African American Life Matters Too:: A Second Emancipation Proclamation Of Our Brother's Keeper To President Barack Obama On Behalf Of The African American Citizenry

By Rev. Dr. J. Myron Smith

Rev. Dr. J. Myron Smith is a minister of the gospel as well as an attorney. He handled many Civil Rights cases concerning police misconduct. He even used Chief Van Blaricom, the police misocnduct expert in the 2nd Rodney King case as an expert witness. He cries out for equal justice and equal love in America.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rev. J. Myron Smith
• Release date: Oct 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9780998511634

Book preview

Two

The Second Emancipation Proclamation and Its Renewed Request in America

One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right if the head is totally wrong. Only through the bringing together of head and heart—intelligence and goodness—shall man rise to a fulfillment of his true nature.–Martin Luther King, Jr., A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings.

There is a need for the renewal of the request of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s to President John F. Kennedy.  Dr. King, Jr. sent a request for a Second Emancipation Proclamation.  It was sent in manifesto form.  Even though Rev. King’s request for a Second Emancipation Proclamation was about 100 years after the original Emancipation Proclamation, it was needed then.  My request in this book is more than 150 plus years after the original Emancipation Proclamation, but it is still needed in our world today.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote a manifesto to President John F. Kennedy in May of 1962.  Rev. Dr. King, Jr.’s request in manifesto form followed a telegram.  Rev. King, Jr. sent the telegram to President Kennedy on December 13, 1961.  It was received by the President on December 19, 1961.  In this urgent telegram message to President Kennedy the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke on behalf of Negro Americans.  In this letter the term Negro will be substituted by the term African American." Rev. Dr. King, Jr. made the following urging cry out to the president on behalf of the African Americans.

"WE URGE YOU ISSUE AT ONCE BY EXECUTIVE ORDER A SECOND EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION TO FREE ALL NEGROES FROM SECOND CLASS CITIZENSHIP.  FOR UNTIL THE GOVERNMENT OF THIS NATION STANDS AS FORTHRIGHT IN DEFENSE OF DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES HERE AT HOME AND PRESSES AS ENCREASINGLY [SIC] (INCREASINGLY) FOR EQUAL RIGHTS OF ALL AMERICANS AS IT DOES IN AIDING FOREIGN NATIONS WITH ARMS.  AMMUNITION AND THE MATERIALS OF WAR FOR ESTABLISHMENT DEFENSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS BEYOND OUR SHORES, THEN AND ONLY THEN, CAN WE JUSTIFY THE CLAIM TO WORLD LEADERSHIP IN THE FIGHT AGAINST COMMUNISM AND TYRANNY.

The cry out was needed then.  It is also needed now.  The reason this type of action is still needed today is due to the fact African Americans are still seen as a second-class citizenry.  This was glaring pertaining to the office of the president.  You as the nation’s first African American President, President Obama, have been treated as if you were a second-class citizen.  This has been done from the congressional floor in your address to the Union.  This has been apparent concerning your living in the White House.  Hateful protesters yell offensive and harmful threats towards the White House, while your family and you reside inside.  In all honesty the issue of second-class citizenship of African Americans has not fully been addressed in American.  Yet, it affects almost every area of American life.  It can be seen in many of the issues that America faces in its judicial system’s application of laws.  It is also present in America’s policing actions.  Further, it is prevalent in legislative bodies’ decision making as well, and this second place citizenship must be lovingly removed.

In 1962 the year of my birth, Rev. Dr. King sent a 65-page manifesto to President Kennedy.  As time has passed, it still holds muster today.  Many situations such as the concerns for voting rights, civil rights, and just judicial decisions, still exist.  Issues involving the color of law violations exist.  Rev. Dr. King, Jr. complained about Bull Connor and others like him.  Rev. Dr. King, Jr. complained about government sponsored police actions waged against African Americans.  Our Black citizens were treated less than human, and as second-class citizens.  These complaints are still in America today.

