Blacks with Power| Make America Great through Black Power

Blacks with Power| Make America Great through Black Power

By Fr. Jabriel BallentineSociety & CultureReligion & SpiritualityEducationSelf-Improvement
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Blacks with Power| Make America Great through Black Power episodes

  • The Black Church: What Story & Song We Should be Singing?

    The oldest and the most BELOVED institution in the Black community is the Black Church. Tuesday, February 16, 2021, PBS aired a documentary called “The Black Church.” 

    One personal take-away of this documentary is that “white acceptance is something that Black people long for.” These words are from my personal tweet, @WWJimmieDo. Fr. Jabriel, @Jah_Bread, responded, “There’s a topic…lol.” 

    Any good documentary should provoke an honest conversation. White acceptance is something that is longed for in our BELOVED Black Church. Because of this, we celebrate our tradition while negating the trail that we are blazing for the next generation to come.

    What has the Black Church become? Is the Black Church moving our beloved community forward? Or, are we just simply celebrating the traditional heritage of the Black Church? 

    This is our exploration on this episode of Blacks With Power. After viewing this episode, share your thoughts and comments. What are your thoughts when it comes to the heritage of the Black Church? We invite you to watch and share.

    To ensure a deeper understanding of the Black Church, we offer the following resources:

    • Black Church and Black Radicalism by Gayraud S. Wilmore
    • The Negro Church in America / The Black Church Since Frazier by E. Franklin Frazier and C. Eric Lincoln
    • David Walker’s Appeal by David Walker

      • Some additional sources to consider:

      • The Black Church in the African American Experience by C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya
      • The Talking Book: African Americans and The Bible by Allen Dwight Callahan
      • Slave Religion by Albert J. Raboteau 
      • The Black Church: Relevant or Irrelevant in the 21st Century? by Reginald F. Davis
        • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1EnpFLHzbk&sub_confirmation=1
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      • Reimagining Black Lives While Resisting White Supremacy

        Zora Neale Hurston penned, “All your skin folk ain’t your kinfolk.” There are “skin folk” who continue to project whiteness in families, churches, and other institutions that is part of our community. The projection of whiteness dismembers and distorts the memory, vision and mission of the beloved community. 

        As we journey through Black History Month, we are constantly reminded of the terror of White Supremacy. From the period of Reconstruction to the Insurrection at the Capital Building, whiteness (White Supremacy) remains at the cultural center of our country, community, and companions (those who consider themselves kinfolk). 

        What does it mean for us to remember, return, and reconnect to our being as the beloved community? How do we embark on this journey of reclaiming ourselves and our community?

        This is our exploration on this episode of Blacks With Power. We are joined by Rev. Tyree Anderson, D.Min. He is the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Ensley, located in Birmingham, Alabama. He also hosts The Cutting Edge Clergy Podcast. After viewing this episode, share your thoughts and comments. What resonates with you as it pertains to reimagining ourselves free from the projection of whiteness?

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF7BxIXLTrE&sub_confirmation=1
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      • Re-Membering Ourselves or Being Remembered By Others – What is our Hope for Black History?

        What is Black History Month?

        What is its purpose? What should be its purpose? What is the best use of Black History, in these times?

        What are we remembering? What does it mean to “re-member?”

        As we enter Black History Month, in the wake of White Insurrection, it is time to reconsider our approach to our story and its usage. It might not be the best use of Black History as a means to “enrich American History.”

        Maybe it’s better to focus Black History on enriching the devalued and dismembered Black American? Better to use Black History for enriching the devalued and dismembered African people of the world…

        This is our exploration in this episode of Blacks with Power. After checking it out, what do you think? What needs to be remembered? Where should we be placing the emphasis of remembering and who should be most invested in this remembering?

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRUXABW8dsQ&sub_confirmation=1
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      • What Was Harriet Tubman’s Understanding of Unity?

        With all the talk of unity and unifying America in the Post-Trump Era, the real question is this:

        What do you mean by unity?

        What definition of self are you using to determine what is meant by unity? What version of self are you presenting for unification with White America?

