Brexit, Black Republicans, and Faith: Just Thought You Should Know 6/24/16

I love and appreciate you Pastor, but I think you're wrong.

What do you do when your spiritual leader's politics are not congruent with your own?  This week as we mark the anniversary of the Emanuel AME Church massacre, I find myself at a special crossroads. My pastor, Rev. A.R. Bernard Sr., pastor of Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, NY, revealed this week that he is part of an "evangelical advisory committee" for the Republican presumptive presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump.  Pastor Bernard and 19 other evangelical leaders, including the ultraconservative former Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, met with Trump on Wednesday in New York, at his request, to discuss various matters of faith and policy before a larger meeting with over 1,000 church leaders.  While not giving his explicit endorsement (it was not required by the Trump campaign to sit on the board surprisingly) Pastor Bernard says he came away from the meeting "impressed" with Trump's sincerity and seemingly dismissed some of Trump's verbal flip flops as him being merely "inarticulate."  He appeared on several news talk shows including Roland Martin on NewsOne , Fox & Friends, and his weekly guest spot on Sirius XM  to explain his position but, and I say this respectfully, I personally find that position troubling.

Trump presents one of more uncomfortable tables for the Christian conservative movement to come to in recent politics. It’s not only his personal story that poses problems, filled as it is with unscrupulous business practices, two tumultuous divorces, and prior liberal leanings on topics like abortion. It’s his current policy portfolio, too. The two immovable pillars of Trump’s presidential campaign are opposition to undocumented immigrants and a fierce rejection of refugees from the Middle East. Those happen to be two of the occasional break points between the religious right and the Republican Party.  -- Trump's New Evangelical Advisors Neither Love Him Nor Hate Him.  They Just Want Him To Listen, Sam Stein, Huffington Post 6/22/2016

Pastor's argument on SiriusXM (unfortunately I can't post the link but it's 6/24/16 edition of "The Armstrong Williams Show" On Demand if you subscribe to XM) is that the neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have done anything for the African-American community so maybe something different is required.  Disappointingly, I heard the usual talking point trotted out to explain why Pastor Bernard, as a card carrying Republican, would be open to a candidate who has spent most of his public life living in opposition to the very values he lives by as a man of faith.

"He's not your typical Republican."

He also made the argument that evangelicals must make character compromises sometimes for candidates who do not have the sterling family record of a Barack Obama, who is still as scandal free as the day he was the elected.  To be fair, he doesn't explicitly defend Trump's most outrageous ideas, like banning Muslims from entering the United States, but he walked a fine enough line with his words to avoid outright condemning Trump for anything.  He didn't hesitate, however, to criticize Hillary Clinton for her husband's infamous "3 strikes" legislation that sent black incarceration rates soaring and on Roland Martin's show, bring up Bill Clinton's infidelity as a moral measuring stick to contrast Trump.  Both are notorious womanizers but neither of those points, in my opinion, can be tied to Mrs. Clinton since she wasn't even a politician in 1994 when 3 strikes became law and penalizing her candidacy for the sexual sins of her husband is wrong.  There are plenty of other, more legitimate criticisms, like the debacle in Beghazi during her tenure as Secretary of State, the e-mail scandal that won't go away, lying about coming under sniper fire in Yugoslavia, voting to go to war in Iraq as a Senator in 2002, and using racism in her campaign against Barack Obama in 2008. 

Look a Sniper! (Photo: Washingtonpost.com)

Neutrality is something Pastor doesn't believe in.  He likened it to being dead in the opening monologue to his radio show this week, but I'm not sure if Pastor realized not only the level of backlash he would receive, but how even granting an audience with Trump, a man who tried to openly sway the black vote earlier in this campaign by meeting with 100 black pastors and failing miserably to get their endorsement, would influence his congregation.  To reiterate, Pastor has not given Mr. Trump his endorsement but there are people who would vote for a cactus if their pastor stood next to one.  Conversely, mistrust of the church is at an all time high and while I'm sure he sits on that advisory board to preach a prophetic word to a potential president, Pastor's party affiliation (R), Trump's track record, his fellow pastors doing things like buying jets at their congregation's expense, and covering up immoral scandals, have even the most devout believers questioning the motives of their leaders.  Does that mean he shouldn't have met with Trump?  If you asked me yesterday I'd have told you he should have slammed the door in his face.  Today?  I can understand why you would want to be at the table in the unlikely event he does become President.  Being an advocate for issues specific to people of color is essential in the halls of power where we are too often forgotten about or subject to laws that are based on stereotypes, not reality.  It probably just disgusts me that it might be Trump's table in November.

