America, The Dream

By Kenneth S. Brown

This book was not written for everyone but for those that can accept the truth about what life in America has been like. The masses of the people in this country were led to believe in a dream, the American dream. The oppression by political leaders and exploitation by big businesses has created a life where the dream is difficult to achieve. The common people were told that education will be the key to economic success, that believing in God and attending church will be the producer of blessings in the toughest moments in life. The American people were promised in this dream that every American will be treated justly in the court of law, that every American will be given the opportunity to work and be paid a fair wage, that every American will have the right to be educated properly and adequately, that every American will be given the opportunity to achieve and live the American dream. But just as it was written in theory or as an idea, it remains an idea for the working-class poor; however, it has become a reality for just a few, while nearly the entire population of the minimum-wage workers is living an impoverish lifestyle. For those who can accept and handle the truth, this book is written for people like you and me.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662444739

Book preview

Chapter 1

The American Dream

The British definition of the American dream is the notion that the American social, economic, and political system makes success possible for every individual.

James T. Adams, in 1931, also developed a definition for the American dream: that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not merely a dream of motorcars and high salary rates but of a social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, recognized according to circumstances of birth or position.

The American dream in culture is a phrase connoting hope for prosperity and happiness, symbolized particularly by having a house of one’s own. Possibly applied at first to the hopes of immigrants, the phrase now applies to all except the very rich and suggests a confident hope that one’s children’s economic and social condition will be better than one’s own.

The dream is a national ethos of the United States. It is an idealism that includes the privilege for success and prosperity as a tool to become successful by working hard. These ideals are guaranteed in theory, but not in practice. It has been proved in this country that education and hard work are not sufficient to be successful. In practice, the African American people in this country have had to play a specific role in terms of not being included in the American dream. In the definition by James T. Adams in 1931, he clearly stated, Life should be better and richer and fuller for each according to their ability or achievement, regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. We know as African American, by the definition and ideals that are practiced in this country, that the dream refers to White Europeans, the Anglo-Saxons. Just like the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, which express freedom, liberty, and equality, were meant for Whites and Whites only. The Declaration of Independence promulgates that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, which include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were talking about Whites and referring to the White majority in this country and not the ex-slaves or the Africans. We must note that when these two documents were being created, the Africans were still slaves and a property belonging to plantation owners. The Declaration of Independence was written and signed on July 4 of 1776. History tells us that the Africans were in bondage and restricted to plantations in the South. We know that this is true and that the institution of perpetual servitude lasted until 1865. How can the African slaves then and the African Americans today assume that these two documents were also created to provide life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for the African slaves then and the African Americans of today? To further my point, during the creation of these two documents, the Africans were labeled as property belonging to various plantations throughout the Southern states. The slaves were defined as such: chattel on a farm, subhuman being, three-fifths of a person, that God made a creative error in creating the Africans. So definitely, these documents weren’t talking about Africans then and Black people now. There are many reasons for African Americans of even today to believe that when the Founding Fathers of America authored both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they did not consider African slaves as citizens of this country, and no consideration was given to allow Africans to enjoy the benefits of these two documents.

We know that the meaning of the American dream has changed over the years. From a national to a global perspective, are people able to own a home and are they given the opportunity to achieve upward mobility? The answer to this question is yes and no—yes for Whites and no for Blacks. The frontier life in America, the opportunity to own a home, was granted to Whites only. Only White families could experience success and prosperity in a country where every opportunity available to Whites was not available to Blacks. Like the Africans then, Black people today have the same struggle to achieve fair and equal opportunity.

There were certain privileges and freedom that slaves were prohibited from and denied; today, Blacks are not prohibited from or denied these things, but the results are the same: paying copious prices or personal degradation.

