Black Man in White House!! Race/Skin Colour Preference Jettisoned.

(2^nd in the series of Obama’s victory essays)

Sam Aweda

Wow! At last, the white has accepted the black.

Dr. Martin Luther King (jnr) should be re-positioning himself in his sleep and only now, he can rest perfectly in sounding sleep.

How I wish Ms Rosa Parks (1913-2005) lives a little longer to witness it.

Nathanael, a native of Bethsaida was told “We have found the Messiah, He is Jesus from Nazareth” “Ah! Ah! of all cities, is it from a despised little village, Nazareth will come the Messiah? Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael charged back.

Of course, the unexpected has happened. Who ever nurses it a possibility so soon, in the 21^st century?

Barack Obama (jnr), son of a very black man from Kenya, in Africa, a descendant of Cush, son of Ham, son of Noah, has become the President of the most powerful country in the world.

For Once, the black man, most despised by all other races of the world will now be called “Blessed”

I whip no sentiment.

I believe this is a gift to the renowned preacher of this generation, Dr. Billy Graham, a white man from North Carolina. And it could not have happened at a better time than the very month he is celebrating his 90^th birthday. I am glad that it happened in his life time.

Why?

When some other famous preachers were interpreting the Bible upside down, saying that the apartheid Government practised in South Africa was the best in the world because the black race is supposed to be servitude to other races, Dr. Billy Graham at every opportunity, always said “I have no hand in the decision to have been born as a white or black person” meaning it is all God’s and so, there should be no reason for discriminating against any colour. But alas, the opposite has always been the case. Not many listened to him

 Some races even do not believe that the black man is a human being like them. Dr. Billy Graham is not part of that. He met with Dr. Martin Luther King (jnr). I interpret that action to mean “Martin, I identify with you in your struggle even though I am white”

His crusade against racism was not limited to the borders of his country, the U.S. If I can recollect, he held an evangelical campaign in South Africa in a certain year where he announced that the appearance was going to be his last visit to South Africa until the apartheid government was dismantled. What a man of God.

“When the Lord turned again the captivity of the black man, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen: The Lord hath done great things for them; whereof they are glad” Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy----“ (adapted from Psalm 126) 

Some asks “What is the big deal in a black man in the White House?”

The big deal that accompanies the story of a black man in the White House, to lead the most powerful country of the world can only be understood and appreciated by the blacks who live outside the borders of the African continent and those who had experienced the apartheid government of South Africa. Those who have never stepped out of the African Continent other than South Africans cannot understand the depth of what the big deal is.

George W. Bush the incumbent President was truthful enough in his congratulatory message to the 44^th President elect, Barack Obama. He admitted that many of the people who witnessed a black man elected as the President of America never believed it was going to happen in their life time.

John McCain, a white man, who ran against Barack Obama told supporters in Phoenix that he “recognized the special significance” Obama’s victory had for African-Americans.

“We both recognize that though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation’s reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still have the power to wound,” McCain said.

A white girl toddler, in a certain African country addressed an elderly black co- worshipper “auntie”. She was rebuked by her parents after they reached home for addressing the black woman as ‘auntie’. The innocent girl was confused. She grew up to tell me the story by herself. We worked together in a certain country. This happened in the Church, a supposedly congregation of God’s people.

The little girl hadn’t known how to discriminate. To her, all worshippers were her brothers and aunties as the case may be. This informs the Lord when He said anyone who does not have the kind of faith of a little child would not enter the Kingdom of God (Mark 10:15).

Of all races, created by God, the black has suffered the worst untold insult, rejection, abuse, discrimination, disrespect, oppression, repression, suppression, humiliation etc more than any others. Some do not even believe that the black is part of the human species.

A child of a white expatriate couple once asked a gentleman in Nigeria, where he hid his tails. Innocent child that he was, he must have been told that blacks are monkeys with tails and wondered all along how he has not seen the tails on their (blacks) bodies.

Could this belief have informed the various ways by which the black slaves were treated by their white masters? I should not be listing those terrible treatments here because we are now trying to close that dark chapter. But can it ever be closed? Perhaps it will and the beginning of it is the acceptance and the chance of a black man as the number 1 citizen of the most powerful country of the world.  

The black man is now upgraded not only to sit in the same classroom with the white, ride in the same bus with the white and occupy any seat in the bus without having to sit at the back of the bus or even give up his/her seat to a white child who hasn’t got a seat but to lead the world.

Can the dark era be finally forgotten? Yes it can, with the mentioned developments above except for some unrepentant racists, all across the world, who still hold to the old idea that the black race is inferior to others. They look down on or strongly put, have written off the blacks as if they are created differently such that their brains are under-developed and cannot comprehend challenging vocations but meant to do only menial and other jobs, which do not require high skill or intelligence. That high intelligent vocations, exclude the Blacks. They refuse to wipe off in their brain the old order, which systematically conspire and diplomatically discourage the blacks from pursuing challenging vocations.

Certain races, which are not even whites but from the Orients, still see themselves as superior to the black race even when they are much less educated. They see themselves as superior, based on nothing except the normal contempt accorded the black. And these are people who even struggle with speaking and writing the English language. I hope every race will henceforth move with the new World Order.

In 1988 when Rev. Jesse Jackson had a shot at the White House under the Democratic Party, the popular slogan on most TV stations across the U.S was “What does Jesse Jackson want?” Of particular note was a Television programme “Crossfire” (I hope I am correct with the title of the programme).

On the team of that programme was a certain old man who could not hide his contempt for the black man. He would not see a black man occupying the White House. When asked if he could see Rev. Jackson as a running mate, he was disgusted at such an idea. The scene remains in my memory as if it happened just in the last minute. The lips of the old man shook vigorously, his tongue rolled, his body language and countenance was that of serious anger and he felt insulted with the suggestion. He charged back “Supposing the President dies, do you mean a black man will become the President of the United States?”

I wish he is alive today to witness Barack Obama, a black man, in January 2009 sworn in as President of the United States and not even the Vice-President.

Thanks at large to God who is regenerating the minds of the world to see everyone as equal.  

Oh, how I praise the Lord

How I rejoice in God my Saviour!

For He took notice of His lowly, despised people

And now, generation after generation will call the black, blessed.

For He, the Mighty One, is holy and He has done great things for us.

His mercy goes on from generation to generation,

To all who fear Him.

His mighty arm does tremendous things!

How He scatters the proud and haughty ones!

------He has exalted the lowly----------

He has not forgotten His promise to be merciful.

For He promised our ancestors to be merciful to them forever”

(adapted from ‘The Magnificat’: Mary’s song of praise, St.Lk 1: 46-55)

“Praise the Lord, the God of Ham,

For you have come to visit your people and has redeemed them………….” (adapted from ‘Benedictus’ St. Lk. 1: 68)

To the founding fathers of the fight for equality of races all over the world, who have passed to the world beyond peacefully or violently, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King (jnr), Steve Biko etc, I say, your struggle is rewarded today. You did not die in vain. Continue to rest in peace.

To those who it has pleased God to make to be alive to witness the event of today, Pa Nelson Mandela, Rev. Jesse Jackson, John Lewis, Rev. Al Sharpton etc, the list is long. The song of Simeon is yours on your lips:

“Lord, now I can die in peace!

For I have seen him as you promised me I would.

I have seen the one you have promised to the world from the tribe of Cush.

He will be the glory of the new World Order”

(adapted from St. Lk. 2: 29-32) 

Sam Aweda 

President & Snr. Pastor, Jesus for the World Revival Mission.

Robot  Villager

# 1 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 08.11.2008 05:20