Why It's Hard To Be Black & Christian in America...

This article I feel has been a LONG time coming and I feel like everything I've been thinking and feeling has led to this. Before I continue I should preamble a lot of things so you can understand where exactly I'm coming from, of course I'll be omitting a few bits and pieces of personal information. I am 25 years old, I will be 26 next month, I am African American, I am male. I grew up in a Fatherless home, I was raised by my Mother and Grandmother, both of which are light-skinned. My Grandmother was so light-skinned that many often mistook her for a White woman.

I am visibly African American as you've seen. My family is unfortunately a statistic, as my family was torn apart by the drug abuse of my father. Unfortunately I met him a few years back and was none too pleased with the reunion. Thankfully he is out of my life. I was raised in Detroit all my life around other African Americans and wasn't fully accepted by my peers due to my voice being a few octaves higher than it should be and the fact that my vocabulary and taste in music didn't sync up with theirs. I have not done drugs, I do not drink, heck, I don't even drink coffee. My mother is a worker at Ford and has been for a long time. We're living a middle class life and getting by day to day. We are also Christians. However recent events in American history have driven a wedge in America that hasn't existed since slavery.

In 2008, we all watched as the First African American President won the election, a historic and monumental moment that many will remember. Some African Americans I know who lived back in the days when they weren't allowed to use water fountains wept at the sight and how far they had come and while I felt a sense of pride for this triumph, I also felt a looming sense of dread and there in lies the beginning of the dichotomy of being Black and Christian.

America is divided by political lines MORE than it has EVER been, with both Liberals and Conservatives drawing lines in the sand and exposing their beliefs more fervently than ever. As we all know Barack Obama stands on the Liberal side, and approves such things as Homosexuality, Abortion, and a few other things, and The Conservative side approve of the correct view of sexuality and the dignity of human life. Being around and being African American myself I am able to figure the typical African American response to these things. "No one's asking us to do it, so we don't really care." You ask African Americans about their views on gay marriage and abortion and they honestly don't care what people do as long as they're not hurting anyone and they mind their own business.

And while that's a good mindset to have when it comes to somethings, the sad fact is African Americans have been brainwashed and it's not hard to figure out why and how. More often than not Conservative policies cause more harm financially to African American families than ANY other group in America. The War On Drugs has incarcerated more African American males 18 years and older for minor drug offenses. Increased taxes have caused many African Americans to lose their homes, and have caused many student who were college bound to get a job in order to help keep the house. And while Conservatives preach Christian values and things of the like, their behavior towards the middle class and the poor has revealed that they are merely looking out for themselves and their riches.

Then on the opposite end you have The Liberals, who are constantly DOING something to help the community, showing concern for the poor, and an actual concern for their fellow man. Most notably, during his campaign, Barack Obama went to homes of typical American families and spent a day in their shoes just to see how they were living and what he could do to help. Meanwhile John McCain was nowhere to be found. I'm not saying that Obama is good and McCain is bad, nor am I saying that McCain should go to people's homes and spend a day in their shoes. What I am saying is that African Americans respond to people who are willing to see things from our eyes, and when we see a man in a position of power humble himself for the sake of being able to relate to us, we tend to support things like that.

Reflecting back a bit to The Trayvon Martin Shooting, where a Young African American male was shot dead for no reason. Barack Obama made statements and invested himself personally in the case, calling for an investigation as to why Trayvon was murdered...meanwhile Conservative news outlet FOX blamed Trayvon for wearing a hoodie (which is "thug" clothing). As my Mom constantly says, Conservatives want to talk about caring about human lives when it comes to Abortion, but don't care about the lives that are already here, more specifically cutting funding to schools in urban areas so African American males leave middle school and high school under educated. They increases taxes so business can't hire employees and attempt to torpedo Affirmative Action. So under educated African American males roam the streets jobless, homeless and with no hope, turning to drugs which will lead to incarceration and by the time they're released they're unable to secure employment because now they're a felon and the cycle continues.

Meanwhile Liberal groups such as The ACLU (Anti-Christ Liberation Union) and much to my frustration The NAACP are constantly investing themselves in African American issues and attempting to right wrongs. African Americans are constantly looking for support and help and unfortunately there aren't many in the Conservative camp who are willing to give it. And since the Conservative camp talks about Christianity, it gives Christianity the visage of an Old, Rich, White Male so stuck in his ways that anything new seems terrifying. And unfortunately even African American Christian leaders are falling for the tricks of the Liberals. Al Sharpton has voiced approval of same-sex marriage and abortion, and Al Sharpton is a Christian Pastor. How is this possible that a Christian pastor can give approval to things so clearly blasphemous against God?

