The Multifaceted Denseness of Dylann Roof.

The Multifaceted Denseness of Dylann Roof.

Dylann Roof is a very ignorant young man. I’m sure many would agree but maybe not for the reason I am saying it.

(Dylann Roof, pic found on Google Images.)

As an obviously terrible raciest the last thing he should have done was shoot black people in church. After all, why do most black people in the US go to church? Because years ago their ancestors had white slave owners who forced them to convert.

(Pic found on Google images.)

The only reason “Jesus” saved the black slaves in the US was because they were forced to bring up their children to believe in the white slave owner’s Jesus and when slavery was abolished Jesus, who had not necessarily saved their parents and certainly not all the black slaves who were beaten and worked into an early grave, had suddenly decided to save them. Hallelujah! Or… maybe it wasn’t Jesus after all.

However, even after slavery was abolished, blacks in the South were still in bondage. There were citations for everything a newly free person can think of to keep them from leaving the South and to keep them enslaved under the notion of being hired servants. If they left the plantation and stood on a street corner waiting for a bus to the West or the North they would get citations and or arrested for loitering. Pretty much everything a human needs to do to live and survive was against the law for black folks. So, in order to not get arrested or to pay off the fines they had to go back to work for their old slave owners for barely any pay and what ever they were payed usually went to pay off their fines and for their rent and clothes and food.

You see, if Dylann had actually read his Bible and knew a little about American history he would have known what many of the slave owners knew and used to keep the black slaves in mental chains.

(Pic found on Google Images.)

Ephesians 6

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.

9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

The “masters” conveniently skipped verse 9. But like the Catholic church of the dark ages, the masters made sure their subjects couldn’t read so they wouldn’t learn anything that contradicted the scriptures they used. Sadly this mentality is still being used in some part of the US. When I lived in Camden Arkansas I heard stories about black kids not wanting to do well in school cause they saw other black folks who had gotten a good education and a successful occupation made fun of and put down by their own families.

1 Timothy 6:1-2  All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered.2 Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare of their slaves.

While I would love to see people of all nationalities and color get along and work together as one it has come to my understanding that certain people groups need to get out from under their mental slavery before moving on to the next step of their psychological evolution.

What Dylann Roof didn’t have the intelligence to understand was that the people he killed were doing exactly what he wanted, they were keeping themselves enslaved to the white mans religion. They were not just enslaved to it themselves but they were also acting as vectors by keeping the mental enslavement going on to the next generation and so on. They were doing exactly what the white slave owners of the past had set up, they were keeping their old families slave owners wishes alive.

And then, they forgave him.

I’m not saying they shouldn’t find a way to heal and to move on. Forgiveness is what Christ would want, which is still eating out of the abusive slave owners palms. It’s like Stockholm syndrome passed down from generation to generation. What once helped the slave owners to keep the slaves in mental shackles now comforts the children of those slaves. They hold desperately to it, they defend it, and they spread it.

(Pic found on Google Images.)

I will not pull a Dolezal and pretend to be black even though I spent many of my years in black churches and under the extreme authority of a black man. I can look in the mirror. I can tan but I’m still considered “white”. Unlike my kids I have no Native American or African American in me that I know of. But I do consider myself a person, a human, a homosapien. I bleed red like everyone else. My kids look as white if not whiter them me and they have mixed blood. But because of their white appearance they are not welcomed into the plight of the black people living in the US. Partly for good reason, my kids will likely fair much better then a black kid when it comes to the cops. This has to change! No matter how universal my kids feel, the black kids will be at a disadvantage as long as their minds and their families minds are still locked into the old white slave owners shackles and as long as the white people keep turning their heads whenever an atrocity in the black community happens at the hand of a white man.

Freeing ones self from the old slave owners religion won’t solve the problem, but it will be a huge step toward doing so. I could go into more things that would help but I only have ideas and not personal experience in this area and I don’t think that would be appreciated. While I am a supporter, I don’t carry sway or power. If I did, believe me, I would do all I could to help the positive change happen. Maybe one day I will, who knows. But for now I can express what I am learning and what I see and hope it helps at least someone free themselves mentally and move on to the next step.

I believe this will happen, I believe we are on our way to a one race population of freedom and peace. But it isn’t here yet. There is a lot of work to be done.

(Pic found on Google Images.)

An added note:

By the way, freeing oneself from one religion only to run into the arms of another isn’t freedom. While some folks need religion for emotional support, a sense of community and a place in government, it’s about time folks got over that and created those things without religion. Religion, wither it be the white peoples Christianity or the brown peoples Islam or the black peoples African tribal religions or what ever color and spiritual beliefs, religion in it’s essence is the same. It served us well when we had no idea or explanation for what we see and feel around us. It made up stories to help us understand and deal with life and it gave us a great way to control and manipulate each other. But life has moved on, we have discovered so many proven reasons for what we see and hear around us. We know where so many things came from and why they are what they are. Sure, the scientific field is always learning but it’s doing a great job. We can still come together over real time issues and ideas, we can still form communities and help each other over what is proven and what is reality. We can still find hope and comfort in each other… without religion. 

