The Truth Is the Light

Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr., Columnist

Based on Biblical Text: John 15:13: Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

I submit that “friend” is one of the most loosely interpreted and frequently used words in our vocabulary. “Friend” is used to describe so many kinds of relationships that it makes it difficult to verify the true meaning of the word. The dictionary defines “friend” as one attached to another by affection, regard, or esteem. A friend is also an intimate acquaintance or an ally and a supporter of a cause.

We can agree that these definitions may be scholarly and academically sound, but we can also conclude they are somewhat limited . Many of us must admit that we have used the word “friend” in more situations than these definitions include.

Even in the Bible, we find that the word “friend” is used to describe various relationships. A good example is when Brother Job was dealing with his trials. The Bible says some brothers stopped by who were called “friends”. However, we find that these “friends” were not as much help in lifting Job’s spirits as they were a bother adding to his burden. It is a little confusing characterizing these brothers as friends when instead of lifting Job with encouragement and bringing light to the situation, they crushed him with false accusations and sarcastic insinuations, contributing to his darkness.

It is quite interesting how we form friendships. Friends sometimes come together in a common bond as a result of some sickness or tragedy. Friends grow up in the same neighborhood and never lose contact. Some become friends meeting at church, finding that they enjoy working together. Folk may serve on the same committee, or sit in the same pew, Sunday after Sunday, eventually discovering they have forged a friendly relationship.

Lamentably some friendships are formed for evil reasons. Some folk with nothing in common at all bond simply because they share the same enemy. We find an example of that evil alliance in Pontius Pilate and King Herod. They were bitter enemies until they were both confronted by the man called Jesus Christ. They had absolutely nothing in common but their shared fear of Jesus. They collaborated to execute their common enemy. These are the types of friendships we need to be wary of!

We can determine who our real friends are! The folk willing to tell us the truth about ourselves

Speak Life

Rev. Dr. Alfonso Wyatt, Columnist

One of my clients asked me to lead a delegation of a dozen diverse individuals, all with a dream to become high school special education teachers. I took these future educators to a church across the street from a housing project in “the hood” to meet children and teens enrolled in the house of worship self-funded summer camp program. After entering the sanctuary, I could tell that both groups were somewhat wary of each other. My experience told me to do an “icebreaker” to facilitate group interaction. I asked the teachersto-be to tell the young people the foundational reason why they wanted to teach.

I then asked the youth to give their advice on how to be a successful teacher. I picked several eager “advisors.” Their responses centered on without fear of reprisal are our true friends. These are the folk who display a genuine spirit of love and concern when we are doing something wrong. These are our real friends!

We can also determine who our genuine friends are by recognizing how consistent they are. Folk who are only loyal as long as we are popular are not our real friends. Folk who hang around only when we have money in our pockets are not our real friends.

Truth be told, true friends are a rare commodity. We live in a world of cutthroat competition where folk will drop us like a hot potato to gain an advantage over us. In fact, the friend we may have counted on the most will disappoint us and not be there when we need them.

The preacher in me has to report that I know somebody who is a real friend by any standard. His name is Jesus! He passed the supreme test of friendship when he gave his life for you and me! In fact, Jesus discussed the subject of friendship on the very night before he was crucified. He had just experienced a triumphant ride into the city of Jerusalem, where throngs of people gathered to wave palms as he passed by.

In the Upper Room, Jesus is giving his disciples a few parting instructions before the tragic event of Calvary takes place. Jesus says (paraphrasing), “Now that I am about to make my departure, I want to call you, not my servants, but my friends. And when I call you my friends, I want you to know exactly what I mean. I want you to understand the depth of my love for you. We have an unbreakable bond, you and I. Love and friendship are like Siamese twins: inseparable. One cannot live without the other. I have been displaying my friendship ever since I called you to be my disciples. And not only have I been a friend to you, but I also have shown my friendship to all with whom I have come in contact. And now, I am about to demonstrate the ultimate act of friendship. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” being fair (children in school have a hard life), being consistent, knowing their students’ names, and being good communicators. Yet, a response from a 13-year-old boy blew all of us away. In a voice beyond his years, a deep, resonant voice filled with authority as if destined to speak at this moment, the teen said, “Speak life to the students.”

The Reverend Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. is the pastor of James Chapel AME Church, Charleston, South Carolina.

We live in a time where it is more acceptable to use words to kill the hopes and dreams of others. Every day, the incessant barrage of disparaging put-downs and “clap-backs” air as trending news on television, social media, and personal conversations to the extent that speaking life to one another can seem passé. There are people (trolls) who amass a following generated by taking advantage of a person’s weaknesses, blunders, or presenting embarrassing private details without context, or in many instances, without regard to the truth—this is the opposite of speaking life. Do you have someone who speaks life to you? If you do, let me say you are fortunate. A person who speaks life generally lives a life that allows lessons learned to be gleaned, processed, and shared. This person does not want to control your life but wants you to get the best out of the life you are living. As mentioned, the inspiration for this dispatch centers on ...continued on p6 a boy living in the projects across the street from the church where the group met. While he is trying to do the right thing, dismal demographics are working against him. He so moved me with his “speak life” proclamation that I had to go back and speak life to him. Please find the paraphrased encouragement:

Son, I want you to know that you are not ordinary but extraordinary. What you told those teachers about speaking life to their students was deep: I came back because my spirit told me that I had to speak life to you. I don’t know your life story, but I do know many young people your age are headed in the wrong direction. I want to ask you a question: do you think you are doing the best you can in school? If not, you must ask yourself why not—then search for answers. You don’t have to tell me your answer. I must say it is one thing to end up on the street, and you don’t care. It is another thing to be on the street, and you know, deep down inside, you don’t belong there. Speak life to your problems. Speak life to your obstacles. Speak life to yourself.

