I AM INSPIRED BY

Morenike

My daughter, Morenike, whose Yoruba name means "I have someone to cherish" is my inspiration. She inspired me when she was a beautiful, happy baby (See left)...and she inspires me now as a beautiful grown up woman. She is creative, ambitious, extremely intelligent, humorous and loving. I really do cherish Morenike!

Morenike is now expecting her first child and I am excited about being a grandmom for the first time!


If you want to know more about her check out her blog: http://www.blackpearlfilmworks.blogspot.com/

Guest Commentary

"Not On My Watch!"

March 20, 2008 By the Rev. Dr. Samuel B. McKinneyPastor Emeritus
Mount Zion Baptist Church
Seattle Washington

For nearly a year, I have been greatly disturbed by the attack on the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright and Trinity United Church of Christ, which has culminated in recent weeks into a media feeding frenzy that has tarnished everyone in the process. For 36 years, this man of the Gospel and noted theologian has faithfully served his church, his community and his God, by helping those who could not help themselves and by lifting up those who have lost hope. Dr. Wright's ministry has been consistent and his commitment to the faith unmatched. While media critics, who have not spent a day in seminary, and have no idea how to exegete the Gospel, might find his sermons objectionable, Dr. Wright's theology and sermonic delivery are deeply rooted in the faith and sacred traditions of Black Church.

For those who do not know Black Church or for those who simply have not taken time to do the research, here is a mini-history lesson. For the first 150 years of slavery, no organized religious bodies ever attempted to convert those who were enslaved. We established our own congregations and churches, based on our African-ancestored traditions mixed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the process, we became committed to the idea of freedom. There were over 300 known slave rebellions in the United States, the vast majority of which were led by preachers of that day, like Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner. Because of that, two white men had to always be present at any slave-led church service. Even while enslaved we had preachers and pastors who spoke to the needs of our condition.

Now, there have always been accommodationist preachers, those who go along to get along. In biblical terms, they are false prophets. A prophet is simply one who speaks on behalf of God and God's people. A true prophet speaks truth to power and is not politically correct. The Old Testament prophets were not politically correct. The Apostle Paul was not politically correct. And Jesus, the son of God, was not politically correct. Jesus upset the status quo. He disrupted the comfortable. Remember, Jesus got angry and threw the money-changers out of the temple.

Jesus raised some holy hell. So why can't Dr. Wright? You see, true prophets speak for God, use colorful language and occasionally use a non-traditional method to get their message across. There is a strong, historical and contextual relationship between the slave-preacher and the social justice, activist preacher of today. And there is a place and role for God's angry prophets—think Amos, Micah, Isaiah and Jeremiah. They spoke on God's behalf to kings, to the poor and to the enemies of their nation. Then there are the 20th and 21st century prophets like Vernon Johns, Martin Luther King Jr., Samuel DeWitt Proctor and Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. The difference between false prophets and true prophets is the false prophet speaks to what the masses and those in power want to hear. The true prophet speaks truth no matter how painful. There is a price to be paid for being a prophet. And Dr. Wright is now paying that price both publicly and privately.

It was author Alex Haley who underscored the role and relationship of the Black pastor and their congregations. He said, African American pastors are akin to the African griot, a leader, shepherd, father and the one in whom the story of one's people has been embodied. For Trinity United Church of Christ and the greater African American faith community, Dr. Wright has been and is a formidable griot. At 81, I am an elder in this tribe of social justice preachers, but I, too, can say the legacy and reach of Dr. Wright's ministry has influenced my faith.

So what has been lost in inflammatory rhetoric and the talking heads of the day is that Dr. Wright, a theological scholar who speaks five languages fluently, has inspired a church to create over 100 fully-functioning ministries, created seven separate corporations, led thousands to Christ, speaks Sunday after Sunday out of a long and storied, proud and prophetic tradition of our faith. And he speaks in the tradition of the slave-preacher and social justice proclaimer who believed in setting the captives free.

Dr. Wright represents the best among us, one of the best in this tribe of prophetic preachers. He has made his church a place where one could express the centuries-old pain of being Black in America, while finding strength for a brighter day. An attack on this man of the God is an attack on all those of the cloth who believe in the social Gospel of liberation. And I will not stand for it. Not on my watch. Not today!"

An A-Ha Moment/Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize

Guest Musing
By Morenike E. Evans

It's like an A-Ha moment!
Anyway just a thought.

Sometimes we want something so badly in our lives. In fact, we craft our entire career toward that end.

We do the work, we put in the time and we STILL don't get it! Sometimes this can be devastating, humiliating, definitely disappointing. Having invested so much time in a dream only for it not to come true.

But this is when it's time to examine the soul of that dream or desire. What is it we really want to achieve? What passion or cause are we trying to fulfill?

Perhaps our notion of how that dream will be fulfilled is not God's plan. This doesn't mean that the dream itself won't be fulfilled.

