Up With Slavery (The Ballad of Uncle Ruckus)

"...we've gone from black is beautiful to black is ghetto." - Dr. Carl Ellis

We went from being property to President

To homeowners and residents

By God’s grace

We overcame the cotton fields and hatred

But still never quite made it off of the plantation…

Hobbled by our own lust

For the so-called “American Dream”
Took our newfound freedom for granted
'Cause all we cared about was forty acres and the C.R.E.A.M.

Livin’ in white rooms with black curtains
We’ve got a culture that still hurtin’ –
“Cash Rules Everything Around Me”
And we’re its loyal and humble servants
Blackface, you know
Has a different look to it these days…
It exists in the form of
Gold Chains, Bentleys,
Swisher Sweets, and Three-ways

I know what you’re thinkin’ –
What in the hell happened to the ‘Talented Tenth’?!”
Well, the dollar became their Almighty Allah
And you know they gotta pay rent
It’s a high price to pay
When you render unto Caesar;
Pawned your soul for a “Jesus Piece”
And Sickle Cell Anemia

We’ve stopped wearin’ X’s like Malcolm
‘Cause we’ve crossed over and sold out
Faster than Lando Calrissian did
When he lost the Millennium Falcon
We don’t talk about “Founding Fathers”
‘Cause daddy’s nowhere to be found
Until he shows up on the Maury Show
Actin’ like a clown…

Shuckin’ and Jivin’ –
Never claiming his daughters
Now she’ll grow up and repeat the cycle
‘Cause it’s all that men have ever taught her
No, he ain’t tryin’ to stay
But he’ll pay to have her give it up
Or to “make it go away”…

If this is what you call
“Being on the come up”
I’d much rather go back
To just being a slave


"For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ."

- 1 Corinthians 7:22 ESV

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Truly Overcoming: Putting Grace Before Race (Revisited)

I originally posted this a few years ago. I'm reposting this, due to the fact that I still think that it contains some things of first importance that need to be said. In a nation that has witnessed the inaguration of the first black president of the United States, there is even more of a reason to keep these things before us. As a Christian first and an African-American second, there is a burden on my heart to speak plainly and clearly about what it means to truly overcome the sins in our society. Using the Word of God and a long forgotten figure in the history of Black America, I seek to accomplish this task. Regardless of race, I pray that all who read are challenged, convicted and encouraged.
Soli Deo Gloria...

'Twas mercy that brought me from my pagan land
Taught my benighted soul to understand 
That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew
Some view our race with scornful eye,
'Their color is a diabolical dye'
Remember, Christians; Negros, black as Cain
May be refined and join th' angelic train.

-On Being Brought from Africa to America, by Phyllis Wheatley (America's First Black Poet)


In light of our most recent holiday (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day) and with Black History month speedily approaching, there's no better time than the present to reflect upon the struggles and accomplishments of African-American people in this country, right? However, in our reflections, sometimes perspective gets lost in the spirit of the chase. We tend to take mantras such as "We Shall Overcome" and "Free At Last" and we rob them of their glory by our shortsightedness. This is why I find it appropriate to reflect on Ms. Wheatley's 'On Being Brought from Africa'. This poem's primary focus is on the overarching sovereignty and purposefulness of God in all of life.


Wheatley says that it was 'mercy' that brought her from her 'pagan' land. She was kidnapped and brought to America on a slave ship when she was about seven years old. Yet, she calls it mercy. Today, this statement may be seen, even in the Christian community, as controversial. Yet to Wheatley, this is a good thing because it brought her to salvation, despite the means that were used to attain it. After all, as she states, it was by this act that her 'benighted' soul was taught 'that there's a God and a Saviour too'. In her biography it states that she was bought by a Boston family that took her in as one of their own and taught how to read and write (Greek and Latin as well), and even more particularly taught her in the way of Scripture. Wheatley, in her reflection upon the events of her life, clearly connects the dots for us. She is well aware that if not for the Hand of Providence putting her on that ship to America, she never comes in contact with the Wheatley family. If she never meets the Wheatleys, she never hears of God or Jesus Christ. This theme of sovereign mercy is unrelenting, even as it turns to the social tensions of her day.


Many saw blacks as being sub-human and evil because of their native ways and skin tone. Wheatley does not shy away from this at all as she recalls:


"Some view our race with scornful eye, 'Their color is a diabolical dye'."




Now, take note of her admonition in the final stanzas:


"Remember, Christians; Negros, black as Cain, may be refined and join th' angelic train."


