Cast No Stones: For the African American Community

By Reverend Wanda C. Outlaw

African Americans are beautifully different and more than the skin that they are in. We are human beings who deserve equality. The stones that we cast at each other come from Western societies' divisions and judgements that have proven problematic to our culture. Some blacks have forgotten how to see the beauty and intelligence in one another. Judgement is not the purpose of this book, rather a reminder of our history of community, the village, in order to unite in a divisive society. It will be a mirror for some to look at how they can shift to a community mindset which originates out of our African ancestry. It means not immulating those who appear to be in control of our narrative. It will be an awareness that as we are is divine. To heal we must appreciate our history, not solely the slave narrative but the African culture prior to slavery. The judgements that we project on each other comes from colorism, politics, economics, even religion fused with historical trauma.

There is a rise in racism and if we do not learn to appreciate one another and our differences we will be swallowed by the divisiveness and judgements that come from Western society. We must begin to define ourselves for ourselves to better guide our children who are the future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669811114

Book preview

Copyright © 2022 by Reverend Wanda C. Outlaw.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 02/16/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

833068

CONTENTS

In the Beginning

Sensitivities

My Experiences

Historical Trauma

Religion

Time to Decolonize the Mind

Oxymoron: Politics and Integrity

Crabs in a Barrel…No More

The Black Woman

The Black Man

Political Divide

We Are African

Climb Out of the Fray

Cast No Stones

Books and Movies

References

This book is my contribution to the building of the African American community. I realize that I do not have all the answers but my hope is to trigger my people to want better, to do better for themselves.

We must want to change our existence for the better.

We must love ourselves and one another harder.

We must be more productive for one another.

We must decolonize our minds.

I have written this book for my African American family, the people of the Diaspora. Please read and share this book with others.

You all are very important to me.

In the Beginning

Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? She said, No one, Lord. (John 8 | NKJV Bible | YouVersion) (John 8:3-11)

In the black neighborhood there has always been the community grandma or as I was called in my neighborhood, Ma Dukes or Ma Law. I am the community elder. I know that some will not agree with some things in this book and that is ok. We are family and I am Ma Dukes who tries to impart encouragement, love and wisdom to her family. You are my family. I am old school but I am open and give honor to the generations that have come after me because I remember how difficult it was to grow up under the judgement of the elders. I am not crazy about today’s rap music because of the profanity but I love Lizzo’s spirit and courage; she inspires me, I am a lover of Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson. I love the courage and tenacity of Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka overcoming the ridicule of those who have never walked in their shoes. I love the business mind and the love for his people found in Sean Combs aka Puffy. The builder of black business, Master P is making it happen and passing it on to his children. I love the entertainers of my age, Denzel Washington, LeVar Burton, Sidney Poitier, Tina Turner, Viola Davis and so many more. We are an amazing, beautiful people who have so much to share with others. I just want my black family to return to a community mindset where there is love for one another, where we help each other.

So, what’s going on Ma?! Can you hear Marvin Gaye? We seem to be repeating history, stepping back in time, with new twists and turns that have the world spinning out of control. Who is in charge? Who is to blame for all this madness? The past racist history of this country went into hiding but it did not go away. Systemic racism was not set up by black people but by white people. I tire of white people blaming black people for their own pain. Overt and covert statements made by politicians opened the door for the ugly past to boldly reappear fueled by fear, hate, anger, jealousy, physical and psychological abuses and the cherry on top are all the social issues that come with covid-19 followed by the covid omicron variant. I have learned that pain tends to bring about lessons for us to learn from, individually and as a collective. Unfortunately, there are many blacks who cannot handle the pain and choose to hurt themselves to relieve the pressure. The controlling society, with its insecurities, likes to place blame, they love to point a finger of blame to whomever is available, whomever is the weakest, the one who cannot speak up for themselves or when they do not want to take responsibility for their decisions. I tire of white tears and judgments launching blame on black people. The mean relative of blame is judgement. I have never heard so many people judging others often and harshly as is done today. It seems as if the only way people think that they can use their voice in a powerful way is if they make others to blame or when they make them feel bad about themselves. I was raised in the era that said, sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never harm me. As I have gotten older, I realize that this is not true, sticks, stones and words can hurt when cast.

