Bill O'Reilly, Who Are We?
Written by: David DeRose
“With
Malice towards none,With
charity for all,With firmness
in the right as God gives us the right,Let us
finish the work we are in,To bind up
the nation’s wounds,To care for
him who shall have born the battle, and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace amongst ourselves and with all nations.”
– Abe Lincoln 2nd Inaugural
Address March 4, 1865
Love one
another like family does.
Pure hearts; uncompromising.
Not as insolent children with grudges.
Pure hearts; uncompromising.
Not as insolent children with grudges.
In contrast,
Bill O'Reilly rages at the black community for fatalities and drugs.
Condemning Russell Simmons like a Victorian judge,
Bill O'Reilly rages at the black community for fatalities and drugs.
Condemning Russell Simmons like a Victorian judge,
Slamming remarks
like a gavel.
"Why don't you protest black violence?!?" O’Reilly exclaims.
"Why don't you protest black violence?!?" O’Reilly exclaims.
“You weren’t
there!” he accuses,
Verbs conveying verdicts - guilty.
His verdict for the black community.
I’m not mad
at him.
I just
think he is blind.
Blind to the fact that it is our shared verdict.
Why isn't HE protesting black violence?
Why isn't HE protesting black violence?
How is he
helping the situation that he so clearly diagnosed?
Who is he to judge?
Who is he to judge?
How is this
“their” fault?
Instead of pelting Russell Simmons with guilty sentences,
Instead of pelting Russell Simmons with guilty sentences,
Lift him up
with positive sentences,
Stop
berating and start contemplating.
O’Reilly gains nothing pointing fingers.
O’Reilly gains nothing pointing fingers.
His return
on investment is perpetuating polarization.
He would do
more with hugs.
Embracing the reality that "Their success is our success!”
Embracing the reality that "Their success is our success!”
- Nelson Mandela.
As people, we are connected.
As people, we are connected.
Not some
western caste system.
Designed for social cohesion.
Organizing and categorizing foreshadows already foreseen futures.
Only when there is chaos are things made clear.
This isn’t work for diverse populations but in homogeneous organizations.
Designed for social cohesion.
Organizing and categorizing foreshadows already foreseen futures.
Only when there is chaos are things made clear.
This isn’t work for diverse populations but in homogeneous organizations.
We are here together and...
“A
house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Realize,
institutions and individuals are imperfect,
But as
people we are perfect.
So how can Bill O’Reilly, and other like him,
actually help?
The answer is nothing new; love.
Love each other,
Love each other,
As family
loves.
As Jesus
loves.
Love is not expressed with shouts and screams of blame.
But rather, shared
in a whisper.
Hardly escaping
lips audibly.
Intimate, warm,
honest.
It’s the
kind of love that asks tough questions,
And listens
to authentic answers.
When heartbreak
happens,
Love answers.
Love empathizes,
hurts, and feels.
Then love acts; uncompromising.
Love is not
an option, choice, or decision.
It is a duty.
To love is to feel pain.
To ignore
pain is to authorize it.
Signing the dotted line with tears of mothers burying babies.
There is a
deep pain that the white community needs to acknowledge,
The despair our black and brown brothers and sisters.
This pain
has been sanctioned ignorance
And discounted
by the blindness of white privilege for far too long.
To be fair,
Maybe not
every-one knew this pain existed.
Perfectly exemplifying
the privilege they possess.
But now
they do.
The pain has been exposed.
The cries have been heard.
No longer shall we turn a deaf ear and blind privileged eye.
Time to
listen to the pain.
Time to
share the pain.
Time to act
to fix the pain.
Pain is transformative.
Love and
pain are parents to chaos.
Total loss of control.
Only chaos
makes things clear.
Like a machete cutting through thickets of ignorance.
Step back, gestalt.
Whole lives have been lived and been devoted to causes
Whole lives have been lived and been devoted to causes
For me to
observe and experience to obtain this realization.
I have seen, heard, and felt their struggle.
Impacted by countless lives,
Some known and others whose existence I will
forever be unaware.
A river shaping rocks
over time.
Direct impacts – stone to
stone collisions – rattling my core
Unseen forces; weather, temperature, and snow-melt upstream
Shape my present perception
of reality.
