What Would Jesus Do About America's Social Injustice???

I'm sure that nobody who reads this needs me to teach them about the history of Black Americans. What American doesn't already know about the enslavement of Blacks on American soil or that Blacks are the only group with that distinction??? (MLK, Jr. highlighted that distinction.) In this blog post I don't aim to elicit pity for the plight of the Black American or to teach a history lesson. Instead I'll juxtapose what many people already know about American history, as I focus on the fight for social justice; and, I'll offer insights that I hope are borne in mind by the current wave of activists and advocates. After all, he who fails to learn from the mistakes of history is doomed to repeat them.

60+ Years Of Blacks "Fighting" For Social Justice

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began fighting for social justice in 1955 and preached a message in which he admonished his followers to use non-violent resistance to effect social justice and an end to Jim Crow Laws which had been created because some Whites were angry that they could no longer enslave Blacks. In 1957 the 28-year old King wrote a telegram to the 67-year old then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower in which he urged the commander-in-chief to take "a strong forthright stand" against the Arkansas National Guard which then-Governor Orval Faubus had mobilized to prevent nine Black high school students (and many more, if he had his druthers) from attending a formerly all-White school. Mr. Faubus knew that knowledge is the key to freedom and did all that he could to ensure that the descendants of freed slaves were never fully and truly freed. At the behest of a preacher who would eventually be killed by gunfire, the five-star general who put America on the winning side of World War II sent troops to ensure that Black children could attend and desegregate a formerly all-White school in Little Rock, Arkansas. A civil rights leader who promoted non-violent resistance actually encouraged the use of military force against the domestic enemy of state power in order to ensure that Blacks gained access to the same education that White children were getting.

 Make no mistake: King always took a stance against rioting even after four innocent Black girls were killed in an Alabama church bombing in 1963. Dr. King made it clear throughout his 13 years of fighting for civil rights that he would never promote violence. However, he said in almost the same breath that he understood that "A riot is the language of the unheard". In July 1966 the Chicago West Side Riots sprung from police denying Blacks the right to use fire hydrants to cool down in 96 degree weather, though poor Caucasians in neighboring slums were allowed to do so. Blacks were literally fighting for their lives -- faced with the threat of dying from the heat or taking their chances with the police. Ironically, King's following whom he's repeatedly admonished to remain nonviolent became quite violent as they rioted immediately following Dr. King's assassination. Then again, maybe it's not all that ironic. After all, more than one promoter of non-violent resistance or of fighting only in self-defense has been killed in spite of having not raised a hand at the enemy -- King, Maicolm X, Gandhi, Medgar Evers. (That's not to speak of the fact that, after other nations have dismantled their nuclear weapons at the behest of the U.S. Government, they've been invaded and had their lands decimated by the U.S. military -- which begins to explain why North Korea isn't falling for the same trick.)

I'd have to agree with Dr. King's assertion that "Rioting is impractical" for all of the reasons which he stated -- reasons that can be summed up in the statement that "We the people will lose against military grade police weapons". However, I vehemently disagree with the latter part of his statement that "Rioting...is immoral". I mean let's face it: In recent years, we've seen dozens of unarmed Black men gunned down by White cops. If we're being gunned down even while unarmed, then shooting back actually increases our chances of seeing another sunrise -- which is coincidentally the very logic which 45 is using to justify arming school teachers. The underhandedness of our federal and local governments has rendered their word and their stated police protocols meaningless. This delinquent behavior on the part of the powers that be has created an atmosphere in which it is incumbent upon the poor to survive the best way they know how -- even if it means breaking unjust laws. Given this set of facts, even the staunchest proponents of peace are forced to realize that sometimes peace can only be attained with guns blazing -- or at least at the ready. The aforementioned grim reality was evidenced beyond a shadow of a doubt in 1966 -- the year that the Black Panthers took to the streets of Oakland with guns to combat police brutality. Add to this the fact that, whereas Blacks were able to get some concessions and protections from the federal government in the 60's, we can't even count on them for that much these days. As a matter of fact, the feds have moved in the opposite direction altogether by giving military-grade weaponry to local police departments, lest the dispossessed victims of capitalism rise up and demand justice. So, while I won't openly condone any violent or otherwise illegal behavior, it'll be a cold day in Hell before I actively speak against such activities; because, I want Blacks and other poor people to live as long as possible and eventually as well as possible.