Sometimes African Americans are still treated as second class citizens by police and prosecutors alike.  This treatment is done without apologies in America by many in these offices.  Today, instead of Bull Connor, there now are police commissioners like William J. Bratton. Bratton who recently resigned due to conflicts with his boss the Mayor New York.  Bratton is also the Vice-Chair of the Homeland Security Advisory and has been in that position since February 8, 2011 to the present.

As of September 16, 2016, he has resigned from the NYPD.  Crime has dropped in the cities that Bratton has served as the commissioner or police chief.  But at what cost?

Bratton allowed his officers to turn their back on Mayor de Blasio his boss who appointed him.  Bratton who has been the commissioner of police or the chief of police in Boston, Los Angeles, and New York City frequently, has had differences with his superiors.  His recent exit in New York in his second term a Police Commissioner there he was upset with Mayor de Blasio because the mayor apologized to the Bronx Assemblyman, Michael Blake. The latter was roughed up by NYPD officers.  Bratton refused to apologize to the African American Assemblyman Michael Blake.  Bratton disagrees and disrespects his bosses, if he as the leader does that, what will his officers do to the public?  Bratton who also has criticized President Obama who appointed him as the Vice-Chair of the Homeland Security Advisory.

Bratton, and other police like him, who refuse to apologize are part of the problem with community relationships. The failure to admit when they are wrong, or to with integrity correct the officers who violate the rights of citizens do not help in the police departments’ efforts to conduct just community policing.

Then there are those unapologetic prosecutors who fail to prosecute officers by refusing to file charges against them.  One such prosecutor is Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, who is in the position at Senator Amy Klobuchar once held.  Freeman chose not to prosecute officers in which citizens said killed Jamar Clark who was unarmed and handcuffed with his hands behind his back.

The attitudes of police chiefs, commissioners, and prosecutors must change.  The more things change the more they stay the same in America.

In 1962 Dr. King said the following to President Kennedy who had some executive power to make great changes for the African Americans.  King encouraged Kennedy.  He asked him to do the same great thing that President Lincoln did in the first Emancipation Proclamation.  This request by Rev. Dr. King, Jr. was for the good of the whole nation of the United States of America.

Rev. Dr. King wrote what is called the Second Emancipation Proclamation to President Kennedy: [A] time of greatness, calls for acts of greatness…The full panoply of Presidential power must now again, as in 1863, be exerted in behalf of civil rights. – Appeal to John F. Kennedy, 1962

The Second Emancipation Proclamation sent by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to President Kennedy was fully urgent and contained the cries of the people.  The cries were for the new executive order.  King knew a Second Emancipation Proclamation would shed light on the plight of African Americans.  His request was not just full of cries and pleas.  But it also contained detailed descriptions of the past laws and present laws.  He also included legislature which could assist President Kennedy.  Rev. Dr. King, Jr. gave President Kennedy all that he needed to write the order.  To write a historical Second Emancipation Proclamation would have been monumental at that time.

The Second Emancipation Proclamation request by Rev. King, Jr. was written as an urgent appeal over 55 years ago.  The appeal was to be to the conscientiousness of Americans.  He was also seeking to appeal to the moral duty of all Americans to love and respect one another equally.

Rev. King wrote the following to President Kennedy: As, chief executive, you have the unique opportunity to activate and direct the moral and democratic conscience of America in the field of race relations.  The President of the United States Can draw upon his authority as spokesman for the nation in such a way as to inspire those who are working for a more democratic America and to rebuff those who dray us backward into the swamps of primitivism and oppression — or, still better, to educate all of us in the ways of brotherhood.  The moral force of this great office is never so apparent as when he lashes out at the vigilants who spoil the vines of the First Amendment, its prestige never so imposing as when he sets out quietly to persuade the leaders of Southern opinion that a new day has dawned….a key factor in the equation of success will be a succession of Presidents determined to use all the resources of this great office." 

These words of Rev. Dr. King still ring true today.  They are still words, which encourage and inspire.  They are words which support a great move for equality.  His words if allowed, touches the human heart to give inspiration in love to be our brother’s keeper.  In so doing they evoke a great move for brotherhood, and a moral love of all human beings equally.  Love surely is the key to change the lives of Americans, both the free and oppressed.

