Category: Race

An Unnecessary Attack on Christmas

On By thewriterfredIn Black Culture, Black History, Race1 Comment

It appears that one of the major goals coming out of the recent Million Man March, labeled “Equal Justice or Else,” was a call for Black America to boycott Black Friday and every shopping day throughout the entire Christmas season. This appears to be another attempt by Minister Louis Farrakhan and his followers to eradicate the celebration as part of the African American culture in this country. I watched and listened to one of the minister’s attacks on the manner in which most Black Americans celebrate the season. In his peroration, he claimed that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., wanted to boycott Christmas after the killing of the four little girls in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing in September 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama. He then made the appeal for all us to boycott this year’s Christmas shopping season in the name of Dr. King. “I’m going to ask us in his name (King) to do something he wanted to do when they bombed the four little girls…he wanted to boycott Christmas.”

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For a very long time I did a great deal of research on Dr. King for a course I taught on African American Political Thought at the University of Texas in San Antonio, and I never remember reading from any credible source where it is mentioned that he wanted to boycott Christmas. Since Dr. King was a Baptist minister, who sincerely believed in the teachings of Jesus Christ, I found it rather interesting that the minister made this assertion. Now I am sure that the minister would not make such a claim just to complement his call for a boycott, so if there is anyone who reads this post and can direct me to the passage where Dr. King called for the boycott, I would appreciate receiving it.

Santa-Claus-02-300x300In his speech, Minister Farrakhan continued to disparage those millions of African Americans who are Christians because of the manner in which they celebrate Christmas. According to him, the tradition of displaying a Christmas tree in your home with decorations is comparable to “practicing paganism.” He quoted from the Tenth Chapter of “Jeremiah” as evidence of his accusation. He then referred to gifts that families and friends exchange as foolishness. He claimed that we pay more respect to the “Big fat Caucasian who flies out of the North Pole with a bag full of gifts, and is supposed to come down a chimney that most homes don’t have, than we do to Christ.” The thrust of his message was that we spend money on gifts that leave us in the red after the holiday season, while the merchants make enough money to last them throughout the year.

He then talked about the amount of liquor and dope that is consumed during the holiday. Again, he accused us of placing more importance on the dope and booze than on Jesus. That makes us, according to Minister Farrakhan, part of a heathen and pagan practice.

I guess my question to Minister Farrakhan would be, is this kind of attack on his fellow Black brothers and sisters really necessary? I’m not sure whom he is referring to, but the friends and associates I know consume very little, if any at all, liquor and no drugs. I imagine there are thousands of Black families that celebrate the holiday and consume no booze or drugs.

My family, as is the case with thousands of other Black families, has a tradition of placing a Christmas tree in our home and I really do not appreciate anyone, Black or white, referring to me and all my brothers and sisters who do the same as heathens and pagans. I believe our race has suffered sufficient name calling over the decades that we don’t deserve it from one who considers himself a leader.

Finally, there are millions of beautiful Black Americans throughout the decades who have turned to Jesus Christ for sustenance and salvation, and their worship of Him  is real and necessary for them. Throughout the turbulent years of apartheid, mothers turned to the church and their minister when their husband was lynched or their daughters raped. The minister, in the name of Christ, provided them with the strength to make it through those terrible times. The Christian church has been the pillar of strength for our race since emancipation. The church continues to play that role. So the gifts bought at Christmas are not foolishness, it is symbolic of the love that our people feel toward Christ. It is the giving of the gift that counts, and for that reason it is not foolishness.

If Minister Farrakhan doesn’t believe in celebrating Christmas and doesn’t indulge in gift exchange, we as Christians have no problem with that position. And if the followers of the Nation of Islam want to celebrate Founder’s Day when they pay deference and respect to those held in high regard, we as Christians will wish them well. However, I think it is quite appropriate that we expect the same kind of respect from the Nation when we celebrate Christmas in the manner we choose.

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Let’s Do It Again

On By thewriterfredIn Black Culture, Black History, Black Literature, Race2 Comments

On July 4, 1940, the Diamond Jubilee Exposition of Negro Progress: 75 Years of Negro Achievement convened its two-month run at the Chicago Coliseum. The Exposition featured Black contributions to all aspects of American life from 1865 to 1940. Historian Lawrence P. Jackson described it as “measuring the distance between the whips and shackles of the cotton field and the jive-talking Cab Calloway blaring from a jukebox on a street filled with skyscrapers.” (Lawrence P. Jackson, The Indignant Generation, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 2011, pg. 93) The exposition took place from July 4 to September 2 and exhibited the contributions of Blacks in religion, press, music, sports, stage, literature, art, science and industry.

According to its stated theme the “Exposition will promote racial understanding and good will; enlighten the world on the contributions of the Negro civilization and make the Negro conscious of his dramatic progress since emancipation.”

“American Negro Exposition Catalogue Cover”:Courtesy of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Americana Collection Covert Art by Robert Pious

dunhamDespite the tremendous obstacles Blacks confronted everyday, these brave men and women still took pride in who they were and in their accomplishments. And they also viewed life with a positive outlook for their future. In doing so, they mastered their crafts. In 1940, baseball great Satchell Page was throwing pitches that made Dizzy Dean look like a rookie, and Josh Gibson hit home runs at such a tremendous distance, his clouts made Babe Ruth’s home runs appear to be singles. In the world of entertainment, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong dominated the music world. And in literature, author Richard Wright’s Native Son was released as a best seller in 1940.  There was also the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks, the paintings of Romare Bearden and Aaron Douglas and the outstanding choreographer and dancer Katherine Dunham, and the list could go on for pages.

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There was another message implicit in the Exposition, that told the world of a Black culture capable of standing on its own outside the parameters of the so-called American culture. In 1938 the Swedish scholar, Gunnar Myrdal began research into the relationship between American democracy and the treatment of Blacks in the United States. One of his findings concluded that the Negro culture was the product of a social pathology. It had no value in and of itself and it could only become meaningful if it was brought under the auspices of the larger dominant culture. The Black Exposition was a direct rejection of the Myrdal thesis. The Exposition was a precursor to Ralph Ellison’s response to Myrdal in 1944 when he wrote, “Much of Negro culture may be negative, but there is also much of great value and richness.

It has been 75 years since that celebration in Chicago, and now may be the time for another assessment of Myrdal’s assertion of the pathological nature of the Black culture, and Ellison’s rejection of it. Just like the Chicago Exposition was a proud display of our accomplishments from emancipation until 1940, we need another such event to express our endurance as a people. We readily acknowledge that segments of the culture are negative but, as Ellison pointed out, there is a richness and beauty unmatched by any people in the world. We need to put that on display once again. Along with a Million-Man March that lasted only one day, we need a summer long event much like what happened in Chicago between July 4 and September 2, 1940. Just think of all the glorious accomplishments that would be on display, for the entire world to view. So what do you all say, “Let’s Do It Again!”