W.W.D.K.S? - - WHAT WOULD DR. KING SAY?

 It is hard to predict with any degree of accuracy what anyone like Dr. King, Malcolm X, Meager Evers or the brave men and women who were beaten and killed in the struggle for civil rights; reaction would be to the condition of Black Americans today! My best guest would be:  If they read a newspaper or viewed the television news of today, they would see that Black Americans are still at the bottom economically, educationally, professionally and socially. They would see 3^rd and 4^th generations of black families still subsisting on welfare and living in concentration camps (aka The Projects) They would see that discrimination and racism against Black Americans is still prevalent today. They would see the decline of black businesses in the community, which use to provide employment for our youth and older people. They would see the proliferation of non-black owned businesses, sucking the economic life out of our communities, by taking the money and run, business practices. They would see how the deliberate infusion and use of drugs has devastated the lives of individuals and families in our community. They would see how we have allowed criminals and thugs in gangs to intimidate and hold whole neighborhoods captive. They would see the blatant disrespect our youth show to their parents, teachers and elders.  They would see our deteriorating schools with understaffed, underpaid teachers, attempting to educate in overcrowded classrooms. They would see how our able body young men are dropping out of school to stand on corners selling drugs and look like clowns wearing their pants below their butts. They would see black on black crime and the random   killing of one another because of some imagined turf or color of clothing. They would see our young ladies dressed like prostitutes, tongues pierced, tramp stamps and tattoos all over; smoking a blunt, while cursing at her child she is dragging down the street, with another baby in her arms. They would see the increase in child molestation and sexual assaults in our families that go unreported because “It is family business.” They would see babies’ daddy’s out at the strip clubs with their “Boys” getting lap dances; while they won’t pay child support for the children they’ve fathered. They would see our immature young mothers are neglecting their children in an attempt to have a relationship with some abusive, worthless knucklehead!  After viewing all of this, I think they would ask themselves, “Is this what died for?  Is this what I underwent fire hoses, police dogs, clubbing, insults and being spat upon, for? Is this what the sum total of achievement, I laid down my life to achieve for my people?”  The answer does not have to be YES!  WE CAN CHANGE THIS PICTURE!
Your brother, In His Service
Min. Douglas

THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD!

Today is my father’s birthday! Birthdays and Father’s Day are a time when sons and daughters will remember their Fathers and celebrate their lives, whether living or dead. They will recall favorite memories of times spent with their Fathers throughout their childhoods and adult lives. For some, these will be happy memories. For others, not so happy, due to the loss of their father or of issues they had in their relationship growing up. I don't have either good or bad memories concerning my biologic father because I never knew him in life. He was out of my life a year or so after my birth. Tragically, he never made contact with me or my family ever again! I received bits and pieces about him from my mother over the years. Some positive and some negative; but always with a tone of hurt in her voice. To her mind he was the bad guy dressed in black, in all the cowboy movies of the day. To my mind, he was the hero galloping in on a white horse, guns blazing, dressed in white. The stories about him and their failed relationship only fuelled my desire to know him all the more. As it turned out, I would spend most of my young adult life searching to find him.

As a child growing up, I had lots of questions and fantasies about my father, with what little information I could get out of my mother about him. He was a subject we whispered about and kept it between her and I. My mother had gone into the military after I was born and left me to be raised by my grandmother. While in the military, she met and married another soldier. Upon their discharge from the service, I came to live with them when I was 5 years old. Her husband was a cruel man and an abusive step-father to me and her. I have too many hurtful memories of his abuse and mistreatment of us both.

After receiving one of his beatings, I would lay on my bed crying. I would call out my father’s name and pray that my real father would come and kill him for mistreating me and take me away to live with him. At school, I would lie to the other kids about my real father. I did not want them to know the daily horror I was living with my step father. They knew something was not right, because my step father never came to any of my activities at school. I would make up fantastic tales of my real father being away in the military doing heroic things. To counter their bragging about their fathers and their relationship and activities with them; I would lie and claim the same things, only with my uncles. How I envied those kids who had fathers at home! I envied them so much!

After years of personal inquiry, running down leads, telephoning people and numerous private investigators, I finally located him when I was 39 years of age. Instead of the news sparking a joyous celebration, it was a very sad disappointment for me. I found out my father had passed away 6 years previously. Strangely, that news buckled my knees, as the voice on the other end of the phone informed me. It was as if he had just died. It was like a blow to my face! It hit me the same as if I had known him and had a relationship with him. I felt devastated! All of my hopes for reunion with him just exploded into vapor. My dreams of touching him, talking with him and laughing with him; vanished into thin air, just like that! I could not believe that I would never know his voice or feel his arms embrace me as a father and son. The truth of my father’s passing without me ever knowing him was so difficult to bear, even at my adult age. It was a great disappointment for me, because for so many years, I could only envision him alive. I had to see and know for myself that this was true. I guess I was still holding onto hope that maybe this was the wrong man, buried there!

