Author: rkcdlitt

Black girl

Josh White made a Negro spiritual famous in the 1950s called “Black Girl.” Being a folk guitarist at that point, I loved the song and pretended I was a white Josh White; I may have been 19 at the time. Since then, I have had millions of tons of water pass under my bridge of life. I no longer play the guitar, due to nerve damage in my fingers. My interests now include teaching, still, and writing; I, of course, people watch. I do this to enhance my writing with interesting characters.

This morning, Linda, my wife of 49+ years, and I had a bite to eat in the lounge at the Virginia Beach North Hampton hotel. The attendant’s name is Linda (we remember this wonderful African-American woman from past visits); she is a ray of sunshine; just what people need as they grab a quick bite rushing to work on a cloudy morning, or gathering the family on the way to the aquarium for the morning. At one point a family of four entered and the boy of about three raced over to give Linda a big hug. It is beautiful the way the innocence of a child knows no bounds. This young white boy followed Linda around and helped her clear the tables. After a while, Linda excorted the lad back to his family; he was sporting a dollar in his hands. The family objected, and LInda stuck out her left hip and said, “This is my lounge, and what I say goes.” So there!

People watching is such a great thing to do; we learn so much from others.

After a while a young, late-twentyish, black women entered with her three-year-old daughter. The mother parked her in a chair and went to get breakfast for both. Internally, I began to cry. Here, I was looking at innocense personified. A three-year-old girl is the ideal of innocense and purity. While watching this young black girl, I prayed that when she was as old as her mother, she would not face the same gender and racial biases that her other has been subjectd to. I know this is a dream; but if our culture continues to mature, it may be possible. In either case, I pray that this girl’s mother raises her to be a strong outspoken woman; the world will need her to be. As with my very successful, white daughter, who has struggled in her role with a large corporation, I pray that this girl will rise to be a vice president, or even president. As my Muslim friends say, Alhamdulillah, Praise be to God.

Death, or, Life?

I am not a lawyer, nor am I a theologian; I do however, possess at Masters’ Degree in History and a Doctorate Degree in Literature. I usually do not like to force my opinion on others, be these opinions, social, political, or religious. Nevertheless, this must change.

I am, from the roots of my existence, against the death penalty. There, I said it. The death penalty is wrong, and, we all know this to be fact. Whether we are a Christian, a Jew, or a Muslim, there are ten commandments that we all follow. The sixth commandment says “Thou shall not kill.” Or in modern terminology, “Thou shall not commit murder.” If we are a Christian, we also follow Jesus’ second commandment, which says,” Love your neighbor as yourself.” This immediately follows, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

Which of these three commandments allows the death penalty? Murder is wrong, whether it is done by an individual, or done by the state. Taking another’s life is against the commandments of God. There are very few of us who would commit murder on our own. It is against the very fiber of our being. We were raised as good Christians, Jews, or Muslims to respect the lives of others and not murder.

If this is true, there is no reason to allow others to commit murder in our name. If we are not will to inject a person with the life-ending fluids yourself, then we have no right to ask others to do this for us.

Let’s assume the worst: our son is brutally murdered by an evil person. This person is put on trial, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death. Fifteen years later, after thousands of hours and millions of dollars are spent on legal hurdles to state-sponsored murder, this man is executed by the state.

We can safely assume that this murder has not brought our son back to life; it has also not made us feel any better, just because this evil person is now dead. The only thing that has occurred is that we have created another parent grieving for a murdered son. This parent shares the same fate as we do; our sons have been murdered by a force beyond our control.

Now to return to religion: Jesus was murdered by the state, and every week, during the celebration of the Eucharist, we remember the horrible death that Jesus suffered. We praise his memory. I seriously doubt that Jesus, if he were walking the earth today, would be in favor of another state-sanctioned murder.

If we agree that murder is wrong, then we must stop the state from creating other murderers; that is what those doing the actual executions are: murderers. Furthermore, if we continue to allow this to happen, then we are also as guilty of murder as those sanctioned to execute these men or women on death row.

Can’t we stop the killing?

How pleasant it would be if every moment of life was an expression of God’s Love, an opportunity to experience the truthfulness of the Divine. All of us are aware God’s presence as we watch a magnificent sunrise, or sunset, hear beautiful music, or watch baby birds growing in a nest outside our kitchen window.  How fortunate we are to be able to experience this magnificent godly love.

 Our thoughts need to be deeper than just a magnificent sunrise. As Marie Howe expresses in her poem The Map, “The failure of love might account for most of the suffering in the world.” This must include all suffering that we as children of God must address, or we do not deserve to call ourselves Christians, or Muslims, or Jews. In all our holy books, the call for love from God is strong; the call to welcome the stranger is a commandment.

 Instead, we reject the stranger. Lindsay Hardin Freeman says the following in her novel Bible Women: “Fleeing one’s home in time of war is a heartbreaking last resort. Victims don’t leave for trivial reasons—because the price of food is too high. They run for their lives, in poverty, often alone, always in the shadows of death and destruction.”

 These are truly victims of war; they are running for their lives. Can we honestly reject these people because they look different from us, call God by a different name, or speak a different language? If we are truly people of faith, we must reach out our hands to provide homes and comfort for these fellow sojourners. To do less is to violate Jesus’ second commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves.

 Dr. Russell Carter

November 1, 2016