The other day at Costco I was picking up some bulk items, including bottled water. As I approached the stacks of 40 bottle cases, an unusually large crowd was swarming around — adding cases to their shopping carts. As I hefted my two cases to my cart, it dawned on me that a few years ago this scene would have been bizarre in the absence of a serious water emergency.
I questioned some fellow shoppers about why bottled water was their choice. The universal answer was, “I no longer trust tap water.” When asking “why,” the dominant response was, “tap water is not as pure as it used to be.”
This resonated with a deep African American identity issue that had troubled me for years.
Anxiety
Since the dawn of the modern Black Consciousness Movement, I have been a strong advocate for African American advancement on all fronts. Over these many decades, “Black is beautiful” has been my mantra — not because I say so, but because it IS. The basis of this truth is that all humanity bears the image of God — even in our current flawed state. For me, being African American is a great honor and privilege. In fact, if I had to do it all over again, I would not change a thing about my ethnicity.
Over the last few years, however, I found myself disagreeing with most well-known African Americans, including leaders, celebrities, militants and politicians, etc.. At times I have even strongly opposed them. This gave me anxiety. This unease increased relentlessly — even bordering on dysphoria. I even had doubts about my own state of mind. “What is happening to me?” “Am I becoming a sell-out?” “...A “‘bougie’ Negro?” “...An “Oreo?”* “What’s gone wrong?....”
Out-of-Sync
To shed light on this dilemma, I looked to history. I vividly remember the late 1960s, the early years of modern Black Consciousness. The general consensus affirmed our dignity, identity and significance. The movement revolved around historical achievements of African Americans as encouragements to continue this great legacy in our time — all this, while maintaining moral clarity. For reasons like these I enthusiastically embraced Black identity. Of course, there were some among us who were counter-examples to the achiever consensus, but their influence was marginal at best.
Things began to change when the concept of Blackness was expected to carry the fullness of our humanity. Yes Black is beautiful, but there is much more to being human than just being African American. As beautiful as it is, Blackness is not big enough to be ultimate. Only God is Ultimate. This idea of ultimate Blackness soon began to collapse under its own weight as our human flaws became visible in new ways. Concurrently, the achiever consensus also began to lose its influence.
Eventually, the influence of the counter-achievers gained dominance. With the decline of achiever influence came an ambivalence concerning moral clarity. This left the concept of “Blackness” open to manipulation by others with an African American veneer — whose goals and objectives were out-of-sync with the historic African American cause. This contaminated the Black Movement.
“No Salvation”
Currently, the cause of African Americans has often been reduced to political “group think,” dictated by ‘far left’ Democrats — reinforced by “academic thought police.” Unwise policies enacted by ‘far left’ politicians over the years have done a lot of damage. On the other hand, Republicans have too often conceded the African American vote to Democrats without bothering to understand the root issues beneath the “group think.” Malcolm X, the father of Modern Black consciousness, often warned us about the dangers of our political naivetė. He demanded that we refuse to be taken for granted by Democrats or written off by Republicans. Brother Malcolm served to remind us that there is no salvation in mere politics, especially in a country committing political suicide.
In other cases, the African American cause is being used as cannon fodder for self-sabotaging ideologies that would have horrified the pioneers of Black Consciousness — ideologies such as nihilism — a rejection of truth, ethics, and value — a belief that all life is meaningless. We have seen nihilists in recent years hijack legitimate protests in order to vandalize, loot and torch local businesses — even those owned by African Americans.
Still, in other cases the cause of African Americans has been polluted with Critical Race Theory and today’s Intersectionality. Critical Race Theory deliberately aggravates racism because it depends on racial conflict to function. It blinds its adherents to other contributing factors that work against us. Intersectionality creates unstable hierarchies of power determined by the quality of one’s victomology. One’s authenticity depends on how many dimensions of “oppression,” real or imagined, they can claim. Neither ideology offers an acceptable outcome. Critical Race Theory has a polarizing effect while Intersectionality has a splintering effect.
The present state of affairs paved the way for the rise of organizations like Black Lives Matter — driven by Marxism and rooted in spiritism (communing with the dead). It was easy for BLM to bamboozle us by its name. However, much of what BLM has done shouts, “BLACK LIVES DON’T MATTER.” For example, what do they have to show for the $90,000,000.00 added to their coffers through guilt manipulation? What benefit has come to African Americans through their ideological noise?
Compounding all this has been the attempt to conflate African American affirmation with promoting non-heterosexuality, as if the two are equivalent.
Subtle Folly
Using a window screen as a water filter can block macro contaminates out, but it cannot block micro contaminates. Only a multi-stage filter can block the smallest of micro contaminates. This is why bottled water is the wisest choice for drinking.
The development of Historic Black Consciousness (HBC) was significant. it was an improvement over “Negro” Consciousness. However, this “improvement” was not far-reaching enough to be complete. Like all human systems it is subject to flaws in human nature. Fidelity to the standards set by HBC is like a window screen water filter. It can be effective in blocking gross error, but it cannot block subtle folly. Such a task requires the Wisdom of God as a multi-stage filter — Wisdom God has made available in his Word.
After passing through the “screen” filter, micro “subtle folly” will grow into macro “gross error.” Things like dishonesty, hypocrisy and criminality, etc., will subvert, sabotage and destroy any movement — however noble its aspirations are.
For these reasons, I appeal to God’s Wisdom only, as the basis of my African American identity. What I experienced at Costco provided the key to understand my identity dilemma. What was troubling me was not the concept of Blackness per se, but what much of Blackness has become, namely, a co-opted contaminated confusion.
Activist at Peace
Just as I do not trust tap water, I do not agree with ‘tap Blackness’ — polluted with counterproductive concepts and malevolent motivations. Just as I choose bottled water, I only affirm ‘bottled Blackness’ — powered by God’s Wisdom and free from ideological contamination. This approach resolved my identity dilemma.
Today I am an activist at peace. Why? Because ‘bottled Blackness’ enables me to empower my people to greatness through God’s Wisdom. Therefore:
I proudly protest our current cultural crisis
I refuse to lift a finger to offer up the aspirations of my people as cannon fodder for our own destruction.
I oppose all efforts to reduce our cause to a wedge for introducing malevolent ideologies.
I wage war against all attempts to co-opt African American identity for nefarious purposes.
Special Concern
My involvement is not limited to African Americans alone because those who seek God’s Wisdom also have a worldwide significance. We are part of a global movement of like-minded people, “from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9). The Apostle Paul himself had a special concern for his ethnic people (Romans 9:1-4), yet he was an Apostle to the nations. Similarly, as we seek God’s Wisdom it is good to have a special concern for our cultural people. Yet, our effect should also be global.
* An "Oreo" is an African American who wants to be White and does all he can so to assimilate into White culture.
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For more insight into God’s wisdom and human folly, pick up my wife’s devotional, WISDOM’S CALL, 100 Meditations for a Life in Christ.
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