All of my scenarios of our first meeting were running through my mind as I walked to his grave site, carrying a bouquet of flowers. It was a fresh, open wound for me, as I sat at his grave. A flood of emotions engulfed me and I cried mournfully for him. The locked up frustrations from my early childhood to this day, were finally released and poured from my eyes in tears that saturated his grave. Primal moans came from deep within me. For the first time in my life, I truly felt loss! This was up front and personal! I was feeling the loss of a parent, I would never know! I spoke to him there! I asked him all the questions I had wanted answers to for so long, between my sobs. I told him of my great admiration and love for him! I told him that I understood him and his actions of years gone by and that I forgave him for not being in my life. I left it all there at his grave with the flowers I had brought.

I found comfort in prayer! I prayed to our heavenly father and asked Him to bless my real father there with Him. I took comfort in the knowledge that God was with me through it all and that He would never leave me. I believe that when I get to heaven one day, I will see my biologic father there also and we will have the relationship we were denied in this life. I was further comforted by finding out that I had three siblings from my father. A son and two daughters. I was overjoyed to meet them and to see a photo of my real father for the first time in my life. It was such a relief to finally put a face on the man I had only dreamed about and not known. I knew I was his son, because he, I and siblings all favored one another. And then there was this inward feeling of knowing, when I hugged my sisters for the first time. We hugged and kissed and cried together for a long time at the train station, upon my arrival to visit with them. At last, I have some part of my biological father that I can touch! I felt complete and excepted! I had found my missing family. I did not want to let them go!

When I think back on this experience and of the relationship I would like to have had with my father; I cannot help but think of the original pattern for this relationship dynamic. Jesus told us what that pattern was in the first two words of The Lord's Prayer, “Our Father!" These two simple words, state so clearly what God's relationship to us is. It is that of Parent and Child! He is our father and we are his created children. It is in God, our Father, that we live and have our being. As children, our fondest desire is to be like our fathers. As believers in Christ, this is the same commandment Jesus gives to us in Matt. 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” In other words, strive to take on the spiritual qualities of the Father. Try to be like the Father in love and goodness! Love one another, unconditionally and be kind to one another!

Then there is one of the original ten commandments that says “Honor thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee!” Deut. 5:16 -If we honor our earthly parents because they gave us life and raised us up; how much more should we honor our Heavenly Father, who is our source for EVERYTHING?? He is the perfect Father! Omnipotent, He commands power over all His creation. There is none like Him. We are His creation. Omnipresent, He indwells the hearts of His created beings. He is ever present in our lives and wherever we are, He Is! Omniscient, He is all knowing and knows everything about us. He shares our trials, tribulations, sorrows and joys. He is our comfort and joy! His goodness, mercy and grace are never ending blessing upon us.

As we remember our earthly Fathers and reflect upon our relationship with them, do not forget the Father of Fathers! Today and every day, remember God, our Heavenly Father and all that He has brought us through. Jesus Christ the God-Man, our Lord and Savior, had unbroken communication with His Father, through prayer. He acknowledges God the Father, in all things. Jesus was God Centered! Studying God’s Word, gives us insights into the nature of God and His creation because it moves us to contemplate these things. As we reflect deeply on Truth, we begin to understand that all we really need to know is, “In the beginning God.” This is the same message that Moses gave, “Thou shall have no other Gods before me.” It is the same messages as Jesus gave when he said “Our Father, which is in heaven”. We have everything we need in The Fatherhood of God!

When all of creation is recognized as being God centered, then all will be “right” with the world. We can know this concept in mind but to know this fully we must live accordingly – in thought, word and deed. The ability to be God centered is given only as we give Him first place in our lives – in prayer, in meditation and in all our ways, acknowledge Him. Just let Him be God! He is worthy of our praise and honor! Father for the Truth that Jesus brought to us, that you are “Our Father”, we thank you! May everything that has breath praise thy Holy Name! Amen.

Your brother, In His Service

Min. Douglas Daniels

KELLY THOMAS, MURDERED!

By now everyone has heard, either by radio, television, internet or word of mouth, about the beating death of a mentally ill man, in Fullerton, California recently. His death at the hands of Fullerton Police Officers, makes me revisit those feelings of outrage, disgust and sorrow, I felt viewing the Rodney King and Reginald Denhy beatings. King’s by police officers and Denhy’s by thug rioters. There was a very noticeable difference in the public’s response about this tragic incident. There were the normal shouts of police brutality, that we normally hear, when something of this nature occurs; and there were demonstrations against the Fullerton police department. The difference was, the shouts and demonstrations came from a predominately white community.

