The memory span of the black community?
Nov 15, 2008 Religion, Society
43 years ago the civil rights act legally banned racial prejudice in the United States. 43 years later the black community has gone from fighting bigotry, and prejudice to taking the role of the bigot.
An Asociated Press poll indicated that seven in ten black voters in California voted to deny gays equal rights under the law thru the passage of Prop 8.
I am shocked that the black community could be so ruthlessly hypocritical. The shame those 7 in 10 should feel.
So 43 years, eh? I guess that’s how long it takes for one community to forget about it’s epic struggle to achieve civil right. To forget what it means to be held down. To be denied. To forget how much prejudice hurts people.
Might I remind us that 40 years ago it would have been against the law for Barak Obama’s parents to marry. And now the people who are celebrating the election of the first black man to office, on the same day helped deny another group of people the very same freedoms that they stuggled for 40 years ago.
The irony is overwhelming.
I’d say it myself, but Keith says it so much better…
November 16th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Damn Johann!
Powerful post there buddy! That was awesome. The irony is pretty overwhelming. I don’t think a lot of people THINK about things, because this one doesn’t require a lot of thought. People feel their repulsion at something they don’t understand and don’t take it one step further to ask if once upon a time, white people didn’t feel the same repulsion at something they didn’t understand (brown skin).
I’ve never heard this guy speak before though I’ve heard his name bandied about on the internet. (I wanna be bandied about someday, sounds like fun.)
TV? TV, eh? eh? Know what I mean? Nudge nudge. Wink wink.
What’s it like?
November 16th, 2008 at 10:13 am
One commenter I read thought that the problem was the issue got sold as one of morality rather than one of civil rights. Black religious culture tends to be conservative on moral issues. Watch for the issue of gay marriage to be recast as a civil rights issue – that’s what it will take for it to prevail.
November 16th, 2008 at 11:47 am
He says it so well.
I don’t have the poll data (would love it) but I’d like to know the “religious” data… when we look at splits like black, hispanic, white, asian, nat. american (do I put “etc” now?), who voted in Calif this Nov, do we see differences in affiliation with religious organizations? Because my gut tells me that may be part of it.
And that pesky separation of church and state gets into this.
We need to parse this “marriage” thing into two bits, one is the practical civil side, one is the love side.
The former, civil side, is on the order of corporations & contracts, let’s let people do that at the courthouse with a notary. Banking, inheritance, visitation rights, property ownership, legal issues with children, all those things. Anyone, I feel, should be able to set up this civil union.
The latter, the love side, let’s let people just figure out how to do that on their own time. If people want to have some sort of ceremony, anything from exchanging rings to wild dessert-filled orgies, I say let them do it.
So, I guess I’m suggesting we get rid of the loaded term “marriage” since it seems all bound up in religious side, too.
I am a strong believer in love.
November 16th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
I think that some people don’t think, some don’t remember, and some are willfully prejudiced and bigoted, mostly due to their religious beliefs.
The separation of church and state in marriage is indeed essential. There needs to be a legal institution to define legal partnership.
But man, I totally missed the dessert-filled orgy. Is that like cannolis and donuts getting it on?