Revolutionary Jesus: Why Whiteness can't call African Angels

 

I am so glad that I expanded my understanding and embraced the revolutionary Jesus over 15 years ago. We as believers lose some of the potency of his message and earthly work when we view him only through the docile lens that White Supremacy afforded us. Understanding that his presence on earth was fueled by a mission of liberation for folks both here on earth as well as in the afterlife frees us up from a "cheap grace" that hinders us from advocating for a better world. Revolutionary Jesus was never on the side of Empire. He never sided with those who oppressed. He never agreed with dogmatic religious legalism. 

Revolutionary Jesus is the Jesus of Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner, and Denmark Vessey. Revolutionary Jesus is the Jesus of John Brown. As America forges into a new era with old, familiar underpinnings, I encourage all Christians, but especially Black Christians, to throw out the "cheap grace" that Dr. James Cone spoke of and learn more about and embrace Revolutionary Jesus. #Selah

 

"The cross has been transformed into a harmless, non-offensive ornament that Christians wear around their necks. Rather than reminding us of the “cost of discipleship,” it has become a form of “cheap grace,” an easy way to salvation that doesn’t force us to confront the power of Christ’s message and mission." ~Dr. James H. Cone

A Lamentation - Day 7

The way police officers act toward unarmed black people protesting,

The way border patrol acts with folk at the southern border,

The way “self deputized” citizens weaponize the police against their neighbors of color,

The way the so called “appalled” stay silent as they feign outrage.

This is why I never believed the “I was just doing my job” stories I’ve read and heard from WW2 history.

You can’t just do your job and not believe in it,

When your job is egregious and genocidal.

"I was just following orders." and "I was just doing my job." 

Are the most used phrases of the morally bankrupt, 

who seek to justify the unjustifiable.

Selah

*Photo by TRT World

A Lamentation - Day 4

Honestly, they’re lucky it took this long to happen.

How long did they expect to continue to abuse us.

It’s already been way too long.

Truthfully, who cares about these corporate wares they charge us too much for anyway.

They were probably made by the hand of some brown child for far below a living wage,

Or some falsely, wrongly, excessively convicted person because slavery is still legal if you’re a “criminal.”

Seriously, what else can we do at this point.

Talking, reasoning, and appealing to a better nature that most likely doesn’t exist has gotten us nowhere.

So all we have left is unbridled rage.

Surely, the Daughters of Revolution understand this position.

I mean didn’t their ancestors reach the same conclusion and set that British ship ablaze.

Well it’s our turn now to declare liberty or death.

“And before I’ll be a slave I’ll be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free.”

*Photo from NY Daily News

A Lamentation - Day 3

I’m 47 but this tired I feel is 400 years old

Way too many years asserting our humanity

To have it still be disregarded.

Too much information for the willfully obtuse to claim ignorance

Way too many dead for way too many generations for it not to be purposeful.

This is not a happenstance

There is no glitch in the programming

This inequity is by design

This is genocide.

So, do you think I care if property is destroyed?

Why not burn down what we’ve built brick by brick

But have never been able to fully enjoy?

We just want a chance to live into our full humanity

And like Fannie Lou said,

“If we can’t have it, then you ain’t gon’ have it either.

They know what they’ve done to us.”

A Lamentation – Day 2

If I die by the state, don’t let them speak lies of me.

Don’t let them smear my name.

If they dig up obscure truths of me,

Weave them into the beautiful tapestry of my life,

And paint my flaws with the brush of humanity.

Don’t settle for termination.

Don’t acquiesce to a quiet slip into anonymity.

Don’t take an apology rooted in complicity and not contrition.

DO NOT offer forgiveness before there is justice.

Shake the city to its foundation

Rock the nation at its core

Let them feel the rumble of your collective lamentation

Let no mind sleep. Let no heart rest.

My family who loves me, Speak for me.

My sisters in the struggle, mobilize the people.

Those who do justly and walk with God, Put your faith into action.

Those who use their pen as swords, tell them my story.

If I die by the state, I’ll be far from the first

But do not let them diminish its significance.

Every one of our lives matters.

Despite what they say, Our lives matter.

A Lamentation - Day 1

Sleep comes slowly if at all when a heart is pierced.

And what thoughts ramble through a listless mind robbed of rest?

Maybe that is the entire goal,

To rob us of the creativity that has us survive in spite of it all.

To convince us that we are powerless,

as they siphon our power to uphold their devious systems.

Look how grand we are even in the face of oppression.

They can not bear the thought of our grandeur if we were totally free.

More importantly, they can not profit from our genius.

White supremacy is the enemy of progress

How many of the world’s answers are burdened under its boot?

What liberatory advances live weighted down,

In American Ghettos, Caribbean Shanty Towns, African Refugee Camps?

What new worlds sit dormant behind the words “I can’t breathe?”

The problem is not us. It has never been us.