The ethos of today’s America implies that every opportunity is given to Americans to achieve prosperity through hard work, as stated in the dream, which includes the opportunity for children to grow up and obtain a good education and a respectable career. Our opportunities are lived through dreaming while we are sleeping, because God knows it is not a reality when Blacks are fully awake. White people can enjoy the dream in reality, while Black people have to enjoy the dream while they are in the world of sleep and unconsciousness. So for us, we have to be sleeping to enjoy the American dream. But remember, according to the American dream, we are supposed to have every opportunity to obtain a good education and the opportunity to work and be paid fairly like our White counterpart, male or female. There should not be any barriers in our path from a social or economic perspective. The freedom to make individual decisions about our careers without being restricted by racist Whites who advocate racism to deny us the chance to enjoy the dream, those Whites who have chosen to restrict Black people from economic opportunity, social equality, justice, and freedom ever since the Africans entered this country in the early 1600s as slaves. And those who felt then, and still do now, that Black people are incapable of thinking for themselves, that Blacks can only succeed if Whites are there to think for them, that Blacks were made by the Creator to serve the White race. This is the kind of practice that was imposed on the slaves during their perpetual servitude. We, as Blacks, must not allow this kind of thinking to enter the minds of our children anymore. With this concept we will continue the existence of mental bondage, because this will not help our cause, even though we know that the dream was created for Whites in America and that the dream, by definition, is for Whites to enjoy and practice among themselves. Black people in this country must quit trying to be a part of a system that was created for European Anglo-Saxons. The composition of the dream was implemented long before it was written in 1931 by James T. Adams. The Africans were brought here to work for the Europeans, to make them rich, to serve them as their human machine.

The Civil War was fought in this country for four long years over the issues of slavery between the North and the South. Many lives were lost because of this cruel and shameful practice in Southern plantations, but do you think this made Southerners stop and think that what they were doing was wrong and they must put an end to the entire institution? No. Like today, White people think that the way they designed programs to keep the Black race dependent on them is okay. Some even say we should be glad to be in America and to have the freedom and privileges that we have." In today’s society, Whites want us to believe that we are given certain opportunities and ideals of the American dream. If the opportunity is one of employment, we have to work twice as hard as any White person. If it is a chance to play on one professional team, we have to be ten times as good as the White players. We should consider, in retrospect, the condition slaves had to undergo, such as being compelled to work for food and shelter, beaten badly if they resisted, and made to work even harder. Into today’s world, Blacks are forced to work without being physically touched, for he or she knows that if you don’t work, you will starve to death and/or be homeless. There are so many things that will make people stay on a job, and it is a shame to hear and/or see people go to work sick and tired because not going will cause them to be without food, clothes, and/or shelter and be rejected by family, friends, and everybody else. The Black people in this country were placed in a social, economic, political, and educational position to watch the majority class live the dream, while they dreamed the dream and prayed to God for a blessing. So they cannot experience the dream in reality, only in an unconscious state.

CNN conducted an opinion research poll in June that found out that 59 percent of the people feel that the American dream is unachievable. This is the worst the percentage has been since 1996. A poll from McClatchy and Marist College revealed that 80 percent of the people say it’s harder to achieve the American dream now than before. But only 31 percent of the people believe that if you work hard, the dream can be achieved or one will have a good chance of living close to the ideals that the dream implies. The Republicans want to say that the Obama administration caused the American dream to be unattainable. But we all know the real reason for this: the laws have changed, which affect the way things are being done in this country to some degree. Whites can no longer deprive Blacks without depriving their own people too. Certain laws, rules, and regulations have been passed that used to affect only Black people but now affect White people also; however, this has several effects, like minimum wage, inflation, unemployment, and taxes being increased to cover fragile government spending. Whites can no longer deprive Black people of public opportunity without depriving their own people as well. Higher interest on loans for Blacks means higher interest for Whites as well. So now we hear complaints from working-class Whites that the dream has become unattainable, though for Blacks it has always been an economic crisis in the United States. And now the White working class is complaining that the dream cannot be obtained because of the economic crisis in the United States. Some Blacks live like kings and queens, but what is being done for the majority of the Black race?

