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The future of black religious leadership faces a further
frightening descent into the abyss of irrelevance unless it
can quickly learn to distinguish the power of dynamic change
from the impotence of stale traditions.
According to several news outlets, the Missionary Baptist
pastor of a church in Florida recently cancelled a funeral
at the church with less than 24 hours notice when he found
out that the deceased was gay.
No wonder the black church pews are increasingly empty and
regard for the former beacon of the African-American
community has devolved from reputable to repulsive.
Evidently, even the “lost sheep” understand that it is
impossible for an oppressed people to get to a 21st
Century Promised Land while stuck in the wilderness of a 19th
or 20th Century mindset.
Times have changed. But many religious leaders don’t see it.
There have been 36 consecutive legal victories (and zero
losses) for the freedom to marry movement since June 2013
when the Supreme Court struck down the core of the Defense
of Marriage Act. Nineteen states now have the freedom to
marry whomever one loves, regardless of gender, including
CA, CT, DE, HI, IA, IL, ME, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR,
PA RI, VT and WA – plus Washington, D.C.
In the state of Ohio, a coalition of over 90 elected
officials and over 270 small businesses have signed on to
publicly support the freedom to marry, according to Michael
Premo of Why Marriage Matters Ohio, a marriage equality
advocacy group. Conversations around love, commitment, and
family are also taking place in Ohio to “consider new
information and perhaps reconsider old ideas.”
My opinion?
The handwriting is on the wall. And, in the words of Michael
Eric Dyson, PhD, “If you are against gay marriage then don’t
marry a gay person!” It’s that simple. For many in the black
community however, it is too late, evidenced by the
heterosexual transmission of HIV and other STD’s by gay men.
I support the “valuing of ALL persons regardless of their
particulars,” – black/white, rich/poor, young/old,
tall/short, long hair/short/no hair as well as gay/straight.
To keep people trapped in a closet of antiquated ideological
and theological stigma rather than to allow them to “be who
they are” is the hypocrisy that is located “a stone’s throw
away”.
There is additional handwriting on the wall of change that
religious and other leaders are currently having difficulty
interpreting as well.
The epidemic of gun violence continues to snuff out lives,
robbing thousands of young black and brown people of their
potential from Columbus to Compton and Tuscaloosa to Toledo.
Religious, political and community leadership are at wits
end in their attempts to find a solution to the culture of
violence that has become the new norm for children who,
growing up in war zones where violence is witnessed daily,
are becoming oppressively traumatized. (Why is it that the
individual and mass murder in majority white communities is
treated as acts of mental illness while accepted as normal
in black and brown communities?)
What is a surefire solution to end the gun violence?
It is simple. Legalize marijuana and possibly other drugs.
Only 13.5 percent of all drug users and dealers in the U.S.
are black (versus 72 percent white). But 37 percent of those
arrested for drug violations, 60 percent of those in state
prisons, and 81 percent of those charged with federal drug
violations are black. Approximately 80 percent of black on
black homicides involve drug “turf wars,” disputes or other
drug-related altercations.
There is a growing movement against the prohibition of
marijuana that is gaining steam. Two states (Colorado and
Washington) have already legalized marijuana while Alaska,
Arkansas, California, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington
D.C. are poised to soon follow.
The handwriting is indeed on the wall, but many cannot read
it because of the ideological and theological blinders we
are wearing.
“We legalized alcohol in the U.S. in 1933,” says Jack Cole,
retired detective lieutenant and former undercover officer
with the New Jersey State Police and who is co-founder of
the Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). “And the
next morning Al Capone and his smugglers were out of
business and no longer killing each other to control that
lucrative market. They were no longer killing our children
in crossfire and drive-by-shootings or killing us cops,
charged with fighting that useless war. Today, this is not a
war on drugs. It is a $500 billion per year war on people,”
he adds.
Ending the prohibition on marijuana and establishing
government oversight and distribution would provide the U.S.
treasury with 76.8 billion dollars. This money can be
redirected to give hope to millions of young people and
restore them as productive members of society while paying
for quality educational, healthcare, housing and economic
opportunities in communities long under siege from
drug-related violence.
Yet, the most significant change would possibly occur in the
black community’s cultural and spiritual capital. When the
profit is taken away from street drug dealers, gangsters
would disappear and those involved in violence or that harm
our community will no longer be glorified. Instead, men will
be celebrated for how they take care of their wives,
partners and children. Education and knowledge will be seen
as the way forward rather than through drug dealing or
athletics. Men and women will be honored and admired, not
for how much money they make but by how they make the black
community better.
The handwriting is on the wall. What is needed, are leaders
who are able to discern the sign of the times.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org |
