Real Talk

Peace and blessings,

The "Activisim," "-isms," and "Misc" sections have been updated. Updated news includes info on the Iraq resolution that just passed in Durango, CO, a video report on military sexual violence, and a report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research report showing the first loss of jobs in the U.S. economy in four years. Take care, keep these and other issues in prayer, and speekonit...

Labels: economic, economy, foreign policy, news, U.S., violence

Peace and blessings,

As a sophomore in undergrad, I was fortunate enough to attend an African American Christian Leadership conference. At the conference, I was able to learn from and interact with a host of students, pastors, and prayer warriors that helped give my life more direction while changing my music preferences. Although I heard from many powerul speakers, one in particular continues to stick out in my mind. For those who may not have heard of him,
introducing

Bishop George McKinney

After hearing him deliver a powerful message, I decided to approach him and get some guidance regarding a faith issue I was struggling with. At that time in my life, being in college and being exposed of all the injustices that have occurred and are still occurring against people of African descent, I was having a hard time (and sometimes I still do) trying to understand why and how something like 400 years of slavery could have happened. I refused (and still do) to say that God “allowed” slavery to happen, yet when discussions around slavery would come up in various contexts, I had no idea as to how to approach the issue (and similar issues of injustice) from a Christian-faith perspective. After telling Bishop McKinney these things, he simply replied, “the final chapter has not been written yet.” Initially I thought that he “short-changed” me with that answer as I expected much more. The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized that his reply was more than what I needed. Consequently, as soon as I returned home from the week-long conference and cracked open my bible, the first thing I noticed was a passage (I think in Exodus) that was talking about how God will avenge and restore His people (Children of Israel) who were enslaved for 400 years! At that moment I remembered how Bishop McKinney spoke with so much faith and conviction regarding the power of God through Jesus Christ to change lives and right wrongs.

Let’s fast forward about three years later while attending graduate school on the east coast. While visiting the school of Divinity’s library, I came across one of his books (see below) called “The New Slave Masters.” In a nutshell, the premise of the book is that just as people of African descent were stripped of their identity and oppressed beyond measure during the years of physical slavery, people today (of all races and walks of life) are in spiritually enslaved to drugs, gangs, materialism, crime, violence, hatred, racism, sexual immorality, and negativity just to name a few.



I recommend Christians and non-Christians to cop it. It’s not expensive, short, and it’s an easy read. In addition, it doesn’t come off as “preachy.” Do you think there are similarities between "social" issues and "spiritual" issues? Differences? Weigh in and speekonit...

Labels: African American, Children of Israel, Christian Leaderhip Conference, identity, New Slavemasters, oppressed, racism, sexual immorality, violence

Peace and blessings,

Below are a couple of videos that I think convey important messages. The first is called "when a gun draws" by Pharoah Monch, and talks about the consequences of guns, from the perspective of the bullet. I think it provides a powerful counter-narrative to the over-saturation of violence that is promoted in movies and music videos. Although i may sound corny for saying this, but a minor warning that this video contains explicit language and content, lol.

The second video is of Common's "I have a dream." It is off the soundtrack of the movie "Freedom Writers," which opens today. The trailer for the movie is also below. The video and message is dope for a couple of reasons. One is the emphasis it gives on writing as an avenue for personal and social change. Two, anything inspired by MLK deserves notariety. Enjoy, take care, and speekonit...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFeb4AH_NV8





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoVLmRzwzZk




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lejN7Ulh10s

Labels: Common, Freedom Writers social change, hip-hop, I Have A Dream, media, MLK, personal change, Pharoah Monch, videos, violence, When a Gun Draws