S.A.D.

I cried with her; I cried for her; then I cried for my grandchildren, for they are nearer her age and too often subjected to pain such as hers. I’m referring to Zianna Oliphant, a young girl from Charlotte, NC, who gave an emotional testimony to the Charlotte City Council, after the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott.  This testimony was broadcast on live television by ABC World News Tonight with David Muir; many of you may have watched it also.

What poor Zianna Oliphant was sharing, I am describing today as S.A.D.: SELFISH ADULT DISCRIMINATION! Pure and simple! That is all that it is. What other motivation would move an officer of the law, who is slated to “serve and protect” the community, to foolishly and violently break the selfsame law that he is sworn to uphold? It is nothing more than “Selfishness”, which has been described by one of my favorite Christian writers, as the “basis of all sin”.

Think about anytime you have done anything wrong, and you knew that it was wrong, and then examine your motivation for having done it; if you are honest, you will have to admit that it was based on selfishness.

Next, think about this; it is not youngsters or even teenagers, who are repeatedly killing the Black men in America. Black men who are fathers – real fathers; the kind who take financial responsibility for their children; who play with them; who pray for them; who seek to teach them the things that society deems so important to teach young children; these make up the bulk of the Black men being shot by police. They are being killed by “Adults”, male and female adult police personnel. These Black men’s children are being left fatherless and God does not like that! God says, “And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness …against those that oppress … the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 3:5

 And what could be a greater “oppression” of  fatherless children than to cause those children to think that they are “less” than others; that they don’t “deserve” to have a two-parent home; that they are expected to live a life of depravity and denial; that it is okay if they have to cry and feel hurt, pain, shame and guilt, because for “no apparent reason” their daddy is dead; snatched away in a moment and they must walk behind a casket, while the children of the assailant live freely and happily. That is indeed oppression and maltreatment!

This leaves me with discrimination. Please, please, please dear reader; DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND WHAT I AM ABOUT TO SAY! How long must African Americans suffer from the effects of slavery? What is it about “White Privilege” that makes too many – not all – White Americans feel as though Blacks are not yet equal with them; nor do they deserve to be treated as such? We all bleed the same way; we all, similarly, feel the pain of loss; we all love with the same compassion for our loved ones; we all dress ourselves the same way; we all have two arms, two hands, two legs, two feet, two ears, two eyes, dual nostrils, etc., many of the same Whites who would willingly discriminate against us, desire to tan themselves, so that they might be closer to our skin tone; they love and even steal our music, art and ideas; so why not just level the playing field and LET US ALL JUST GET ALONG? Is that asking too much? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, to see the kind of pain experienced by such a young child, as Zianna Oliphant constantly repeated, throughout our communities. Nor is it by any means Fair, or Just!

This is one life lesson that I have hated to learn, and that is this: until the sinful heart of man yields itself to God, life will be overrun with S.A.D. – Selfish Adult Discrimination, of all ethnicities. I pray that somehow, by reading today’s blog, your heart will be softened, and that you will give greater thought to what kinds of prejudice and selfishness you might be harboring, then ask God to help you to LET IT GO! He promises that He will – I John 1:9. 

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