Neighborhood Ministries

One has only to look at the accomplishments of Blacks and women to see that they have made great strides towards equality. A lot of the failure of Blacks to achieve equality stems from the fact that welfare required men to leave the home tearing apart families. That hurt Blacks the most since they had been discriminated against in hiring and education. Black families that remained intact were often able to escape poverty and achieve more equality with Whites. A lot of the failure of women to achieve equality  was their conscious choice to have families. Women today graduate from high school, college, and even graduate schools at higher rates than men. Employment rates for women are higher than for men in spite of the fact that many women choose to stay at home and raise their children. While the average wage is lower than men it is because it includes many women who choose to have children and only work part-time so they can spend time with their children. When they return to work, they do not have the job experience and take starter jobs which pay less than those who worked during those years.  The church must help people of all races work together to build a better community.

Since I was in college and watched the race riots, I have seen a remarkable decrease in racial discrimination and segregation. Black and White churches worked together to educate people and bring reconciliation. Desegregation has also helped. As children of both races play together and get to know each other, it has reduced racial tension. Granted, there is still some prejudice and discrimination, but not nearly what it was before the 1960’s.  In recent years however, there has seemed to be what appears to be a deliberate attempt to stir up fear between Whites and Blacks and pit them against each other. Liberals would have us believe that racism is as prevalent today as it was in the early 1900’s and that Blacks, Hispanics, and women are as discriminated against as they were then. They have also added Gays, Lesbians, and transgenders along with a long list of other social deviations to the list. They have even rewritten history to inject racism in everything. Critical Race Theory is being pushed in the public schools to instill in Black people a feeling of being the victim of systemic racism and to instill in White people a feeling of being the perpetrators of systemic racism, when not all Blacks are victims of racism and not all Whites are perpetrators of racism. Such teaching serves only to increase racial tension and create bitterness between the races that will further divide our country.

I recently received a letter stating that using the phrase “All lives matter” is demeaning to Blacks. While it is important to point out the high rate of Blacks killed by police, most of whom are White, to say that saying “all lives matter” is demeaning to Blacks is to say that Black lives are the only ones that matter. I find no fault with those who publicize the high death rate of Blacks at the hands of police, most of whom are White, if their intent is to publicize a problem. It is a problem that must be dealt with but it cannot be solved by ignoring the facts. We should not prosecute all White officers who shoot a Black man, simply because the one shot is Black, and the other person is not, even when it is justified while ignoring a lot of times when officers kill a White man or a Hispanic with no provocation. If it isn’t justified, and there is no room for a mistake, the officer should be disciplined, regardless of the race of the officer or victim, however if the shooting is justified, or if there exists the possibility that the officer made a mistake, the officer should not be punished. There should not be any discrimination based on the race of the officer or the one being arrested. Justice demands fair treatment for everyone, not just those who play the media.  Increased violence in response to shootings have increased fear of Blacks by Whites. It is easy to get caught up in the hysteria while the problem continues to escalate, but we need to step back and study the facts so we can develop ways to solve the problem.

I do not like the terms White and Black since we are all people and thinking in terms of we and them fuels discrimination but that is how liberals frame the debate. “Black Lives Matters” says they care about Blacks, but they seem bent on hurting Blacks. They want less violence against Blacks by police but by burning and looting, they are going to increase police fear of possible attack and increase the likelihood of police using force in restraining violent suspects. They say they want to defund police but that will hurt Blacks the most. That occurred partially in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland after the much-publicized Black men killed by police. They cut the police force and withdrew police from Black areas to reduce confrontations. Crime and murders among Blacks skyrocketed as there were less police to protect them. BLM and liberal politicians started out calling for totally defunding and then backed off when they got such opposition to that position to one of only partial defunding. Even partial defunding will only be a replay of Baltimore and Ferguson. Blacks stand to lose the most. Police need community help to do a good job and driving a wedge between police and community by demonizing police only makes matters worse.

Democrats say they want to reform the judicial system and have restructured the judicial system from one based on the rule of law to the use of the legal system to harass their opponents and ignore the crimes committed by their own members based on the old belief that might makes right. Something is wrong because they say it is or is legal because they say it is, regardless of the law. They feel that he who makes the law can change it or ignore it when he has the power to do so. Maxine Waters was quick to condemn President Trump for inciting the people to riot on Jan 6, when he called on the people to be peaceful and go home. When it came out that the riot had been planned weeks before and the FBI had notified members of Congress and the Capital police, she never apologized and neither did the media. Democrats continued on and voted to impeach President Trump, even though there was no evidence that he was guilty, yet she feels she can openly call for rioting on public media and not face prosecution. Justice demands prosecution of the guilty, not the innocent. It is time we restore justice to this country. Our country was  founded on the belief that no one is above the law. It stems from the Christian view that God made the law and only He can change it. Even King David found he was not above the law when Nathan confronted him. Our Constitution clearly states that God has established certain rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and the government has no authority to take them away. (see Christian Values-The Rule of Law) Course URL- https://www.udemy.com/course/christian-values-rule-of-law/?referralCode=71BC01DED5FF0937DCF0

Democrats called for defunding the police. In response, the media has continued to demonize the police while ignoring the facts. That causes citizens to lose faith in the police. They played up the killing of the girl in Columbus by a police officer as just another case of police brutality, but the videos of the scene taken by a nearby security camera clearly show she was attacking another girl with a knife and he had to shoot the girl to prevent her from killing the other girl. The officer could have played it safe and tried to tackle her, then arrested her, but he could not have reached her before she stabbed the other girl. By playing it safe, it would have cost an innocent girl her life. He chose to shoot because he had sworn to protect life. By doing so, he risked his job and faced prison time if rioters forced another trial like they had in Minnesota. Not only does that lead citizens to not cooperate with police making it more difficult to apprehend and prosecute criminals, it also leads police to not intervene where they may be putting their job on the line. The result is increased crime.