Many who have come to America voluntarily have fallen in love with America at first sight and had a change of heart founded in liberty and justice.  But, was that for all, or just some? There must be a change for it to be and justice for all.

Three

Stars Come Out To Show Brotherly Love Refusing To Selfishly Abstain Because of Financial Threats Or Loss

Stars Come Out To Show Brotherly Love Refusing To Selfishly Abstain Because of Financial Threats Or Loss

President Obama you have said after the killings of Sterling and Castile, change is too slow.  Many Americans fully agree with you.  Look at the sports stars of Dwayne Wade from Chicago, who worked in Miami, LeBron James from Akron, Ohio, who worked in Miami, Carmelo Anthony from New York City, Chris Paul from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Colin Kaepernick from Milwaukee, and their request for unity against murder of unarmed human beings.  Each has been touched by murders of innocent men and boys in their hometowns, or who were from their adopted hometowns or even their home states.   Eric Garner was from New York City, the same as Carmelo Anthony’s hometown.  Teen Lennon Lacy who was found hung in Bladenboro, North Carolina, and his death ruled an illogical and impossible suicide.  This occurred in Chris Paul’s home state.  Tamir Rice and John Crawford III were from Ohio, and about 39 miles from Akron in the Cleveland area when they were killed.  Sylville Smith was from Milwaukee, which is Kaepernick’s hometown. Trayvon Martin was from Miami, Florida where both Lebron James and Dwayne Wade played professional basketball.

These athletes know their convening power at those whose jobs are in the spotlight, and in their efforts to do good, when it is in their power to do good, and they have.  Many people in America without sympathy, and in coldness criticize these young men for speaking their minds about the value of African American life.  Every life is valuable, but why does it hurt so many when they say African American Life Matters Too? Some of these young men had chosen to kneel at the playing of the National Anthem, and many say they do not respect the founding documents of this country, such as the Declaration of Independence.  Maybe in their warm hearts with a love for all life that is not totally true, maybe it is that they do respect the principles behind the nation’s doctrines and want them to be true for everyone equally.

In the past one of America’s stars shining in the darkness of one of America’s darkest hours was an African American. Frederick Douglass, and he was called to be a voice at the 4th of July celebration in Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852.  Fredrick Douglas recognizing his convening power made this statement about African descendants in America celebrating the 4th of July, Independence Day in a speech.

"My business, if I have any here today, is with the present. The accepted time with God and His cause is the ever-living now.

Trust no future, however pleasant,

Let the dead past bury its dead;

Act, act in the living present,

Heart within, and God overhead.

We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future.  To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. But now is the time, the important time…..Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us? Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation’s sympathy could not warm him?–Frederick Douglass

Mr. President, Frederick Douglass said many Americans then had cold hearts towards African Americans. Many Americans now have responded to the killings of African American males with very cold hearts, and even hatred at sometimes.

After the trial of George Zimmerman, who admittedly killed an unarmed child, you said the following Mr. President: But I do recognize that as president, I’ve got some convening power. Your straight forward heart courage in making this statement, and the other things you said in defense of the African American community, took a love not only for the African American community, but also a love for the American community as a whole.  These words of you have nothing but wisdom for those who desire to have a straightforward homogeneous agape love for one another.  How, do we get those filled with hate to the table is the question?

The famous Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was imprisoned, and made a martyr by the Nazis for opposing the Hitler regime said:

What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straghtforward men. Dietrich Bonhoeffer – Letters and Papers from Prison (1943-1945, English publication 1967)

Pastor Bonhoeffer spoke this regarding overcoming the unjust laws put into place by Hitler.  America in organized love needs but plain, honest, straightforward men and women seeking equality, and equal treatment for all human beings to move with authority.  This is the truth, and President Barack Obama when you spoke after the child Trayvon Martin’s death, and the judicial trial that freed Zimmerman, I heard love in your voice, and the hurting of your broken heart.  Simply, it was the jury instructions, and the present Florida laws, which freed a man who was told not to go after the child Trayvon, but disobeyed authorities.

