Crises in America
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Can America avert its long term crises while overwhelmed with the COVID-19 tsunami? The phrase Crises in America has a connotation of hopelessness. So, can hope spring from this hopelessness? Yes, it can; however, the crises need careful analyzing and prioritizing. Then America needs to implement a strategic plan to address these crises one by one. Crises in America conveys a message of despair, and the nation needs to extinguish that despairing flame. Racism, misogyny, avarice, economic divide, hedonism, narcissism, poverty, drugs, and prison inequities are some examples of the many issues facing America, and concerned people are working assiduously to address these crises. This great nation is in danger of losing its world leadership because ignoring the crises will bring America to her knees. Politicians and sectarian leaders (who only care about their interests and monetary gains with their misguided prejudices and injustices) accentuate these crises. Prejudice and discrimination by Whites against Blacks originated when slavery reached the shores of the New World. Racism in America raised its ugly head with the ethnocentrism of southern Whites giving them the license to subjugate Blacks for monetary gain. Isn’t it all about the money? Whites wrongly abducted strong and vibrant African men and women from their native tribes, took them to the New World against their will, and placed them into lifelong servitude so that southern Whites could profit from free labor. Whites who perpetrated such egregious abductions rationalized their conduct by saying Blacks are subhuman and are like oxen. Therefore, they laid heavy yokes upon the necks of Black men and women, and they became strangers in a strange land. Some Whites obfuscated their actions by saying that these strangers in a strange land did not contribute to the arts, sciences, and body of general knowledge. They could not be more incorrect! World History indicates that Black people made significant contributions to the development of the arts, sciences, literature, and language. History corroborates the observation that Blacks have an extraordinary gift to adapt. Consider the fact that Blacks survived illegal capture, intercontinental transport under adverse conditions, and slavery. Blacks weathered the storms! How many other races could be so adaptable? Slavery is a sin, but for monetary reasons, the majority of southern Whites looked the other way. The result
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was the worst internal conflict this nation encountered that culminated in the loss of well over six hundred thousand lives of neighbors, relatives, friends, and associates. Considering the deaths of Americans lost in all the wars ever fought, the civil war is responsible for the loss of more than 49% of those losses. Slavery and the treatment of Blacks in this country did not enamor us in the eyes of the world. We diminished our first-class status in the eyes of the world, and this diminishing will continue until the leaders of this great nation travel a humbler and more moral path. Africa is the birthplace for civilization, and the resulting African diasporas led to the diverse races of the world. Black women possess the gene pool for all races; however, that is not the case for white women. The question is, how long will Black people have to take a back seat in America? Will racial issues plague America well into the twenty-second century? I think not because, by then, the world will have entered into a new era- an era of the Blessed Hope where there will be no more tears, no more death, no more sorrows, no more crying, and no more pain (Revelation 21:4). America will be a far different place at that time where Black lives will truly matter. It will be a heavenly sanctuary. Today, racism is prevalent in the highest offices of the American government; nevertheless, there is hope for the racist! Change is essential so that this great nation will be instrumental in the transformative process where all men and women receive equity and respect. Racism will be a memory, and the citizens of this great nation will embrace the inevitability of His Glorious Appearance, and God will number the rag tail racists with the goats. Racism disempowers Black people, and misogyny disempowers women. A misogynist holds the highest office in America. A historical event occurred- a presidential candidate made derogatory statements about women, and the Electoral College selected him to the highest office after he talked about grabbing women by their private parts. He treated women in the most degrading way; nevertheless, he still captured the hearts and imaginations of a significant number of Americans. How could that happen? How could anyone who espouses gender equity support an individual who openly makes prejudicial statements about women? God will count men who perpetrate hatred against women with the goats.