How many of these lives
where white folks?
Black folks?
Native folks?
All cosmically connected
By an unquantifiable extent
of happenstance.
Regardless of their race,
Over the millennia,
Countless individuals
have lifted me up.
Regardless of my race.
My face.
My features.
They gave pace!
Like divine preachers.
Unknowingly illuminating my
path with truth.
No judge or jury just fury.
Risking everything,
Attempting to move mountains.
Am I doing the same?
Are you, Bill O’Reilly?
Now you tell me, who are we?
I think there is love in truth and truth can be hard to hear. Responsibility can be hard and calling for responsibility is not necessarily unloving. Love comes from the heart and can empathize, encourage, and listen but it is only part of who we are (4 parts: heart, minds, soul, and strength). Strength is what moves us to action, to take responsibility, to self-critique, and even to call out but it must be done along with the other 3 parts of us to be healthy. I saw the interview, I thought his points were fair points but yes he was hard on Simmons.
ReplyDeleteI do think he had fair points; drugs sales and violence are huge problems. But they are symptoms of a disease we all share. It's about who does he (and others who think like him) expect to cure it. This can't be viewed as a black problem. Does it reside in the black community, yes. But why is there a "black community?" How can race be an aggregate for collecting data on success or failure? These are the questions we should be asking ourselves. Blaiming blacks for the problem for which they suffer is like blaming a cancer patient for dying and asking them to create a cure: or a downing person to build a sail boat. It is OUR problem. It will take ALL of us to fix it.
DeleteThe reason why I chose Bill O'Reilly is because he is indicative of many whites attitudes toward this issue. It's not okay for us white people to go home after a long days work and not think about race anymore. Time for tough conversations. We need to listen to the cries of truth of the everyday struggle our black brothers and sisters face everyday.
I'll offer a few ideas as to what some of these root causes may be. The way blacks and Hispanics are perceived by whites. The fact that a name on a resume matters. Violence; wars are fought over scarce resources. Let's address the issue of access. Many people, white people, talk about "the degradation of the family" in the black community. Well, we can't fix what broken homes have already been broken, but we can volunteer. Volunteer through various programs and faith groups to tutor, play, and in any way necessary, help.
All I'm saying is, as whites, let's be a part of the solution instead of perpetuating the problem for I believe the cure resides within the heart.
When you say that the problems Bill addresses are symptoms of a disease we all share, I take that to mean that sin is collective. And indeed it is which is why God gave us community to grow together, to repent together, to journey together, etc. However, sin is also individualistic. As individuals, we need to be responsible for what we do. The community can come along side and help to heal, to have grace, and to forgive but one must hold themselves to account. The white community can try to understand what happens to the psyche of a culture after a legacy of diminished worth imposed by others, they can address issues in the communities they live in as well, and they can give grace and love. But there are issues Bill brought up that some in the black communities seem to refuse to address or even admit are even issues. That was the point he was trying to get Simmons to concede... that there are problems within the black community. That community certainly has the power to hold fathers to account who leave their wives and children, to create an attitude of intolerance for gangs within their community. These boil down to worth issues and to restore worth, the community has to aknowledge there are problems and deal with them. This starts with leadership in those communities. Yes, some worth can be restored by those outside of those communities, but not everyone will put faith into a culture that seems to glorify the gangster lifestyle for it's young men. It would be great if everyone could see past that but that boils down to human nature. Worth has to start from within in those communities by taking responsibility and also love and partnership from other communities. It is not akin to a drowning person to build a sail boat because the downing man has not power in that scenario. Communities, not matter what the ethnic make up is, has some degree of power over what is acceptable in that community. No, everything is not fair. There is not equal work by communities, white or black, to "fix" the problem and restore worth. There is naturally going to be more work required of those inside the community that is trying to better itself. That is the nature of being alive. If I want to overcome strongholds say like an addiction, my family and friends and those in my community can give support, listen, and understand, but I bear the work burden. I to the work to change my mentality and my thought process. I do the work to re-wire my brain, I have to rely on God. No one else can do that for me. I have to be the one to stay sober. My community can help and hold me accountable but the work falls on me, it starts there. That is what Bill's challenge was. Support, love, and understanding by outside communities are unfortunately not enough to address the destructive elements in the black communities that create gangs, fatherless children, addiction, and violence which lead to poverty. Responsibility has to happen.