What would Jesus do about America's social injustice???

Now I'm sure that some of the Christians who believe that "Warlord Jesus" will ride back to Earth with a flying Mustang while wearing a robe dipped in blood and who (with his army) will kill so many people that the blood will be "as high as the horse's bridle" in the Valley of Armageddon (and that some Jews who don't believe that Christ is the promised savior because he was non-violent and didn't conquer the Romans 2,000 years ago) are now going to take issue with the previous paragraph of this blog post -- cognitive dissonance at its worst. Religious people of various faiths exhibit cognitive dissonance by failing to reconcile their contradictory beliefs; and, they exhibit "motivated reasoning" (also a psychological disorder) wherein they only accept facts that point toward what they want to believe -- deliberately ignoring facts that point toward a different conclusion. This means that intelligent people of faith and conscience must arise and make it our business to drill down on the faith community concerning their contradictions -- intentional and unintentional.

Intelligent people of faith and conscience must remind the faith community of how indignant Christ became in the temple when he saw the poor being cheated and he accused the money changers of turning a house of prayer for all people into "a den of thieves". We must show them that their faiths support the idea of aggressively defending the poor. We must remind them of the harm that God has done to those who have mistreated the poor and the harm that His son will do to such people. While we're at it, we should show these so-called Christians who deliberately take Christ's statement that "The poor will always be among you" out of context and who refuse to acknowledge the strong, unmistakable Socialistic overtones of the New Testament that they have gone "ash tray" (not just "astray"). That is to say that they've altered the word of Christ (and, in some cases, the Word of God too) and thereby earned their place in the Lake of Fire. Maybe we can save some of the so-called Christians who've gone "ash tray" by getting them to have the hard conversations that they, to the detriment of themselves and others, have avoided so long. Let's hope.

Many churchgoers are bothered by my emphasis on God's harshness. Maybe it's because they're well-to-do churchgoers who benefit from the oppressiveness of Capitalism. At any rate, they do their absolute best to make God out to be a sweetheart and Jesus out to be God Himself in the flesh, which implies that Jesus was talking to himself when he prayed and that God was talking about himself when He said "This is My son in whom I am well-pleased". I guess these churchgoers also believe that God decreed that he himself had to die on the cross as Jesus and then raise himself from the dead so that he could sit at His own right hand. I guess God, as Jesus, doesn't know when he'll return to Earth; but, as the Father knows the time of his return. Either we serve a confused god or it's the churchgoers who are actually confused here. I'm sure it's the latter. (Think about that for a minute.) "The Confused Church of Christ" avoids conversation about God sending the Israelites to war to take the lands of people who'd done them no wrong -- to give these heathens and pagans the opportunity to submit in the name of God and to proceed to kill the men of any city that refused to submit. Let's not forget that, in some cities, the Israelites were to "kill everything that breathed" -- men, women , children and beasts. God said very plainly that He wants to be feared -- that is to say that we are to be afraid to offend Him. He also said that He would fill the poor with good things and send the wealthy oppressor away empty. God is not a sweetheart; but, He does aggressively defend the poor.

With God's throne having been firmly established well before He created this world, Jesus was earning his throne during his Earthly ministry -- the latter truth having been represented by the high priest sprinkling lamb's blood (which represented the crucifixion) onto the mercy seat (which represented the throne of Christ) annually. The savior who reluctantly went to the cross 2,000 years ago (represented by the raven that returned to Noah) will come back for the rapture of the true church (represented by the dove returning to Noah with an olive branch) and then he'll come back yet again to do battle with the anti-Christ and establish his kingdom forever (represented by the dove not returning to Noah who represented God in this metaphor). He who "turned the cheek" during his ministry to the poor will come back "guns blazing" to militarily defeat the oppressor. (Maybe the Jews will accept him as savior then, though they'll have to endure the Tribulation.)

