You say you want to send a message, one that pushes the US president to demand a ceasefire along the Gaza Strip. What you fail to realize is he’s not the one calling the shots, the Israeli president is. And he’s on a mission to reshape the region to benefit Israel alone, not create a two-state solution. Everyone agrees that Israel has a right to defend itself, but Palestinian citizens aren’t enemies, they’re neighbors. Stop targeting their homes, schools and hospitals. Target hearts, minds, souls on both sides of the ideological divide. Righteous words and deeds signify that persons have compassion for all in their hearts.
But now you’re reeling, from the impactful but nonviolent haymakers thrown in the 50s and 60s by Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mamie Till-Bradley, John F. Kennedy,, Nina Simone, Malcolm X, Ruby Bridges, Lyndon B. Johnson and others.
You, Conquering Oppressor, are trying to hide your depraved state of mind…
….body…
…and soul…
…by telling anyone who will listen that your actions were, and continue to be, permissible because of our skin color, our allegedly being members of a subordinate and inferior caste.
But all you’re doing now is hiding your crimes, the atrocities you committed, and continue to commit, against other human beings.
You know full well these crimes were, and are being, committed in the light of day to advance your priorities, enrich yourself and individuals that look like you, the ones who wear their whiteness like a badge of honor.
We see you.
Or better said, we see right through you, a soul devoid of compassion, an unwillingness to embrace us, your more compassionate neighbors.
Do you ask yourself why we, your compassionate neighbors, remain compassionate, neighborly?
Why we default to nonviolence when it is within our right to violently lash out at you?
I’ll tell you why.
We love you.
As siblings bound together by the blood of the risen Messiah, Jesus Christ.
And because our Lord and Savior is both merciful and transformative, we believe you have the capacity to change for the better.
Better means you, Conquering Oppressor, will come to recognize that your unrighteous acts are driven by hatred, buoyed by a superiority complex.
Better means you, Conquering Oppressor, cannot go it alone, that creating a more perfect union is an all-hands-on-deck proposition.
Better means you, Conquering Oppressor, must develop the capacity to love again, to be faithful to our God, kind to your neighbors.
We see that you’re repulsed by what we’re saying.
We see that you want to retreat to the silo that prevents you from hearing the wise counsel of the compassionate and the neighborly.
But actions speak louder than words.
That’s why we stand before you now, arms spread wide, waiting for you to step forward into our hearty embrace.
We see those tears, a testament to your newfound compassion wanting to see the light of day.
Take that first step, toward us, your compassionate neighbors.
Accept this kiss to your cheek as I accept the one you’re applying to mine.
Redemption feels good, doesn’t it?
Welcome to God’s More Perfect Union.
Copyright 2024 by Jeffery A. Faulkerson. All rights reserved.
Two words with different meanings but working toward the same goal.
The Literati say they are adjectives that modify nouns. I say they become active verbs when they are embodied in a person, in a people.
There have been protests, there have been marches. The one I think about most is the 1964 March on Washington, where the keynote speaker was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr.
This march produced results, specifically passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
But then there was the one in 1965, at Selma’s Edmund Pettis Bridge, where then Southern Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Chairman John Lewis and other black residents were beaten with sticks wielded by white police officers.
Bloody Sunday, they call it.
Black bodies bloodied by white lawmen, white lawmakers, for wanting to participate in the franchise – local, state and federal elections.
These are the marches I think about, the ones that resonate with me the most.
No, I wasn’t there. I arrived in 1968, 16 days before an assassin’s bullet ended Dr. King’s life.
Nor was I there in October 1995, when Louis Farrakan invited Black American men and their non-black allies to something called the Million Man March.
I may have not been present that day, a small speck among the sea of black men, but my spirit was. Watching this event play out on TV, I prayed that the nation would look past Farrakan’s fiery rhetoric to hear his admonishment to black men.
Black men, you must do more to stand in the gap for your black women, your black children, your American nation.
These marches had goals, righteous ones.
But then January 6, 2021, happened.
The Stop the Steal Rally.
An event organized by supporters of a former United States president.
The individuals who came to Washington that day weren’t compassionate or neighborly.
If anything, these insurrectionists were livid, driven by hatred for their fellow man, their fellow compatriots, all because their candidate had lost his bid to serve a second term as the United States president.
The question that we, members of the US electorate, must ask ourselves is what hope did these insurrectionists have in reclaiming something that had not been stolen?