I believe, you have a heart like mine concerning changing laws which exhibit more love for some life, and the hatred for other lives.  These laws must be changed by those with the authority to do so immediately.  There is the need for movement with authority. Those with hate in their hearts have moved with authority to make hateful laws. Those with love in their hearts must now move with authority.

Just as the 1960s saw a nonviolence movement, there seems to be a violence against African American males in America movement, which is an injustice to all Americans.  It seems that almost monthly mothers and fathers are crying at the loss of an unarmed African American male being killed.  This must stop with authority, and it is just that straightforward, plain, and simple.

Many children and men have died on the streets with their blood crying out for justice.  Others have been wounded with the spilling of their blood as well, and it is because of the divided heart of Americans toward African American males.  I am speaking of the senseless killings of African American males, as well as the economically poor males, and even the senseless killings of innocent police officers.  We are to stand against the killing of innocent citizens’ blood being spilled, as well as innocent officers’ blood being spilled.

Many have said that bullets have no eyes, but the persons doing the shooting unless they are vision impaired do have eyes.  The shooter’s actions are based upon the filtering of what they see with those eyes, which tells their hearts, heads, and hands to shoot.

Case in point, an undercover police officer, Detective Jacai Colson was killed by friendly fire when he responded to an active shooter call at his own police precinct.  I am sure he was firing at the assailants, and not the other officers, yet he was killed by friendly fire. Or shall I say, unfriendly to the color of his skin fellow officer?  Yes, the friendly fire came from a white officer, and the officer who died looked like you and me. But, there also have been shootings of innocent officers just sitting in their cars.  This needs to be reviewed as well, with just as much zeal, as private unarmed citizens being shot by officers.

The only difference is that we know that the police officers have ample advocates with the power to make changes for their protection when they are unlawfully shot.  But, what about unarmed African American males?  We desire an environment in America that provides everyone with an advocate, because all deserve the right to representation, and to be heard.  Innocent police officers shot by unstable persons have advocates to speak for them, who have authority already in place.

Again, but what about the unarmed African American males?  Do they have boards with power and authority to review, investigate, subpoena, and indict without any conflicts of interest?  The wrongfully spilled blood of our brothers is crying out from the blood-soaked ground.  Their voices must be heard, and their testimonies must be given on their behalf, even if it is only their blood crying out from the ground in Civil Review Boards empowered to hear, and to decide upon the evidence, and to receive the testimony of all witnesses.  All witnesses, even the community’s witnesses that sometimes have statements that differ from police reports, and police officers, must be heard.

This would foster an environment free from intimidation and set a conducive atmosphere to hear testimony, and aid in making decisions on which way the investigation should go. This would go a long way in avoiding conflicts of interest.  The District Attorneys and the City officials all have an inherent conflict of interest when looking at officers shooting unarmed African American males.  Our brothers’ blood cries out from the ground, and their voice needs an advocate for their Black Lives which Matters to be heard.

President Obama we need you to be an advocate of further "Change" for the better in America.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his request for the Second Emancipation Proclamation sent to President John F. Kennedy said these words to encourage the heart of President Kennedy.  Rev. Dr. King, Jr. knew that President Kennedy needed some encouragement to move to be an advocate for the Negroes.  The reason for the need for advocacy was due to the atrocities being waged against African Americans, then called Negroes.

"‘What is now required is effective moral and political leadership by the whole Executive Branch of our government to make equal opportunity a living reality for all Americans.’  1963, in the United States of America, Mr. President, must be the year of living reality, not only for some nineteen million Negros, but for all America.  To accomplish its goal, the party platform of your Administration recognized that significant executive orders and/or legal actions by the Attorney General would be necessary.  Above all, however, it stated that the achievement of full human dignity would require the ‘strong, active, persuasive and incentive leadership of the President of the United States.’" –Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

President Obama, you are courageous and have wisdom about the need for Change.  You have demonstrated that you are no stranger to opting for change.  In your actions for the Affordable Care Act (hereafter ACA), you recognized first you had the power to change a brokenhearted issue regarding health care, and you stood firm to make the needed changes.