Trump retweeted falsehoods like this repeatedly during the primary

Trump is loathed by most people of color and except for the few he finds useful to further his own agenda, the feeling seems mutual.  All of his African American outreach efforts up to now have come across as pandering rather than actual engagement.  Changing that was Pastor's stated goal for attending.  However, Trump's pattern of behavior suggests that not only will he ignore what these Men of God have to say but he'll use this meeting as a wink and a nod to evangelicals across the country without having to actually change anything about himself, his policies, or his politics.  For the latest examples just look to his statements about the Orlando night club shooting, where he made sure to take credit for "being right" before he offered any condolences to the victim's families.  Yesterday, he held an hour long press conference, praising the success of Brexit while touring his golf course, as a win for Britain because it mirrored his own plan for the United States.  Brexit, or British Exit, if you weren't aware, is a referendum in which the UK voted to leave the European Union.  Their decision to leave the organization after 43 years, unfortunately, was driven largely by opposition to the EU's immigration policy of accepting Syrian refugees and the short term economic pain will be excruciating for the working class Brits who voted for it.  We saw a small taste of that economic pain yesterday when the British Pound crashed post vote, instantly wiping out years of national wealth.  Long term, Britain has an even tougher road ahead as the current Prime Minister, David Cameron, immediately announced his resignation effective this October.  His successor could possibly being the bigoted former mayor of London Boris Johnson who was a leader in the campaign to leave and is literally the British version of Trump.  Also, they're now directly competing with the EU for foreign trade agreements and their young adults will now require visas to work anywhere else in Europe which will ultimately cost them even more jobs, likely sending their economy into a deep recession.  There is evidence to suggest that most voters didn't truly understand what they were even voting for as the Washington Post reported that the most Googled phrase in England yesterday was "What is the EU?"  Maybe it is  a preview of what will happen if Trump is elected. Anti-intellectualism at its finest, folks.  Are we going to allow racism to rob us of our future too?

The fact that the Donald is close enough to the Presidency that the man I look to for a spiritual perspective felt the need to grant him an audience is nauseating.  It's as if people expect Donald Trump to morph into a respectable presidential candidate when he's shown again and again and again and again exactly who he is.  It's the crux of his appeal.  I understand the desire for change.  I understand that there are millions of people angry with the direction this country is going right now.  I felt it when I pulled the lever for President Barack Obama in 2008.  More specifically, I understand that the Clinton's track record when it comes to black folks is spotty at best and the "lesser of two evils" thought process we usually use to decide is tougher than ever before.  I'm not sure what the solution is, but I know Trump's policies would be disastrous for the country economically, socially, and politically.  Starting a trade war by taxing imports, building a wall along the Mexican border, and trying to extort payments from our allies will not bring the secure manufacturing jobs of the past back to our shores.  Globalization, as the UK will find out, is something you can't turn back the clock on.  Attempting to do so, instead of preparing for the economy you actually live in, is literally cutting off your nose to spite your face.  Ironically, this is when I would listen to Pastor to see what his views were but after this week, I realize that maybe the bigotry and isolationism is exactly what the people want.  Maybe the dream of a multi-cultural society is just that.  A dream.  Maybe, I really just need to pray for God's will to be done, ensure me and my family are OK and stop placing my faith in anything or anyone other than Him. 

...Til next week.

Je Suis un Parisien Aujourd'hui

I am a Parisian today.  Yesterday as I was leaving work, headed for a well deserved dinner with my family after a long week I glanced a headline flashing across my Bloomberg.

18 DEAD AFTER EXPLOSION IN PARIS.

I admit, I immediately thought "Islamic terrorism," then chided myself for jumping to conclusions.

You don't know its Muslim terrorists
There have been plenty of Christian terrorists too.
Let's wait for all the details to come out before drawing conclusions.

