A BLACK MOVEMENT IN CHRISTIANITY?

by

Dortell williams

(Approx. 950 words non-fiction)

Prison yards are shut-in societies that challenge its wards to balance overcrowded, shoulder-to-shoulder conditions leaving the often-desperate individual groping for a little hard to find privacy. Everything is done under the watchful eye of others, be it nosey fellow prisoners or binocular wielding, suspicious-of-everything officers. There is no privacy. And with all that watching come words eavesdropped and misunderstood, distant gestures misinterpreted and intentions read upside down.
All of these realities of my enclosed world of confinement weighed me down as I sat in our circle on the yard during Black August, a month to commemorate for all of those who stood before us as African Americans in the struggle for equality and dignified treatment in this country; a time to reflect on those movements where resistance was a primary avenue for the advancement of social and mental liberation. A month of fasting, studying the past, for the benefit of the future, and unity; all while focusing on self-discipline and collective betterment.
As a Christian and lover of humanity, I concern myself with the thoughts of the multicolored mix of people that I intimately fellowship with in daily worship. Of course, a founding principle to the pinnacle of our faith is to not sin; which means to refrain from offending – either God or man.
When I see brothers in the faith, especially of other ethnic backgrounds, observing me from the distance in congregation primarily with Blacks, I don’t want them to think that because I ‘m pro-Black, that I’m anti-everyone else. Nothing could be further from the truth. But the reality is that Black people in this country are unique group that is wholly oppressed, marginalized and suffering at near unparalleled levels. Other than Native Americans and Latinos, no other social collective consistently tops almost every negative statistic like that of Blacks. Despite our relatively few numbers (38.9 million compared to 197.3 million Whites), Blacks in the U.S. are incarcerated at a rate nearly five times higher that Whites, though according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Whites are arrested at a rate 5 times that of Blacks. When it come to disfranchisement, again, Blacks lead, while falling woefully behind in political progress. And while it is regularly reported that Blacks have been, and continue to be subjects of racial profiling, police abuse and coerced confessions of crimes – as subsequent DNA test are not only confirming, but reversing – America at large turns its back.
Blacks continue to have the highest infant mortality rate at 15.5 percent, compared to Whites at 6.2 percent. And as if that weren’t enough, Blacks also have the highest premature births, at 17.8 percent, compared to Latinos at 11.9 percent and 11.5 percent for Whites.
For decades Blacks have had the highest rate of internecine violence. And while the numbers fluctuate, according to the annual FBI Uniform Crime Data Reports, Blacks are also the most consistently victimized social group in all of America.
Concerning public education, Blacks again hit the crest with one of the highest high school dropout rates, nearing a national average of 50 percent; which perpetuates Black ownership of one of the lowest literacy rates, at 30 percent. In 2004, half of the nation’s Black men in their 20s were without work and made up 72 percent of those who dropped out of high school, which severely limits their potential earnings in an increasingly competitive climate. Further disappointing is that an astounding 70 percent of Black babies are born out of wedlock, essentially guaranteeing for them a future world of limited options and putting them at greater risk for social failure. From there the discordant tune plays on from generation to generation. It is a cycle that plagues us into a perpetual swirl of failure, poverty and premature death.
Moreover, Whites own homes at a 20 percent higher rate than Blacks. The average net worth of Blacks compared to Whites is just $5,988 while Whites stand strong with an average of $88,651 – approximately 15 times higher than Blacks.
The unemployment rate among Blacks is nearly 10 percent, compared to 4 percent for Whites (almost 2 ½ times greater by comparison).
Clearly Blacks are in desperate need of help, from within and without. Therefore I believe that even if I were of any other ethnicity, as a Christian I would still be obligated to assist Blacks, Latinos and Native American first because they are the most marginalized and neglected ethnic groups in this country. Giving to the rich and contributing to the opulent causes of the elite is a socialite tradition. Helping the poor and needy is a Christian responsibility.
It was Jesus the Christ who said “give to the poor.” He also admonished that the two primary commandments are to “love God with all your heart, mind and soul,” and also “to love your neighbor as you love yourself.” These are fulfilled by obeying God and aiding the less fortunate. “ Blessed is he who considers the poor,” said the Psalmist, David, who was, according to the bible, “a man after God’s own heart.” So this is why I must carter to not only Blacks, but all oppressed people and groups, suck as women, immigrants, the so-called handicapped and others who are socially neglected. For me, when it comes to Blacks, race is just a coincidental factor, while our collective station in life, downtrodden and suffering, as statistics confirm, is my primary motivation.
I don’t know, perhaps I wrote this for my own sake more than anything else. But now if my brothers in the faith look at me with a silent question in their eye I can spread with a true and sincere reply. The book of Deuteronomy plainly spells God’s commission to us: “…Help the poor, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow’; so these things I do, as every Christian, Muslim and Jew should.

Sources:

World Almanac and Book of Facts: 2005 (World Almanac Education Group, Inc., Mahwah, New Jersey, 2005) p. 624 (Population figures)

World Almanac and Book of Facts; 2005 (World Almanac Education Group, Inc., Mahwah, New Jersey, 2005) p. 76 (Infant mortality rates)

National Endowment for the Arts – 2004 (re: literacy rates)

Editorial, “Young Black Men at Risk,” Christian Science Monitor, April 17, 2006: 8

Susan Porter & Victoria Kusher (AmeriCorps) Judicial Process Commission, Inc., (Justicia) March- April 2006 (re: Blacks five times more likely than Whites to be imprisoned)

Matthew 19:21 (“Jesus said “give to the poor”)

Matthew 19:19 (“ Love your neighbor as you love yourself”)

Deuteronomy 10:17, 19 (“Give to the fatherless, widows and love the stranger’)

I Samuel 13:14 (“David was a man after God’s own heart.”)

Blacks Rank First in Premature Births,” The Final Call, August 1, 2006: 8 (Primary source: The Institute of Medicine)

Pew Hispanic Center (Net worth of Blacks compared to Whites, figures from 1999 – 2002)

September 18, 2006