Jon Osoff was the second senator who was elected at the same time that Raphael Warnoff, both from Georgia, came to Washington to work for the United States Citizens... Jon speaks from a Jewish background, yet still speaks of God--the God of Truth... Both men choose to look at both the moral background as well as what is happening right now, today... I had learned from Reverend Warnock in earlier chapters, that when our Black brothers and sisters preach, they expect to be answered by those who listen. Did Osoff know this before he came to Beulah Baptist? I don't know, but, surely, Osoff is speaking to all those who are very concerned about what the past and present governmental elected representatives are doing to our country... BTW, you know, most times I don't go out and find suitable videos... These two appeared as a result of what I heard in the first video. I like to think that is God's hand in pointing the way to say what needs to be said, for surely I'm more a reactive individual as opposed to a creative writer...
And, when I read the chapter, entitled Scar On the Soul of America, I truly was shocked. I was angry, embarrassed, even hurt, that such information had not been known to the average person who lived daily in the United States, without full awareness and understanding of what has been happening by government officials at every level. How dare this be allowed, I thought! And yet, I knew that even when this all began I was busy learning to work within a new job, meeting new people, and trying to establish what I might call a professional career. I was like most individuals who sang songs like The Ivory Palaces and believed that, in Heaven, there would be riches untold and there we would live... You may remember, though, that it was I who wanted to have God right here beside me--I wasn't really concerned about the hereafter even then... And I was to have that type of relationship from early in my life... So, when Osoff talked about the riches that was being thrown about by government officials--the jets that were given (requested) by a foreign country, or the jets that were purchased, with large bedrooms and lavish spaces, for those high officials under this administration, I again thought about the fact that I've never believed that God required nor wanted lavish surroundings...
How could he? He was always concerned about meeting the needs of his creation--His children.
I had a choice of sharing this song by, say, Whitney Houston or an older version song by his wonderful woman, Ethel Waters, I wanted to place your thoughts back to a time when we listened to people like Billy Graham and felt like we were listening to the words of God, Himself. That's when I learned most of my music--the words that come to me so easily now as I read a book or see a movie that reveals both what God's message is... But, often, at the same time, opens our eyes to the reality of what is actually going on...
Because, I know exactly when I became "aware" of what was happening... But, only this week, I learned from Senator Warnock exactly what had begun and evolved to the point that even the news was beginning to share the disgrace of it all... Or, rather, the invention of cell phones has allowed these moments to be captured and placed where they could be viewed and talked about! By the way, I happened to find an online discussion that explores the "recent" final legal judgment of "not guilty." I decided not to listen given my concern about how the legal system is failing... Instead, I'm using the following which highlights what I saw as well as a discussion. Ok, I admit that I've not seen much violence in my life. Seeing this man trying to deal with police circling him and finally taking him down was bad enough for me, only to watch as he started to talk about not being able to breathe... It was then I knew this was wrong! No man, who supposedly was "selling cigarettes" deserves to die by cop...
It was later when I started to form a very strong opinion of about police abuse--when Trump got involved...
Many of the news coverage videos will be familiar to many of you... It dealt with "Taking a knee" in protest during the national anthem... Yes, this could be debated... but by then I was fanatically watching every move of Trump and I could see how he was inciting the issue for nothing more than publicity--to divide us... And, it did... at least in my mind...
Because I had to attend a funeral within my family during that time period. A beloved relative of mine had died, by suicide... As I saw in the funeral home as people came and went, I began to listen to a new relative, by marriage, talking about this issue. A close relative was willing to participate and agreed... First, of all, I felt that this type of discussion was totally inappropriate within a group of grieving people. Second? I knew these people were republican supporting the president. It was clear by the tone of the individuals that they were also racist... I had made my opinion about the issue firmly... What was happening regarding the treatment of black people deserved to be protested in any way that felt appropriate... Including taking a knee...
So, what I was to begin to read in this book, just confirmed what my position would always be regarding how Blacks are treated in the United States... BTW, I'm not a sports fan, so my opinions had little to do with those individuals who were actually being named by politicians as they tried to create chaos for the sake of votes... or from personal prejudice.
Mass incarceration is one of the highest issues that Warnock spotlights for our attention. If you care about basic concern for your neighbors... If you care about poverty, the absence of fathers--family life, then you need to realize, perhaps for the first time, like me, that black men are being pulled out of those families by the privatized, mostly, prison industrial complex... Black bodies have been sucked out of communities for the last 40 years! But before, I go further into Warnock's info, I want to set the stage that is, right now, in our headlines...
Consider that all of the videos relate to immigrants as defined by this administration...That means anybody they can catch and easily detain, it seems... But, they are not white... mostly brown or black if refugees, for instance who live in Minnesota... Let's look at the facts... right now the government led by the republican party is working to relocate or detain in prisons all non-white immigrants...
Consider this, now... Most Black men are already imprisoned... Check out the stats! Our country has spent billions warehousing young people instead of educating them! It can easily be shown that those who are not in school are prone to end up behind bars... So what is the basis of this problem? Are you aware that the United States has the largest complex of prisons in the world?! And, in or let out of these facilities results in a stigma which prevents any hope to return to or achieve a life free of pain or fear... to be able to just "live..."
Warnock confirms what I had learned from an individual who was trying to share his life through a book that, even though he was released, he was not even allowed to vote! I don't know about you, but if all such individuals who may be placed in prison were convicted of major crimes, which is not the case, the courts have punished them forever, just by being unable to participate in working to change what has become a corrupt system at this time. We all can see it... But those who have been incarcerated actually are penalized for life in big or small ways... Getting decent jobs to create a life is one of those problems... That is, if you are able to escaped the long penalties that are administered...