        As a new Administration takes over and most folk prepare to go back to sleep, we wanted to explore these questions in this episode of Blacks with Power.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAUyMdtBq6c&feature=youtu.be&sub_confirmation=1
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      • Cultivating the Black Faith America Needs In These Times

        It’s wild…

        We recorded this hours BEFORE the mayhem that unfolded in DC on January 6, 2021. It wasn’t developed with this in mind. However, this was clearly in the Spirit that came upon us as we start this New Years journey as Blacks with Power.

        The Ancients would say: “A charge to keep I have…A God to glorify. A never-dying soul to save and fit it for the sky…”

        What is the role of the Black Church in these times?

        If we are indeed American like everyone else… If we indeed have a value to America that needs be appreciated…

        And if America is really & truly to “heal…”

        What is the Holy Call of the Black Church? And how do we cultivate the faith that would ensure the Mattering of Black Lives, such that our full Black selves might have efficacy in the transformation in the America unto A More Perfect Union?

        What is the faith we must have…what is the faith that is becoming of Beloved Community?

        Those are some of our questions in this episode of Blacks with Power. We’d love to hear your response to what we’ve presented!

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUSqkLu-0hs&sub_confirmation=1
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      • Gifts Across the Color Line to Make the Word Flesh in our midsts…
        We didn't plan on doing this episode, so I don't have a plan for a post. Yet, the Spirit spoke and we listened. So, we hope that you will too!
        It's rare that you'll see a white face on Blacks with Power. But, in this episode we're joined by my brother Fr. Cayce - with whom I host Racial Heresy (my podcast on Racial Reconciliation).
        Pr. Jimmie knows Fr. Cayce too...they are in the same cohort at the School of Theology at Virginia Union. So, there was a lot of laughter and irreverent discussion about race and dynamics across the color line, in this work of racial reconciliation.
        It's our gift to y'all. Inviting y'all into a discussion that neither you, nor our white audience for Racial Heresy get to see. Please let us know what you think!
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jFZtGeig4E&feature=youtu.be&sub_confirmation=1
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      • Prophets, Politicians…Prophets, Politicians: We Better Know the Difference…
        Prophets, politicians…prophets, politicians…
        We better know my difference!
        Cause like Push T, all I see is victims.
        https://youtu.be/crCFDQyfORM
        Victims of politicians pretending to be leaders. Victims of prophets compromising alone the Way like politicians…
        Both pulling one over on We the People because we fail to understand the difference in their roles. We misunderstand who should have what role. So, we allow politicians to shape the way we walk along this Journey to the Promised Land, and we expect prophets to conform to the way established by politicians.
        But, like President Obama said recently on Trevor Noah’s Daily Show, that’s not the role of a politician. But we expect the wrong things from them.
        Until we put politicians and prophets in proper perspective, we will remain lost in this wilderness. So, what is this proper perspective?
        How should we understand the role of politicians? And how do we put politicians in proper perspective?
        That’s our exploration in this episode of Blacks with Power. How do you think we ought to view and engage with politicians? Let us know in the comments.
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMJz2lojuuo&sub_confirmation=1
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      • Give Us, Us Grace to Bang our Heads Against the Wall
        What do we do when people are determined to continue banging their heads against the wall?
        Like, imagine walking up to someone who is repeatedly head-butting concrete…
        If you didn’t find him completely strange and just walk away…if you felt compassion for that man, and wanted him to not hurt himself…
        What would you do?
        He can’t hear you gently calling for him to stop. He can’t feel you tapping and shaking him to catch his attention.
        He’s too busy banging his head against the wall. He’s determined to band his head against that wall.
        But you know the danger of that process. So you forcibly restrain him. But as soon as you think he’s calm and you let him up, he returns to banging his head into the wall…
        What do you do?
        That’s what it feels like to minister to Black people. No matter how often our way fails to bring about the mattering of Black Life, we remain committed to that approach - banging our heads against the wall.
        I realizing that's not a slight against our people. Rather, it requires perspective and understanding...something I've learned from my failures as a father, which I shared after our episode. But, I think it helps give some perspective on where I'm coming from, so I share it (just) with you...
        https://youtu.be/-QU6htgpDrc
        But there’s some things I’m learning about all of this, for those of us that strive to help Black folk find that Promised Land where Black Lives Matter. And that’s what Pr. Jimmie and I discuss in this episode of Blacks with Power.
