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Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate Films Political Ad in Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church During Martin Luther King Ecumenical Service…

Hello World,

You can always tell when it’s election season at my small church in southwest Atlanta…When random men or women start showing up and standing up boldly during the introduction of visitors portion of the service, you know that candidates are making their rounds throughout Atlanta’s black churches, ground zero of where to garner the black vote. Because our church is small, we know who is visiting and or campaigning. But’s that okay because the doors of the church are open to everybody and all political candidates are welcome from all parties as most churches, as 501(c)(3) organizations, will not back any particular candidate for any post.

But what has never happened and will likely never happen due to our size is a political candidate having himself or himself filmed while worshiping with us and using that footage for a political ad. Last week, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Evans released a video on her Instagram account in which she was shown worshiping at Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church during the Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Ecumenical Service held on the national holiday. With a bluesy harmonica version of “Life Every Voice and Sing” the black American national anthem, as the soundtrack, Evans was shown walking in the sanctuary with the door being held for her, speaking with people in the pews, with her eyes closed and head bowed down in prayer, clapping, etc. Ebenezer’s pastor Dr. Warnock was shown in the pulpit area, the “Songbird of the South” Dottie Peoples sang in a shot. And then the crescendo of the ad is when her visage fades as Dr. King’s likeness comes into full focus…The words “Bringing Hope Back to Georgians” is the final message. Don’t believe me? See the political ad for yourself below…

Even with permission, this ad would have not been the move…Oh, so you comparing yourself to Dr. Martin the Luther the King Jr. in Atlanta? Oh, so you orchestrated a civil rights movement that is responsible for many if not most of black America’s civil rights? Oh, so you won a Nobel Peace Prize? Oh, so you are on a par with a martyr?

I mean that is the implication by the end of the ad even if that was not the intent. While we may have our first black princess across the pond in Meghan Markle  in a few months, as comedian Rickey Smiley recently said on The Wendy Williams Show, there are three families who have achieved royalty in the black American community – the Kings, the Jacksons and now the Obamas. You would do well to steer clear of any of them in black America if you’re trying to get black votes…

But the clincher of this spectacle is that the Evans campaign did not get permission of Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church for filming this ad. Where dey do dat at? Don’t believe me? See the official statement for yourself below….

The black church is the ultimate in sacred spaces in the black community and to parlay that experience for political capital is already a tricky thing…When political candidates show up at my church, we already know that they are not necessarily there to worship and may not even believe what we believe and we not even see them again until the election season, but we welcome them anyway because we do want to get a sense of who may be running the community in which our church is located. But this ad has gone too far. Turn to your right and turn to your left and say, “Neighbor, don’t use me in your political ad without permission.” Smh…And Ms. Evans may be a great governor but if she keeps on like this, she likely won’t get there…

Any thoughts?

 

 

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Why Ciara & Pastor John Gray Are Right To Advise Single Ladies to Level Up…

Hello World,

I know that I’ve been gone for a few days. Due to a family emergency, my hubby and I ventured up north to last Tuesday and just got back on Sunday. And once I returned to my regular Internet habits, I was bombarded with the backlash that R&B star Ciara faced from single ladies over the weekend simply because of a snippet of a Pastor John Gray sermon that she tweeted. See the message that had black Twitter blazing below…

What about this is offensive? I don’t get it…but below are some of the criticisms that Ciara faced after she tweeted this sermon snippet…

From The Grio:

“All Gray did in that clip was plant the “Pick Me” seed—the belief that women who behave in a certain way are worthy of marriage over others (e.g., being a homebody, being ride or die, prioritizing a man’s needs over their own, etc.)—into insecure women, and that is extremely dangerous.

For women still on the search for themselves, this type of rhetoric morphs into their internal law, leaving them either desperately seeking love or feeling worthless in its absence. And what’s worse, the Black Church has been weaponizing scriptures like these to target those insecurities, manipulate women and make women more subordinate for years.”

From Twitter:

From The Real:

So I have a few thoughts about this criticism (obviously since I’m writing this post). First of all, ever since Ciara dared to leave her first child’s father Future, who has several children with several woman, and marry devout Christian football star Russell Wilson, she has been the subject of unfair scrutiny. It’s almost as if folk are incensed that Ciara did not resign herself to be among Future’s harem of women just because she gave birth to his child and decided to level up with a man who wanted to be committed to her and her alone. So I think some of this backlash can be attributed to jealousy. Plain and simple.

