach out and build relationships.
I will use Rob’s passing to do just what he was all about every day, and that’s to preach the gospel yet again, and ask you to examine yourself. If you do not know God as your Savior for your sins, that you should turn to him, because your good deeds can never make you righteous. Logically, ANY sin against a holy and righteous God deserves death. But salvation has been made available through Jesus Christ, not your tithing, your singing, your skin color, or anything you have only because God gave them to you. Only through Jesus Christ.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. – John 3:17-18
I’m going to miss Big Rob, aka Dr. Chill of our unknown rap-group called the Benny-Boys. I’m going to miss our racial conversations, church discussions, or walks down memory lane and life in the ‘hood. We were beyond “punk” or “hard” status and could say, “I love you man”. If you’re saved, please pray for his wife and their three children, his mom, and his brothers and sisters.
Who is the Robert in your life today? Who can you be a Robert to, who can you mentor and encourage?
Ecc. 4:910 says, Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
I’m so thankful God gave me so many years with this brother to pick me up whenever I needed him. Christ is there to pick you up from whatever mess you find yourself end today as well. I didn’t have a chance to tell my boy goodbye, and you may not have a chance to say a word before you leave. Repent and believe in the gospel, while you still have breath.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Eph. 2:4-10
3/25/15 – Someone from Rob’s days at USC made a video that I wanted to share here as well. This is fantastic, and I think it captures the special guy Rob was, his infectious joy and laughter, and his determination to always “keep it real”. Don’t believe me? Watch Rob not get star struck at Morris Chestnut! We hated Rob’s stories about all the movie stars he met at USC and thought he was exaggerating. Then one day we went to see House Party 2, filmed at USC, and all of a sudden it looked like he walked past in the movie. You never saw his face in the shot, but we all knew that “Robert walk”. Guess the brother wasn’t lying!
Over the last couple of days, more stories have been generated from the Equal Justice Initiative research that I referenced HERE in part one. So I wanted to write a second post.
1.) Check out this 5 min. audio of the NPR interview with Bryan Stevenson, executive director of Equal Justice Initiative – HERE.
2.) The Atlanta Blackstar, in THIS article, points out,
“These conclusions are explored in the report, “Age of the Wolf: A Study of the Rise of Lone Wolf and Leaderless Resistance Terrorism.” The report covers 2009 to 2015, the period Obama has been in office, and finds that a terrorist incident took place or was disrupted every 34 days. The SPLC’s and other studies have indicated that since the 9/11 mass murder, more people have been killed in America by non-Islamic domestic terrorists than jihadists.
This fact should be of concern to African-Americans and other non-whites who will likely be the first targets of these racist, self-activated white extremists.”
You likely will not see this research on Fox News or your other mainstream source of news that reports only what gets ratings, strikes fear and what the government wants over the truth.
Shout out to Brian Williams.
3.) The NY Times generated a graphic showing 73 years of lynching based on the EJI’s data. You can find that HERE.
As noted in the NPR story, Montgomery, Alabama, certainly a ground-zero for civil rights issues, does not have any markers showing where various lynchings took place.
America’s history hasn’t “forgotten”, it is ignored its own history. Personally, I think this is one of the major reasons why again, African-American’s should be the biggest proponents for homeschooling their children.
Lastly, I have to say, in our internet age we can learn what we want to learn. But what’s really sad is that it was just all too easy to find photos for these two blog posts, I’m talking different photos for different incidents. Perhaps that says more than any of the other words that I’ve typed.
CSD
“To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.”
“The paradox of education is precisely this – that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.”
James Baldwin
I struggled with whether I should write this post, but I’ve been continuously hearing about the “barbaric and savage” actions of ISIL, came out of seeing American Sniper to some guys saying, “If they want to give their country to some kids like that, then we should kill ’em…” and some getting upset at President Obama’s comments in which he truthfully pointed out:
“Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ. … So this is not unique to one group or one religion. There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith.”
Rush Limbaugh, someone who many Christians follow and align their beliefs with rather closely said, “Jim Crow’s not around today. A thousand years ago, yeah.”
Mike Huckabee and Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Fox, two self-proclaimed Christians, seem to take issue with the president’s comments as well, because he did not condemn Islamic terrorism enough during his speech.
