Why would any self professing follower of Christ feel the need to be Pro Black? Personally I find it strange that this is a question I hear in different forms from many Black people often. They feel anything solely concentrated on uplifting Black people is somehow anti-Christian. The belief appears to be, if anything is done by Christians, it must be done for all people and not for a specific race. Whatever Black people’s problems are, God will work it out, so there is no need for Black Christians to be pro-Black.
When I am faced with believers telling me there is no need for us to be pro Black, my response is: to say there is no need to be pro Black is to ignore slavery. To say there is no need to be pro Black is to ignore jim crow. To say there is no need to be pro Black is to ignore segregation. To say there is no need to be pro Black is to ignore lynchings. To say there is no need to be pro Black is to ignore the infiltration of Black community groups whose sole purpose was to better the lives of their people. To say there is no need to be pro Black is to ignore the assassination of civil rights leaders. To say there is no need to be pro Black is to ignore the genocide in Africa, Australia and the complete extinction of the Tasmanian people. To say there is no need to be pro Black is to ignore the colonization of African countries where their natural resources are being stolen and the people are forced into deplorable conditions. To say there is no need to be pro Black is to ignore the hundreds of innocent, unarmed Black people murdered by police without receiving any justice. With all of these atrocities being concentrated on one people who are spread across the Earth, why would it be anti-Christian to have a concentrated effort to help them?
When Christ came, He made His mission on Earth clear during His first message in the Synagogue when He said
“The Spirit of The Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”
Luke 4:18 NKJV
Now these words do not specify singling out one race; they speak to conditions. When we look at the conditions mentioned of here, being poor, brokenhearted, captive, blind and oppressed, they are no doubt a mirror of the conditions of Africans spread across the Diaspora. If these are the conditions Christ said He came to address and we see these issues are disproportionately affecting a particular group of people, wouldn’t it be fitting that Christians would seek to help these people, not because of their race but because of their condition?
The problem we face is the ideals of being Pro Black are confused with the historic ideals of being Pro White. Pro White meant enslave Blacks, degrade Blacks, oppress Blacks, hate Blacks and build and sustain your wealth off of the intentional misfortune of Blacks. The Caucasians know what Pro White means and has always meant to them, they are afraid that Pro Black means we want to do to them what they’ve done to us. Since they control the media, entertainment and our education, (secular and seminary) they used them to paint the goals of Blacks being unified as being equal to what they have historically used their unity for.
What we have to admit is most of us view everything through a Caucasian perspective. We grew up with a Caucasian run education system, Caucasian lawmakers who dictate the morality of the country, Caucasian influence on our culture through movies and music and we can never forget the indoctrination done during slavery. I bring these things up to say, I wholeheartedly believe many Blacks are hesitant to embrace being Pro Black because they have been conditioned to view it the way Caucasians have and if Pro Black means what Pro White meant, then it has to be anti-Christian because of the actions associated with what Caucasians have done to us.
This is why my writing to you is important. We have to dispel the myths and intentional misrepresentation of what being Pro Black means. When I say I am Unapologetically Pro Black, I am not saying I hate, want to harm, oppress, enslave or hold any malice towards Caucasians. When I say I’m Unapologetically Pro Black I’m saying I want to help the poor, brokenhearted, captive, blind oppressed people who just so happen to be Black and I just so happen to Black also. With the spiritual and biblical conviction I have about helping those who are being mistreated, with everything in me I believe I would be Pro Black even if I was of another ethnicity because it’s not about race, it’s about the condition the people of the race are in.
Therefore, it is not anti-Christian to be Pro Black, it is anti-Christian for Black believer not being Pro Black because they are not living out the gospel. The gospel is not Jesus dead and resurrected, for He preached the gospel while He was alive. The gospel is bringing good news to the poor, healing the broken hearted, liberty to the captives, sight to the blind and freeing the oppressed. If we are not concentrating on these things, we are so far from being the followers of Christ our mouths say we are.
As believers we are all called to do specific ministry. Some feed the homeless, some focus on battered women, some focus on sex trafficking, some focus on building wells in Africa. When it comes to any of these specific ministries, there is no gripe with the people who proudly help, and solicit funds from the general public to aid them in assisting these people because of their condition. These people are often celebrated for their selfless efforts. Which makes me ask the question if there is no problem having these specific ministries, why is there a problem if a ministry is focused on helping oppressed people?
This is a question we must wrestle with because we must find out why it is acceptable in our minds to meet people’s needs unless the needs are specific to Black people, when we are Black ourselves. Knowing the history of this country and everything which has been strategically done to hinder Africans in America, especially when it comes to conditioning of our minds, we must challenge any thoughts we have that prevent us from working towards our collective best self interest.