Why didn’t they just stay home, accept the loss like so many others have done, support the peaceful transfer of presidential power?
That’s what the citizens of democracies are expected to do when voters duly elect a new leader to office.
But that begs another question.
How are we supposed to act in times such as these?
Times when absolute truths, facts really, are ignored, disregarded.
Times when news of candidates’ criminality, indiscretions, don’t disqualify them from running for political office but instead allow them to lead by double digits in their party’s statewide primary elections.
Times when marches led by the descendants of enslaved Africans are wrongly contrasted with one that served the purpose of one person, the defeated former president.
The Christian Bible admonishes us to do unto others as we would have others do unto us.
These united states of America can be great, but they can never be great again. That’s because they have never been great.
Enshrined in the United States Constitution is the pledge to create a more perfect union.
Why?
Because our Native Americans ancestors had their land stolen from them.
Because our Black American ancestors were enslaved and oppressed.
Because our Asian American ancestors were relegated to concentration camps on US soil during World War II.
Nothing great about denying people’s rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The fact is, I’m not better than you, and you’re not better than me.
We’re equals.
Equals that become better individuals, better unions, when we acknowledge the gifting that has been bestowed upon the other.
But we don’t stop there.
We also go out of our way to embrace and comfort others when the weight of the world weighs them down.
I am your Compassionate Neighbor, the guy who lives with his family next door.
Love me.
Work with me.
Pray with me.
March with me.
###
Copyright 2024, Jeffery A. Faulkerson. All rights reserved.
Did you know that only six percent of traditionally published books among U.S. authors are written by black people?
I didn’t either until one of the organizers of the BLACK WORD MAGIC Authors, Illustrators and Publishers Fair made me aware of this fact during a lengthy telephone conversation in early August 2023. For the longest time, I thought this percentage was much higher, largely due to the success achieved by authors like Alice Walker (The Color Purple) and Terry McMillan (Waiting to Exhale), as well as the late E. Lynn Harris (Invisible Life) and Eric Jerome Dickey (Milk in My Coffee) during the 1990s and early 2000s.
While I had no reason to doubt the BLACK WORD MAGIC organizer’s report, I had to uncover these facts for myself. That’s when I came across an online article, written by Dimitrije Curcic (May 12, 2023), titled Black Author Statistics.
Curcic writes that while the number of black authors among U.S. authors stands at 6.28 percent, the share of black authors among all U.S. authors increased by 19.29 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. “With this huge jump occurring in 2020,” Curcic writes, “black authors were able to recover their 2014 numbers when it came to their share among all authors in the country.”
So, does this mean traditional publishers are more willing than not to publish books written by black authors?
Maybe.
When I continued my reading of Curcic’s online article, I learned that:
Over 10,727 black authors and writers are currently in the US as of 2020.
2020 was great for black authors, as their number jumped by 20.38% compared to 2019.
This was also the first year in US history with over 10,000 black authors officially registered in the government database.
Before 2020, the number of registered black authors remained stagnant, hovering around 8,900 for several years.
Overall, since 2014, the number of black authors has increased by 21.88%, but it’s important to point out that basically all of these gains occurred solely during 2020.
The first question we black authors must ask ourselves is, “What costs must we pay to become published authors?” After this question has been answered, we must then determine if the black author-written books currently being sold are written in such a way as to not make white people feel uncomfortable. Knowing the latter will let us know whether the publishing industry continues to allow white prejudice, racism, discrimination and bias to determine which titles are worthy of traditional publication.
The Big Five Publishers – Penguin/Random House, Hachette Book Group, Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster and Macmillan – are not oblivious to the well-funded movement among white American conservatives calling for the banning of books promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. They also aren’t oblivious to this assertion by white American conservatives that American teachers are teaching Critical Race Theory when they reference history specific to black Americans’ struggle for freedom, equal rights and protections under the law. I write this because the publishing industry, just like the Oscars, has always been so white, seemingly suppressing black narratives so members of the white majority won’t be offended.
But know this: white audiences want to read these black narratives. The enlightened members of the white majority want to understand our struggle so they can work with us Blacks to right their white ancestors’ wrongs. More than anything, at least two-thirds of them want to stop the practice of harboring prejudice and bias toward us Blacks, for they know a focus on others (Blacks and other nonwhites) rather than themselves, their racial group, is the key to helping the American union become more perfect.
