“Hypocrite!
First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to
remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
(Matthew 7:5 & Luke 6:42)
I have listened for the
last few months as those who see themselves as some form of paradigm of
religious and political virtue(s) are verbally [and in writing] attacking
President Obama’s foreign policies with Cuba and Iran. They stand in front of their ‘selected’
constituencies preening themselves like peacocks walking back and forth,
opening their mouths, making noise but saying nothing. They demean both
aforementioned countries with three words: human rights violations. They have yet to address the human rights violations
in their own back yard. They try to hide
behind their ideology of dehumanization because that is the only thing their
ideology stands for and does, dehumanize.
The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines dehumanization as “to
deprive of human qualities, personality, or spirit.”[1]
Their first group of
victims is the poor whom they choose to see as lazy and unworthy of getting any
form of help. They attempt to balance
state and federal budgets off the back of the poor while providing the wealthy
their own form of welfare. Mind you, one must remember that within that
categorization of the poor are children and the elderly yet as pro-life as they
feign to be; babies, toddlers, children and the elderly are not spared from the
dehumanization. I find it quite interesting that they would quote the scripture
of “if a man does not work, he does not eat” while forgetting the full context
of that scripture but that’s for another article. Anywho, they forget that
Jesus said “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”[2]
and the Creator said “Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write
misfortune, which they have prescribed to rob the needy of justice, and to take
what is right from the poor of My people. That widows may be their prey and
that they may rob the fatherless.”[3]
Interesting that they are doing exactly
what they are told not to do to the letter.
Their dehumanization
continues in their attacks against those of the LGBT community. Before I continue, for those who are not
familiar with the Bible, in the New Testament there is a reference in Romans
about homosexuality. Homosexuality is also referenced in the Old Testament via
Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis. Here’s a kicker, there is a reason for the New
Testament and the most interesting thing is that in the four Gospels that
shares with us the life of Jesus Christ; one has to know that homosexuals
existed during Jesus’ lifetime yet I don’t recall Him saying anything about
that lifestyle or those who lived it.
Bottom line is that the alleged societal ills they bellyache about
existed when Jesus walked this earth yet all He spoke of was compassion and
forgiveness. Then there is the omnipotent
power of our Creator Whom they say they know yet denounce with their
actions. If, as they believe, the Creator is aware of all, then that same
Creator knew of those who would become part of the LGBT community yet He
created them nonetheless. In legislating
hate towards those of the LGBT community, how does that make them any different
from those in Iran or the other ignorant nations who hang and persecute those
of the LGBT community? Because we don’t hang them they assume that makes it
better? Oh, let us not forget that while they decry same-sex marriages, they
forget about the many heterosexual marriages that are falling apart due to
adultery, some being committed by their own. Or shows (My Five Wives – TLC) and people who
celebrate polygamy and live as polygamists. We definitely can’t forget those
who not only practice polygamy but pedophilia by marrying off little girls to
adult males.
The pièce de résistance in
the dehumanization process though, is racial animus. Yes, I know there are
minorities who share this twisted ideology but I just believe that they are ashamed
of the race the Creator placed them in. As this group of conservative religious
and political folks bemoan what’s going on in other countries and as those who
profess pro-life beliefs; they have yet to come out and stand against the
continued killings of Black men and boys.
They continue to remain silent yet secretly throwing their support
behind those doing the killings under the guise of “the badge”. Why? Because
they don’t recognize African Americans as human beings and/or they assume the
murdered men and boys were complicit in their own execution. Here’s a bit of
enlightenment – Russia, China and North Korea are countries where political
rivals and citizen dissidents are imprisoned yet the U.S. of A. has more
citizens incarcerated than those three countries combined. Why? Because this
group of hatemongers see through some very twisted lens, holding on to the
crude and evil thoughts of the past that “those” Blacks are inferior, lazy and
animals. Yet again, they usurp their religion because the Creator made all
mankind in His image. Not only that, the New Testament is very clear in that “GOD
[Allah, Yahweh] is no respecter of persons.”[4]
They fail in their dehumanization
process to see that “they have prescribed to rob the needy of justice” and
continue to do so. Their ignorance to old stereotypes continue to be reinforced
in the lack of opportunities to Black males who come out of prison leaving the
responsibilities of raising a family to Black women; a continuance of slavery
and Jim Crow. The lack of investments in
these communities ensures criminality and violence thus placing cops as modern
day overseers. The only form of investment is via gentrification thus the
continuance in the destabilization of the Black family especially poor families.
Many apply terrorism only to the global stage;
however, terrorism is defined as “the use of violent acts to frighten the
people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal”[5]
and this is going on in our own back yard.
Michael Brown died because a White cop didn’t like him walking in the
street; John Crawford died because he was a Black young man with a toy gun in Walmart
in an open-carry state; the list goes on. How is this not similar to how Jews
were treated by the Gestapo, the Nazi police or when the KKK terrorized Black
families after the Civil War on into the 1970s? When Black parents have to tell
their sons how to be or not around cops, how is this not a state of terrorism? They
are smug in their ideology of dehumanization but they “are those who justify themselves
[yourselves] before men, but God knows their [your] hearts. For what is highly
esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”[6]
In closing, no matter the
religious belief, one cannot nor should they pick and choose what religious
verse is amenable to their perspective. As a flawed Born-Again Christian, I do
not have the right to beat others over the head with my belief, I am to live
it. Grant it, there is no perfection in
the operations of mankind but for those who claim Christianity while divisive,
derogatory and evil behavior is their cup of tea; I would be hard-pressed to
stay silent. I abhor both domestic and
foreign policies built on dehumanization and cannot comprehend for the life of
me why folks choose to be so blind. The
New Testament contradicts all that the party of dehumanizers stands for in
their domestic and foreign policy ignorance. In the foreign policy arena, be it with
Palestine, Cuba or Iran, we are told “He has made from one blood every nation
of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed
times and the boundaries of their dwellings”[7]
and “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with
everyone.”[8] In the domestic policy arena, I have shared
one aspect from Isaiah. But in regards to personal favoritism, which they
practice unabashedly in glorifying the wealthy while demeaning the poor, James 2:4 closes with who they are in that “have
you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil
thoughts?” Oh, oh say can’t you see………….
