I don’t go to the barbershop a lot. But when I do it is always an interesting adventure. The barbershop for me is my reality check. It is the one place where so-called Negroes talk openly about their world and give stark, honest perspectives of their world. Spend an hour in a barbershop and you will know the condition of a people in this foreign land.
I went to the barbershop about a while back and I wasn’t disappointed. Guys were talking about the usual…sports, entertainers, and politics. I listened intently as one barber talked about the need to be honest and truthful no matter what the circumstance or who is in charge. Whether it be a black mayor in Memphis or the president of the United States, truth matters. I concurred with him that the truth is no respecter of persons.
However, the barber at the next chair and his customer vehemently disagreed. They believed that one should be loyal to whoever gives you a token. This other barber said that if I gave him a cracker or a tiny morsel of food he would be loyal to me even if I were dishonest. If I were a scoundrel, it would not matter because I gave him a token.
I marveled at this. And at that same moment in a flash I saw the history of our people. And simultaneously I saw the rebelliousness of a people. Our ancestors were Idolaters and killers of the prophets. But like Yehudah (Judas), all it would take is 30 pieces of silver and we would sell out and forsake the truth. We would choose a murderer like Barabas over the True Light.
Even today, this kind of rebelliousness is prevalent among our people. Very few people love the truth. I can say this because very few are in search of it. Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” Our people want to remain ignorant because I believe many feel comfortable in their ignorance. You don’t have to do anything to remain ignorant. You don’t have to risk anything; you don’t have to study to show yourself approved; you don’t have to be held accountable for what you do not know. At least that is how many of us think. Ignorance is truly bliss, right?
Maybe, but the statistics don’t show that. In every category that measures the well-being of a people we are at rock bottom. White folks aren’t that smart or so powerful that they could hold back and destroy a nation of so-called Negroes. They are just a rod being used to correct us. Now they have gone overboard in that regard, and for that they will pay dearly, but only the Great Creator has the power to allow this kind of oppression…400 years of it1. So if we are angry with the penalty for our violations of YAH’s laws, then we should direct that anger at the one who created us.
If you think about the oppression that we face daily you must conclude that it is totally irrational. So irrational in fact that anyone with any level of spirituality should be able to see that our punishment is coming from above. I mean, why would people that you have never done anything to direct such vileness, such venom and hatred toward you? It doesn’t make sense. Yet it is real and it occurs every single day.
I am embedding just a handful of links that I just randomly picked out of the news and placed them at the bottom of this post. These are stories that highlight our plight. The fact is you can do this on any given day. Just go online to any popular news site and there will be story after story about the so-called Negro and our oppression. And remember, this is not 1951; these are stories from today, 15 years into this new millennium. As I recently told my sister-in-law, and she concurred, we are merely repeating the pre-Civil Rights era.
But why? How can this be 51 years after the Civil Rights Act and the war on poverty; 50 years after the Voting Rights Act; 46 years after the assassination of Dr. King. What gives? Have white people forgotten about the sixties? The riots, the violence, the turbulence of those times? No, they have not forgotten.
It’s just that the reality is that nothing has fundamentally changed for us. We have merely, as Dr. King put it, “integrated into a burning house.” And this means we are in an even more dangerous predicament, because at least before integration the so-called Negro had some idea of the difference between right and wrong. Today, however, anything goes. Nothing is sacred or set-apart. We have allowed people who are spiritually empty to impose their values on us and to define our reality. And for the so-called Negro that is a death sentence.
So what is the solution? First, we must understand who we are and how we got into this predicament. Second, we must acknowledge our disobedience to YAH and repent of our sins and failures. Third, we must study to show ourselves approved so that we can spread the message of truth and love—to our people first and then to the Gentiles.
Reality Check: Four Random Articles That Sum Up Our Present Condition:
Atlanta Garbage Man Sentence To 30 Days For Doing His Job
Fun Times At The University of Oklahoma
Actress Feels Comfortable Dropping N Bombs
1 Isaiah 60:14: The children of your oppressors will come bowing before you; all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 61:6-8: 6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the YAH: men shall call you the Ministers of our YAH: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. 7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.