Further, you as a first term Senator, decided to run for president seeking a radical change. In this decision, you were successful and won the election for the President of the United States of America.  In this victory you overcame many years of biases, lies about African American intellect, social myths, and stereotypes to become president.

President Obama let no person fool you, you are a great leader, because a great leader is also a thinker, and a doer with much thought of how things will affect the whole, and not just a few.

In your speech after the first election you proclaimed your platform in which you ran, and your desire for America as a whole; It’s been a long time coming, but…change has come to America, and this was the apex or the concluding moment of the song of Sam Cooke A Change Is Gonna Come.  Yes, It’s been a long time coming, but Change has come.

But, has it truly come in all areas, such as a change for the better in all the hearts of human beings in America to love?

Sam Cooke wrote and sung many a love song after he left the church and began to sing secular music.  Without question, it seems as though he had a return to the spirit of the church with the song, A Change Is Gonna Come.

Sam Cooke in frustration wrote the words of the song because many wanted freedom from oppression in America and needed to be equally loved like all other citizens in America.  However, Mr. Cooke’s frustration was many people did not want to put in the work to become free, even many African Americans who were being oppressed at the time.  They did not want to use direct action for freedom and social change, even under acts of non-violence.

Mr. Cooke grew up in the church, the melody, tune, and tone of many of his songs are like those gospel songs of that era, and the words of A Change Is Gonna Come are as follows:

A Change Is Gonna Come (Lyrics)

It’s been a long, a long time coming

But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will…

Then I go to my brother

And I say, Brother, help me please

But he winds up knockin’ me

Back down on my knees…

It’s been a long, a long time coming

But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will.

These lyrics were written by Sam Cooke, and published by ABKCO Music Inc.

Brother Help Me Please is what Mr. Cooke said in the song.  All human brothers in the human race need help at one time or another. For example, Mr. President the first Europeans who came to the Americas needed help from the indigenous people.  The pilgrims on the verge of starvation cried out for help.  The pilgrims needed help from the human beings of the Native Americans, who showed them love.  The colonist who were being taxed and oppressed cried out for help from France.  The colonist who felt oppressed by the King of England, needed help from the French human beings.  In both instances their cries were not suppressed, but their cries for help were heard.

The assistance of the Native Americans sustained life, and the help of the French gave those in positions of authority the pursuit of happiness that they desired for themselves only.  Now in modernity, there is a cry for help once again Mr. President. The cries of the blood of unarmed men and boys. The cries of the blood of men and boys carrying or having near them guns or toy guns in States that have open carry laws. In violation of their Second Amendment rights, they have been gunned down without full investigations.  There are cries of the blood of the slain, and there are cries of human beings of every culture and nationality that is in America for justice.  But, yet many people who benefited from the help of the Native Americans, and the French in gaining their pursuit of happiness want to suppress the cries of Black Lives Matter, or those protesting the institutional biases and systematic oppression that allow the killing of men and boys in the streets without any reasonable remedy.

The African American males of the nation of the United States of America need your help.  In this I am preaching to the choir. For this you already know, because you have started an organization, not just for African Americans, but other cultures as well, MY BROTHER’S KEEPER. It is in the spirit of your heart to help others as a public and private servant of people as a leader.  President Obama, in your initial words from the heart after winning the first election, you said change has come to America.  That heartfelt moment gave many people hope that true change had come, and the true change would be implemented right away.  However, we understand that lasting change at times takes time, but there is a need for a NOW FAITH IS- CHANGE TO COME, BECAUSE AMERICA IS IN NEED OF LOVE FOR ALL HUMAN BEINGS EQUALLY, and this is needed right away.  A Second Emancipation Proclamation can bring this about.  It can bring about an awareness of who is my brother that is being oppressed and who is my brother in need of my keeping or helping hand.  Because, the one who is my brother needs good from my heart, when I can do good unto the one who is my brother.