ReplyDeleteOnce white people assume a moral high ground in this discussion: all is lost. It assumes that there is something whites know and blacks don't. I assure you there is nothing the white community knows that other communities don't. Moreover, there is a lot the white community could learn from others if we stop telling them what to do and what's wrong with them. Rather, shut up and listen.
DeleteTo use your addiction metaphor, I would say that the body of the addicted person represents the black community. For by this addiction they are the most impacted; bleeding, dieses from sharing needles, and teeth falling out. The mind of the addicted person is the white community. For it is the attitudes, perceptions, and assumptions of the white community that perpetuate the problem. As the addict would need some mental health, so does the white community.
Jesus said love thy neighbor as yourself. To me that means we are all connected regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation and any other"category" people come up with. Instead of acting like a scornful father, pressing the need for the black community to "take responsibly" whites need to ask how they can help make a positive difference. I believe it is toxic to think of the black community as anything but ourselves.
So then Dave, it sounds like your practical remedy is to just listen and love ie relationship. If you are saying the mind of an addicted person represents the white community and the black community is the body who is a slave to the mind's control, then you are implying the cause of the problem is the idea of which you are saying can’t exist if we are all “one body”. It is contradictory. Also, there is no “scornful” father here and I am not assuming the moral high ground in this argument. There are many problems that many different communities face, right now we are talking about the black community so that is what I’m addressing. Ok, so if we all just “shut up and listen”, then what? That will help the feeling of alienation in the black community but it's not the whole answer. responsibly goes along with relationship... personal responsibility (or in communities it is collective responsibility). What if there were black leaders in communities that all started condemning the cultural attitudes that have permitted the “thug” image to become mainstream for young black men. What if the community started demanding the women to demand respect from the men and addressed the out of wedlock pregnancy issues. This is a people issue, black people are not any different than anyone else. They are influenced by and have the same incentives anyone else does.
ReplyDeleteWhen one implies that being misunderstood is the problem or that listening and understanding is the remedy, one disparages the black community to an adolescent child throwing a tantrum and acting out to be herd. YES, relationships can help heal and help restore worth. That is essentially what you are saying needs to happen. But I could become best friends with a homeless man and enter into relationship with him, but if he refuses to admit his drinking is keeping him from thriving and won’t address that problem, he doesn’t have a very good chance of getting off the street. Relationship is only PART of the answer. It is that way with individuals and it is that way for groups of individuals. It doesn’t matter what color they are or how bad you heart aches for them. They are all people and destructive behaviors and attitudes won’t mend just by relationships. They have to own those behaviors and attitudes for healing.
Yes, we are all “one” but we all lead individual lives. We live lives in the collective society, in our communities, in our families, and we lead our own lives. Another analogy: the church is also “one” and is supposed to be of one mind. However, God teaches us to hold each other to account and to call each other out when one is not living a life honorable to God. If the Smeester family is currently part of a church body yet in the past they have been harmed and spiritually abused by churches or church leaders, it is the church’s obligation to help restore healing to the Smeester family, to listen to them, to help them grow through relationship… to guide them ie leadership. When someone or a group of people are trying to better themselves, they need leadership from somewhere. However, if the Smeester family is continually behaving in a manner that brings harm to the family, hurts others in the family, and if that behavior has some degree of negative affect on the church, then it is the church’s responsibility to hold them to account for their behavior in a loving manner. Not only for the church’s well being but for the family’s well being. The church is not the Smeester family’s brain forcing them to act out. There may have been emotional damage done by A church which THE church can help restore but restoration won’t happen until the behaviors are acknowledged and taken responsibility for by the Smeester family.
