Is that a prayer or a pot-induced ramblefest?
The Reverend Joseph Lowery (one of our race-related fixtures here in the ATL) decided to take the opportunity to turn the inaugural prayer today into a bigoted, mocking joke.
‘Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around… when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen’…
Ok. let’s look at this line by line and examine it closely. First, what happened to all this ‘We are all one people”, kumbaya love that our president spent the previous few minutes establishing??! black? brown? yellow? I thought we were all Americans… Sounds to me like the good reverend is stuck in the same gear he’s been in since MLK was a man struggling for a cause and not just a holiday.
When was the last time that a black man or woman was asked to sit at the back of a bus? Can you imagine the hellfire and hatred that would descend on anyone even ACCUSED of asking that in this day and age?? Hey Lowery, open your eyes for a second (mid prayer) and notice that the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS A BLACK MAN. He’s the one standing next to you. Tall guy, reasonably good looking, surrounded by men in dark glasses with guns. Ok, now carry on praying….
I can only assume that the ‘brown can stick around’ line is a reference to hispanics. Isn’t ‘brown-town’ a bigoted slur? Does ANYONE that wants to be taken seriously call hispanics of any background ‘browns’? No, they do not. and the ‘stick around’ bit? Again, I have to guess, but it sounds like he’s referencing illegal immigrants.
Sure they can stick around… when they get the appropriate legal documentation. Just like any other color illegal immigrant.
The whole ‘when yellow can be mellow’ thing is lost on me. What the heck does that mean? Is he indicating that asians as a rule aren’t ‘mellow’? Better question: why the heck is that even important? This ‘prayer’ is becoming a jive-talking joke. If I was asian, this rhyming load of garbage would leave me anything but mellow… and still we decend further into the race-dividing madness…
‘when the Red Man can get ahead, man‘… no, he didn’t. Did he? Red Man? He’s GOT to be kidding right? Obama’s being punked for sure. Lowery sounds like a stoner! Hmmm… maybe that explains the ‘mellow’ part… Pardon me, but this is the United States of America. Anyone who is willing to put in the work can ‘get ahead, man’. Again, excuse me Reverend. I hate to interrupt, but take another look to the man who is now the President. His dad wasn’t part of his life, his grandmother raised him, and he didn’t have a silver spoon in his mouth when he was born. That doesn’t even take into account the fact that calling Native Americans ‘red-men’ is just degrading… How many times have tribes protested the Washington Redskins for their name alone? Oh, by the way, there is a monument of one of these ‘red men’ currently being carved in a mountainside in south Dakota that is bigger than any monument for a single ‘white guy’ on this continent. It’s been in the works since the 40′s. That may not be ‘getting ahead’ but it sure isn’t a bad start… More power to ‘em.
Did Lowery write this prayer for LBJ’s inauguration? It certainly sounds like he dusted off something that was originally penned in the ’60′s. And now for the clincher: ‘and when white will embrace what is right‘ WHAT!!!!!!!????
This is the point when I hit apoplectic RAGE. How dare you accuse me of ‘not embracing what is right’, you bigoted, shriveled-up race pimp! This is absolutely outrageous! In this day and age, when millions of “white” Americans voted for a black man for president, this doddering old fool of a pulpit stool still wants the nation to believe that white folks have yet to embrace what is right?? (For the sake of argument we are assuming that ‘embracing what is right’ means treating black people as total equals). This man is a smear on the legacy of MLK. To endure the blatant, blinding hatred that he did; to live to see a black man as PRESIDENT and to still cling to his segregation-induced disdain of white people… how sad. This was a day that was to be celebrated throughout America as ‘the day that racism died’… and this old man can’t get past his own bitterness. I take personal offense at his implication that I, as a white man, have yet to embrace what is right. Who does he think he is to judge me? I will go further to say that the good reverend ought to look to the plank in his own eye.
Well, all that to find out that… drum roll please… it WAS penned in the ’60′s! A good portion of the -ahem- ‘prayer’ was taken from an old protest chant…
So, this man Lowery, who was ostensibly brought up on the dais (let’s face it folks-only because MLK was assassinated) to represent the history of racism that is now conquered, puts forth an old protest chant as a relevant prayer. Sick. A solemn occasion to give thanks to God Almighty for blessing this nation with a 44th peaceful exchange of power and this idiot plays the race card…AGAIN. There was no prayer. God was never even addressed in all honesty. If I was Barack, I would publicly shun this man. He obviously will never get past what happened in the past. He will never allow himself to believe that a white man or woman can look at him and not want to reach for the nearest fire hose. Lowery needs to shut up for eternity. He has earned the absolute derision of this nation.
‘…all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. ’…