All of this begs the question: "What would Jesus do in the here and now about the social injustices of America???" We're left to wonder whether Christ would have us to aggressively "turn the tables" on the oppressors (the benefactors of capitalism) or to "turn the cheek" and just make it the best way we know how within a grossly flawed system -- the need to fight for water notwithstanding. In all honesty, the New Testament tells us to respect nobles and that the king is the servant of God who "beareth not the sword in vain". That same New Testament contains many scriptures wherein Christ has spoken against wealth. The Book of Acts tells us about a first century church that is best described as a Communist community wherein the wealth was redistributed and about a married couple that lied about having given over all of the goods and who consequently died in the church. So, while we might not have any clear guidance from Jesus as to how we should manage as Christians in today's world, it's obvious to anyone who is thinking clearly (not with motivated reasoning) that Jesus Christ is either a Socialist or a full-on Communist. It's also worth noting that, during his ministry, Jesus confronted the religious establishment of his day; but, he was as quiet as a church mouse when brought before Governor Pontius Pilate -- that he didn't confront the government. This truth makes it all but certain that Jesus would have people of conscience to confront the church about its failure to fulfill its proper role of establishing Socialistic or Communistic communities within the broader structures of society  -- whether we do this instead of confronting government or in addition to confronting government. That gives us a starting point for our considerations of social justice in the present.

Give a Fish, Teach to Fish or Ask Why Some Have No Fish???

In the absence of clear instructions from Jesus for dealing with current societal conditions, present-day Christians should assume that we have some latitude to determine the best path forward. After all, we're not robots; or, we'd all be employed by now -- employment for all able-bodied Blacks having been one of MLK, Jr.'s demands. Dr. King evidently understood this and used some of that latitude to determine what he believed was the best path forward. But, unlike Jesus Christ, King did confront government. He also worked somewhat harmoniously with presidents from Eisenhower to Johnson; but, he won several concessions by calling out the injustices and broken promises of the post-slavery federal government. MLK, Jr. was able to move these leaders, at least in part, because these leaders had moral consciences that were seared by his poignant accusations -- leaders of conscience being a luxury that our nation doesn't seem to have these days (in government OR in the collective, universal church).

He didn't stop there. In his letter to the churches King warned against complacency. He outlined the church's responsibility to confront social injustice. He described how the struggles of different locales are interrelated and set forth the idea that direct action and civil disobedience should be used to create a tension that forces government to create just laws. King said quite plainly in his letter that he is not afraid to use the word "tension" -- that he was not at all avoiding the negative images that this word would conjure up. After all, he was writing to his detractors, having also acknowledged in this letter that he was making an exception to his personal rule of not responding to his many detractors -- something that would have left "no time for any constructive work". He was responding to and increasing tension that already existed between himself and other church "leaders". Sadly, many of the churches of the 21st century have become the complacent and morally irrelevant businesses that King warned them not to become.

That's not to say that there aren't any churches or other entities fighting for social justice. There is a lot going on in terms of social justice in America these days, though I'll withhold judgment on the level of success in a fight that began in earnest more than 60 years ago and has yet to be won. Unfortunately, the fight is occurring in fits and starts. It remains situation-based (virtually, if not nominally) and only confronts "symptoms" by merely responding to the most recent crisis and then fizzling out without even getting an adequate response from government concerning the narrow set of demands that were raised. It has yet to evolve into something that fully addresses unjust structures; and, I've yet to be convinced that it is on such a trajectory.

In the fall of 2011 the now-defunct Occupy Wall Street Movement began to respond to the declaration of corporate person-hood that was codified in the Citizens United supreme court decision and to the 2009 bail-out of banks and other corporations whose poor stewardship of their resources led to a widespread economic downturn. When an unarmed Michael Brown was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson in August 2014, people came out of the woodwork to speak against it. The Black Lives Matter Movement was born; but, has yet to do like the Black Panthers did by transitioning from a response to police brutality and into an agenda for offering sustenance and social theory. Following the shootings by White officers of other unarmed Black men in the 3.5 years since, BLM has resurfaced -- all of their efforts as short-lived as the lives of those for whom they speak. After many of the 200+ school shootings since Columbine, people have railed against the NRA and the politicians whom they purchase like slaves. Neither unjustified shootings by police nor mass shootings by disgruntled civilians have been adequately addressed after all this time. Now that 17 people were killed at a primarily Caucasian school in South Florida and these young people have begun to rise up in anger, the gun violence that killed Civil Rights era leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers and John F. Kennedy in the 60's and continues to kill countless innocent citizens who are just going about their business  might be addressed comprehensively.