Four

The First Step of Being a Keeper of a Brother is to be a Keeper of True Love Knowing Who Is My Brother 

Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others, we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as ourselves. Dietrich Bonhoeffer–The Cost of Discipleship

To lead a social change of emancipation we must first have an internal change.  The internal change must be a desire not to judge one another.  Conversely, we need to keep one another’s hearts from the evils of hatred.  An atmosphere such as this would foster brotherly love.  It would remove a hatefulness that has bred bigotry, bias, and brutal laws in America.  It would help stop profiling behaviors of the heart in the American society, as well.  This will be for the good of all.  It must be done by imparting true love into all Americans one heart at a time.  In this we can fulfill our creed and moral obligations unto one another.  This would be a true success as a melting-pot of diverse people living together as one in America.

When we introduce and live life in a true God-Centered love, coupled with a love-ethic we will have a successful melting-pot, and a more-better Union.   God-Centered Love will bring about a nation which will have an equal love for all human beings.  Then and only then will America live out the meaning of its creed fully.  In our being ethical there is a place for true love, the joy of loving, and being loved to co-exist for the pursuit of happiness, For All.

Mr. President you once said: Hope over fear…all are equal, all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

Mr. President I truly believe; God must be in the midst of joy and happiness for it to work righteously.  It should truly be understood that joy and happiness are both matters that cannot be taken away or given by the world.  The reason for this is because both truly must come from GOD to be sustained.  Then both true joy and happiness have as their basis, true love, which also comes from God.  For God is not only the giver of true joy that is full, true happiness when we follow His word, and true LOVE, when we follow His commands to love.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would often challenge America on living up to its creed and pursuit of happiness.  He did this in several speeches.  He also did it in the manifesto sent to President John F. Kennedy.  The Second Emancipation Proclamation was sent to Kennedy.  This was done over 50 years ago.  Yet, still to date America has failed to fully realize its creed.  America has failed at fully changing its creed for all human beings to be seen equally.  America has failed at having the pursuit of happiness to be equally applicable to all Americans.  Equally applicable to be sought by all human beings in America.  All people should be able to pursue happiness regardless of ethnic background, or social status.

Americans in our moral pursuits must understand the pursuit of happiness is not just for white Americans. But it is an ALL-AMERICAN CREED.  For it to work, we must fully hold in our hearts, and honestly believe all men and women have been created equal by God.  Then in this pursuit of happiness, we must unselfishly treat one another equally.  Americans must also be on one accord.  As we find ourselves standing firmly together with like hearts unashamed, that would be Change.  Real Change, with the same ideology that is then both stated and lived from the heart must come about.  Then, the Change must be embodied by the principles of an equal brotherly love for one another. The brotherly love must also be for all people, and all cultures. Not only that, Change must be an exhibiting of that equal brotherly love in life and laws of America.  Yes, it must be applied as an unconditional love in every area of our American lives.   Brotherly love is entrenched in the precepts and declarations of America.  Brotherly Love is also found deeply hidden in the founding documents that established America.

One document, which has Brotherly love, as its foundation was formed and signed into being in the city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia.  It carries the same name of a church found in the Holy Bible, which was one of seven churches, which Christ Jesus sent love letters sent to, one of which, was the church of Philadelphia.  The Document is called the Declaration of Independence.  The true meaning of this document has been attempted to be legislated time and time again. Oftentimes, in its interpretation by the Courts or legislative bodies there has been the application of less love for some, but a greater homogeneous love for those of European descent.  At the beginning before the 13th and 14th Constitutional Amendments, which were added to the Constitution, it was lawful for unequal love in America.

Stemming from the original Declaration it was legally applied to have unequal love for all who were not to European descent.  Although, it was not morally right to have such unequal love.  This type of love does not have true Godly-Ethics.  The original documents of America signed into law in Philadelphia had flaws.  But history has shown a correction of those laws on paper, but not personal practice.  In practice America seems to continue to have the same spirit, equal love for some citizens in which the founding document cited.  The foundation truly is what it is, but we must be those willing to Change the spirit behind the foundation.

