I once taught a class called something like "The African American Religious Experience." I loved the class. For the text we used a couple of slave narratives, such as Olaudah Equiano's and Frederick Douglass. Equiano's narrative is one of the oldest slave narratives. It contains an account of his kidnapping and capture: heart wrenching. An underlying theme in his account is Christianity, and how can Christianity defend its complicity and active participation in slavery? He was much too cultured to openly say this, but rest assured, as calm and oblique as his criticisms are, he lays it on hard.

Douglass, I find really sad. This is quite simply a man that is not honored enough. Douglass' narrative rotates around two phrases, in the first part of the book, he talks about "How the man became an animal." In the second part of the book, he talks about "How an animal became a man." What actually happed was that he was sent to a "slave breaker" for his intractable ways. But one day in a barn he got into a fight with this guy and they fought for a long time and Douglass kicked his tail. Of course, the guy could not say anything because that would ruin his reputation and livelihood. So from then on, he showed Douglass deference.

While Equiano is the intellectual Godfather of Black liberation theology, in that he set out to show that an African was just as good and even better Christian than his slave masters. He also, through his life showed that he was man capable of clear cogent and trenchant thinking, was cultured and was no beast. Blacks have souls. That was his approach.

Douglass is the heart of Black liberation theology. The man was a minister, but he gained his freedom through trickery and he liberated himself by fighting. Blacks will fight for freedom, was Douglass' heritage. An example of Douglass manipulative actions was this. At the house of his slave master was the wife and a child his age. The mistress of the house would then teach both boys their letters, but the master found out and forbade it, "Give the negro an inch he takes a mile." And then this sweet lady turned on him like nobody's business. Anyway, Douglass knew then that reading was key to his fight and so he tricked the white kids into teaching him how to read. He would dare them or make fun of them for not being able to identify a letter or read a word drawn in the sand and of course they would respond by giving the correct answer and by and by, he learned to read.

Anyway, from these two giants and leaping over many other giants, we come to Dr Martin Luther King and Malcomn X. Both men fascinate me to no end. I know a great deal less about Malcom X, but enought to admire his self honesty, which is what I believe is key to life.

As for Dr King, as much as I have tried to "humanize" him, by noting his flaws like his dreadful liaisons with women or the plaigerizing of his dissertation (from what I understand), I can't but greatly admire him. The letter from a Birmingham jail, I think, deserves the praise it gets. It is a great case of putting so much learning to use, to making it count. I get goose bumps everytime I read something from him or I hear him speak.

Last year, I has reading through many of his speeches and I assure you, this guy is not a one hit wonder. His rhetoric, depth of thought, style,memory, erudition, is wonderful. As a side note, preaching in the Black community is about beauty. It is not about delievering content, but beautiful content beautifully. One interesting thing about MLK was that his rhetoric was high, he would quote clearly from people that his audience probably knew nothing of, and he would reference things like the greek poets and philosophers. But there was that "thing" that could communicate what he was saying even to those who were without the academic background. In reading his speeches, I always got the chills.

Besides his life, I think he solidified his role as a prophet for our times when he gave that Memphis speech, "I have been to the mountain top, and I have seen the prommised land. I may not get there with you . . ." The next day he was assasinated.

Today, that dream remains a dream, for many, a nightmare. More black men in prison than in college. The gains made during the Civil Rights era are being peeled back one by one like an onion, spearheaded by Republicans. I often tell people who tell me that racism is something in the past and things are better now. I ask, "People hated Blacks one day, the next day Blacks get Civil Rights, what then? Do you think people placed those feelings on a shelf and walked away?" No. It went underground. Blacks can no longer be lynched, but whatever drove that hatred is still there and manifests in different ways. A law does not a heart reform.

A quick final note. The Church is not immune to this, in fact, I think the problem is worse in the Chruch. There is something particularly "Christian" about the American experience of racism. One reason I began to distance myself from the "Church" was that I would not sit down to eat with racists in a secular context, why then, on God's green earth, would I sit down to the same table of the Lord with racists within the Church, racists the Church embraces? As long as they are "faithful" and "orthodox" their racism is fine, it's just a tiny flaw that will go away some day.

Anyway, I've always prized self honesty and we all need to ask ourselves what is within. It is painful process, I had to do it in respect to women and I have viewed them. We all have do that privately and honestly and don't tell anyone the results. Dig deeper and find out the why's, that is key to this dream.

As usual, stream of consciousness, no thread, but that's the title of the blog.