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What would
Jesus say about the treatment of the Indigenous American and African
people by the United States throughout our history? He might just
say "God Dam America" too. I know I will get angry emails defending the United States, no matter what anyone says. For these people there is no hope. They are doomed by their ignorance to a life of mindless flag waving, always fodder for anyone with a dark spirit, to use for fun and profit. I pray hopefully for their children, that they may be saved from the fate of repeating the mistakes out their fathers. It would be a sin against God to allow the racial hatred that has plagued this nation for so long to be rekindled by profiteers like the media giants and others. How long can we continue to incarcerate our disenfranchised young minorities before it bankcrupts us completly. Money spent on an overloaded Justice system, would be much better spent on education. An ounce of prevetion rather than a pound of cure, in the words of Franklin, a founding father that is oft neglected in the right wing retoric of today. The big problem with our current "get tough" strategy is we will have to release these young people from prison eventually. With no skills, do to our failing educational system, what will they do? Will we send them off to fight in wars for oil and other profit centers? We need only look at Iraq and Afghanistan to see the folly of this strategy, as oil hovers at $100 per barrel, the US dollar sinks in value and our reputation as a military superpower is undermined by the mismanagement of our resources here on our borders and well as overseas.. What will we tell our grandchildren when they ask "what happened to our once great country?". Will we be able to face them with the truth? "We spent all of our riches on prisons and wars, while tearing each other apart with racial infighting". We will most likely spin more self serving stories, like O'Reilly, Rush or Hannity are so apt to do now. For those with the capacity for reason, here is the dreaded word that you will never here on corporate Media, "restitution". Yes, the "R" word for ancestors of African slaves and it's not Reparations. Restitution, in the way of nominal payments to heirs of African slaves, recovered from existing heirs of slave holders and traders. This would be a simple legal mediation between the heirs of slaves and the slave traders, with little or no government interference and no cost to taxpayers. These payments could be scaled, some large enough to be punitive for wealthy heirs of slave owners and little or nothing in the case of lower income heirs of those who profited from slave trade. The payments will not add up to much in the scale of things, being a largely symbolic gesture. However, they would send a powerful message to those African Americans who feel bitterness toward whites. It is important to show that justice has been served and the guilty have been made to suffer monetarily, not just in words alone. This would also cut to the true root of this horrendous crime, the love of money. It was greed that fueled the explorers who killed native peoples, slave traders, Nazis and so on. Native Americans have been given restitution in the form of tribal lands. Jews have been given restitution by the German government for Holocaust crimes. Now it is time for African Americans to be given the same. What is the problem with that? It's only money, for the love of God, and there is the rub. By opposing such restitution, we are actually saying that we really do love money more than Justice, Country or even God. There is no doubt what The Sermon on the Mount is about, which is generally accepted as one of the best documented words ever spoken by Jesus. Greed and materialism, or the "love of of money" is the root of all evil. This is so clearly stated that it is impossible to misinterpret. Looking back on history, we see that this could be evidence of God's wisdom. He really did know that being pious would be the most overlooked and under emphasized part of the faith, because of the selfish nature of man. Jesus drove the money changers from the temple with a horsewhip. This was the only time the Bible depicts Christ ever "losing it" and acting out violently. Maybe that example dictates how we should deal with those who seek to profit at the expense of the poor and disenfranchised today. This includes the politicians, clergy and media companies who sow fear and discord among the children of God, for profit. I personally believe there is no way these wealthy entities who have profited from slaves in the past, as well as those promoting racial hatred today, could ever really believe in the God of the New Testament. Even with just a basic knowledge of the teachings of Christ, no true believer could live in opulence at the expense of the lower classes, when Jesus was so clearly against this. They better hope there is no God, for their sins and the sins of their fathers are many and grievous. God demands restitution for sins, as well as confession. Just saying "I'm sorry" is not enough, Jesus said "by thy works Shall ye be known". Lately, the works of our country make us look pretty bad, as is evident by the low opinion foreigners have of the US in all the polling done overseas. |