Black athletes are being paid a copious amount of money for their service by professional teams; however, that’s doing nothing for the working-class people in this country. If minimum wage reaches fifteen dollars an hour, commodities will inflate to level with it that the increase will probably hurt more than it will help. The price of gas, utilities, insurance, tuition, food, doctor’s visits, and restaurants has increased, and small businesses may have to close their doors because of not being able to pay their employees the new minimum wage. Those workers who are kept on as employees will have to work like a machine to keep their jobs. Increasing the minimum wage is not the solution to America’s economic problems. We will cover the problems in a later chapter of this book. The people living in Washington, DC, know that wage is part of the problem but not its only cause. The real cause is our economic ideology and the greed of corporate America. Why won’t the leaders of this country change the way they are operating this country? Because their paternalism is feasible and successful. There is no need to change. And business owners aren’t going to change, because the method they are using is making them millions in profit. The proletariats will always be exploited. We must remember that in order for companies to make profits, they must exploit workers, inflate prices on the products or services they are selling, and hire fewer people to do the same work that had been done with a full staff. White people are beginning to feel what Black people have been feeling all these years. The Republicans are looking for someone to blame. Who is a better person than the president that is currently in office? We know that every White person in this country is going to make a case that President Obama is the reason for the economic condition of this country, and that he is the reason the dream is almost impossible to achieve. And when they are done blaming the president, the focus will turn to Black people: we need to get off welfare, stop looking for handouts, and get off our lazy butts and get a job. Whites will say everything to protect themselves from being blamed for the economic crisis we have in America. The working-class Whites need to be more vigilant and stop being purblind to the chicanery of the media, business owners, and the so-called leaders of this country.

Something that has always ruffled my feathers about the American dream is, you want the dream to work for some but not for others, yet you say that America is the land of opportunity. But opportunity is only available to some, not to all its citizens. We will never be able to live or enjoy the dream the way it was supposed to, because American leaders do not want Black people to have prosperity and success. If the dream can be executed without having to provide the same opportunities to Blacks that are given to Whites, then we wouldn’t have this discussion about the dream being unattainable. Whites in this country would be happy, and when it comes to the question of the dream, nothing would be said, except that Blacks need to be more self-sufficient. Some states in this country have made attempts or looked into the possibility of increasing minimum wage to make it affordable to attain the American dream, but you know that White people and businesses do not want minimum wage to increase to fifteen dollars per hour because this will mean Black people will have the opportunity to achieve the dream also. Working Whites do not want wage to increase to fifteen dollars because they don’t feel Blacks should be paid or are even worth this amount. They would rather struggle before they see Black people making this kind of income. A White woman on my job said that she didn’t want minimum wage to increase to fifteen dollars because it was too much. What she wanted to say, really, was, it is too much to be paid to Blacks. Things are not being done to improve the economic condition in America because Whites don’t want the Black race to enjoy the benefits of economic change. We have Blacks in this country that have never made enough money to secure a place to stay.

When companies take approaches like this, their employees will suffer from inflation and the American dream will become more and more difficult to obtain. We must understand the process of the game: companies cannot make a profit if they are paying workers enough to live comfortably and to be economically stable. If workers are not paid poorly and prices of commodities are set according to what people make, then we may have a chance to live and enjoy the American dream. But if companies are going to make a profit, they will have to exploit workers and inflate prices. There isn’t any business in this country that will cut prices and pay a higher wage so that their employees can enjoy their earnings or achieve the dream. What companies have been doing for the past five to six years is allowing their employees to work less than forty hours a week, increasing the workload of fewer workers, and classifying more workers as part-time employees, which prevents companies from providing health insurance and other medical benefits. When the law places demand on companies to provide benefits for their employees, such as insurance, a higher wage, medical benefits, and other needs that are not included in various companies’ hiring package, companies begin looking for loopholes to get around those demands. Employees will never win, because companies will always have the upper hand over their workers—effectively, laws are made to allow them to do what they want. The American dream will not be attainable for the majority of the American public because big businesses will not allow this to happen. Companies are always thinking about profits, of ways to get more work done with fewer people and the cheapest wage they can pay to their workers.

