Who speaks for the black community?

[MaxPC]

https://www.dailywire.com/news/erickson ... otten-ones

A man emailed me last week, and his email cut me to the core. He said he was really angry about the Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd deaths, but not for the reason the rest of us are. He, a black, middle-class man, lives with his wife and children on the edge of a crumbling neighborhood. They are saving to move.

He is angry because white people are suddenly realizing what he has always known, but white people are still refusing to look at the rest of the problem. White liberals who are suddenly railing about the police unions protecting police are unconcerned about teachers unions protecting teachers. His children are academically successful in a public school. He acknowledges teachers can only do so much when kids are coming in from broken families and were up all night listening to gunshots. But he also knows from his community how many of the kids could do better with better teachers.

Very true. I can remember when unions were formed to protect the good teachers/police/workers from dishonest management. Now in many cases those same unions have fallen into the ditch on the other side of the road.

Great article, Robert. God bless this man for wanting to improve education. I think it would help if teachers were given better salaries too. Nothing exorbitant. But teachers should not have to depend on food stamps to survive as happens in some districts.

[GaryK]

Gary, my primary objective is too acknowledge what the black community tells us they experience. And to acknowledge that white culture is the culture that is dominant in our society. That doesn't necessarily make it wrong, but it simply is. And to acknowledge that while de jure racism has ceased, the bleeding doesn't stop as soon as you pull the knife out after a person is stabbed on the back.

I feel like there is a place for us to speak truth to power without needing get politically involved or form a legal team. John the Baptist challenged Herod but he didn't say Herod should abdicate. And he didn't get involved politically. I think as followers of Jesus we can acknowledge and speak truth to power and work for reconciliation without needing to engage a legal team. Or get involved politically. I mentioned on the video as well as in writing what I thought would be some appropriate next steps. The CT mag yesterday in an article by Dalrymple, the editor I think, called the church to address historic wrongs in some ways.

And lastly yes, we invite folks into the Kingdom of God. I would also add that I have been mentored by multiple men of color. I needed mentoring from their community. One in particular actually worked for me as an AP, Dr. Shawn Brown and I learned so much from him. He was a Godsend and remains a close brother from Brownsville streets of NYC. He personally helped my wife and I through a very difficult time. (I'll share the story sometime of how God brought him to me and me to him). So I see us as whites being able to learn alot from the black communities also. Learning is a two way street. (Hence my earlier harping on the learning stance). Pastor Daniel Pollard had also been a mentor to me when I was in the small group with him for years. I have been also been blest by the christian maturity and intelligence and insight of Brother Matt Allert. And many more....sisters as well.

Hopefully that further clarifies my position.

Thanks Josh. Yes, that is helpful in better understanding where we differ.

Just like God called us to serve His Kingdom by promoting His Kingdom in Liberia, Africa and Belize, Central America God has called his Kingdom adherents to promote it wherever He calls us. His NT Kingdom was put in place to make of many nations and peoples ONE people, under the lordship of Jesus Christ. His Kingdom principles know no racial bounds and apply to all cultures of all times.

I have chosen to do more than just acknowledge the injustices that have happened to the people I am called to serve and to attempt to right those injustices by presenting them with the ONE who is JUST and has the answers to how to deal with those injustices in a way that brings lasting meaning and peace to the ones who have been treated so unjustly.

One of the things that I learned in working with cultures that are different to mine is the need to learn to think like they think and to do that, one must be open to learning. I believe this is what Paul means when he says he becomes all things to all people so that he can win them for the Kingdom. That's why last year I spent considerable time researching what caused the collapse of what, in the not so recent past, was an integral part of the black community - namely intact two-parent homes. I listened to and learned from people like Elder and other black men who say that some of the policies put in place by white people in the 60s have a direct connection to the disintegration of the black family unit in our day and is responsible for a lot of what is going on in those communities. Again, this is what educated black men are saying their experience has been. Do we believe them?

The thing that baffles me is that this injustice by white people that has occurred in our time gets very little attention by those who hold to your view and it's something we 2 Kingdom adherents can do something about because the solution is not political or legal but biblical. If those who claim to care so much for the black community could move beyond the left and right sociological ideologies so prevalent in these debates and get involved in attempting to right this one wrong, I really believe we would see some of the good things happening in the black community we all "say" we want to see. The question I have is why all injustices done by white people against blacks are not met with equal responses.

[Josh]

I’d sure love to see Josh G. acknowledge how toxic LBJ’s Great Society was to the black family (and, eventually, the white family as well; it’s just taking longer).

But I haven’t heard a peep from him about how expanding the welfare state was bad. And that was entirely something perpetrated by white people.

[joshuabgood]

I’d sure love to see Josh G. acknowledge how toxic LBJ’s Great Society was to the black family (and, eventually, the white family as well; it’s just taking longer).

But I haven’t heard a peep from him about how expanding the welfare state was bad. And that was entirely something perpetrated by white people.

Sure. I have never been a strong proponent of coerced socialism. The closest I ever came to voting for someone was Ron Paul, that should clear that up. (I didn't seriously consider it...I also was sympathetic to Dennis Kucinich for the sheer tenacity around foreign policy). I would add, I am much more bothered by corporate welfare and bailouts, ag subsidies, etc, than I am by direct relief. And wars and war profiteering...which has been much more harmful also. And the permanent garrison state...

Lastly, though I am not a proponent of coerced socialism, I am not convinced that played the significant role in the challenges faced by the
Black community.

[Josh]

I’d sure love to see Josh G. acknowledge how toxic LBJ’s Great Society was to the black family (and, eventually, the white family as well; it’s just taking longer).

But I haven’t heard a peep from him about how expanding the welfare state was bad. And that was entirely something perpetrated by white people.

Sure. I have never been a strong proponent of coerced socialism. The closest I ever came to voting for someone was Ron Paul, that should clear that up. (I didn't seriously consider it...I also was sympathetic to Dennis Kucinich for the sheer tenacity around foreign policy). I would add, I am much more bothered by corporate welfare and bailouts, ag subsidies, etc, than I am by direct relief. And wars and war profiteering...which has been much more harmful also. And the permanent garrison state...

Lastly, though I am not a proponent of coerced socialism, I am not convinced that played the significant role in the challenges faced by the
Black community.

Do you have a good explanation for how the black family had a lower illegitimacy rate in the 1950s than white people, yet today it is 79%?

[joshuabgood]

Gary...one other thing. It really bothers people of color when we play the two kingdom card if you will, dont take that too seriously, with regard to not speaking publicly to government on others peoples issues, but we are super organized about appealing our issues. Vincent Harding, a black Mennonite minister, was really bothered by that. The Menno church organized and appealed for special consideration from the Feds during WW2, but wouldn't speak to the feds about Civil Rights. It galled him.

Today meetings have been happening in the last couple years with Menno churches and authorities around the Corona Virus, sex abuse handling and church teaming with authorities, etc. Where are the meetings about issues on behalf of others?

[GaryK]

Lastly, though I am not a proponent of coerced socialism, I am not convinced that played the significant role in the challenges faced by the Black community.

I ask this sincerely Josh - is this another way of saying you don't believe the experiences of people like Elder and others who have seen this play out within their lifetime within the black community?

[joshuabgood]

I’d sure love to see Josh G. acknowledge how toxic LBJ’s Great Society was to the black family (and, eventually, the white family as well; it’s just taking longer).

But I haven’t heard a peep from him about how expanding the welfare state was bad. And that was entirely something perpetrated by white people.

Sure. I have never been a strong proponent of coerced socialism. The closest I ever came to voting for someone was Ron Paul, that should clear that up. (I didn't seriously consider it...I also was sympathetic to Dennis Kucinich for the sheer tenacity around foreign policy). I would add, I am much more bothered by corporate welfare and bailouts, ag subsidies, etc, than I am by direct relief. And wars and war profiteering...which has been much more harmful also. And the permanent garrison state...

Lastly, though I am not a proponent of coerced socialism, I am not convinced that played the significant role in the challenges faced by the
Black community.

Do you have a good explanation for how the black family had a lower illegitimacy rate in the 1950s than white people, yet today it is 79%?

Would you mind please citing this evidence. And then showing how you have determined that that trend is in fact causally related to receiving aide from the government? Thx.

[GaryK]

Gary...one other thing. It really bothers people of color when we play the two kingdom card if you will, dont take that too seriously, with regard to not speaking publicly to government on others peoples issues, but we are super organized about appealing our issues. Vincent Harding, a black Mennonite minister, was really bothered by that. The Menno church organized and appealed for special consideration from the Feds during WW2, but wouldn't speak to the feds about Civil Rights. It galled him.

Today meetings have been happening in the last couple years with Menno churches and authorities around the Corona Virus, sex abuse handling and church teaming with authorities, etc. Where are the meetings about issues on behalf of others?

I don't think I'm playing the two kingdom card with the black community but rather with you - what we two kingdom adherents can do.

[joshuabgood]

Lastly, though I am not a proponent of coerced socialism, I am not convinced that played the significant role in the challenges faced by the Black community.

I ask this sincerely Josh - is this another way of saying you don't believe the experiences of people like Elder and others who have seen this play out within their lifetime within the black community?

Gary, I would lean on the vast vast majority of our black brothers and sisters in Christ to inform my understanding of the primary causes of the challenges faced by the black community. As I mentioned earlier, the black conservative voice, Elder, Malcolm X, Black Panthers, Obama, Washington, Sowell, etc I respect. In our context it is appropriate to let them speak to and challenge their communities. The truth is...the vast vast majority of the Black community, including our fellow Kingdom citizens in Christ, are not in the same place as Larry Elder.