Fact of the matter is that, after the immediate threat of violence is alleviated, those who were its targets return to their struggle for daily sustenance. The Black Panthers understood this. But they also understood the need to develop a social theory that explains the systemic and philosophical underpinnings of the injustice that led to many Blacks lacking the basic necessities of life.  Though the BP formed in response to police brutality, they began soon thereafter to feed school children while offering education about the social injustices that made and kept Blacks poor. The racist and FBI founder, J. Edgar Hoover , co-opted the Black Panthers' idea by beginning a school lunch program without the teachings about social justice. Why would a top cop begin a school feeding program??? To deprive the poor of knowledge that could improve their lives, maybe??? Obviously, Hoover (like Governor Faubus) knew that knowledge is key; and, he took steps to ensure that the peasants didn't receive quality education or any meaningful knowledge that would grow them beyond their shared plight.

Give a fish...

Well into the 21st century we have Black and White churches and other businesses/ non-profits feeding the poor with physical food and with the "good news" that never grows beyond immediate daily sustenance or a weekly meal -- all while failing to involve the directly-affected poor and dispossessed in meetings and other events like rallies and protests that pertain to them. People of privilege and more-than-modest means continue to do FOR the poor instead of WITH the poor.  The movements of today continue to organize direct actions, many of which involve few -- if any -- directly affected people. Some of the actions that "confront" local governments are actually organized by non-profits who have contracts with those same governments; and, a token person from the directly-affected community might be brought in so that they can give a short spiel about why a certain policy should be created or program funded -- a spiel that was scripted by the non-profit that seeks to maintain its government funding. This should cause any person of conscience to realize who the true beneficiaries of these types of "social justice" fights are, to see the grander scheme that aims to throw a few crumbs at the peasants who are kept in check by (and pimped by) the non-profits and to direct their ire at this broader system -- corporate America, the governments that serve them and the non-profits that would often rather keep people in dire straits than to cure a social ill for once and for all or to imbue the poor with the knowledge that could end their plight.

This brings us right back to the question: "What would Jesus do in the here and now about the social injustices of America???" I'm reminded of the Bible story in which Martha is running to and fro in her efforts to get the house in order, cook and otherwise prove to be hospitable to Jesus Christ. She impatiently chides her sister Mary who is sitting at the feet of "Jesus the Teacher" and learning. Jesus corrects Martha by telling her that Mary has made the better choice -- the choice to gain knowledge that would benefit her in the long run rather than being beset by the struggle to provide in the immediate. All things considered, this makes Jesus the Black Panther leader of 2,000 years ago.

...Teach to fish...

It should be said here that Christ's commendation of Mary for choosing to learn is in no way a dismissal of the need to work. After all, Jesus might have been trained by Joseph as a carpenter and we know that Paul who wrote most of the New Testament was a tent maker. It's equally important to recall the struggles of Dr. King to effect federal laws and policies that would ensure that Black people would be afforded jobs that paid all of the bills and that they'd work under safe conditions. (Garbage men, for whom King was fighting at the time of his death, get killed in the line of duty at about 2.5 times the rate of cops.) We still have disproportionate numbers of unemployed Blacks; and, we still have many working poor who can't meet all of their needs, in spite of putting in at least 40 hours per week. We still can't guarantee that hard work will lead to someone having a good life for themselves and being able to create good futures for their children. The minimum wage law no longer accomplishes what it did in the early 70's when it guaranteed that anyone who worked 40 hours per week could provide for themselves and possibly a small family. The intellectual demands of the workforce have grown exponentially since the years that immediately followed the assassination of King; but, the ability of government to connect poor people to training that prepares them for the current job market has not kept pace. Programs that do exist don't have enough capacity to meet the ever increasing need. So, many who need to "learn to fish" are relegated to waiting for someone to give them a fish.

