While dropping the eldest daughter at school this morning,
it was hard not to notice a small group of white students holding hands and
praying around the American flag pole.
These youth were obviously Christian, to which branch or whether a
cross-denominational group, I am not certain.
The first thought that came forth was the irony of incorporating man
made state government symbolism with the ideology of religion and God. I had to assume that these youth, comforted
by the cozy sheltering of upper economic society, did not really understand the
true history of the United States, the expanded colonial history of the International
stage, or the history of the various religions in which their parents, probably
just as uninformed, had begun raising them up under with the automatic
assumption that it was the correct ethical decision. Were these praying children too young to
understand the history of imperialism, committed by the United States and other
states on the world stage (not to mention the private sector influences on
states), which has created mass world and domestic poverty? Were these children too young for the harsh
truths of the transatlantic slave trade, genocide and ethnic cleansing of the
Native Americans, and racial enslavement and segregation in the short life span
of the United States? Were these devout
youth too young for the explanation that the synoptic gospels, from which they
are taught miraculous stories, actually have no known authorship and were not
authored by the apostle names assigned to them in print? After all, the only synoptic gospel with historically
proven authorship is Luke, and that Luke was Luke the Physician, not the
apostle, and a close affiliate with Saul (creator of Pauline Christianity). This is not a singular slight on Christianity
because the Quranic scriptures are heavily laced with the Pauline synoptic
Gospel teachings, which were probably brought into Muhammad’s teachings through
Khadijah, whose father was recorded as a wealthy trader who routinely came into
contact with Christian and Jewish traders.
The point is, how rational is basing state decision making on
religiously influenced political ideologies, economic support, influence of power,
and legislative and military actions based on ancient scriptures with no
substantive historical basis other than faith (which each individual religious
sect deems as infallible in their own image)?
Another blatant concern derived from the American symbolism
of the youth prayer group surrounding the American flag pole is the
sub-conscious influence of religion, especially Christianity, on American
representative democracy. Indoctrinated
beliefs in story book religious scriptures heavily influence public support,
campaign financing, and overall representative democratic legislative decision
making, domestically and internationally, that in many cases are detrimental to
American economic, political, and structural strengths or weaknesses. The most destructive modern example is the
impact of Zionism on the historically unrefined Christian mind that, due to
irrational faith in biblical scripture which suffers illegitimacy due to
unknown authorship and countless language translations, states a Godly promise
to a specific ethnic group to inherit a tract of land off the Mediterranean as religious
justification for ethnic cleansing and constant regional conflict under
capital-industrial-military hegemony.
This justification is similar to the biblical justifications of racial
slavery that Christian American slave owners once used to defend the
pre-American British system of colonial slavery. When this dangerous influence for unlawful
justifications is mixed with the imperial-capitalist xenophobic fear tactics
placed on the public Christian mind against Muslims and other non-white,
non-Christian peoples through mass media conditioning, just as was utilized
toward phantom Communism during the Cold War in days of lesser technological
mass production abilities, the United States finds herself funneling annual billions
to states conducting human rights crimes, and involving herself in military
regime removal, placing her American sons and daughter’s blood into foreign
soils, and regime rebuilding for economic and imperial interests that do not
benefit the American people at all.
One of the greatest aspects of the United States is freedom
of religion. It is a pillar that stands
tall alongside the freedom of speech and the freedom to bear arms in order to
defend ones family. It doesn’t really
matter what religion a person freely chooses if it makes them a better moral
person among society, but it is strongly advised to, at a minimum, know the
historical facts surrounding that religion instead of simply taking a preacher
or Imam’s lecture as indisputable truth and politically unbiased. Why would any responsible parent pass
information to their children that has not been verified through research and
critical thought? Yet, that is what many
of us do unto ‘our’ children. One thing
that is destructive and collectively debilitating to the possible collective
advancement of the American people is the preachers and ministers spinning
xenophobic rapture to uneducated minds, and the Imams who sew discontent and
extremism from the pages of the Quran to a people who do not know the history
surrounding the Arabic peninsula during the lifetime of Muhammad. Muslims, Jews and Christians have lived
alongside each other in peace and prosperity during many, many periods of
history throughout many geographic areas.