When an individual has "paid their debt to society," then don't you think they should be able to actually return to that society and work to positively move forward? "They are citizens effectively without citizenship!" Just reading that makes you stop and question how this is possible... And, yet, the evolution has gotten worse in time, as we now know... God requires us in Micah 6:8 (NIV) to act justly and to love mercy... But our criminal system is often, if not always, "brutal, unforgiving, and sometimes vicious..."
Our nation includes less than 5% of the world's population... Yet houses 20% of the world's prisoners! I am aware that statistics are sometimes misleading. However, this statement alone places an awareness of how the U.S. deals with those who are often acting criminally just to steal food or other needs to be able to live... Further, of that 20%, 41% are Black... Think about it, if Blacks are held in prison through biased actions, yet there is still much crime happening, you should quickly realize that incarcerating individuals is not a solution if not tied into some other type of rehabilitating programs... Those have gone by the wayside once profiteering became the basic goal for imprisonment. Community safety is not part of the programs that were once part of the law enforcement and rehabilitation systems.
And when we fail to act to support those in need, then, we are adding a level of responsibility toward those who have chosen a crime only because they were hungry, thirsty, or needed support for their daily needs... And it was the Quakers a century later who forbid that Black people could be enslaved... Indeed, it was the beginning where white men began to speak out against the treatment of our brothers, who happened to be Black. And so it was that, even as now, it is the southern states, the republicans who see no problem in, instead of loving others, actually moving against those people, using the Bible to justify a racist ideology and practices. Worse, then and now, were those who watched the degradation - and said nothing...
Warnock was personally aware of this problem and was among those who began to meet to deal with the mass incarceration activities that seemed glued to the Jim Crow era...
Michelle Alexander was one of those involved in the 2019 mass incarceration conference for faith leaders. By pointing out, that mass incarceration was the new system for subjugating Black people. As Warnock, agreed, he moved on to say that he believed that this may be the most significant moral issue of our time... What has happened has clearly proven this assumption. The only major difference, is that the government is now looking toward brown people and other non-white races... From the 1960s, incarceration increased 600%... By 2014, more Blacks were under control via incarceration than were enslaved in 1850! It can easily support a belief that male white supremacists are at work in trying to break up the United States of America...
This troubling change did not come about accidentally... It started with the War on Drugs which was initiated by Richard Nixon, a failed republican president... And, in essence, implemented by various offices until Ronald Reagan declared his "War..."
Perhaps like me you thought this was an action which should be commended... But, like many things where we lose track of what is actually happening, we do know that as of 2016 Donald J. Trump was using drugs as the primary reason for voting republican... So, me, with my questioning mind, began to wonder... just how long does it take to win this war on drugs? And why are there still drugs available for ongoing use? And, really, if our legal agencies in the government were so good, why did we continue to be told that drugs are entering the United States and causing significant problems for all of us? Just Say No was the call when it began... So why so many years later on, do we continue to claim drug issues must be fought by the federal government?
Warnock reports that nothing significant happened until about 3 years later, even though major activities by the Reagan administration were immediately implemented by the republicans... News and PR events were developed, often using black images in their graphic development...
In the meantime, laws were created and passed into implementation which were not only began immediately but also had harsher penalties based upon type of drugs involved. Money flowed in for increase law enforcement for this "war" situation... The big war (WWII) had grown cold as a money-making activity so it was easy to switch over to a new war on drugs where money could be spent on new for-profit penal institutions and associated businesses...
While the poor people's needs were ignored for more profitable methods of using government's tax dollars, prisons were being built, cops were arresting users, or sellers, off the streets and into the new prisons...
I don't know about you, but I'm feeling like this administration is redoing the exact same money game that was used by Reagan and other republican presidents who've used "War" as a fear tactic as well as, more importantly a cash-making business...
So instead of getting over WWII, the republicans named a new war. This immediately stopped our nation's need and ability to move more efficiently and effectively into the technological age, instead of allowing private ventures which have been, for the most part, profitable for big money groups, but also negatively impacting the children of the nation. So much so that two countries, so far, have had to legally stop the use of computers by young teens because of the devastating impact on them...
Personally I don't know enough to talk about the various drugs that are brought in, made in the states, or purchased by the rich people for their own use and excluded from any stats... Yes, there are many news videos about the use of drugs at the very rich level of our nation, aren't there? Some have been notifications of tragic deaths due to drugs... Worse, others have included sexual assault attacks based upon the use of drugs for business or even dating (date-rape drugs).
Here's another sad statistic: More black men are in jail than in all of our higher education institutions. Raphael Warnock shares his personal interest and active involvement with the drug/educational issue. He shares how he was able to be funded through government programs such as Head Start, and was ultimately able to earn multiple higher education degrees. His choices led him to a keen awareness of what he was able to achieve with help, versus, what had been created to ensure that programs to help support the poor were being displaced with programs used to penalize the poor by, preferably, incarceration!
And like many leaders, Warnock soon was on to preaching and then working at the congressional level to act with social gospel in which he greatly believed and had worked toward. You know, the kind of work that goes beyond teaching the Word of God and working to react to the responsibility that we are to work also for the Good of Man...
For Warnock took responsibility and is personally involved when he learned that a close relative had been confined to prison for life, without a chance for parole... for a nonviolent crime by a military veteran with no prior criminal experience. And if you, like me, know that was an extremely prejudicial sentence, even for a Black man, you will know exactly how we got to where we are today in relation to how our government has been treating ALL of God's children...
If you don't see this type of abuse against members of our poor communities as a Scar upon the Soul of our Country, we can at least and understand just how America has been brought to the point of destruction that we are now facing...
Get this Book as your first non-fiction book covering what is happening in the United States...
Watch for Guns Everywhere Next...
Gabby
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