Paul plainly states this in his letters concerning individuals but also concerning entire churches (groups of people). In some of his letters he directly addresses racism between Jews and Gentiles. He also addresses and calls out behaviors and attitudes of different churches to include churches in the Gentile community made up of Gentiles. That dynamic was like the early 1900’s here; to the extent that Jews believed they were unclean for even being in the presence of a Gentile. He calls for love, inclusion, and speaks of the church being one regardless or race. Therefore calling out Jews’ attitudes. But Paul does not hesitate to call for leadership (or assign leadership) for some of the Gentile churches who’s behavior and attitudes are destructive. There were specific problems within the Gentile churches Paul calls out. Paul does not pass on calling for personal responsibility and ownership of actions within the Gentile community. He calls for and demands that leaders and the church hold itself to a higher standard of behaviors and attitudes. And Paul was ethnically a Jew. He was not the "scornful father" and there was not an "holier than though" attitude for Paul calling for responsibility for a church or community made of people from a different ethnic group. Paul and the early church dealt with many of the same problems we are dealing with because these problems cut across all civilizations and cultures throughout history.
ReplyDeletePeople struggle, communities struggle, and pointing out those struggles to those who are struggling and encouraging the leaders of the family or community to hold the members to account is not “the moral high ground”, it is the loving thing to do. Just because we are all connected does not excuse one from owning their thoughts or actions. Jesus also continually talks about taking thoughts captive and analyzing and adjusting our own behaviors. He continually teaches that we are to be responsible for what we do and how we think regardless of spiritual attacks or other influences. We are to be aware of why we do what we do and behave the way we behave, own it, and give it to God. That is only something that we can do as individuals and something only we are responsible for.
Many leaders like Simmons will not call out behaviors or attitudes in their community. They want the relationship which is good, but not the responsibility of owning problems and calling for change.
Throughout the Bible God continually calls in with compassion the marginalized and the downtrodden, but He also always calls them out on behaviors and thoughts (or attitudes). He continually calls out, and calls out, and calls out the Israelites on their behaviors and attitudes even after they suffered 400 years of abuse and captivity by the Egyptians. He continually uses individuals who are "nobodys" to be leaders but he also calls them out on their behaviors and attitudes in order to lead. He calls for those leaders to have their people own their destructive behaviors and attitudes. That is the essence of repentance. God calls in and then calls out... He has relationship and calls for responsibility. This is the model God gives us on how to operate within our families, communities, and culture.
ReplyDeleteThere is objective truth to be found here. For a people or individuals to thrive and live as God has called us, that group or individual has to take responsibility and ownership. Again, that is the essance of repentance. We have to take responsibility to repent of destructive behaviors or thought patterns in order to thrive. There are spiritual battles everywhere over everyone and everything. That includes the soul of the black community (obviously also myself and my community but again we are concentrating on the black community)... the ability to thrive. Pride keeps us from taking responsibility for our actions or thoughts or from a people of taking responsibility. Pride convinces us that it is not our fault, that we don't need to change, that someone else is to blame. That cuts across cultures and there is plenty of pride to go around. We see that those who refuse responsibility fall. God humbles the proud. That seems to just be a natural consequence for not taking responsibility because that is the way God has designed it. That is true in my life and anyone else. I am not saying that God is humbling the black community or punishing them by any means. However, Simmons and many other leaders in the black community like Sharpton and Jackson absolutely refuse to take or call for responsibility from blacks in the black community regarding those large issues Bill was pointing out. If those in the community will not assign or take any responsibility for their community, there is no chance to rise out of poverty, to reduce crime, fatherlessness, or addiction regardless of the relationship other communities build with them.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching an interview of a Navy Seal. He talked about his mantra that got through tough times. He stated the he only focused on his "three foot world." He got this from a climbing instructor who helped him when he was paralysed by fear on a steep rock cliff. "Focus on your three foot world!" He did, and he climbed to safety. Meaning, there are a lot of distractions; the fatal hight, equipment failure, muscle fatigue. If we focus on all the intangibles, especially when in risky new territory, failure is imminent. If we focus on our three foot world, we may just climb out of this yet. Make new friends. Broaden experiences. Listen to those who experience the world differently than you do. Sit at a table you usually wouldn't; not being afraid of different. This could be listening to a cancer patient, a member of the LGBT community, or someone from a different race. I can't control how others handle issues: but I can handle my response. I hold the mirror up to my face first. What am I doing?
ReplyDelete