I submit to you that white supremacy has fully engulfed itself in how we understand Christianity in order to make our relationship with God keep us from helping ourselves. Remember these same people erroneously used the bible to say we were supposed to be their slaves. Right now we have to step back from everything we’ve learned from many preachers who are connected to old school whooping and talking about solely about Heaven and not justice on Earth and really step back from Black preachers trained in seminaries because these seminaries are the number 1 tool used to indoctrinate Black preachers so they can go back to their congregations and teach them ideals that keep Black people subservient to caucasians.
If you are Black and Christian I have one question for you:
What is wrong with intentionally helping your people if they need help?
If you cannot give yourself a good reason as to why you shouldn’t help your own needy people, then you should become an Unapologetically Black Christian.
I am going to go deeper on this topic in my next book The Unapologetically Black Christian.
So stay tuned.
Umoja n. Black
June 15, 2017 11:37 amPeace,
As I read this I was pleased to read such an introspective look on Blackness and Christianity. I was left a bit puzzled as the notion of the Black Christian in general. The article eloquently pointed out much of the savagery and mis-education that white supremacy has inflicted on the Black community. But it did not reference how Christianity in itself is part of the slavery, jim crow, lynching, segregation, etc. that was perpetrated against us as a people. Indeed us as AFRICAN people did not come off of the ships as Christians. And those that did has been colonized into it as well. In truth, it is my belief that religion-particularly Christianity-is just another tool of white supremacy to keep us at odds with each another. And it works magnificently as was detailed in the beginning of the article. Good work, though.
Greg
July 26, 2017 3:44 pmBeautifully, insightfully and truthfully written. The Bible has recurring themes of freedom, liberation and overcoming oppression. Any professing Christian who is complacent with being in the bondage by their oppressor is opposing the teachings of both the old and new testaments. Using religion to justify subordination is cowardice, not righteousness. The White man will read the same Bible but sees himself as being the one in dominion, not the lowly, meek, subordinate who waits for deliverance in the afterlife while silently suffering on Earth.
Lafayette Jefferson
August 11, 2017 3:08 amBruh,
I’m an AMEZ Minister, Black liberation theologist, HBCU Seminary Grad, so black I got black bones. I open every sermon by saying that our church is over 175 years old, was but by the hands of enslaved and free africans, was a stop on the underground railroad and they call us the freedom church because tubman, f douglass, and sojourner truth were ministers in the AME Zion faith. There are so many ways I can respond to your question. But let me start like this. In order to start understanding the depth of the bible – like anything else you must study. I’ve had to do a lot of wrestling within myself in the formation of my personal theology (which is normal). On one of my first times in the pulpit a lady asked me to read from KJV (King james) I waited until I got into the pulpit and informed the entire church that Jesus spoke Aramaic not the kings language. Please do not ask me to read anything from the KJV, it’s the most biblically incorrect, full of racism and sexism. My job is to give you the word as closet as Man can divine God’s intent. So KJV is out!!!
My bottom line is that the Bible is our story. all day every day. If you hear about a man of color wrongly accused, prosecuted and sentenced by the state. Then abused while being held and ultimately killed by the state. you would not if I’m talking about Jesus or some other black man. It’s our story through and through.
There is an old slave saying, “White people learned about the cross through the bible. While black people learn about the bible through the cross. What this is saying is that we as a people approach the bible differently. Us from the experience of being oppressed and them – not so much. But i can tell you that I as a black preacher is to teach, preach, inform and reinforce that black folk are free. you minds and bodies and you have to fight for your freedom every damn day. Now the key to this is that I was taught that way. Most people are not. I went to a black seminary and sat at the foot of jerimiah wright. most black faith leaders are not formally trained. they read the bible and think they are good. But its like nah son it’s way deeper than that. I don’t know where the stats came from but it said that 70{9c4894d8d84789fd9dbc6ac72b5d605407abbbce150dd0041f8be6ae2d1a6325} of the seminary trained black preachers preach liberation theology. but overall only 17{9c4894d8d84789fd9dbc6ac72b5d605407abbbce150dd0041f8be6ae2d1a6325} of all black preachers preach liberation theoology.
Do I know what you’re talking about. Yep, I understand before you asked it. there needs to be a massive reeducation and organization effort within the church. There is nothing wrong with helping your people. It’s actually all right.
But let me add another layer. People need to stop being clumsly with the words. Should we really be talking about the Blood of Jesus when we have blood running into the drains of our streets. Should people that have been oppressed be told they are worms or wretches or anything like that. Or should they embrace the spirituality from the sun kissed lands that had a God that celebrated them and lifted them up as wonderful creations. Lots of stupid things we do and say are troubling – to me!