...Ask why some have no fish.

American society seems to have gotten stuck in the phase of just "giving fish" (which we have record of Christ having done just once when he fed 5,000 men plus women and children). It's easy to disparage the poor for waiting for handouts; but, we also need to ask why it is that governments still fail to adequately increase the capacity of jobs programs such that every American can be afforded a path to a living-wage job. We need to ask why churches and other non-profits are satisfied to feed and clothe the needy, but often do little beyond that. Maybe it's because they can't "think outside the Book". Maybe it's because churches are "non-prophets" with no vision. After all, the Book that they can't seem to think outside of tells us that "Where there is no vision the people perish" and that "[God's] people perish for lack of knowledge".

If they aim to follow the example that Christ gave as he taught Mary, the organizers of any movement or social justice campaign should first do an analysis of movement history and of current societal conditions. The conclusions that are drawn as a result of this analysis should then be factored into the group's plans and taught to all campaign or movement participants. Every participant should be ready, willing and able to give an elevator spiel of what the campaign or movement stands for -- in much the same way that Christians are commanded to know their faith such that they "can answer any man".

As far as I know, Christ didn't give us any guidance concerning living wage. He did tell us, "Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven". Unfortunately, poverty is the reason that many poor people see the Kingdom of Heaven prematurely. Maybe this is the point in our collective thought process at which we ought to forgo seeking any further guidance from the "author and finisher of our faith" and to begin to "think outside the Book". That's not to speak of the fact that even a renowned preacher who seemed to think he was living life "by the book" has been known to turn a blind eye to systemic oppression and the suffering of other Americans -- as he traveled the world to speak on behalf of the poor of other countries.

A "Christian" Enemy of Social Justice In America

At about 8:15 AM on Wednesday, February 21st, 2018 I was pondering how I might package the social justice issues of the current moment into both an elevator spiel and a reasonably short read. I took into consideration my church's nascent effort (since February 4th, 2018) to create a social justice committee, the efforts of the Rev. William Barber of North Carolina to resurrect the Poor People's Campaign of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the most recent mass shooting which had occurred a week earlier. About 10 minutes later I tuned into the news and learned about the death of the Rev. Billy Graham -- also from North Carolina -- at age 99. With his most active years having been before my adulthood, I only had a vague sense of what he stood for. It didn't take long to fix that.

Moments after learning of Rev. Graham's death, I spoke with a friend who is almost 70 years old. I told him that the news coverage had highlighted Graham's involvement in the Anti-Apartheid Movement and his support for the tearing down of the Iron Curtain. This friend agreed that Graham had done some good things but posited that the reverend was a bit too snug and cozy with presidents whom he should have been railing against for their unjust ways or their insufficient efforts toward social justice. Moments later I was on Facebook where, in response to my tribute sans praise, a "friend" posted a scathing article about Graham. It indicates that Billy Graham advised Nixon to bomb the dikes of Vietnam -- a move that could have killed a million people, which a German official was executed for in 1950 for doing in World War II and which the U.S. did anyway in Korea in 1953.

Billy Graham also discussed his disdain for left-wing Jewish Americans with Nixon -- though the reverend showed much support for Israeli Jews. That said, Billy Graham was no angel -- unless you're talking about the Angel of Death. Even so, "America's preacher" -- who rose to prominence after WW II and witnessed the struggles of Black Americans in the 1950's and 60's -- has been credited with having been the driving force behind American conservatism. Interestingly enough, it is essentially the right-wing conservative so-called Christians against whom the proponents of social justice are fighting.

My 67-year old friend pointed out during our aforementioned conversation that, though Billy Graham was friends with Rev. Oral Roberts who claimed that a 600-foot (capitalist???) Jesus would kill him if he didn't raise enough money, Graham  was never seen with the likes of Huey Newton or MLK, Jr who was 10 years his junior. This friend's observation lends itself to the conclusion that a preacher who spoke to 210 million people in live audiences and traveled to 185 other countries wanted social justice for all countries except his own. Now that a driving force behind American conservatism and an opposing force to Black- or Jewish-led efforts toward social justice is dead, maybe the fight for social justice will be expedited and won. It's about time. The driving force behind right-wing conservatism and the resulting social injustice is dead. Praise God. "The time is fulfilled".