That’s why the banning of black books and the censorship of Black History are wrong. We Blacks did not achieve victories during Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ’60s to see a small group of unenlightened, white American conservatives cry foul about how these books and this history make K-12 children and adolescents hate their country. Truly concerned white adults recognize these statements for what they are – lies – and should want their children to read black books and learn Black History so their children can get in touch with their selfless selves. The selfless self demands that one do unto others as he or she would have others do unto themselves. In the words of singer Aretha Franklin, all we Blacks want is a little respect, public displays of sacrificial affection.
But as I sat at my vendor booth at the BLACK WORD MAGIC Fair, watching avid readers of all racial hues flip through the pages of their next great black reads, I concluded that more work needs to be done to get black books into the hands of a diverse group of readers, including Whites. While we black authors have an obligation to write stories that speak to black people’s experiences in America, the fact still remains that many of us black authors just want to produce content that entertains, educates and enlightens.
There are a number of black-owned and operated publishing houses. I found 191 of them on Troy Johnson’s African American Literature Book Club site. Johnson didn’t apply a ranking system to these entries (he organized them in alphabetical order), but ever since I started writing professionally, the ones that I have been hearing about the most are Third World Press, Just Us Books and Triple Crown Publications.
That’s why I’m a fan of the African American Literature Book Club. Johnson created aalbc.com as a place where readers can go to discover books written by both traditionally published and independently published black authors.
The administrators of the Black Writers Collective are committed to helping us members share and help each other become published authors through a mutual exchange of resources, insights, and sharing of experiences from which we grow.
Founded in 1990 by author Marita Golden and cultural activist Clyde McElvene, the Hurston/Wright Foundation offers in-person summer workshops, virtual courses and award ceremonies that celebrate and amplify black literary voices. Named after esteemed authors Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright, both Golden and McElvene believed more needed to be done to promote and honor African American authors.
But the black-owned and operated company that has been most responsible for helping me get the word out about my books is BlackPR.com. Founded by business entrepreneur Dante Lee nearly 25 years ago, BlackPR.com offers the most extensive press release distribution to the Black media that I have seen, and has served over 5,000 clients.
That being said, while it is true only six percent of traditionally published books among U.S. authors are written by black people, the fact remains that we black people are never going to stop writing, sharing our individual and collective truths. If we have the audacity to call ourselves creative writers, our intent is to produce written works that entertain, educate and enlighten. Once our written works have been produced, it is our hope there will be readers standing at the ready to support our efforts with their dollars.
Clint Smith’s book How the Word Is Passed bids readers to reckon with the history of slavery across America, but after I read it, I concluded that it does so much more. In an era in which white American conservatives are championing campaigns to suppress black American history and stymie contemporary black American progress, it is a gut-check reminder that Black Americans’ struggle for life, liberty and happiness is far from over. If anything, it’s only the beginning.
Smith trope’s is important to remembering the treacherous road we Americans have traversed just to get to a place where we can even consider the importance of treating each other with decency and respect, regardless of skin color. While it is true that white Americans subjugated black Americans during the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the post-Reconstruction Jim Crow era, and the governmental leaders of these bygone eras tried to make amends for this original sin through the passage of legislation, the fact still remains that too many contemporary white Americans believe that enough has been done to correct their white American ancestors’ original sin.
What Clint Smith makes clear in How the Word Is Passed is that today’s unenlightened segment of the white American majority is committed to perpetrating campaigns designed to suppress inconvenient truths about the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the passage of post-Reconstruction Jim Crow laws. This historical suppression is in line with the conservative Republican Party’s voter suppression in states controlled by Republican governors and legislatures. And they’re using the removal of Confederate statues in places like Richmond and Charlottesville to condition white Americans to rally around whiteness by falsely telling them that the removal of these statues is an affront to what their white American ancestors have built, these United States of America.
But if they would start taking this line of thinking a few steps further, and understand what Clint Smith is getting at when he explains to us how the word is passed, they would recognize that the true change-makers and entrepreneurs were the enslaved Blacks whose uncompensated labor laid the foundation for what this nation is becoming, a more perfect union. In other words, the United States of America was built on the backs of enslaved black Americans. And the only way to truly perfect this union is to acknowledge their white American ancestors’ crimes against other human beings (black Africans), offer contemporary black Americans an apology for their white American ancestors’ crimes against other human beings (black Africans), and compensate the descendants of enslaved black Africans for the next 400 years through reparations. More importantly, though, contemporary white Americans must believe wholeheartedly that all men, humans really, “are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Know this, the word that my black African ancestors passed to members of the contemporary Black American Diaspora is that we should use our righteous words and deeds to light the way to the kind of enlightenment that allows all of us to become a reconciled nation of equals.