Take for example Al Gore. His entire career was built to serve society through politics. He was a congressman, a vice president of the U.S. I'm sure he felt his best way to envoke change and touch people's lives was by having the most powerful job in the world (arguably)-- President of the United States.

He worked hard, tirelessly but the dream was cruelly (if not illegally!) taken away from him. It almost seemed as if he had no more fight in him. How infuriated and slighted and humiliated he must have felt! But he went underground for a while. He reenergized and found his passion and was fueled by that.

Today he is an Oscar winner, an innovative tv exec and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient! He has fulfilled his passion of effecting change and empowering people, AND has achieved things he probably never dreamed of.

So remember this as you go through your days trying to navigate life. It may not be how we see things happening. It is how God wants it to happen. And it WILL happen if you keep moving toward your passion, but open your mind to how it will manifest itself.

A Wink and a Nod

By Marlene L. Johnson

Sept. 16, 2007, 12:30 a.m. - Hispanics have become the favored minority and now outnumber blacks 43 million to 40 million, according to census bureau statistics.
This fact has set up a dynamic between the two groups. Blacks have fought hard for their civil rights and now see many of the things they fought for being usurped by a sizeable number of Hispanics, who have sneaked, swam or otherwise crossed the borders into the U.S. and can be counted among the “illegal” immigrants.
In many instances, such as employment, our political leaders have given them a “wink and a nod” rather than reforming the immigration policy.
Many Latinos hold jobs they claim Americans don’t want to do, like construction jobs for individual tradesmen or small construction companies. They gather in specific areas in the city hoping to be hired for day jobs in the construction industry.
Concessions are made. Employers have found another way to line their pockets—offer Hispanics economic crumbs in the form of lower wages than African Americans and others would accept for the same jobs. Then they bring over caravans of Hispanics and put them up in houses so they can have a private workforce. Then they start a disinformation campaign that Hispanics are doing the jobs Americans don’t want to do.
They give another wink and a nod when the “illegal immigrants” demonstrate in the streets of Los Angeles and other cities against deportation or being required to go through the immigration process. They want jobs and freedom. Yet they are flouting our immigration laws.
How dare they, you ask? They dare because unlike the Haitians, who came over in shabby flotillas, some drowning on their attempts to reach American shores, most Hispanics were not turned back. It is estimated by the U.S. Border Patrol Local 2544 in Tucson, Ariz. that there are between 12 million and 15 million. illegal immigrants in the U.S, mostly Hispanic. They dare risk crossing the borders because they know they can. They dare hang around work sites and pick up day labor, because they know they can. They know they won’t get thrown into jail, or worse yet, sent packing back to their home turf. Like the Haitians were.
They dare do what blacks have been killed and jailed for doing—hanging around in public places in groups of more than two or three.
They dare because the U.S. has accommodated them by favoring their language and by making life for them more comfortable than for some of its own citizens. Unlike Blacks who were forced onto these shores, stripped of their language and culture, and ridiculed for the way they spoke the new foreign language—English—Hispanics don’t have to learn it. Just check out your voice phone messages—“if you want English press 1, Spanish, press 2.” Or brochures giving directions on purchases you have to assemble—half is in English and another half is in…guess what?
What about other immigrants—like the Irish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Italians, Haitians, Nigerians, Greeks and other ethnic groups—who came here legally. Why not make them more comfortable by using their languages in phone voice messages? Or why not use the many American Indian languages. Let’s be fair. Can you imagine how long that would take before one could even gain access to the person your are calling?
English is the language of this country…the country they have broken the law to enter. I say let them learn English. Let them embrace our language, just as they embrace all that America has to offer, jobs and social services, like WIC for mothers with infants.
They have imported their language and their gangs, like MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha). And some have become “Americanized” in their view of blacks. They want to keep blacks out of neighborhoods in Los Angeles and elsewhere where their population is large. Black males, especially, who unknowingly cross the line into their ‘hoods, risk being shot or killed.
Or they adopt the mentality of the oppressor who sees little value in black lives. Like what was done to the four black college students in Newark where, police said, a Hispanic criminal lined them up and shot them execution style. One, a girl, lived. Another girl, and two young men died. One of the perpetrators Jose Carranza, 28, was not only illegal, but had a long criminal record, including assault and child rape charges, and shouldn’t have been let out on bail and back onto the streets of America. He should have been deported after committing the first crime, and not allowed back in the country. A second 15-year-old suspect was unidentified.
I’m all for people making their way to freedom, economic or otherwise. But I don’t agree that law breakers who come to the U.S. should be given “favored” status and accommodated where others are not.
Let them get in line behind those who are already here and have worked hard to make whatever gains they have made.
Unless the U.S. reforms its immigration laws and comes up with a remedy for the rampant “border crossings” and for dealing with those who are already here illegally, America may lose this country. It’s been done before. Just ask the American Indians who were benevolent to the early settlers and now live in walled off places in their own country. Hispanics already have taken over large parts of Miami and Los Angeles without firing a single round, while the politicians have given them a wink and a nod.