We must speak life to sisters and brothers of all ages. We must share the joy that comes from finding release from destructive life traps. We must always encourage, never discourage. We must always empower and never overpower. We must work hard to keep our lights shining bright so we may find and then speak life to a people struggling to live.

The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences (Proverbs 18:21) ❏ ❏ ❏

Fighting for Each Other: The Case for Democracy

Antjuan Seawright, Columnist

John Adams defined democracy as “a government of laws, and not of men.” Lincoln famously called it government of, by, and for the people. An unknown author once described democracy as a slow process of stumbling to the right decision instead of going straight forward to the wrong one. At the same time, Churchill declared democracy to be the worst form of government–except for all the others.

So who is right? Well, all of them.

See, while saints and sinners alike try to co-opt democracy for their agendas, the definition on K Street does not really matter. What matters is how you define it on our street. After all, the truth about democracy is that, whatever else may be said about it, you are the ones in charge.

Now, I mention this knowing that talking points from the left and right alike are saying that American democracy is in peril. In fact, an NBC News poll in September found “threats to democracy” as the top issue among voters beating out jobs, inflation, immigration, and more.

But what constitutes a “threat to democracy?”

Are we talking about foreign terrorist cells building bombs in poorly lit rooms or international powers threatening to entangle us in foreign conflicts?

Are we threatened by Critical Race Theory or, you know, accurate American history, or are the threats we fear somehow a natural product of Judy Blume?

Of course not.

Instead, let us look to the hundreds of bills to restrict further our most basic democratic right to vote since black Americans came out in droves to vote for Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Let us see the boiling vitriol of QAnon conspiracy theories amplifying the worst angels of our nature while they ignore Enrique Tarrio and his Proud Boys, found guilty of actual seditious conspiracy.

Look at the MAGA extremists violently attacking our Congress and literally trying to overturn your democracy on January 6 and the apologists and election deniers that continue to tell us that we cannot believe our own eyes because they were nothing more than concerned citizens participating in a peaceful protest. That certainly looks like a threat to democracy.

What about the never-ending tide of mass shootings flooding our nation in sorrow and blood?

Four people killed and 32 injured when gunfire erupted at a Sweet 16 birthday party in smalltown Alabama; six people, including three 9-year-old children, gunned down at a Nashville elementary school - 97 people killed in 19 mass killings already this year. That tops the previous record in 2009 when 93 people were killed in 17 incidents by the end of April.

And remember, as shocking as they are, those numbers are not counting Buffalo, Uvalde, Monterey Park, Parkland, Las Vegas, and more. That is a threat to democracy, right?

How about Tyre Nichols, beaten to death by Memphis police officers? What about the detective who killed Breonna Taylor hired by a sheriff’s office in rural Kentucky? A new report released by the FBI shows hate crimes across America have risen to their highest point since we started keeping track. Is that a threat to democracy, or should we be more threatened by Disney?

I am sorry. I do not mean to be glib. I do not mean to make jokes because this is not funny. The threats are real.

And while I see how former President Trump and the MAGA extremists have and continue to fuel a lot of this violence by empowering and emboldening the racist right-wing; however, they are not the cancer eating away at our democracy.

The problem is much deeper. It is the fact that the cop who beats an unarmed black man half to death can look at the video from his body camera and honestly believe that he has done nothing wrong. It is the black teenager shot and killed because he knocked on the wrong door.

It is the boss who does not think twice about paying slave wages to black workers because he thinks it is smart business. It is the white doctor who dismisses the pregnant black woman complaining of severe abdominal pain because what does she know? She probably just wants sympathy or drugs.

What is being done about these travesties?

Well, for one, Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chairman Steven Horsford recently announced that the caucus is ready to hold its first National Summit on Democracy & Race and launch its Summer of Action to Defend America.

To quote the CBC’s announcement, “The summit comes amid increasing threats to our democracy, including the recent expulsion of two Black legislators in Tennessee, the legalization of partisan gerrymandering by the GOP Majority in the North Carolina Supreme Court, and ongoing attacks on our personal freedoms.”

Look, the fact is that the CBC has always served as the conscience of the Congress, the country, and now we know the Constitution. Preserving democracy is no different.

They say, “If it is to be, leave it to the CBC.” So we should not be surprised that they are stepping up today to do the work that others cannot or will not.

Look, this is a scary time for American democracy. The truth is that, compared to the rest of the world, we are still a young country, and our future is far from set.

From ancient Athens to WW2, Germany, and modern-day Nicaragua, history is filled with cautionary tales of failed democracies. Are we one? A lot of smart folks are worried we are or we will be soon.

I know how it feels to look at the ...continued on p7 deep divisions across America, to see the ever-increasing animosity and violence, and feel like you want to throw up your hands. But we cannot afford that.

We are on the edge of collapse, and while I do not expect all of us to agree on everything, where we cannot find common ground, we must find higher ground. I get it. Sometimes political horse-trading is necessary. We cannot be willing to trade our democracy.