I tried listening to XM Fantasy Sports to take my mind off it, trying to heed the advice of family and friends that I'm taking on too much stress by worrying about things I can't control.  I was enjoying hearing that my best player, Steelers RB DeAngelo Williams practiced and was probable to play on Sunday.  The Browns are a pretty weak run defense and the host continued to impress upon us how imperative it was to get him in our lineups until he was handed a different piece of news to read on air.  The death toll had risen to 26.  I checked the dial to make sure I was on the right station.  Because the attacks took place near a stadium where the French and Germans were playing an international soccer friendly it, was now a sports story too.  It'd be so "first world" to complain about news events interrupting my sports but in this case it impressed upon me just how widespread this attack was.  The President of France, Francois Hollande was attending the game and had to be evacuated to a safe location.  The sports world, the one place many of us use to escape for a few hours a day had now been touched, no, infected by this cowardly attack.  Again, I tried to put it out of my mind as I got home and prepared to go to dinner.  I couldn't let this ruin the evening.  Unfortunately, I couldn't resist turning on CNN before we left.

60 DEAD IN MULTIPLE EXPLOSIONS IN PARIS

I was now getting angry because I realized this day was starting to feel sickeningly familiar.  The confusion, the body count, the inconceivable savagery, and the cowardice of attacking unsuspecting civilians in multiple locations.  Anyone who's reading this who lived in Washington, D.C. or the New York/New Jersey area 14 years ago knows exactly what I'm referring to.  I enjoyed dinner the best I could but the phone updates from the AP, CNN, and even theScore were relentless.  To resist the urge to keep checking, I put it in my coat so I couldn't feel it vibrate.  When we finally left, I pulled it out to check the time and on my lock screen was update after morbid update.

Team Stream
Breaking: Authorities Confirm 3 killed Outside Stadium during France-Germany Game...
AP
French President says he will declare state of emergency and close borders
AP
French police confirm 2 suicide attacks 1 bombing near Paris stadium
AP
Automatic gunfire heard from outside Paris concert hall.
CNN
French security forces are storming the Barclan theater
AP
At least 100 people killed inside Paris concert hall...

I truncated them for my sanity but my local ABC affiliate, Bleacher Report, and theScore all drove the point home that this attack was so savage, so brutal, and so disgusting that there was no escaping it.

Train bombings in Madrid, the bombing of a Bali nightclub, the 7/7 London train bombings, yesterdays savagery in Paris, and countless other attacks keep driving the point home that sometimes, the propaganda is right.  ISIS has proven themselves to be savage, bloodthirsty, heartless, sadistic murderers with no regard for any human life that doesn't abide by their twisted version of Islam.  Some make the argument that they're representative of true Islam, a claim I vehemently reject as much as I reject the claim that the Klu Klux Klan, anti-abortion extremists, or the IRA are representative of "true" Christianity.  I have seen good works and know too many good people to count them among the monsters coming from Syria.  ISIS and their allies need to be put down and the ideology that spawned them needs to be dealt with.  The former clearly needs to be accomplished militarily and economically.  The latter needs to be accomplished through a Marshall Plan-like initiative that would help move these countries out of the lawlessness and poverty they've been mired in and pull them into the 21st century.  Give their young people something to look forward to besides "killing apostates" or living in fear of a dictatorial government  or the bloody cycle will continue for another millennium.  We spent a decade hunting down and finally killing Osama Bin Laden, only for a man even more savage, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to take his place.  What will we unleash on the world if we continue pursing a purely militaristic solution?

I stand with Paris and the nation of France today not just in spirit but in shared experience.  We know what its like to have your security, comfort, and sense of well being violated by people who don't even know you but have been bred to hate you with every fiber of their being.  The world, like 14 years ago, will be bent on blood lust and revenge.  I know that everyone will be trying to use this tragedy to further their own agenda.  Some already have.  But its important to remember that what IS has done in France repeats the same mistake Al-Qaeda made on 9/11.  Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda found out that their greatest achievement was also the first domino that led to the decimation of their murderous organization and the death of their leader.   For all the differences our countries have at the negotiating table, disgust at the mass murder of innocents is the one thing on which we all agree.  It will not stand unchallenged and will not go unpunished.  There is an old saying that warns that you should be careful what you wish for.  I believe IS is about to find out exactly what that means.

PBS| Anchor Baby Underground: An Honest Discussion

Election time can take complicated issues and reduce them to myopic talking points, biased soundbites, and irresponsible rhetoric.  Courtesy of PBS Newshour, Doris Meissner of the Migration Policy Institute and Susan Berfield of Bloomberg Businessweek discuss the two types of so-called "anchor babies", and the legality of the practice.