Now as far as the other criticism is concerned, Ciara felt the need to clarify her position after all of the response she received from her tweet. See her Instagram post below:

❤️

A post shared by Ciara (@ciara) on

Obviously, after what happened with Future, this woman had a “Come to Jesus” moment. To be honest, as I watched her date him (from press reports) before their son was born, I thought she was downgrading herself. I remember seeing some picture with her and several mothers of his children and I wondered why anyone would voluntarily sign up for that…It didn’t seem that she truly loved herself AND you have to truly love yourself before anyone, romantic connection or otherwise, can love you…Below is the pic…I think one of these women is Future’s sister but the rest are mothers of his children…SMH…

Now obviously Ciara wanted to get married AND be in a monogamous relationship, and there is nothing wrong to aspiring to that. Marriage and or monogamy aren’t for some people but this message is for those single ladies who want to have these experiences. Furthermore, being married or single should not be ranked. A married woman is not better than a single woman and single woman is not better than a married woman. However, when I was single and wanted to be married, someone casually mentioned to me that maybe I needed to curb my friendships with my male friends. I know this sounds drastic, but I thought about it. At one point, I had several male friendships that I had cultivated over the years. Some were strictly platonic and some had an undercurrent of flirtation. This person explained that I needed to literally create space for a husband and that having all of these male friends filled the space that a husband needed to fill. It made sense so I slowly stopped cultivating those friendships. I mean I would talk to them if they called, but I didn’t reach out anymore.  In sum, I wanted to be a wife so I acted like I was one before it actually manifested. I think a wife’s primary male friendship should be with her husband and vice versa for the man.

But love and romance isn’t the only field where we should level up. If you want to be in a certain career, for example, it is common knowledge that you should present yourself like you are already in that career. If you want to buy a home, you should conduct yourself as a homeowner by taking charge of your credit, saving, etc. If nothing changes, nothing changes!

Now some are saying that Pastor Gray is focusing on women when the sermon should focus on men and women. I get that. But I haven’t seen the whole sermon to know if he addressed men as well. I agree it can be annoying when some male ministers are constantly preaching to women about romantic relationships. But even outside of the church, women of all races are always the primary audience for romantic relationship messages. I mean, how many men do you know read romance novels or watch The Bachelor? It’s supply and demand at work. Now, this doesn’t mean that men should not be addressed in various areas when it comes to romantic relationships because they should, but judging after a snippet of a sermon is extreme.

So that’s all I have… Do you plan to level up like Ciara and Pastor John Gray advise?

Any thoughts?

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Birmingham Revolution: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Epic Challenge to the Church…

Editor’s Note: This is a repost but very relevant today…

Hello World,

TODAY is the official Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday! I hope wherever you are – whether at home or work or serving your community, I hope you pause to remember the dream of Dr. King and how he inspired the nation to come together in equality and peace…

One of my friends, Edward Gilbreath, who is an award-winning journalist and author, and the executive director of communication for the Evangelical Covenant church, wrote “Birmingham Revolution: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Epic Challenge to the Church” a book about Dr. King. Below is an interview with Gilbreath about his book.

Countless books and articles have been written about Martin Luther King Jr. over the years. What inspired you to share another perspective on King in “Birmingham Revolution?”

Edward Gilbreath: There’s a multitude of books about King and the civil rights movement, but I felt compelled to tell the story from the perspective of an African American evangelical who was born a year after Dr. King’s death. Many people from my generation and younger don’t always have a full picture of who King really was—his courage, his radicalism, his faith, his humanity. I wanted to shed light on these aspects of King and, above all, show the church that everything he did was driven by his Christian faith and values. I also think the evangelical community—especially the white evangelical community—has had an uneasy relationship with Dr. King over the years. They’ve wrestled with embracing his vision of racial and social justice but have struggled with accepting his progressive theology. And at times, they’ve used questions about his theology as an excuse for dismissing him altogether.