Where were Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton and Earl Ofari Hutchinson when the people of Fullerton, California were screaming “police brutality” and demonstrating against the Fullerton Police Department Officer’s, unjust beating to death of Kelly Thomas? Where were they?? Normally, like sharks in the ocean, they would have smelled the blood of a victim from wherever they were. Normally, they would have shown up at the scene of the crime the very next day; regardless to where they had to fly from in the world. Normally, they would have immediately held press conferences to announce their outrage of the event and their intention to come and demonstrate on behalf of the injured party.

I thought these gentlemen’s (and I use the term very loosely with tongue in cheek) civil rights agenda and stance; often defying authorities, were dedicated to defending the civil rights of “all peoples”. Their previous histories show them before the television news cameras, on popular television and radio shows and in the printed media, decrying the injustice of the act against a person and rallying for demonstrations against the injustices perpetrated by those in authority against “its citizens”. It matters not whatever the cause of the injustice! Whether it was motivated by racial, sexist, religious, political or sexual orientation bias, these men were first to champion the cause of the injured party.

My question is, do they only champion the injustices done to “people of color”? Or do they champion against injustice to “all people”? Kelly Thomas was a white, homeless young man, who suffered from schizophrenia. On July 5th, 2011 Kelly Thomas was brutally beaten into a coma by six Fullerton Police officers. He never regained consciousness. After several days in intensive care, his family was forced to make the awful decision to remove him from life support and he passed away on July 10th. It was not until July 28th that the first officer was taken off the street (the other five were still kept in our streets enforcing the law?) and put on administrative leaves. This was due to pressure from the community to expose and seek truth about this alleged abuse of force.

Every Saturday since Kelly’s murder, there has been a memorial rally and protest to show support for the Thomas family and to stand up peacefully to protest against the unconstitutional behavior of the six Fullerton police officers who beat Kelly Thomas to death. When I went to Fullerton, I saw only two other black people there to support this family. Where was the so-called “civil rights activist” at this event? Nowhere to be found! Now maybe I got it all wrong; but I understand “civil rights” to be about the “rights of citizens”! Citizens in America come from many (too many to try and name) ethnic backgrounds and nationalities. So to me, if ANY CITIZEN suffers injustice at the hands of authorities, charged to protect them, it becomes a matter of concern for ALL CITIZENS!

All citizens include ourselves, our city and government elected officials, the Clergy, Civic and Business Leaders. Just EVERYONE who lives under the American Flag. For Black Americans, the group I identify with, I believe we need to step out of complacency and take a stand against injustice, wherever it occurs and to whomever it occurs. We cannot just be concerned about ourselves when it comes to injustice. Who should know better about injustice and bias than those who have endured it for near a half century? How can Black Americans stand by and watch any other person be beat to death like Kelly Thomas? How can we not raise our voices in anger and defiance against such cruelty to another human being? What is wrong with Christians today? Where is the love that we claim Jesus put in our hearts for one another? Did Jesus command you to only show love to “your ethnic group”? NO! Where is the outrage from the black community and Christians, at the inhuman brutality suffered by Kelly Thomas? This mentally ill man was beaten and repeatedly shot with a stun gun, until he was comatose. He died without ever regaining consciousness.

Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton are both Christian Preachers and Civil Rights Activist. They should be the first to come to the defense of the victims of injustice, regardless of their race. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a nationally acclaimed Political Analyst, Author and Journalist. He has a national platform that could be used to bring national attention to the plight of people who are the victims of injustice. Do you see them reaching out to other races and communities offering their support to the victims and their families? No! Could it be because it is not an issue where they could derive some notoriety, monetary or political value from it? Could it be because despite their claims to care about “all people”, they are really only concerned with the plight of ‘black people”? I hope this is not the case!

By this time in our social and world history, we should have learned that as human beings, we are all living this life TOGETHER. Our individual actions today not only affect us; but have nationwide and often times, world implications. As believers in Christ, we are commanded to “love one another, even as God loves us.” Unconditional love does not see color or race! It sees another child of God in need, hurt or suffering injustice at the hand of another! The Christ indwelling us, demands that we come to his aide and offer help and comfort like the Smaritan, in Jesus’s parable. If our (so-called) leaders won’t extend the love of Christ to others, so be it! That just means you and I should and must leave our complacency, and show our love and support to ANYONE, suffering injustice. If we don’t do this, we don’t have the right to call ourselves true Christians! We are hypocrites the same as the Pharisee, Priest and Levite; Jackson, Sharpton and Hutchinson!

There is so much crime and suffering going on in our communities. There is so much good that people of goodwill, could do, if they would only trust God and reach out to help their fellow man. Grieve for Kelly Thomas and his family! Allow yourself to express compassion for another human being! One that God loves just as much as He loves you! The officers, who took his life, have now been arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter! Now, pray for comfort for his family and may justice prevail for Kelly Thomas and his family!

Your brother, In His Service

Min. Douglas