The Current Movement

As stated, right before learning of Billy Graham's death, I'd been considering how I'd package the social justice issues of the current moment into both an elevator spiel and a reasonably short read. One of those issues is a national campaign that has been started by yet another North Carolina preacher -- Rev. William Barber who began the Moral Mondays Movement in 2013. More recently Rev. Barber expanded his efforts and rebranded them as the "Poor People's Campaign" -- a name which hearkens back to the final days of MLK, Jr. As of the writing of this post, the PPC has arranged for people in at least 32 state capitals and in DC to do 40 days of direct action and civil disobedience from May 13th (Mother's Day) to June 23rd, 2018. (It's worth noting here that June 19th "Juneteenth" is a Black-American holiday which commemorates the end of slavery and that Mother's Day was established in 1870 to honor the mother's of men who died in the "Civil" War. June 19th, 2018 is also Primary Day in DC. VOTE.)

With King having advocated for 13 years and "the plight of the American Negro" having not improved markedly in the 50 years since his death, I was recently asked what the Poor People's Campaign plans to do after their 40 days of action. (Being as "campaigns", by their very nature, have end dates, the group chose the right name. A "movement" is a more open-ended effort.) I told this man that I didn't know what the PPC -- which will disown any violent actors -- planned or expected after June 23rd. I'll muse here that, whether or not it's by design, these 40 days of action will lead to [f]law enforcement taking various missteps and a motley crew of Black Panther types rising up to defend the victims of police brutality -- the organized spurring the spontaneous.

I'll posit here that it would seem the real "good news" will come out on June 24th and the days that follow. By that time, the new Poor People's Campaign will have completed its work, the powers that be and their brutes in blue will have "worked the beat" yet again and the Black race which Hoover worked to keep in the dark will have been enlightened and imbued with a measure of socio-political consciousness that enrages them and causes them to "rage against the machine". It stands to reason that the next Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will arise from the anger that erupts during and shortly after the Poor People's Campaign. That said, non-violent resistance is a necessary evil that Black Americans will need to tolerate until the official beginning of summer. After that I expect that the "Klan in Blue" will have proven yet again that the Black Panthers of 1966 had the right idea.

I also stated that my church (Church of the Epiphany at 1317 G Street NW, Washington, DC -- a 10-minute walk from the White House) began a social justice committee on February 4th, 2018. The Rev. Glenna who began at Epiphany in August 2017 comes from Tulsa, Oklahoma (the home of Black Wall Street) by way of Baltimore where she's lived for almost 10 years. She is both the first female and the first Black to lead the church in its 175-year history. Whereas Billy Graham promoted social justice everywhere except at home, Rev Glenna has emphasized that the Social Justice Committee focus on internal social justice first -- an idea that makes plenty of sense though "social justice", by its very nature, is something that will eventually grow beyond the walls of this church which opens at 6:30 AM every Sunday so as to serve 200 homeless people in various ways. The Epiphany Social Justice Committee (CoESJC or Epiphany SoJuCo) continues to form its definition of "social justice" in the present perilous times, its understanding of what Jesus calls us to do and its social justice platform. It's a work in progress.

There is a lot going on in terms of social justice in America these days.....a fight that began in earnest more than 60 years ago and has yet to be won. It has yet to evolve into something that fully addresses unjust structures. I'm sure that, on some level, it has to do with people's (possibly deliberate) misinterpretation of Christ's words when he said, "The poor will always be among you". So, let's clear up that much. Taken within the context of the story in which it appears, this statement of Christ can and must be understood to mean that people of means have much more time after the death of Christ during which to help the poor than Mary had to pamper him before he died. Christ was by no means saying that poverty can not be alleviated for once and for all. What's more is that he was responding to the devious and underhanded disciple named Judas (whom he thanked God for giving him); and, it would seem that churchgoers of today are being equally devious and underhanded as they take this quote of Christ out of context. Oddly enough, churchgoers also take the Word of God the Father out of context by claiming a promise of God to past generations of Israelites -- those who lived under Babylonian rule. As recorded in Jeremiah 29:11-12, God told the israelites of that day and age, "I know the plans that I have for you, plans to profit you and not to harm you -- to give you a future and a hope". It's worth noting that God uttered these words after sending the Hebrews into 70 years of captivity, telling them to pray for the place where they were captive and killing the false prophet who'd taken God's name in vain by falsely claiming that God said their captivity would only last two years.