We need truthful reflection on history, truthful understanding of
political and economic systems and conditions, and the hard truths surrounding
religion and morals. If that is
offensive to some, so be it. Christian
churches in America once sponsored racial slavery; Muslim extremists have
attacked innocent civilians, and Catholic priests have molested children. These random facts certainly do not apply to
the majority of Christians and Muslims, nor do the stereotypes of other
religions apply to every adherent of those sects. We, as Americans, must research and embrace
the truths of history, no matter how ugly, unjust or barbaric, in order to
force reconciliation and move forward as a collective population and pave a strong
future for our children. One should not
take offense to history. The
understanding of history should be to learn, repair, and move forward with
experience and understanding.
The deep divides in America go beyond the current xenophobia
of religion and the highly promoted inorganic fear of the phantom Muslim menace
that is portrayed as seeking to take over the entire globe with Sharia Law and
banish the National Football League and American Idol. The racial divide in the United States which
originated from the history of slavery and continues to widen due to economic
and social ramifications caused by that history is an area that I do not
believe to be irreconcilable, although collective economic, moral, and social
reforms are mandatory for any future hopes along with a national
self-reflection and the community imposed elimination of drugs and senseless
violence. When I think upon this racial divide
and the white Christian youth holding hands around the American flag pole, I
have to ask myself the question: How much do they really know about the history
of our state? When I was an uneducated
youth, I believe that my public school system dedicated a very, very skimpy
historical review of our dark skinned countrymen and the injustice done to our
brothers and sisters. The public school
system taught us about the friendly “I have a Dream” speech by King and may
have briefly mentioned slavery between Washington’s honesty and Lincoln’s
heroism. Never once were we taught about
King’s Vietnam speech, Malcolm’s journey to Mecca, Nat Turner, the correlation
between Christian land owners and slavery, the rape of slave women and the
reproduction of human stock in the slave system, nor any other heinous
realities of history. To deny our
children the truth of history is to diminish their chances of a collective
strength for the future, and does vast injustices to the human nation and American
state. How much of the true history do
our children know and understand? Many
people will argue that the children are too young, and are not ready for this
type of shocking material. This is a
weak argument indeed. One hundred years
ago 12 year olds were married, worked 12 hour days, raising livestock, and
prepared to raise children in the years following, while today American private
sector missiles, purchased by Israel with AIPAC secured American foreign aid,
rain down on 12 year olds in Palestine and Lebanon. There are 12 year olds in Africa that are
carrying weapons and machetes within civil conflicts and Israeli owned diamond
mines who have seen human beings hacked to death. We baby and coddle our precious American
children, shielding them from the truths of history and religion, while
allowing them to perpetrate as adults during their teenage years by exploiting
their half-naked bodies and experimenting with sexual exploits, mimicking
gangsters and the most immoral characters imaginable, and indulging in the
basest forms of apathy. Here lies one of
the roots of moral and ethical degeneration on civilized society, and the
mental and physical weakening of a people.
The American people are some of the strongest and proudest
people on the Earth. The maypole, as
symbolic as it is and it has been, and the wealthy representatives under her
legislative representative democratic skirts, have become questionable as to
the overall concerns, protection, and future well-being of the people and the
future of the American youth. There are
those who cry “revolution” and attempt to challenge state police in riot gear,
but I do not view this as a viable option.
I believe in the concept of positive reform within the people, which
will cause the effect of positive reform within the system, or at a minimum a
realignment of more positive priorities within the people, such as drying up
the supply and demand of drugs flowing into lower economic communities. A positive collective strengthening of the
people, a serious self-reflection of the current priorities of the people, and
strong reform through the people, and thus eventually the system, is imperative. We can no longer sit back and comfort
ourselves on thoughts of a mystery God or a government flag fixing our serious
moral, social, economic, intellectual, and political issues and deficiencies as
a collective people. We, the people,
must strengthen ourselves, our families, and our communities in strong,
positive ways for the future. If God or
nation brings salvation to us later, did bettering ourselves as a people
actually hurt us in any way until that time?