Business owners know that they can get away with the chicanery as long as the need to work in the country stays at an all-time high. Someone is always looking for a job, and for that reason alone, companies can pay as little as they want to because people need to work. In America today, almost everyone is working a full-time and a part-time job because full-time employment is not sufficient to cover the total monthly obligation of the average household in the country. When unemployment, inflation, and people have no money to buy food and clothing, pay rent or mortgages, and see a doctor if needed, this will lead to an economic crisis among the working-class people every time. The government tries to do something about the bad economic condition, but it is too much to resolve at one time. The economic crisis did not occur all at once, and so it cannot be fixed all at once. We cannot continue to conduct business like we are doing in America and expect the crisis to go away. If we do the same thing the same way, we will get the same result every time. We have to change the way we do things in this country, or we will never, as a nation, enjoy the American dream that was created by the Americans before us. I personally feel that there are people of power in this country who do not want the American dream to become a reality. Because if this happens, the Black people in this country may get a chance to enjoy the wealth and success of a rich nation. White people in this country would rather die than see that happen. The American dream is an ethos that all Americans should have the opportunity to enjoy and achieve; the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence guarantee this privilege to all Americans, regardless of race, gender, and religious creed. We are obliged to uphold and fulfill these promises. James T. Adams made it perfectly clear in his written depiction and definition of the American dream.

Now that we have a precise and clear definition of the American dream, we can discuss why it is hard to achieve the dream in a society with the economic ideology of capitalism and the religion of Christianity. First, we must define capitalism. According to Karl Marx, on his views on this economic system, capitalism will drive the masses of people to poverty. Marx believes that this economic ideology will be the cause of an economic revolution, because the proletariat class will one day see the exploitation and the advantages that capitalism provides for the owners of the means of production. Marx states that because the owner receives all the wealth and does no physical work, this will definitely produce problems and discomfort for the elite class, known as the owners of the means of production. We know in America that every business owner hires people to work at their business and pays them an hourly wage that does not proportionally equate to the amount of work they do; however, the working-class people have no choice but to work for the wage established by a company or step to the rear and allow the next man in line to have his turn. Companies have all gotten together and created rules, procedures, systems, and methods to cheat workers out of a fair wage because they know that the American public has to work or starve to death.

In today’s society, people receive all kinds of criticism from friends and family if they fail to work. People will frown and use negative expression about you if you do not work to support your family or yourself. In America, we have certain norms and traditions that we must follow, even if it isn’t the right thing to follow. As men and women in this country, we say that we are individuals and we think for ourselves, but that is far from the truth. We do what the majority does so that we can be accepted socially. We work on jobs that we know we shouldn’t work on, and stay because of financial obligations and because of what others might say about us if we quit. In our society, we are looked upon differently if we do not work or go to church on Sundays. We are all conformists, yet we want people to see us as individuals and respect us as individuals. The American dream, in its definition, tells us that we must work from Monday to Saturday and go to church on Sunday. As a member of the working class in America, we are so purblind to the lies from our jobs, from the pulpit, and from our so-called leaders, yet we wonder why the dream cannot be achieved. We have a religion that keeps us working for nothing, and we have an economic ideology that fools us into believing that we can go from rags to riches. And these false prophets telling us to work for the elites because God will provide our every need.

We have two major entities that cause us to fail in our attempts to achieve the American dream: Our religion and the practice of capitalism will keep us poor, and the Christianity faith that we practice will keep us determined and hopeful. We are waiting on God to fight our battle for us against poverty, exploitation, and failures. But the pulpit kings and queens depend on us every Sunday to create posterity for them by soliciting tithes and offerings. They tell us that our blessings are coming and we should be patient for God is testing our faith, but in the meantime, we need to fill up their basket with money we don’t have. That we cannot get our blessings unless we give to God first. On the other hand, the boss is telling us to work hard and be patient because things will happen for us if we continue to make them rich. Now you see why we cannot achieve the dream, because of these two entities that will not allow this to happen. The American dream is not just difficult to attain—it is impossible!