It's because Al Sharpton, like most African Americans know who have their backs in The Struggle, and unfortunately it's not Christians in high places, it's Liberals in high places. Being a Christian myself, I cannot approve of such things as abortion and homosexuality as The Liberals would want me to and in a like manner I cannot approve of the blatant disregard for human life as exhibited by The Conservatives. Support for The Liberals would equal to the moral and cultural degradation of the American family, American People and The American Economy and support for The Conservatives would equal the moral and cultural degradation of The African American family in ways we couldn't imagine, it would ruin The American Economy. I'm greatly depressed by this as I see more Black faces supporting Liberal causes than I do supporting causes that would affirm support for God's word.

As much as I disapprove of Obama, there are several instances where I've noticed things that are clearly racially motivated against him. For starters, I'm ALWAYS angered when people say his full name and emphasis his middle name "Hussein" (as an indirect reference to Sadam Hussein) and my response is "As if he had control over his name!". My name is Eugene Maurice, and while I don't care for it, it is the name I was given. Barack Hussein Obama has NO control over what his name is, so when people say "Barack HUSSEIN Obama." I'm always left wondering about The IQ of the person who said it.

In a like manner, Congress's stonewalling of Obama's Jobs Bill. From what I've read Obama drafted a bill that would create several jobs and congress continually shot it down, this is coupled with the fact that Obama was going to increase taxes on the rich to help pay off the national debt. However The Conservative Party complained that if their taxes were increased they wouldn't be able to hire any new workers. Logical argument, HOWEVER when they enjoyed 8 years of The Bush Tax cuts, all of those potential jobs that could've gone to Americans went overseas. So I can see that The Conservative Party is concerned that Obama is attempting to employ more African Americans, maybe so, maybe not. But this is clearly an attempt to torpedo Obama on a very valid issue.

However, IF The Conservative Party were AS Christian as they pretend to be, then why didn't they stonewall Obama on Gay Marriage? Why didn't they stonewall Abortion or Obamacare? Of all the Christian issues on the docket, they chose to stonewall Obama on job creation. This is very telling as to where The Conservative Party's loyalties really lie. As my Mom says "Ever since slavery ended America has had no need for Black people." and the sad reality is, I see the truth of that statement, as urban development is constantly reduced leaving several abandoned homes in urban areas, school funds are constantly cut leaving under educated African American children, drugs run rampant in our communities, and while a White male caught with some marijuana or cocaine may receive a slap on the wrist, African American males are sentenced to several years in person.

Returning to The Trayvon Martin Shooting, George Zimmerman shot and killed an UNARMED 17 year old boy in "self-defense", DESPITE the fact that he was instructed BY A POLICE OFFICER NOT TO FOLLOW TRAYVON. Trayvon Martin is dead and George Zimmerman will be facing trial in June of this year, but regardless of what happens, Trayvon is dead and his family is now without a son. Juxtapose this with the Marissa Alexander case, an African American 31 year old woman, who fired a gun into the ceiling of her home in order to get her abusive husband (who had put Marissa in the hospital) out of her house. No one was injured and no one was killed, and she has been sentenced to 20 YEARS in prison. Are Christians up in arms about this injustice? Some are, yes, but as always Liberal causes are rushing to help while Conservatives merely sit back and say "Wow, that's bad." and leave it at that.

As an African American I am loathed to The Conservative Party and their attempt to establish a form of institutionalized racism and overt slavery, and as a Christian I am loathed to The Liberals and their clear enforcement of Anti-Christian principles. What people need to realize is that whatever happens, The African American community is hit THE WORST. With the majority of our men incarcerated, single parent households are already on the rise, and gay marriage will already destroy the fabric of the African American family which is merely holding on by a thread. With the economy in shambles, African Americans will be homeless and jobless much faster and longer than anyone else in America, as our unemployment rate is higher than anyone else. Not because we don't want to work, but because so many of us have drug charges and have been incarcerated and employers aren't too keen on hiring people who've been in jail.

Coupled this with the fact that making abortions easy and affordable for people would cause a lot more African American abortions, as many African American families are in situations where they can't afford to take care of children. As for the children who do grow up, the education available to them is unfortunate and horrible. The sad reality is as an African American, I am watching 3 things collapse before my eyes, I am watching The African American race slowly but surely become extinct, I am watching The Moral Fabric Of The World collapse and I am watching America fall apart. As a Christian I try to pray for these things day in and day out, but it's hard to be Black and Christian because the only people who seem to care about us, DON'T care about God and the people who seem to care about God, DON'T care about us. This article is far from over and I lots more to say but I'll leave it where it is for now.