The church takes a promise of God the Father that wasn't meant for them out of context and they use it to support a "prosperity gospel" that is as wrong as the day is long. Then they take the words of Christ the son out of context in order to justify feeding the poor but failing to address the root causes of poverty. They seem to believe that God (as both father and son) wants the church to be well-to-do, to continue to "give a fish" and to leave unjust system unchallenged. I don't know about you; but, I'm not buying that.

This post can be summed up in the following concepts and activities:

1 -- Know thy enemy: The enemies of the poor are both abstract and concrete. In short, they are capitalism (which has many facets) and the proponents thereof -- greedy corporations, governments that treat corporations more personably than they treat most people and any law enforce agency that enforces unjust laws, just to name a few. Knowing your enemy includes knowing not only who they are but also what types of behaviors to expect from them.

2 -- Defense: The Black Panthers of 1966 are examples of people who took the law into their own hands when law enforcement went rogue. Be advised that the rogue machine will defend its rogue behavior. There were Black Panthers who got incarcerated.

3 -- Sustenance: On this side of the pond we have the Black Panthers who, in addition to defending Blacks against police brutality, also began to feed hungry Black school children. They realized that the children weren't doing well in their studies because these children were hungry. On the other side of the pond there are groups like Hamas and Hezbollah that, like the Black Panthers, have been labelled by rogue governments or administrations as rogue elements or even terrorists. Nonetheless, these groups serve as provisional governments that provide for their people in various ways. (Research them.)

4 -- History: Study the history of the movement. You might even choose to look further back than 1955 -- to study about the attitudes and social conditions that gave rise to Jim Crow Laws. It might interest you to know that the Wizard of Oz is an allegory that has to do with the labor struggles of the late 1800's and with the economic suggestion that we switch our monetary system from the gold standard (yellow brick road) to the silver standard (Dorothy's original silver slippers). The socioeconomic conditions addressed in the Wizard of Oz occurred right after slavery ended.

5 -- Faith (Confrontation of the complacent church): Know what your faith says about how society should be structured. Not everything is black and white. There's plenty of room for discussion. However, there are some irrefutable and highly repetitive themes.

6 -- Think outside the Book: Though it's highly advisable that people of faith use their faith to structure their world view, it's important to realize that Scripture doesn't give detailed answers for all of the problems with which present-day society is plagued. The fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING of knowledge, not the ENTIRETY of it.

7 -- Social Theory: Advocates, activists and those who partake in movement activities in any capacity should develop a social theory that, in conjunction with their faith, drives them and motivates them. It's not enough to know that capitalism is an oppressive system. People must know what they believe it should be replaced with -- maybe Socialism.

8 -- Current Conditions: Anybody who follows the news at least has a vague sense of the current conditions of society. Even so, it's a good idea to interact with people from underprivileged groups and to develop consensus on how to define the problems of the current era -- a shared set of beliefs that give your fight some context.

9 -- Demands: (Redistribution/ Reparations): Once a group has defined the problems of the era, defining the demands (the solutions to those problems) shouldn't be all that difficult. However, having those demands met might prove to be quite difficult.

10 -- Tension: Frederick Douglass told us that "Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will". Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. also felt the need to apply pressure to government -- to create a tension between the movement and the government. He maintained that this tension would essentially make life difficult for government such that they'd have to meet the demands of the movement. This remains true even today. Nice guys finish last.

11 -- Vision: The movement must have a vision that defines success. This vision is essentially an articulation of what life would be like if all of the movement's demands were to be met.

12 -- Follow-through: With movements having come and gone and the plight of America's poor having not been fully resolved, it is my hope that the developing movement will see things through.

13 -- Defending our gains: After we see things through, we'll have to defend our gains against a "counter-revolution".

FULL STOP.