        Check it out and let us know: 1) how do you give Black people the grace to bang their heads against the wall of White Supremacy, and 2) what do you think has to happen for Black folk to stop banging their heads against that wall and be ready for something new - even if unproven?
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dT9JMJ7KSk&sub_confirmation=1
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      • Raphael Warnock, the Georgia Runoff & the Self-Castration of Black Identity
        We don’t talk about castration enough…
        But castration is a big part of the Black American identity. It’s why Rev. Jesse Jackson fantasized about cutting off Obama’s nuts. (His words…not mine… #NeverForget)
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkRdLEot6zE
        Don’t believe me? The scholars in our midst can read Prof. Dianne Miller Somerville’s work on “Rape, Race, and Castration in Slave Law in the Colonial and Early South.”
        The same fear of Black men that led to the rise of the KKK also encouraged the practice of castration. During the Nadir of American Race Relations, Black men and women were lynched and mutilated so their body parts could serve as souvenirs…relics of White Conquest. It was the anatomy of a lynching…
        The castration occurred to bear witness to the virility of the White Male and the undergirding of White Power.
        We tend to think that we’ve moved away from castration, as a society. We’ve evolved and we are beyond that.
        Now, we engage in self-castration.
        Now, Black men don’t have to be lynched in order to be castrated. The Society has been designed to compel Black men to castrate themselves. The Black community watches on, as a man castrates himself, and remains silent. We encourage the self-castration and then wonder why that man is ineffective.
        When will we stop allowing the self-mutilation of blackness?
        I think it takes an intentional effort by the Black Church for us to begin undoing our penchant for self-castration. That’s why I think the Senate race of Rev. Raphael Warnock is critical - especially in these times…
        The Georgia Runoff is happening immediately after President Trump was defeated…
        I know I don’t have to tell you that…
        I also don’t have to tell you that Trump has been by far the most vitriolic and offensive President of recent memory. There was a constant, open and explicit assault on Black Identity.
        In Western Civilization, who is supposed to defend the integrity and honor of a people that have been offended?
        Hence the purpose of castration…
        Immediately after the Trump Era, we need a Black Man to do what Barack Obama could not do.
        We need a Black Man to demonstrate the righteous indignation of a people that have been offended by another.
        Obama had it early on…in his candidacy. But when sermons from Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright popped up, White Power handed Barack the knife. He castrated himself, denied his faith and became President.
        He didn’t have much choice…
        It’s not like the Black Community was (proudly) standing back and standing by, making it clear that the establishment had no right to question his faith - nor the faith of Black people, shaped by our American sojourn.
        It’s not like Black Clergy mounted a defense of Black Faith, like “evangelicals” launched for Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
        So without cover…without guidance, Barack Obama didn’t have a choice. He took the knife…
        After that, it became impossible for him to ever take the stands we have wanted him to take on behalf of Black America. He had been forever rendered powerless in the arena set up by the White Man.
        And they’re doing it again with Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock.
        What will we do? What should we do?
        That’s our discussion on this episode of Blacks with Power. Check it out, and let us hear from you.
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1NGrzXBxX4&feature=youtu.be&sub_confirmation=1
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      • We Gotta Eat & other Heresies Preventing the Mattering of Black Life
        What do we do about heresy?
        Heresy?!?!? Who talks about heresy…
        Two lines in, I’m sure many have already stopped reading. Heresy is such a bad word…
        We don’t talk about it. So we damn sure don’t know what to do about it. We don’t consider how it impacts the Mattering of Black Life.
        But how can the essential and foundational mattering of a people - any people - be established when that people is unknowingly embracing heresy?
        The Apostles warned followers to be aware that heretics exist and that they are determined to come among the people in order to rebind them to the things, ways and people from which the Lord had freed them.
        But do we take heed of their warning? Do we even still believe their warning is anything more than allegory?
        Do we even still care that there are thieves in the temple?
        And if we don’t…what does it mean for the heresy that has crept into Black culture?
        That’s the focus of our discussion in this episode of Blacks with Power. What do you think of the role that heresy has - and is - playing in the problems we face as a people? We’d love to read your thoughts…
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOrBH2ocXXo&sub_confirmation=1
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