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It is a mystery that avarice has accelerated in this country. People value money more than human life. I think our political arenas, business enterprises, and religious affiliations are about money! The primary objective of pharmaceutical companies is to make enormous profits even at the expense of human life. Profitability dominates over human existence! The escalating costs of some pharmaceuticals are unreachable for many Americans. I remember the story of an individual who married an Asian woman. She had a condition that needed treatment with specialized medication. The medication costs a little under ten dollars in her country. When she arrived in the United States, the same prescription cost her over two hundred dollars. Why the enormous difference? In my case, my medical protocol with Taxol and Carboplatin costs more than $1600.00 per treatment. That is unconscionable! Insurance companies are more interested in their profits than in truly protecting human life. This concept permeates multiple levels of many business enterprises. Watch how quickly you can lose your insurance coverage for even the simplest infraction. Despite the enormous profit margins of insurance companies, many people are liabilities because they represent deficits rather than profits; therefore, they are labeled uninsurable. The love of money has become the mantra of many organizations, and when human beings are in the way, the insurance companies squash them like bugs on windshields of fast-moving vehicles. The speed of avarice stops for no one, and the results are like deer staring in the headlights of a high-velocity car where the deer does not move, and the vehicle does not stop. The collision is inevitable, and more often than not, the deer receives the worst of the impact. The love of money is indeed the root of all evil. Greed leads to wars, famines, diseases, and the collapse of infrastructures. God will count people who love money more than human beings among the goats. Greed contributes to the political and economic divide of the country. Rich people are getting richer and poor people are getting poorer. Young Americans are not able to anticipate owning property, making a decent income to provide for their families, and regularly saving a portion of
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their salaries. American entitlements are rapidly disappearing. Young people are moving in with their parents. They are in the vicious cycle of high-interest catch-22 student loans. They borrowed money to get an education, but they encountered difficulty in repaying their loans, and, in numerous cases, they cannot find jobs congruent with their educational training. Unfortunately, many students aspire to obtain degrees in esoteric fields rather than pursuing a career and technical job opportunity that could give them immediate access to the Workforce. Also, the pandemic (COVID-19)n contributed to a significant decline in the Workforce and a rapid decline in the economy. Greed is the precursor to the economic divide in this country. For companies to increase their profits, they raise their production/manufacturing costs and pass those increased expenses to their customers who may not receive sufficient salary adjustments to offset the escalating costs of consumables, pharmaceuticals, or other life-supporting amenities. Company executives acquire more income, and consumers expend more of their earnings with minimal opportunities for savings; therefore, over time, they become poorer. God will list individuals who love money more than human beings among the goats. The crises include inequities between the salaries of men and women. It has been an ongoing issue since the beginning of suffrage for women. It is hard to envision why women do not make the same salaries of their male counterparts two decades into the twenty-first century. Many companies have developed strategies to address the gender salary inequity issue; however, it remains 20% in favor of men with little or no erosion of the differential. Many companies have ignored the issue, and the salary differential remains a problem for the country. Is this another form of male chauvinism? God made men and women equal. God designed men and women to have mutual respect for one another. Men are not to be the head, and women are not to be the feet, but they should work collaboratively as stewards over the resources of God. God will list men who demean, violate, and abuse women among the goats. Much of America and the world thrives on the pursuit of sensual self-indulgence and physical pleasure. The Internet is a vehicle that serves as a framework for the proliferation of hedonism. The nation was different five decades ago, and then a more decadent lifestyle surreptitiously
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crept into our society with passing generations. Drug use increased, the Internet provided more opportunities for sexual gratifications and sexual improprieties, and pay-TV aired programs plagued with inappropriate sexual behavior. The scripts of live plays, television, and movies have encouraged the use of expletives as a part of their vernacular. Descriptive violence in the twenty-first-century media has escalated. A candidate aspiring for the highest political office in the country declared that he could shoot a person in the street and still have dedicated and devoted followers. He acknowledged grabbing a woman by her private parts. Also, he only had to tell the exceptional truth. He could make lewd and inappropriate comments without making a ripple in the continuity of his followers. Despite these glaring flaws, he could still get elected to the most coveted office in the world. What does that say about our great nation? Television and magazine commercials openly peel away the clothing of women to leave very little to the imagination. Pornographic videos and pictures of under-aged girls do the same over the Internet. Many prominent people exploit the sexuality of young girls and women. Has one type of American slavery replaced another - the sex slave trade? Money is the motivating factor behind hedonism. It is all about the money! People spend billions of dollars of hard-earned income on hedonistic activities. America once stood for moral and ethical behavior, but that is no longer the case because the love of money is the root cause of hedonistic activities. It is not that America was never without sin, but the veil that covered her sins dropped many years ago while her sins escalate with each passing decade. America trafficked in drugs in the past, but the nation developed ways to make drugs more dangerous and accelerated drug trafficking. It is not that America did not practice pedophilia in the past, but the country used technology and other modern innovations to escalate its inappropriate treatment of children. It is not that America was never guilty of pornography, but the nation became one of the primary architectural exploiters of the female body. It is not that those who make these observations are guiltless and have the prerogative to cast the first stone- just the opposite because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The nation is not repentant of its sins and continues to devise more effective and efficient ways to violate the Decalogue. What are some of the issues that led to the decline of the Roman Empire? Some are: •
immorality;
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poor leadership;
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hedonism;
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economic chaos;
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covetousness;
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infidelity;
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disregard for human life;
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ungodliness; and
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perfidiousness.