While that’s certainly a conversation for another time, I’m more concerned about the complete ignorance by those who many Christians follow daily. Their position is even more appalling for many African-American Christians and even those who may not profess Christ (see HERE and HERE). Sorry Rush, no “ditto” here, but Jim Crow laws were in full effect until at least 1965. While I’m an old man, that’s less than a decade before I entered into this world, and I’m not a thousand years old.
The question becomes, is Rush that ignorant or does he know that most American’s are ignorant enough not to know their own history, or a combination of the two?
Jesse Washington, seen in the photo below, was murdered in 1916. For the math impaired, that’s only 99 years ago, during the other event we all must study in school called WWI.
In a report just released yesterday by the Equal Justice Initiative, it states:
“EJI researchers documented 3959 racial terror lynchings of African Americans in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia between 1877 and 1950 – at least 700 more lynchings of black people in these states than previously reported in the most comprehensive work done on lynching to date…This was not “frontier justice” carried out by a few marginalized vigilantes or extremists. Instead, many African Americans who were never accused of any crime were tortured and murdered in front of picnicking spectators (including elected officials and prominent citizens) for bumping into a white person, or wearing their military uniforms after World War I, or not using the appropriate title when addressing a white person. People who participated in lynchings were celebrated and acted with impunity. Not a single white person was convicted of murder for lynching a black person in America during this period.” (Emphasis mine) – See HERE
Please read that last sentence again if you wonder why, as late great sports journalist Ralph Wiley wrote the book, Why Black People Tend To Shout. Ralph wrote this when we were shouting about Rodney King (and having so-called honest discussions about race and taking down barriers…remember that?)
Today, we are still shouting about Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, John Crawford and so many more.
I wrote about going to hear author James Loewen HERE. During the lecture, Loewen presented a similar picture to those below and noted a few points.
#1 – Lynchings were so common, that many were unreported because it just wasn’t news. It was just something American’s practiced. Obviously, Loewen’s statement is backed up by the research above.
#2 – Lynching in America was so common, that Americans were proud. So proud, they took their children to watch, created post cards showing the brutality (who did they send those too?) and even smiled for the camera.
#3 – Lynching, the murder of another human life, was done with no fear of the law. Obviously, when you look at the photos and see that no one covered their face with shame or shielded their kids from seeing such a, dare I say, a barbaric and savage act, done by those who I’m sure also considered it their obligation to be in church on Sunday.
That last point, is President Obama’s point. The symbol of the KKK was and is the cross. Our Savior died on a cross to redeem mankind (John 3:16-17). In the comments below, since we have many sermons by Christian ministers from 100+ years ago, I would appreciate if anyone could list where I can find some messages of those ministers speaking against them using the cross and the other acts of terrorism they perpetrated from the late 1800’s to mid-1900’s.
I’m serious, because I can find you some African-American ministers who did speak out.
Trust me, if you’re a light-shaded Christian and you’re discussing the President’s remarks with a Christian from a darker people-group, they will likely think of the above, but likely not say anything as we just know this is the cost of “doing business”.
As a father, I protect my kids from many things, but history is not one of them. The last thing I want to raise in my house are children as ignorant as the talking-heads in the media, that feed many of those I work and even go to church with each week.
Take a look at the photos.
Take a look at everything in the photos.
Perhaps the true grotesque image is not the body hanging from that tree, but the smiling face looking at you in the picture.
I’ll leave you with what I always encourage my readers to do. Ask your relatives who were alive what they thought back then, ask what they remember. This history wasn’t a thousand years ago, that history may be sitting next to you on Easter Sunday.
Spending the night the Dirty Dodge. The color is as ugly as the weather outside, but I must confess…this is still the BEST family man muscle car out today!
Good:
– Launch Control!
– Rumble at start-up is incredible.
– Computer allows you to have plenty of fun in Sport mode with an insane menu of adjustments that you can make on the powertrain side.
– Plenty of leg room for the fam. My 8-year old sat behind me and I didn’t have to adjust my seat. That could not have been done in the Camaro or Mustang.
– Cylinder Deactivation works very well, but it’s still hard to pull more MPGs when you want to have your foot in it all the time. If it was my daily driver, I think I could get a consistent 20 mpg…which is what my other Dirty Dodge gets (that nasty minivan) but it would be a smile-filled 20!