The Division of the Less Loved Brethren, From Those Greater Loved Brethren By Cruel Hatred Void of True Love

There is nothing that can replace the absence of someone dear to us, and one should not even attempt to do so. One must simply hold out and endure it. At first that sounds very hard, but at the same time it is also a great comfort. For to the extent the emptiness truly remains unfilled one remains connected to the other person through it. It is wrong to say that God fills the emptiness. God in no way fills it but much more leaves it precisely unfilled and thus helps us preserve — even in pain — the authentic relationship. Further more, the more beautiful and full the remembrances, the more difficult the separation. But gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as a thorn but as a precious gift deep within, a hidden treasure of which one can always be certain.― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In this quote, Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, speaks of the lost or the absence of someone near and dear to us.  But what if the loss incurred was a part of your own being?  Or a part of one who once had rights? But then those rights were taken away.  In those rights taken away the person felt like a different person.  A person longing for the freedom of the old person to return to their rightful place.  Pastor Bonhoeffer as a prisoner in Hitler’s German still held in his heart the premises of brotherly love.

Pastor Bonhoeffer in prison still had love for dear ones who were in freedom, when he was a captive.   He wrote, There is nothing that can replace the absence of someone dear to us.  As he was held in a jail cell, he spoke of missing someone dear to our hearts.  Freedom once tasted is missed.  It is missed when it is systematically and physically taken away from us. In our faith, all are created by the Creator freely in heaven, and then placed in the earth.

When freedom is taken in the manner it was taken from the German Jews, there is a loss of self-being.  Robbed of self-being by other human-beings. The freedom taken away from German citizens like Pastor Bonhoeffer was missed.  Bonhoeffer chose to love as opposed to submitting to hate.  In his choice, there is a loss of his physical identity of freedom. In America, a similar thing happened regarding the taste of freedom, and having it taken away.  For instance, what about the original slaves who were born free, kidnapped, and trafficked.

They were free but were forced into captivity.  But not only that, they were also forced not to be their free self-being any longer.  But became a slave for the satisfaction of the desire of another who held cruel hatred in their hearts toward them.  A cruel immoral heart, which was filled with hatred for the slave as they pursued, what they called happiness just for themselves.  Slaves missed their free self-being, or the freedom God created them to live in as His children.

Then again in America freedom given was taken away.  What about the newly emancipated slaves in America?  They were freed with hopes of their African descendants to be forever free.  This was their thought after the first Emancipation Proclamation.  Then it was seemingly confirmed by the signing into law of the 13th and 14th Amendments.  These Amendments, which were causally related to their freedom said they were free.  Yet, not many years after these new laws were passed, they were forced to go back into an attitude of slave like conditions.  Conditions of separate but equal, which were unequivocally immoral, and unequal were put into place.  Their true freedom was removed by the stroke of pens.  The pens of unjust lawmakers, and adjudicators of unequal laws by immoral decisions, made in immoral indecency for what they wanted to be in perpetuity, or for eternity when applied to Blacks. The freedom tasted by Blacks, or Africans in America, was snatched away by the immoral and the unjust laws, and people who hated Blacks with a cruel hatred.

Freedom was missed by the millions of human beings.  People had lived in the era of Reconstruction, later to only to find themselves in an era of Jim Crow.  The era of immoral Jim Crow laws lasted into the era of nonviolent protest for Civil Rights.  In their hearts they knew of the words listed in the documents of freedom.  Yet they still did not fully enjoy their freedom listed in these documents of America.  To see freedom on the paper, but not lived in your presence causes pain.  The pain from seeing something on paper but not lived can bring about a psychological bondage.  Then if you are not careful, and trade evil for evil, it causes spiritual bondage as well.  But it also caused one to truly miss freedom like an old friend.  Freedom, like a dear loved one that had died is truly missed.  Now imagine the psychological and spiritual effects not being free.  Then being forced to go overseas to fight for the freedom of others. The missing of freedom was more intense for the troops who went overseas.  African American troops, who went overseas to fight in wars to free other people, and who had tasted freedom, truly missed the freedom when they returned home to America.  Like an old dear loved one gone on to glory, freedom was missed.  African American soldiers, who were not equally loved by their nations, and their neighbors.  Had to fight for others’ freedom.  The not only tasted the freedom given to others, they gave it to others.  But they missed freedom tasted upon returning home.  Although African American soldiers had fought for the freedom of many on foreign soils, yet at home they were bound.  They had made sacrifices for the preservation of the Union.  For the preservation of the United States of America, and its allies.

