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Social conservatives are making a strong push to lure African-Americans by exploiting the same-sex marriage issue. According to the Los Angeles Times, white preacher Lou Sheldon hosted a right wing meeting of 70 black religious leaders in L.A.
Unbelievably, Sheldon played an anti-gay video featuring disgraced Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. Remember, Lott recently got into hot water for publicly pining over Strom Thurmond not winning the presidency as a Dixiecrat. This revival of white rednecks preaching to black rubes is part of a series of such events across the nation. It certainly goes to show that bigotry can be color blind.
The brilliant columnist, Leonard Pitts, Jr., skewered these duped dimwits and took these preachers to task for aligning themselves with traditionally hostile foes. According to Pitts:
Let me point out something that ought to be obvious: Social conservatism has never been a friend to black people....Once upon a time, those folks called themselves Southern Democrats. These days, they are Republican religious conservatives. Not that it matters. What's important is the simple fact that the traditional values position on matters of specific importance to African Americans has never once been validated by history. Whether the issue was slavery, segregation, lynching, voting rights or housing discrimination, social conservatives have always taken a position that history later judged to be ignorant and flat-out wrong. They have a similarly abysmal track record with regard to women's rights and anti-Semitism.Which leaves me at a loss to understand why any African American possessed of a functioning brain would give this atavistic bunch the time of day.
I couldn't have said it better myself! Furthermore, if this unholy alliance actually takes root and ensures a GOP majority, there will be terrible consequences, as abysmal economic and social policies decimate the poor and middle class. The African-American preachers that helped to bring about these detrimental changes, simply to satisfy their hatred of gay people, should be held accountable. If the GOP guts the New Deal, these political preachers will be first in line for the blame.
3 Comments:
The above just proves that the general level of consciousness in most of the human race is still well below sea-level. When will people get it through their thick primate skulls that you dont have to 'approve' of someone to afford them their diginity and equal rights under the SECULAR law. I believe that the 'christian' taliban and the duped black ministers are sooo obsessed with homosexuals right now because they have no other easy scape goats to project all their internal psychic poison and misery on. Like Hitler said, "if I didnt have the Jews, I would have had to invent them". I assume they believe that if they are compassionate towards gay people God will somehow 'punish' them; which begs the question, if that were true, why are the intensely religious states (the red ones; nee redNECK ones) also the most financially, culturally and intellectually impoverished; while the 'liberal' states and indeed countries like the Netherlands and Belgium which HAVE gay marriage, are living in peace, prosperity,cultural and educational richness. I'm totally in favor of TRUE spirituality, but organized religions, especially the right wing nuts, must rid themselves of these ancient, disproven and illogical superstitions. Gary in NJ
posted by Anonymous, at
2/09/2005 12:08 PM
Though Pitts' work in the past has not held a friendly approach to gays,I admire his stance against those preachers within his race. A southern individual already knows the far reaching policies of a black caucus, and those polices have never included gays. The majority of southern religious blacks vote on the basis of religion only. It reads like a White man's written dislike of black clergy; however, it's documented fact found among every polling district and organization of the southern states. How many of us know an African-American who slides under the sheets on the "down-low but then attends church the following Sunday?" The African-American gay community is largely held at bay by religious fear. They have remained silent in the gay community of Atlanta's fight against the Concerned Black Clergy's attacks on gays (ie: Creflo among others). Pitts' column is correct with regard to the hypocrisy of a White Religious Right-Wing's spooning African-Americans in the name of votes. The Republican party has never, and will never support an African-American's plight from poverty to productivity unless that individual is a sports celebrity who generates an outragous income from Advertising. It is high time our African-American gay brothers and sisters unite in the fight against organized religion used as battle-ground fear-tactics for elections and social issues. A united gay community, one of all races, creeds, and genders will succeed in winning our equality. But small steps in ridding our country of religious bigotry by uniting locally and rising above such hatred is where we should all open to page one and BEGIN!