– Did I mention Launch Control? If not, I’m telling you, Launch Control!
– Pretty smooth ride compared to the Mustang and Camaro as well.
– Real, usable trunk
– Love the HVAC and radio controls. No instruction manual needed to operate and everything was easy to find even while driving.
– The performance measuring menu is top-notch. You can monitor G-force, 0-60 mph, 0-100 mph, 1/8th mile and more.
– That Launch Control!
– Dare I say, for $39K, is it a bargain?
Bad:
– While I appreciate the MDS, you can hear the engine cruising in four-cylinder mode, and it does not sound pretty.
– That color. However, two of the kids did like it…but Boney saw me pulling up and said, “Daddy’s home and he has a new car, and it’s green, and it’s ugly! (Now you see why she has her own segment right?)
2015 Dodge Challenger 6.4-liter Scat Pack adds a 6.4-liter HEMI V-8 engine with 470 horsepower, Tremec six-speed manual transmission, 180 mph speedometer, high-performance suspension, active stainless steel performance dual exhaust system, 220-amp alternator, Scat Pack striping, high-intensity discharge (HID) headlamps, Brembo four-piston high-performance brake package, and new 20-by-9-inch polished aluminum wheels with three-season performance tires. – From Allpar.com:
CSD
If the Church can’t get this right, why would the World believe them when it comes to Jesus Christ?
The CSD Tribe went to see Ken Ham present on One Race One Blood and it was astounding! I can’t help but wonder if it’s because Ken is from Australia, if that is why he can speak the truth, because he was not brought up to think as an “American”. He’s the first light-skinned Christian (see the video on why I didn’t just call him “white”) I’ve ever heard boldly proclaim that Adam & Eve should not be portrayed as being “white”, because it is not biblical. I even thought he was about to start going in on “White Jesus”! (Read about those thoughts HERE and HERE)
Ham even pointed out that there are “Christians”, who would rather their child marry someone of a different Spiritual Race (meaning, they are not Christians and are unequally yoked according to 2 Corinthians 6:14) than for them to marry someone from a so-called different Physical Race. Actually no other race exists, as even the secularists acknowledge that there are no races. Therefore, color is made up (sociologists have long said this) and Christians should be leading the way in defining and proving this fact, but instead we buy in and may I add, bring shame to the Word of God.
Remember, Acts 17:26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
My 13-year old daughter wrote a short essay in which she summarized things pretty well by stating, “…how did we get different races? We shouldn’t say race, we should say people groups, and we should not say color, we should say shade…Adam and Eve must have had the DNA to make different shades of skin. This means that Adam and Eve must have had a skin shade of light brown, because if you were dark brown, you would have a combination of ‘AABB’, but if you were a light shade you would have ‘aabb’. So it makes sense for them to be in the middle as AaBb.”
Yes indeed, that’s a lesson they wouldn’t be getting from the government school or most Christian schools.
The is a terrific video to show the fam and even my daughter said, “…I’m glad I went and didn’t stay home.”
Little does she know, she really didn’t have a choice any way…
Here’s a presentation of One Race One Blood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbODW6XO8zY
More info is available at http://www.answersingenesis.org
CSD
Dads, I think we all need to read and show this story to our kids!
I can’t add to this story, but I just want to give a small congratulations to James Robertson for his faithfulness and dedication.
Brother, you are a tremendous example in so many ways and I hope you enjoy that new ride!
Read about James Robertson’s story HERE and HERE.
As the kids and I sit around and prepare to watch the final game of the season, we talked about some of the great players and remembered our trips to the NFL’s Hall of Fame exhibit.
Here’s a little photo tour for you and feel free to take your kids down memory lane and the history of the NFL as well!
CSD
True Capitalism, had the USFL not have pulled fans and athletes away and become serious competition, it might not be where it’s at today.
In my opinion, the greatest athlete of all time! Bo Knows it’s true.
It all goes back to Fritz! Too bad we wouldn’t have another black head coach for many decades later.
Did you actually think I could post something on sports without slipping in my man Dr. Harry Edwards? Come On Man!
The G.O.A.T.? I think so!
Furious Fathering 