Once again, I really can’t add any commentary to this one.
All I’ll say is that when you get into “those conversations” (some of you know what I mean) at work, school or church. Just have this vid loaded and ready to go on your phone or computer.
The “discussion” will likely be over pretty quickly without you having to hardly say anything.
Tonight I was talking to a young man who’s about to be a father and wonders if his life is over. May I encourage all of you single dads that actually, your life has just begun. If you think you’ve never accomplished anything in school, at work, or wherever…now you can. If you didn’t have a father in your life, now you can show your child what it’s really like to have one. What can seem like something that has destroyed your life, can be what saves your life. If you’ve been living that “do-nothin” life in this country, they have a cell and/or grave waiting for you. But your child can give you something to set that alarm clock for in the morning. Someone to make you say, “Nah, I’m not going there or doing that…”. Someone that you can put your legacy and values on FOREVER. You will never do that at a job, never do that at a school, but you have an opportunity to do that in your child’s life…and that’s why God allowed YOU to be a father. Everybody else in your life may have said, and may still say, “That ___ isn’t ever going to do anything with their life.” But one day you’ll realize that other people’s opinions don’t pay your child support, hold your kid’s hand, teach them how to catch, or touch you in ways that will have you in tears like you’re the baby. You fellas get up in the morning knowing that you got something to live for, and die for, and be thankful not sorry, that your life will never be the same.
Enough said.
How many more stories do we need to SEE? A generation ago, video footage (Selma) or even a photo (Emmett Till) sparked change and outrage in all people groups. Today, many won’t blink, will turn on and listen to Fox News, and continue to defend the actions of police who are lying and shooting down African-Americans with impunity. If this were any other people group, there is no doubt that the nation’s reaction would be completely different.
I bet the Church’s reaction would be different as well. I’d walk into service and people would be talking about how we need to pray for what is happening in our country and how they are scared. Folks would be holding prayer services for the persecution of ___ group in the nation. There would probably be academic debates about whether we are in The Tribulation period, if Obama’s the Antichrist, and when will the Abomination of desolation go down in the temple.
Instead, that statement is currently mostly reserved for President Obama and so-called “gay marriage”. Because you know, “we” (a group in which I’m not a part despite being a Believer) need to “take our country back”.
I wouldn’t be able to turn on my selected Christian podcast or talk show without hearing, “God will judge those who practice such terroristic acts and this is a supernatural attack against those created in the image of God, and we as Christians need to stand against such acts…”.
Instead, they’ll discuss how rap music (you know, that “jungle music”) creates thugs and the police are just enforcing the power of the sword given to them by God. After all, the KKK didn’t start executing and calling people niggers until rap came along using the word in the late ’80s. By that logic, I guess the Klan was actually a peace loving Christian organization during the civil rights 60’s as African-American singers were talking about being young, gifted and black.
Better yet, what would the nation’s reaction be if this video would have shown him shooting a dog running away?
I can tell you the reaction we are seeing now though. And that’s a fund that’s been created defending the officer and raising money for him. Something we’ve seen for many of the officers and citizens who have shot African-American’s since George Zimmerman.
But the most important point of all, had there been no video (thank God for the brave person who recorded and turned it in), there would have been few questions and the cop’s LIE and planting of evidence would have been known only by God and officer.
My family’s prayers go out Walter Scott’s family. They should not have to bury their son.
This tragic incident opens up a whole other can of issues that I will discuss later. For example, the number of contacts that innocent African-American’s have with the police. Take a look at New York’s Stop-and-Frisk data here. A busted tail light and child support warrant was enough to get Scott killed. I know many will say, “Look, he was running so he must have done something!” While I ask the question, “What would make a 50 year old man, who had a busted light as was late on his child-support (joining an enormous number of men including your’s truly at one time), run from the police?”
Was he fearing for this life?
Judging by the video, his fear was justified.
Sadly, he was unable to run fast enough.
Please pray for our nation, because for many of us, we’re beginning to wonder if Jim Crow 2.0 is the beginning of a new Tribulation period.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoHVI3CgfDI
First, thanks so much to Rob’s USC family for putting this together!
A little over a month ago, God called our Brother Rob home and you can read more about him HERE.
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!
CSD
Photo Source: suspensionstories.com
Proverbs 20:23 – Unequal weights are an abomination to the LORD, and false scales are not good.
I think this video sums things up in less time it would take me to type up a post.
However, I’ll just say that personally, I’ve witnessed this long before I ever knew about “The Pipeline”.
In my suburban high school, our basketball team got into a major parking lot brawl with another suburban high school. Cops were called, no one went to jail, and guys were bragging about the action the next day in school.
Fast forward a few years…my brother was attending a high school in the city. He got involved in a food fight in the cafeteria. School staff broke up the fight, called the police, and my parents got the call to pick him up from jail. The story didn’t end there, as he later had a court case (ironically held in our neighborhood middle school with a bunch of other school “court” cases), and had to have his recruiter vouch for him that he was a “good kid” and would soon be in the military, so don’t punish him.
Perhaps his biggest crime was not getting into a fight when he went to a school in the ‘burbs instead.
CSD
Photo Source: http://breakingbrown.com/
Perhaps it is a waste of time to focus on the lives of those being killed at the hands of those who are supposed to be protecting and serving the community. No matter what the case, someone is bound to say, “Yea, but what about…”. The problem with those “what abouts” are numerous, but the two main one’s are:
1.) They never warrant the death penalty
2.) They are false rumors spread by the police, internet trolls, or the media to taint the jury, gather public support and slander the dead.
That’s it, plain and simple. The latest example is this. At this point in 2015, who has proven to be the real thug, Trayvon Martin or George Zimmerman?
Photo Source: http://urbanintellectuals.com/
So let me make an appeal from this angle. What about the children left behind after their father’s have been killed?
What about the parents who have to bury their sons? Don’t we always say, “The worst thing in life is for a parent to bury their child.”
I bet the pain of death stings even more when they can’t even find out the facts of the case because of police cover-ups and/or false testimonies. When justice is not given, where do you turn next?
Please read the latest killing HERE of Calvon “Andre” Reid in Florida. This story is quite disturbing. Another father is dead, leaving behind two sons and has to be buried by his parents. What’s also disturbing is that eyewitness testimony has sent many black men to prison, where some have died or remain AFTER it is found out the person committed perjury. However, eyewitness testimony is nothing when given against a police officer. Even after lies seem to be told following the incident by the police, they receive the assumption of innocence.
Next, watch the video with his parents HERE.
CSD
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!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoHVI3CgfDI
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBIGWabg9H4
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.
Furious Fathering 