Our youngest daughter is a fencer, and she fences with a French woman, named Ms. Nicole.  Ms. Nicole once told me a story about her encounter with a band of African American troops who freed her town from the Nazis.  She was a young girl, and her mother had done something full of taboo.  Her mother had her out of wedlock, but her father was a German troop.  Her mother was shunned, and she was treated like an outcast by many.  When the African American troops came, they treated her with compassion, and showed her love.

Viva La France! Rung out as the African American troops freed their town from German occupation.  Ms. Nicole being a young child at that point, believed all Americans to be of African American descent.  When someone showed her pictures of white Americans, she refused to believe they were Americans.  Because in her mind, in her self-being all Americans were African Americans.  All Americans were Black, just like the troops who had freed her town from German occupation.  Just like the African American troops who lovingly gave her chocolate.  Blacks who gave a little outcast blond French girl freedom, and a full self-being.

Just imagine if any of those troops, which freed that town, had a baby girl back home.  After helping give someone’s little girl freedom, missing their dearly loved and adorable little girl.  Then recalling their little girl back home.  Their little girl, who was trapped in the bondage of oppression in her self-being.  The bondage of racism was still on these African American men who granted millions freedom.  In America there still existed the bondage of separate but equal, which is, and was an immoral lie. Racism is the bondage of cruel hatred, which God says is likened to murder.

Racism is an explicit or implicit heart process or intellectual thought or social emotional practice that loves one race over other races, or loves less as being beneath or even hates as being wretched one race more than others. [This was paraphrased from Pastor John Piper’s work of Structural Racism: The Child of Structural Pride.]

But, in actuality there is but one human race made in the Image of God, with different pigments for hues in reference to skin tone, skin shade, or even varying features based upon the region they were placed in by God. The African American givers of freedom were not free themselves, but at home under separate but equal institutional systemic racism, had to return to continue to fight for their own freedom.  They had given the sweet savor of freedom to others, in their freedom to fight for others. But the African American troops experienced the loss of their newly found dear friend of freedom once they returned to the American soil.  They had tasted freedom, and given freedom to others, yet they would miss that freedom once home.  After they had fought for the freedom of others, they were not fully free.  Time and time again in every war they were enticed to fight with promises of being made whole citizens.  With the assurances of equal rights, which always gave the implication it would get better for their children.

Then it was also implied for African Americans to believe that they would have equal love in America.  That African Americans would eventually be seen as equal brothers in America.  As equals in the Nation that started in the City of Brotherly love.   However, time and time again this equal brotherhood did not fully manifest itself.  Not only did equal brotherly love not fully manifest, but even their second class citizenship was tenuous at best, and was found fluctuate between third class, fourth class, fifth class and so on, concerning the cultural environment, and America’s needs during war and peace.  There is more love for some in America, and a lesser love for others without any doubt. A lesser love for African Americans by some, opens the doors for the temptations of hatred.

There is no secret about the original foundation, and its original documents reflecting this notion.  Those original documents showed more love for some, where there was more love for the perceived white majority, than African Americans.  Or put even plainer for those who do not know history.  The original documents, and some of the subsequent documents have shown hatred.  The documents have shown a hatred, which is for those of us outside of the perceived majority. The hatred that those who hate Blacks have is an incredibly cruel hatred.  The laws which had a love for some, and a hatred for others plainly caused some to feel no brotherly love.  But rather, they felt, and some still do feel as though they are Disinherited Brothers.  Disinherited Brothers of the American Dream for all to be equal.  Or plainer still. Many feel a lesser love for their lives.  They also see that there is a lesser value placed upon their lives as human beings by many Americans. In hatred one tries to keep another person down in society, in politics, as well as in issues of justice, just for their own inner beings. Due, to their own deficiencies of humanity, those who hate with a cruel hatred for Blacks, believe that any freedom, or the rising of freedom for Blacks, is