By now, many of you are probably wondering why I decided to create a blog titled The Culture Code. The title has a lot to do with the name of my company, Culturally Coded Content. Through this company, I have been able to independently publish three books, Adinkrahene: Fear of a Black Planet, Real Men Raise CHAMPIONS: Unleashing Your Inner COACH and Young Achiever Playbook: Planning to Achieve.
While my company was created primarily to produce written projects that educate, entertain and enlighten, I know who I am, a Black man with strong thoughts and feelings – opinions – about the issues of the day. Consequently, I knew I couldn’t remain silent as I watched dark, evil forces suppress full expressions of the spiritual fruit, i.e., love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I found myself becoming upset at the news media for ignoring the message of peaceful protestors boldly proclaiming, “Black Lives Matter,” preferring to sensationalize the antics of looters and rioters instead. Like many of you, I know members of the news media are being used by these dark, evil forces to spread messages of hate, injustice and chaos. But what they don’t seem to fully comprehend is the lengths these dark, evil forces will go to discredit the Black Lives Matter Movement specifically, the Civil Rights Movement generally. The dark, evil forces seem to have initiated a well-funded and coordinated campaign to cast their agents as the good guys, peaceful protestors as evil.
But we all know how this story ends. When all is said and done, good will always prevail over evil. Good prevails because harboring hatred for one’s neighbor gets old after a while. We humans were created by God the Father, in his image, to be in relationship with each other. He has also gifted us with the ability to be compassionate for earthly brothers and sisters who are being mistreated for just living in the skin they’re in. But the tone that is being set by these dark, evil forces is changing the temperature in the room, causing us to be less compassionate. Instead of creating a more perfect union, some of us want to dredge up the same selfish sentiments from sixty years ago to make America great again.
But why? Why are so many U.S.. citizens allowing the dark, evil forces to lead them down a rabbit hole? I believe it has a lot to do with changing demographics wrought by the browning of America.
Conservative Republicans are seemingly losing their minds because of it, believing they will never win another presidential election due to their apparent disdain for votes from Black Americans and other persons of color. And after voters elected Barack Obama, a Black American man, as the Leader of the Free World for two presidential terms, they thought their fates were sealed. They were, but the darkest, most evil agents in their ranks weren’t about to go down without a fight. They seemingly are in the midst of a last-ditch effort to rig the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government for themselves. By inserting their people in high-ranking government positions, some of them being lifetime appointments, they could at least ensure their futures are a little more hopeful.
Unbeknownst to them, their calculated crimes against humanity are going to be costly.
Right now, we have a generation of children and adolescents who are being victimized by these dark, evil forces. As these young people watch the six o’clock news with, or without, their parents, they listen to the dark, evil forces’ champion talk about “dominating the streets” in an effort to deny U.S. citizens their First Amendment Right to free speech. They listen as the dark, evil forces’ champion says, “It is what it is,” when answering questions about how he feels about the more than 150,000 COVID-19 deaths that have occurred on his watch, not Barack Obama’s, George W. Bush’s, Bill Clinton’s, George H.W. Bush’s, Ronald Reagan’s or Jimmy Carter’s. And they watch as the dark, evil forces’ champion walks around in public spaces without a face covering or regard for his proximity to others. In their minds, if he can behave this way as a 74-year-old Caucasian male, they should be able to do the same.
I still want to entertain, educate and enlighten, so I guess my The Culture Code blog can be seen as a much-needed addition to my portfolio. Just know, my intent is to promote love not hate, justice not injustice, peace not war. We have to be more sensitive to the wrongs that are occurring in our culture, acknowledge how the dark, evil forces want us to fuss and fight rather than kiss and hug. I don’t know about you, but COVID-19 has shown me just how much I took these kisses and hugs for granted. When I am once again able to kiss and hug my loved ones, there’s no doubt I will be more appreciative.
Know this, though. At the end of the day, we are family, a human one, united for all eternity by the Blood of Christ if we have love for God and neighbor in our hearts.
J.A. Faulkerson 