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You Do It Unto Me ...
By Lafe Tolliver
Guest Column
Do you recognize the above partial quote? It is from
the Bible and it is contextually referenced at Matthew
25:40.
The context is Jesus teaching and preaching regarding
being in proper relationship to God and what are the visible
derivatives of that obedient relationship.
Wanting to drive home the impact that there is no such
thing as a faceless person or pain that is not palpably
perceived or hunger that is not hurting or being naked
without being exposed or being thirsty without feeling
famished, Jesus cuts to the quick.
He put his face on the face of the poor, hungry, naked,
homeless and those in prison; and then cogently informed his
followers that when they neglect to aid and assist the above
when they have opportunity to do so, they are doing the same
as if it were Jesus who was languishing in the cardboard box
sitting on top of the heating grate.
And, that they are snatching a plate of food from him
while he stands in a soup line.
And, that they are neglecting him while he atrophies in
a prison with no comfort or solace.
And, that they are throwing him out in the cold with
nary a thought as to whether or not his threadbare clothing
is sufficient for the blowing winds.
Now, bring those analogies full circle and hear the
shrill arguments of those who are running for political
office and who label themselves “Christian” Republicans.
Newt Gingrich, a newly-converted Catholic, continues to
demonize black people as if somehow they have a tail and no
common sense when he uses racial rhetoric to castigate and
pillory those whom are under-served or have no political or
economic shelter by which to ride out his blustery bombastic
vitriol.
In the days of yonder, Newt would have been the kindly
and indulgent plantation owner but nonetheless would have
instantly rendered 40 lashes minus one for any insolence
coming from any of his slave (chattel) property.
Sarah Palin chimed in with the disingenuous thought
that if she were a voter in South Carolina, she would
endorse and countersign the intellectual gibberish that Newt
is fond of promulgating.
Ron Paul’s prior newsletters (which he now conveniently
disavows) speak of black people as criminals and thugs and
welfare queens and his purported contempt of Martin Luther
King Jr. is mean and dispirited.
Mitt Romney, with an arrogance born of privilege and
pride, suffers lightly those who would challenge him on the
remarks that if you are not enthused about capitalism and
its blessings then you have a problem.
Mitt Romney, a professing Mormon, has yet to refute the
beliefs of his church, which belittle and denigrates people
of color and they being deemed an accursed lot.
Ron Santorum sniffingly mocks black people when he
belittles their current economic status and blames them for
not being more economically advanced.
Rick Perry, the braggadocio Texan with the “Oops”
swagger of recent debate fame, chose not to intervene by
bringing any of his cohorts to accountability for their
inane racial or racially tinged comments.
But yet. In all of the above personalities, they all
claim to have a “Christian” or a religious experience with
Jesus or with God.
They all give the expectant religious lip service but
they are woefully lacking in understanding and much less
undertaking the sundry disciplines of doing servant hood,
charity or justice to the least of these.
They all play the “religious card” and utter the
obligatory statements of knowing the Christ and how this is
a “Christian” nation under God.
If Christ were walking in America today, these
Republicans would call him an anti-capitalist, a
troublemaker and they would carp and complain because of his
identification with the poor and outcasts of society.
Can anyone with any certitude state that any of the
above Republican candidates would warmly embrace poor people
or downtrodden people or those of a different economic
strata other than their own?
It does not seem like it. What is does seem however is
that some of the current corpus of Republican candidates are
still throwing “red racial meat” to their base and are using
known “code words” to communicate with that base that they
still know how to kick black butt and that “states rights”
(jargon for: let us alone. We know how to deal with “our”
Negroes) is still near and dear to their hearts.
Only recently, Ann Coulter, the female version of Newt
Gingrich but on steroids, stated that, “our” black people
(black Republicans) are better than your black people
(referring to the blacks who call themselves Democrats).
Yes, there is a vestige with some of the visible
Republican talking heads that they denigrate blacks at every
opportune time (Rush Limbaugh) or they assert ownership
rights over them (Ann Coulter) or as Newt and Mitt do, they
simply excoriate them or count them as marginal Americans
who serve a food stamp President!
And they wonder why they cannot recruit black people to
the grand ol’ party of the elephant!
Contact Lafe Tolliver at
tolliver@Juno.com |