I want to show that King’s vision was actually more in tune with a complete understanding of the Christian gospel. That despite his failings as a flawed human being, he was operating out of a God-inspired, prophetic Christian vision of justice and reconciliation. Many evangelicals are just now catching up to what King was articulating fifty years ago. I hope Birmingham Revolution can be an entry way for many evangelicals to discover King anew.

What was significant about Birmingham as a stage for the civil rights movement?

Edward: In 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, was one of the most notorious strongholds of segregation and white supremacy in the South. It was a place described by King as “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States.” Not only were the public institutions, such as libraries, segregated but it was so severe that even books that contained photos of black rabbits and white rabbits together were banned from the library shelves. It was a city where bullets, bombs and burning crosses served as constant deterrents to blacks who aspired to anything greater than their assigned station of inequality.

There, in April 1963, King and his movement of nonviolent protesters staged a campaign that would transform America. The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a fiery Baptist preacher in Birmingham, had implored King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference associates to come to Birmingham and help the city’s black community confront segregation. He told them, “I assure you, if you come to Birmingham, we will not only gain prestige but really shake the country.”

He knew that if the movement could change things in Birmingham, it would reverberate throughout the nation.

How is “Birmingham Revolution” different than your mini ebook, “Remembering Birmingham?”

Edward: “Remembering Birmingham” focuses on the events of Birmingham in April 1963 while “Birmingham Revolution” takes a more extensive survey of King’s life, both before and after Birmingham. It’s a dynamic story, replete with action, drama and compelling ideas. I believe the Birmingham campaign was the touchstone for all that came before and all that would follow in King’s brief but remarkable thirty-nine years of life and ministry, and Birmingham Revolution will help readers understand why.

What was the significance of King’s “Letter from Birmingham”?

Edward: The Birmingham campaign started out slowly, but after King was arrested on Good Friday for his movement’s public demonstration on the streets of Birmingham, things began to change. While in solitary confinement, he was shown a newspaper op-ed column by eight moderate clergymen in Birmingham. While they supported civil rights for blacks, they felt King and his movement were going about it all wrong. They implored him to wait for the laws to take effect. But King believed the black community had waited long enough, they needed to take a stand and stir the conscience of Birmingham and of the nation.

His response to the op-ed was a passionate letter that spelled out the reasons why the movement couldn’t wait and pointed out the differences between just and unjust laws. He wrote the letter on the margins of the newspaper, on scraps of any paper he could gather, and when he ran out, he reportedly wrote on the toilet paper in his cell. After its publication weeks later, the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” would become one of the most lucid and convincing arguments for social justice and civil rights that we’ve ever had. What’s more, it was rooted in the theology and principles of the Christian gospel.

Why do you think King was more a “prophet” of social justice?

Edward: It’s easy to want to write Dr. King off as just a leader who gave a good speech. But in doing that, we risk missing the fact that he was vehemently disliked in his day and that as time went on he was becoming increasingly angry and impatient with the pace of change in the nation. Late in his life he wrote that, “Whites are not putting in a mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance.”

While he rejected the militancy of the Black Power movement, he understood the roots of its members’ discontent. As a Christian minister and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, King also felt compelled to speak out against the Vietnam conflict. This also served to land him on some of America’s “most hated” lists.  In all these cases, he was speaking out as a prophet of social justice. But that’s typically not the King that we choose to focus on today.

What do you hope readers take away from “Birmingham Revolution?”

Edward: I want people to discover the full humanity of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to move beyond viewing him as this gentle “I Have a Dream” character to seeing him as the prophetic and often radical Christian visionary that he was. I want people to discover and rediscover Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” as a message encompassing his holistic vision of the gospel lived out in everyday life. I want people to understand that the civil rights movement was indeed a Christian movement, birthed in the church by a grass-roots movement of ordinary men, women and youth who relied on the Holy Spirit and a gospel-inspired vision to rise to the challenge of confronting the social injustice in their daily lives.

I want my Christian readers to understand that Dr. King’s message continues to have relevance for the church today for our response to issues such as immigration reform, the public education crisis, inequalities in our criminal justice system or racial reconciliation. We are called to live out the truth of the gospel both as a call to personal salvation and social justice.

For more information about Birmingham Revolution: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Epic Challenge to the Church, Edward Gilbreath and other books he has written, go to edgilbreath.com.   

Any thoughts?