There is a biblical story found in John 8:7, When they continued to question Him, He straightened up and said to them, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her." When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. Are any of us perfect, without blemish? You may not kill with a gun but do you speak against someone’s character? You may not rob someone’s home but you take credit for someone else’s ideas. Do you criticize someone’s way of life or appearance because it is different from yours? We have all offended someone at some time in our lives. There are various levels of sin and we are accountable for our own. Often people point out the sins of others because they do not want to focus on their own. Sin means being set apart from God. Instead of pointing the one finger out, it is better to focus on the three fingers pointing at yourself. The only way racism will be eradicated is if white people stand up and take ownness for fixing the broken systems. Stop speaking, I am not a racist while supporting racist systems. To be antiracist means you are willing to stand against racist systems and support those oppressed by these systems. It means that when white people hear derogatory jokes or language used against blacks they will speak out and against it. While they are working on rectifying the ills of this country, we, as black people, must focus on unifying the black community. If each of us works on improving ourselves, taking our thoughts and attitudes from negativity to positivity, the world would be made new. If things are going to change it is going to be up to us to stand together letting this country know that we are not going to accept inequality anymore. When we can, we must go to the powers that be and work on influencing changes in laws, policies and systems. What made me write this for my black family and not all of society is that I tire of trying to help white folks understand our pain, what we go through daily. It is not about living apart from white people rather, strengthening the black community. No one is going to look out for us but us. Books and classes on diversity, inclusion and racism have been for both whites and blacks. This book is specifically for African Americans. Whites who want to know better and do better have an abundance of literature to read, classes and organizations to attend. We do not need white guilt or tears, we need white people to listen, understand and support our cause. We need those whites who feel that they are better because they are white, to choose to learn the truth of how this country was built and the part that their Ancestors played in all of it. Again, we do not need white guilt but we do want the truth revealed, attitudes and systems changed so that all men are truly equal. To say that all lives matter is a lie because if all lives mattered world systems would not oppress black lives.

The first writing of this book was a course book that was going to be used in a diversity conference that I was developing for both blacks and whites around the country. The question asked of me was do you really think blacks would show up? I heard a diversity trainer say that it is not productive to put whites and blacks in the same diversity course because of the different issues of each culture. I attended a Zoom diversity course and I was the only black person in the course. I found myself getting frustrated with the blind judgements, I was also feeling a heaviness at looking at the pictures of the past. I heard Black people are racist too! I rarely spoke up except this time, Black people can be prejudice or bias but the racists are the controlling society who have the power. Blacks are only 13% of the country. It was an interesting course but not beneficial to the white attendees. Unless you are going to put the reality out there, then what is the point. It is as if racism is laced in the DNA of white people. All that needs to be done is want to see it and correct it. I decided to write this book solely for blacks because there are so many issues within our race that we must deal with if we are to live better. African Americans must unify if we are to survive. It is time for us to look at what separates us from one another and rid ourselves of all the divisiveness that prevents us from building the village that we need to survive. The focus of this book is to look at what keeps us divided. Hopefully it will help us appreciate one another, build up one another and regain our community. We are all one family under God. Black people look differently, think differently, act differently but spiritually we are all the same in God’s eyes. Genesis 1:27 tells us, So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. So God created human beings in his own image. Yes, this book encompasses spiritual teachings and not just one specific religion. In the black community, we are all made up of differing beliefs and that will not be denied. It is time for us to stop using colorism, religion, classism, economics and other divisive, man-made systems to keep us divided. We must fight for each other, young and old. We cannot give up on one another. An African Proverb says, If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. I am exhausted from stories of shootings, car-jackings, stabbings and missing children. I am equally tired of hearing about police shooting unarmed blacks and the self-entitled whites who want to report any black who moves or acts outside of white understanding, who threaten their sensibilities, who seems different from them. The Karen’s have a fear of what they do not understand and they don’t choose to understand instead preferring to remain in their sense of entitlement. They prefer that we all go along (with them) to get along.

This is not a journey of hate toward white people. We have been so indoctrinated in white history and white world systems while only been given a dot of our black history that we turn western poison on ourselves and one another. Currently there is a fight against teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT) in universities. CRT deals with the history of white supremacy and systemic racism as well as how it still exists today. There are those who believe that it will cause the youth to hate America. It is really about the fear of white Americans, they