I make no apologies in saying, NO!  That opening sentence will get me kicked to the curb by some, attacked by others, considered lower than a snake’s belly by others, and rejected by some Christians.  With that reality staring me in the face and the likely charge that what I am going to say is ‘racist’ why would I tackle this hot potato?  Because somebody needs to speak the truth and address the real issues, not the manipulated and manufactured ones inciting riots today. 

America did experience a period or periods of ‘systemic racism.’  I would never deny that it existed and being of the Boomer Generation I saw it and my parents and grandparents saw even more than I.  In my 70+ years on planet earth I have watched America move away from ‘systemic racism’ to ‘pockets of racism’ (not one-sided).  I have observed an advancement in addressing the problem, and we were moving forward noticeably until Barack Hussein Obama became president. 

It was Obama’s rhetoric, that of many within his administration, and the quickness to jump on the bandwagon of charging racism without the facts and way too early in the investigation of any incident that aggravated the issue.  It was not that a bunch of white supremacists came from behind the curtain and began lynching and burning buildings.  No, the burning, rioting, and looting, as well as the physical harm were at the hands of those groups calling themselves ANTIFA and BLM that were at the heart of the upheaval. 

All police have been lumped into the same basket as those of us who opposed Hillary Clinton and Obama and voted for their opponents.  To the Left, we are all deplorable and unworthy of the air we breathe.  The problem is not a Donald Trump problem although the Left wants to make him the blame for all the ills in America and all the ills that have ever existed.  In a way, they have made him bigger than life and that seems to have backfired on them in the past and could in the present. 

We have problems in America and the black community has endured hardships and difficulties that are unjust.  I believe that many, if not most of the problems they are facing stems from the pathological lies and agendas imposed by the Democrats affecting that segment of our society.  The progressive ideology and pursuit by the Democrats, often in the interest of winning elections, has harmed the black community more than anything in modern history. 

Lyndon B. Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ was more detrimental to blacks than anything to that point.  It appeared to be in their interest and was sold as a form of salvation for the ills they had endured but was a veiled attempt to enslave than to free.  Why do I say that?  Because that era along with the groundwork in previous Democratic administrations and the continued systematic work of the Left has produced some noticeable problems that are at the root of the problems of today.

The actions of politicians that encouraged and virtually ensured that there would be a dearth of fathers in the home were more damaging than chains could have been.  The amazing willingness to pursue abortion on demand and the praise of the founder of Planned Parenthood, who was an avowed racist, who was part of an elite chorus wanting to eradicate the black race.  The fact that more abortion clinics are strategically placed in or near black communities is telling if one will open their eyes. 

I have long believed, as the Bible teaches, in the importance and value of the father in the home.  I believe that a home with a father and mother who teach and train their children rightly is the most powerful deterrent to the hate-filled condition that exists today.  Hate is not the product of any race it is a heart thing, that is taught and caught and when a political party, the educational systems, and the media continuously suggest that a particular ethnicity is being abused unfairly by another it engenders hate. 

I agree with black voices that have stated that the greatest need is a strong home life for the children.  Denzel Washington told his interviewer that the problem in disproportional arrests of blacks was not where the focus needed to be. He said, “The problem is in the home.  They are not arresting 7-year-olds and by the time the arrest comes, we have lost the battle.”  

The Bible is clear in its directive that we are to “train up a child in the way he/she should go and when they are old, they will not depart from it.”  I have found that it is hard to escape the impact and influence of what I was taught in the home.  If taught rightly, godly, biblically, lovingly, and reasonably children will become responsible adults absent of racial bias and hate.  Is that a Utopian World?  Possibly but it is a world that God desires and possible.

If churches remain silent and attempt a pathway of appeasement, we will lose this war and evil will win.  Hate will prevail and love will be given no chance.  When politicians seek to make ‘entitlements’ the prime objective of a segment of society and pay them handsomely for having babies out of wedlock and making them dependent on the government for their sustenance, the chains become tighter on the recipients and the battle more difficult to win.

I refuse to allow anyone to place unreasonable guilt on me for being of the ethnicity I was born.  I want no person regardless of the pigmentation of their skin to feel guilty or entitled based on race.  If we allow that or adopt that pathway, we will weaken the foundations of the republic so severely that it cannot survive.  What do we replace it with? 

Defunding the police is insanity.   Sanitizing history, destroying memorials and statues changes nothing and only serves to widen the rip that is being promoted in our society.  That is the objective of those who hate America and desire our destruction.  Many are being played and made useful idiots for the cause of destruction thinking they are freedom fighters when they are enabling those who want to destroy freedom.

What we need in America, in all communities, is a strong moral ethic restored.  We need strong two-parent families.  I understand that there are many single parents burdened with the task of providing for their children and having little time to properly train them.  The single women who have no strong male figure to help are at a significant disadvantage and so are the single men.  The influence of the mother and the father are different but no less valuable. 

We need a return to personal responsibility and accepting responsibility for our own success or failure.  I grew up in a poor home in rural East Texas.  I have achieved some success in life, not because someone handed it to me or because of my skin color.  In fact, I have been passed over for a promotion and told that it was because of my ethnicity, not my qualifications that I did not get the job. 

My parents worked hard and took no handouts from the government.  They taught us that we were to earn our keep and give a good day’s work for a day’s wage.  I have been in the ministry most of my life and know what it is to wonder where the next meal would come from.  I have worked with and beside people of all ethnicities in ministry and the secular business world and learned valuable lessons from them. 

America, we can buy the lie that America is a systemically racist nation and ensure a condition that can only end in Civil War or we can acknowledge that the government has been more an enemy than a friend.  We can allow ourselves to develop a victim mentality or we can say, “I was victimized but I will never be a victim” and fight through the problem and allow our personal drive and determination to propel us to a higher level on the ladder of life. 

I believe God will help us if we will follow the directive of 2 Chronicles 7:14 and Matthew 6 and 18.  I desire and commit myself to follow the ‘Golden Rule’ and refuse to see skin color, I see human beings.  Some of them are good and some of them are bad.  Some of them are in difficult straits and working to better themselves and some have become leeches sucking the blood out of others.  It is a personal choice and I choose to follow God and good and not allow hate to prevail in my heart.

God bless you and remember in November that the policies of appeasement and entitlement are destructive, not productive.  We have a republic to preserve and can have peace and prosperity.  It won’t be easy but possible!

God bless you and God bless America!