Notice that the petition is not to all of "white America” or even to the government. Her appeal is to the Christians; Wheatley's primary concern for her fellow Africans is not emancipation, but evangelization. Wheatley understands that the only way for them to be truly free is through the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross. Even as she herself was freed by her family, in the legal sense, all other forms of freedom are subordinate and secondary when it comes to the liberation of the soul through the Gospel. The reference to Cain helps to drive this point home. Cain was "marked" and "blackened" as punishment for the murder of his brother, Abel. Yet, while this was a curse, it was also God's way of showing mercy towards Cain, as it would protect him from the same fate that he had dealt to his brother. If anyone is to murder Cain their punishment will be sevenfold. The color of his skin gives him a chance for redemption; to repent of his sins and find peace with God, with whom, at the moment, he is at enmity (sadly, he does not). Wheatly, being a student of the Bible is well aware of what this imagery conjures up with the Christian family. She is appealing not just to the darkness of Cain's skin, but to the greater darkness of his heart, which is the way of all men who have never encountered Christ. While true that Africans had been "marked" for slavery by the whites due to the color of their skin, behind the horrific history of the slave trade is a glorious history of redemption that is to be unfolded. This is the urgency in Wheatley's message. Seeing the work of Salvation through Christ in her own life has prompted her to seek true liberation of her enslaved people; a liberation by which no government can deliver. So, she restricts her message to the Body of Christ, urging them to remember the darkness that they once knew; calling to remembrance that while they were still in sin, darkened in their understanding, God reached out and saved them by washing them clean in the blood of Christ. Sin is the ultimate "slave master" from which she wishes to free her countrymen; once freed from sin, they will be free to be the bondservants of Christ.


Though short in length, this piece is pregnant with imagery and insight. This summation of it all is this: Even as we look back today, we cannot deny that much of this sentiment has been lost. I believe that Phyllis Wheatley gives us an accurate model of how we should see all of the atrocities of our world from a Christian perspective, be it racism or any other forms of social injustice. Although they exist, we must understand that Providence is at work behind every action, though we may not understand or see it at that moment. Also, we must not lose sight of the fact that all of the wrongs of this world, are brought on by our own inherent sinful natures. We are all 'black as Cain' and 'benighted in our souls' apart from the redeeming work of Christ, regardless of our status or position in the world. It is the church's job as those who have been called out of the darkness, to take the light of Christ back into the darkness, understanding that Christ, and only Christ, is the answer to changing of the hearts and minds of men. Putting grace before race is the only way liberate all men and restore human dignity among the various peoples of the world. No matter what advancements are gained by any group of people or individual-- without Christ, they are still in bondage.


In the words of former slave trader turned Christian hymn writer, John Newton:


Amazing grace! How sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see. ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed! Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.  -Amazing Grace




Scripture Study References:


Genesis 4:1-16; Psalm 82:3-4; Proverbs 31:8-9; Genesis 50:20; John 8:34-36, 12:32; Romans 8:35, 37-39; Philippians 3:7-9; Revelation 5:9-10


 Posted via web from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Before There Was King: Lemuel Haynes--Black Puritan

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. - Galatians 3:27-29 ESV

{I guess this is my way of gettin' Black History Month started a couple of weeks early. But, Lemuel Haynes is definitely worth learning about. Not only is he a major player in the abolitionist movement in the U.S., but also has a significant place in the reformed faith as a person of color. Enjoy...}

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Lemuel Haynes (1753-1833) was an influential African American religious leader who argued against slavery.

Little is known of his early life. He was born in West Hartford, Connecticut, to a reportedly Caucasian mother of some status and a man named Haynes, who was said to be "of some form of African extraction". At the age of five months, Lemuel Haynes was given over to indentured servitude in Granville, Massachusetts. Although serving as an agricultural worker, part of the agreement required educating him. Through accompanying his masters to church, he became exposed to Calvinist thought and religiosity.
At about twenty years of age, he saw the Aurora Borealis, and, fearing the approach of the Day of Judgment as a result, he soon accepted Christianity. Freed in 1774 when his indenture expired, Haynes joined The Minutemen of Granville. In 1775, he marched with them to Roxbury, Massachusetts following the news of the Boston Massacre. In 1776, he accompanied them in the garrisoning of the recently captured Fort Ticonderoga. He returned to his previous labors in Granville after the northern campaign of the American War of Independence.

In response to the events at the Battle of Lexington, Haynes began to write extensively criticizing the slave trade and slavery. He also began to prepare sermons for family prayers and write theologically about life. The Scripture, abolutionism, and republicanism impacted his published writings. Haynes argued that slavery denied black people their natural rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Paralleling the recent American experience with oppression to the slave experience, Haynes wrote: "Liberty is equally as precious to a black man, as it is to a white one, and bondage as equally as intolerable to the one as it is to the other".
By the 1780s, Haynes became a leading Calvinist minister in Vermont. His contemporary White republican and abolitionist thinkers saw slavery as a liability to the new country, but most argued for eventual slave expatriation to Africa. The American Colonization Society (founded in 1817) was one such group. Included among its supporters were people such as James Madison, James Monroe, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. In contrast, Haynes continued to passionately argue along Calvinist lines that God's providential plan would defeat slavery and lead to the harmonious integration of the races as equals.

After his death, white abolitionist thought would argue for the freedom of African Americans, but they tended to continue to see African Americans as inferiors. Echoes of Haynes' arguments for equality would again be heard only in the time of Martin Luther King.

John Saillant (2003, p. 3) writes, "[Lemuel Haynes'] faith and social views are better documented than those of any African American born before the luminaries of the mid-nineteenth century]".

for more on Haynes, click here.

and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. - Colossians 3:10-12 ESV

"Here then I could conclude; but I must not forget the poor negroes; no, I must not. Jesus Christ had died for them, as well as for others." - George Whitefield

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon