Category Archives: Culture

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Tavis Is Still Alright With Me…

Hello World,

The weather in the A has been gloriously sunny over the last few days, and I’m feeling good…listening to the birds chirping as night fades to day…”Good Morning,” I want to say to them…okay, let me stop waxing poetical and get to the subject of this post…

As my typical custom dictates on Sunday mornings, I tuned my radio to V-103 to listen to “The Triple T (Tall, Talented and Totally Sold Out to the Lord) from Tennessee” also known as Larry Tinsley play the gospel hits as I drove to church last Sunday. (Incidentally, I worked with Mr. Tinlsey for a few months at AIR Gospel, a local record company, for a few months. Not only is he gracious on the air, he is a class act in person as well. ) Instead of hearing Mr. Tinsley’s warm and reassuring voice, I heard another familiar voice…I was a bit startled so I looked at my radio to ensure that I had tuned into the right station. But then, I heard Mr. Tinsley break in and I realized that he was interviewing Tavis Smiley. In characteristic form, Tavis seemed like he was about to stutter as he excitedly described a new exhibit which will be debuting in Atlanta on June 12.

America I AM: The African American Imprint highlights 400 years of African American contributions  to our country through artifacts, documents, multimedia, photos and music. The four-year traveling exhibition museum, which nationally debuted in Philly, will be housed at The Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center from June 12 through September 6. The exhibition was developed with the collaboration of  The Smiley Group Inc., Arts and Exhibitions International and the Cincinnati Museum Center. It seems like a must see!

Here are some of the highlights of the exhibit according to the Web site:

•    “The Doors of No Return” from the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, which enslaved Africans passed through to board ships to the “New World”
•    The typewriter Alex Haley used to write the groundbreaking book, “Roots”
•    Objects representing the African-American troops that fought and impacted the outcome of major U.S. wars
•    Malcolm X’s journal and personal Koran
•    The door key and stool from the Birmingham jail cell that held Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he authored “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
•    Frederick Douglass’ clothing and letter from President Lincoln that enabled him to move among Union lines recruiting black soldiers
•    The robe that Muhammad Ali wore during training for the “Rumble in the Jungle,” where he defeated world heavyweight champion George Foreman.

Through a partnership with Northern Trust, 10,000 free tickets will be distributed to Georgia youth. Also, in partnership with Wal-Mart, discounted tickets are available at 125 Georgia Wal-Mart locations. (My nephew and I will be in the house! ) Atlanta-area seniors will also be able to visit the exhibition for free through various city programs courtesy of Wal-Mart.

Tickets are also available at Ticketmaster (www.Ticketmaster.com or 1-800-745-3000). Tickets are purchased for a specific date, and will be $12 for adults; $5 for children ages 6-17; and $8 for seniors over age 65, as well as for groups of 10 or more.  For more information about the exhibition and tickets, visit www.AmericaIAM.org.

Tavis said that he has worked on this project for several years, and I am deeply thankful for his efforts. People must have thought I was a strange child as I spent hours reading books about slaves as a third grader, but I had a seemingly unquenchable desire to know more about black history. Maybe it was because I was the only black child in my class and felt I didn’t quite fit in among the white students. How I would have loved to view this exhibit back then! Thankfully, I can go now, and I hope y’all do too.

Now, I know that Tavis has fallen out of the good graces of many black folk since the Barack Obama election controversy, but all is forgiven in my eyes. His life is clearly dedicated to the empowerment of black America without apology or compromise…y’all need to stop trippin’ and give him love…

Any thoughts?

P.S. Apparently, Atlanta is the only stop in the Southeast so y’all from the surrounding states better include the A in your summer plans or you will miss out!

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Of Drugs and Light-Skinned Boys…

Hello World,

Picture it…The year was circa 1983 (Shout out to Sophia Petrillo of “The Golden Girls!” You know you watched it!) I was in the fourth grade and a proud member of The MJ Club. Of course, I am referring to Michael Jackson. I had the poster with MJ wearing the yellow sweater with the oh-so-sexy single Jheri curl cascading down his forehead…It was taped to the back of my bedroom door. MJ, wearing a white suit and black shirt, was lying on his side looking all innocent and fresh faced  on another poster on one of my walls…you know the “Thriller” album cover. I wanted to hang the infamous Prince poster on another wall…you know the one with him in some black underwear…I think he was in the shower. Sexy, sexy! I would have settled with the poster with Prince on his motorcycle…you know the “Purple Rain” poster. But my parents were still plugged into popular music back then and weren’t having Prince on my wall. I sported a plastic bag with Michael Jackson’s name inscribed on it. My shirts were covered with Michael Jackson buttons. That Christmas I unsuccessfully begged my parents for an MJ leather jacket with the zippers all over it.  I was definitely one of his top fans under 13 years old.

But somehow during that year, a light-skinned guy with a ridiculously high-pitched voice managed to test my allegiance to MJ. That guy was none other than El “I Like It” DeBarge. In my mind, I was like Michael is cute and all with his Jheri curl and butter voice, but El had that naturally good hair plus he was light-skindeded too…Ha,ha…And his whole family was soo pretty…Around that time, the movie, “The Last Dragon,” came out and quickly became of one my favorite movies at the time. DeBarge’s song, “Rhythm of the Night” was on the soundtrack for that movie and so I became a huge fan of DeBarge.

DeBarge had so many hits…”All This Love,” “Time Will Reveal,” “Love Me in a Special Way,” “Who’s Holding Donna Now,” “You Wear It Well”  They were almost a modern day “The Jackson 5” only there were four brothers and their sister, Bunny…And dudes loved them some Bunny too…And almost as quickly as they appeared on the scene, they exited stage left into near obscurity. I heard rumors that many of the brothers were on drugs, somebody had gone to jail, etc. But I never knew what conclusively happened to them until I watched TV One show “Unsung.”  DeBarge was featured on its first episode. First of all, I had no idea that their father was white and their mother was dark skinned. The children suffered relentless abuse from their father and their mother was unable to protect them from the abuse.  The two elder DeBarge brothers were a part of the group Switch and were responsible for the hit, “There’ll Never Be.” (Love that song!) Drug abuse and infighting ultimately led to the demise of Switch and DeBarge. But one quote from Bunny haunted me after the show ended. She said she hoped the next generation of the DeBarge family would escape the generational curse of drug abuse in their family.

And so this is a looong intro to the topic of generational curses. My favorite author Catherine Marshall has a chapter on the topic in her book, “Something More.” In the chapter, she quotes Deuteronomy 30:19, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants.” Marshall also said, “It soon became apparent that just as we can inherit either a fortune or debts, so in the spiritual realm we can inherit either spiritual blessings or those liabilities (unabashedly called ‘sins’ in Scripture) that hinder our development into mature persons. These blessings or liabilities do not come to us solely by heredity. Obviously, they are passed on by example and by teaching – conscious and unconscious.”

For instance, my grandfather was a pastor. My father is a pastor. I have uncles who are pastors. I aspire to be a Christian author. Faith is definitely something that was passed down in my family. According to my dad, so is obsessive thinking…Goodness gracious, sometimes I am terrorized by how fast my mind spins with obsessive, anxious sometimes crazy thoughts. I revealed this unsettling behavior to my dad once and he told me it happens to him too…I wonder who passed it down to him…

If you think of behaviors – good and bad – that were passed down in your family from generation to generation, it seems almost impossible to escape them. However, Marshall describes her method for breaking these generational behaviors. Of course, it starts with praying and meditating on God’s Word. Marshall said, “‘The generations can start to assume their creative function at any point. Even if most of one’s life is in the past and certain children and grandchildren are acute problem cases, yes, even then God can turn this curse that goes down through the generations into a blessing…For each of us-no matter what our situation or how we feel we have failed -there is hope.”

So what do you think about generational blessings and curses? Do they exist? What has been your experience with them? chris brown

Any thoughts?

P.S. These pics are of a few of my fave light-skinned singers…I struggled whether to include Chris Brown’s photo…but when I thought about it, what is happening with him and Rihanna may be a perfect example of generational dysfunction. From what I’ve read, Brown watched his stepfather abuse his mother and now it seems Brown has become the abuser…let’s pray that Chris Brown deal with his problem and be the person that God created him to be…

Below is a DeBarge video…

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Christianity Obama Style…

Hello World!!!

What it do? In just over a month, you know what it is…Barack Obama will officially become the 44th president of the United States!!! Yes, it’s another post about Barack Obama. No, I’m not over it…So read on if you’re an Obama fan!!! Here’s the thing…As I mentioned in another post, many Christians are convinced that President-elect Obama is not a Christian although he has publicly professed faith in Jesus Christ many times. It seems these same Christians believe that President Bush, aka Iraqi shoe dodger (crazy huh?), is a devout Christian entrusted with the sacred duty of leading our nation to the Promised Land where all secular music is of the devil and legalized abortion is worse than starting an ill-advised war.

But check it…Was anyone watching President Bush’s interview with ABC Nightline’s Cynthia McFadden on Dec. 8?  According to a Baptist Press article, Bush said he believes there are multiple ways to God.  He also said that he believes that Christians and Muslims pray to the same God.

“I do believe there is an Almighty that is broad and big enough, loving enough, that can encompass a lot of people. I don’t think God is a narrow concept. I think it’s a broad concept. I just happen to believe the way to God is through Christ, and others have different avenues toward God, and I believe we pray to the same Almighty — I do.”

And Bush may or may not believe that humanity started in the Garden of Eden.

Asked if the Bible is “literally true,” Bush said, “Probably not. No, I’m not a literalist. But I think you can learn a lot from it.”

Now, y’all know if Bush had voiced these same words about eight years ago, many evangelical Christians wouldn’t have voted for him. But here is the response of Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

“I am very grateful that we have a president who is a person of personal and deeply committed faith in Jesus Christ, but statements like these remind us that he is indeed commander-in-chief, not theologian-in-chief,” Land told Baptist Press. “I know the president, and he is a person of strong faith and has sort of a C.S. Lewis Basic Christianity kind of faith that is very deep and profound in his personal life, but he is not a theologian. In this particular instance, he is wrong. The Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is not Allah, and there are not many paths to God.”

Now if Bush can be seen as as “a person of personal and deeply committed faith in Jesus Christ” in spite of his controversial beliefs, can these evangelicals also support Barack Obama, who also is a Christian?

Andre C. Willis, an assistant professor of the philosophy of religion at Yale Divinity School, explored how Obama’s brand of Christianity may influence his leadership in an article on TheRoot.com.

First of all, this is what Obama said about his faith in Jesus Christ to Rick Warren, pastor and author of the best-selling book, ” The Purpose Driven Life,” during the campaign.

“Well, as a starting point, it means I believe in—that Jesus Christ died for my sins, and that I am redeemed through him. That is a source of strength and sustenance on a daily basis. Yes, I know that I don’t walk alone. And I know that if I can get myself out of the way that, you know, I can maybe carry out in some small way what he intends. And it means that those sins that I have, on a fairly regular basis, hopefully will be washed away.”

And for the record, Obama is also an evangelical Christian although some evangelicals may not know this or choose not to believe this truth.

All forms of evangelicalism share core tenets: a belief in the importance of personal conversion through Jesus Christ (salvation); the commitment to biblical activism (authority of the Bible, not reason or experience); and an investment in public morality (public witness). Where they differ is in their emphasis: progressive evangelicals strongly emphasize the suffering of Jesus and his political struggles against the social order, while conservative evangelicals are preoccupied with imposing “biblical” morality.

According to the article, Obama’s style of Christianity will be more progressive rather than conservative. Rather than focus on the rules and regulations brand of Christianity (a Pharisaical type if you ask me), he will focus on empowering the poor and disenfranchised.

So what do you think? Do you believe that Bush and Obama worship the same God? Do you believe that it is possible for both Bush and Obama to be Christians? Do you think the evangelicals that support Bush will also support Obama? What role do you think Obama’s faith will play in his leadership? Do you think that Jesus loves both George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama?

Any thoughts?