Could the crises in America be taking us down a similar path? Let us be more diligent! Let us be watchmen during these dark days. Let us not allow these crises to lead us in a direction where God counts us among the goats. Let us fix this at the voting booth! Words that describe the leader of the free world are narcissism, conceit, pretentiousness, and boastfulness. These allegations are not without provocation because all you need to do is to listen to his interviews, campaign speeches, and read his tweets. He does not have one ounce of humility in his body. He focuses on himself rather than the people he governs. He exhibits the characteristics of narcissism in both personal appearances and written messages. If the leader of the free world is narcissistic, then what message does that send to the people he leads? Timothy said (2 Timothy 3:1-4) that in the final days “…there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive …ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God”. Does Timothy’s description fit anyone you know? God will count the narcissists among the goats. Jesus said, “... ye have the poor always with you”. Approximately 15% of American citizens live in poverty. This nation is doing better than the world because nearly 80% of the world lives on less than $300.00 per month. The average monthly mortgage payment in the United States is more than three times that amount. The majority of the nearly eight billion people who populate 7
the earth live in less than satisfactory conditions; nevertheless, the majority of these people are happy and 30% of the world believes in Jesus Christ. The nation has a responsibility to address the needs of the vast poverty that permeates the planet. People should be “…generous to the poor” because that would be an offer to “[lend] to the Lord”, and, of course, “He will repay you for your deed.” Helping others is simply a way of having God help you. What does the angel have to say about helping the poor? “What? Giving again? I asked in dismay. And must I keep giving and giving away? Ah no, said the angel, whose gaze pierced me through, just stop when the Savior stops giving to you”. Matthew 25:32-40 describes how we should address the issue of poverty, “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me….then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick…? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Illegal drugs are the enemy of humanity! Deaths from drug overdoses are staggering. The use of opioids, heroin, cocaine, designer drugs, and drugs in multiple disguises is wide-spread. The use of drugs has exponentially risen in America. Many people die in automobile accidents, accidental shootings, and home fatalities; however, drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental deaths in the United States. Deaths from heroin have exponentially increased since its discovery (by the acetylation of morphine) in the late nineteenth century. Also, deaths from opioid overdoses have increased significantly since their syntheses. The Center for Disease Control reported that opioids and heroin are the leading cause of death by drugs. Drug addiction is no respecter of a person. It affects the good, the bad, the ugly, the famous, and the infamous. Many people have struggled with drug addiction, and drugs are victorious. Prescription drugs are necessary, but their abuse has far-reaching implications. The misuse of prescription drugs can destroy families and relationships. So, protect your body against the ravishes of drugs. “…Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost…” In the United States, incarcerated Blacks are inordinately disproportionate when compared to incarcerated Whites. The percent of Black males incarcerated is about 40%, yet Blacks comprise
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about 13% of the American population. The percent of Hispanic males incarcerated is approximately 22%, and Hispanics comprise about 17% of the population. The percent of White males in prison is close to 40%, but Whites (non-Hispanic) represent about 64% of the population. Blacks have a higher incarceration rate relevant to their demographics. What hypothesis could rationalize such a disproportionate observation of incarcerated Blacks? Do Blacks have a greater propensity toward criminal behavior? The fact is that Blacks do not have a monopoly on anti-social behavior. All races break the law. In that case, could the inordinately disproportionate incarceration of Blacks be a new type of slavery? America has the responsibility to carefully analyze this off-balanced observation to ascertain why there is a disproportionate number of incarcerated Blacks. This picture is highly suspicious, and sociologists attempted for years to address this problem. America turned its face on this picture as it turned its face during the times of slavery and Jim Crowism. The American mantra of love, prayer, justice, fairness, and hard work is foundational and fundamental to its rise to world recognition. Do we need to revisit the fundamentals that made America great? Do people need to take back their government? This nation needs to truly reflect a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Our cry should be let us look at our structure rather than “let’s make America great again� because America has never lost its greatness, it just has cracks that need patching. Let us fix the crises in America with the power of your vote!
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