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Why Saying “You’re Not Allowed To Be…” can do more harm then good. Part 2

(Part 2)

 

After writing part one I considered putting a round about age limit on how old the child should be for this to be relevant. But while I was showering I thought better of it. Showers are good for that, that and singing of course!  I thought about how there are some kids who mature mentally faster then others. Some start having sexual or religious type questions quite young. While the parent my not be ready, the kid is. It’s difficult for many parents to allow their child to mature at their own rate. What is apropos and when can be a challenging question. Putting a pat answer on it is wrong because not all children mature at the same rate. Holding a child back can be as damaging as pushing a child to fast. Just because you’re not ready for a certain subject doesn’t mean your child isn’t.

You may believe a child can’t know their sexuality or their religious or none-religious beliefs and maybe to a point you are correct. Maybe they are to young, easily influenced and or confused. But even at a young age telling them they aren’t allowed to be this or that still closes the communication door. When I was a kid I was told in so many words I wasn’t smart enough to be an archaeologist and a scientist and so on and I wasn’t the only kid in that era that was “put in her place” so to speak. Now people frown on that sort of parenting thankfully. But many still stifle their children’s lifestyle and belief by insisting the child goes along with the parents beliefs or at least shut up about it.

 

Instead of telling a young child what they can’t be take the time to learn about the subject with your child. Also discussing what is appropriate for them to tell their friends and class mates is important. This is more then learning about their sexuality and beliefs, it’s also a social lesson and skeptical thinking and research. All very good life lessons.

As far as what they tell others, it depends on the kid. Again, if the parent isn’t carefully they could easily project their ideas and fears on the child which may not actually fit their child. A parent who was bullied as a child may want to protect their child from being bullied therefor they may encourage their child to hide who they feel they are. If their child is timid and lack self confidence then they will likely be bullied over it. In such cases the parent needs to help their child gain self confidence before they start announcing who they are. This can be tricky because ones beliefs and sexuality is often what we feel defines us. This is a good opportunity to learn more about ones self, ones talents and interests, there is plenty more to love about yourself. When the child has self confidence they will be able to ignore or even laugh at the taunts other kids throw their way about their sexuality and beliefs.

When it comes to how other kids will react, it’s a lot like Santa Clause in many ways. When my children really understood there was no Santa, (I never actually told them there was), they wanted to announce their new found intelligence to the other kids at school. I told them that the other children were not ready to hear it and it would just hurt their feelings. I didn’t tell them to never say anything, but to just be careful about it. When the subject came up telling the truth was fine as long as the other kids knew it was their choice and they weren’t putting them down about it and they didn’t insist the other kids see it their way. I explained that the kids they went to school with were still very young and it could really hurt their feelings so to be careful about that and respectful.

                                 (This image was found on Google Images) 

 

Now my kids are out of the Santa age so Santa isn’t an issue but since we live in a Christian world where even the public schools are mostly Christian there is the Jesus and God issue. My kids have their own beliefs and understanding that don’t go along with the norm. I’ve been sure to make them aware that they have my permission to be honest about who they are but that they should know there can be consequences for such honesty, like bullying from other kids, teachers and school staff. Of course they know if they are bullied I am there to help if they need it. I also let them know that some people need their religion and like little kids with Santa, taking their belief away or trying to could be mentally harmful. I encourage them to encourage others to get along with and respect people of different views and ideas and beliefs and to research what the claim they are. While it’s fine to share what one knows or believes it’s also good to be kind and none condescending.

My oldest was bullied when she was younger but not for her beliefs but because of her lack of self confidence and poor social skills. A common side effect of aspergers. Once she accepted who she was and no longer cared what others thought of her the bullying stopped. Bullies don’t like to bully confident people, people who ignore them and people who laugh when they are expected to be angry or sad. They go for negative reactions so after a few positive reactions they move on. My twelve year old son who has Autism is going through some bullying at this time and again it has nothing to do with his beliefs or sexuality. He’s actually not interested in either of those two subjects. His issue is his awkwardness, OCD and social skills. So far it’s not real bad but he’s not used to it so it seems big to him. So now I’m helping him learn how to deal with bullies. As much as I hate that this happens he will pick up valuable life skills. But it is really difficult, I won’t white wash this. His brain works differently so sometimes it’s challenging finding the right way to help him understand what he can do and why and so on. It’s like a puzzle, find the right piece and he’s got it for life.

 

My nine year old son isn’t gonna shut his mouth about what he believes or anything else for that matter. For the most part he’s a very confident kid and I’ve had to make sure he wasn’t the one being a bully. Thankfully he has a soft sweet side and doesn’t want to hurt anyone regardless of his fearless mouth. He understands that he can be open about what he believes yet he can also accept that other people believe differently and express that.

My kids and I don’t always see eye to eye on spirituality but I am careful to give them room and respect. After all no one knows everything anyway, there is so much to learn. But mostly I am glad they feel they can come to me. I do watch myself on this because sometimes I still spat stuff off that I have to apologize over later. And I do, I do apologize. I may or may not change my view but my harsh reply isn’t justified even if I feel it is correct. I want the communication door to stay open and a quick mouth reaction isn’t gonna work. A few deep breaths and a moment to contemplate is a much better start.

 

                                     (This is a pic of my girls and me.) 

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