In other chapters of this book, we will explain in detail Marx’s views on capitalism and how religious leaders have used the Bible to exploit masses of Christians in the United States and around the world. Just like the owners of the means of production use the Bible and the law to keep their workers honest and loyal. They threaten their employees by informing them that if they steal from them, they will be prosecuted by the law. Then he uses a religious approach, by using biblical quotations, to help keep his workers in check. We know that there are people who use the Bible and the law as tools to get what they want and keep what they have. Rich people use the law in a necessary way: if the law can be used to make them more money or keep them from paying or losing money, they will use the law. Just like the American dream, an appeasement to pacify the proletariat class and to give them hope or to keep them hopeful while, on the other hand, they are getting rich from exploiting them. The rich do not want the poor to achieve the dream or have any type of success, because if success is achieved, or the dream is achieved, this will, in turn, take away from the rich. It was figured out long ago; the rich believe that they cannot give too much to the poor people, because if they do, they will not be able to control them or possess their loyalty; they will give them just enough to have them return for more. This is why the rich people have been so successful for such a long time. As workers, we bust our butts to satisfy our bosses, with hope that a raise or some kind of promotion and more money will ensue, but nothing ever happens. Then on Sundays we pray and ask God for a blessing from the devil, knowing that this is impossible, like the song we sing to many times in high school, To dream the impossible dream.

Just like the impossible dream, we have the American pie, but Blacks are never given or offered a piece of the pie, which is meant for Whites only. Now Whites are begging for a piece of the pie and a chance to live the dream, but it will never happen for the working class. Just like slavery—they made many plantation owners rich, and after slavery was abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment, the plantation owners didn’t know what to do. They tried to hold on to the moneymaking business, but they couldn’t. But after it was accepted that America was adamant about the abolishment of slavery, somehow this country came up with an economic ideology with reciprocal characteristics of slavery and resumed to exploit the freed Black man. The working Blacks in this country, along with some Whites, will be exploited like the slaves of yesterday. And the dream will never be achieved, just like equality and justice will never be experienced by Black people in this country, rich or poor. White people will not allow Blacks to live in peace, enjoy the dream, or be accepted as their equal. We must understand that Whites see us as descendants of slaves, and themselves as descendants of slave owners. With this understanding, they will always see Black people as inferior. We have done so much to prove to Whites that we are just as competent and creative as they are. But it doesn’t matter; their opinion of us will always be the same. Remember, the discussion of the American dream became an issue because Whites are now complaining about the impossibility of attaining the dream. If Whites are not complaining, we would not be seeing all the data on television, the internet, newspapers, and magazines. This will only be broached by Blacks, and Whites reply, What are those people complaining about now? When we wake up and become more vigilant and less purblind to the chicanery of Whites toward us, we will not get our feelings hurt and be flabbergasted when injustice occurs. We need to depend more on ourselves and stop depending on White America. We have the money and enough rich Black people in this country to take care of ourselves.

We need to take a closer look at capitalism and the economic problems that it brings to the proletariat class when Marx said that capitalism will drive the working-class people to a state of extreme poverty. What he said is just one characteristic of capitalism; there are many more negatives that come with this economic ideology. We have known that capitalism breeds crime, unemployment, social pressure, public hostility, chicanery, exploitation, and dishonesty among the people of the working class. Owners of the means of production and our leaders know this, because a capitalist knows that Marx’s views concerning capitalism are right. If you look at government workers, you will see that when they get an increase in wage, the government increases taxes on employees’ wages or increases deductions on insurance, or some previous deduction will increase. So the pay raise will not reach the employees, but the increase will go toward increased taxes. For other companies, a number of things happen right away: employees’ hours will be cut and some employees will lose their jobs, and the sale of products by the company will increase. Businesses like McDonald’s, for an example. Let’s say McDonald’s has to increase minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour. After layoffs and hours cut, here comes the increase in food at the counter. This process will occur every time a business is asked to increase wages and/or pay higher taxes: price increases on operation cost and property repairs, there are low sales period, and shrinkage or theft by customers or employees occurs. What customers don’t realize is that capitalists are in the business to get rich, and when a customer takes from these companies by stealing or causes the company to lose money, these companies have ways to make up for the losses. Employees will not receive raises and will be subjected to termination, and customers will see price increase in the entire store. When these things happen, how can unemployed people, working people with less than forty hours per week, and people with little or no income achieve the American dream? It will continue to be to dream the impossible dream. The composition of capitalism will let the American working class continue dreaming the dream, but not living the American dream.

The Founding Fathers’ decision to choose capitalism as the country’s economic ideology was based on the Southerners’ methods on becoming rich. I don’t know who decided to use the concept of a slave owner and reciprocate the practice, because capitalism is just another form of slavery, an capitalists the slave owners. The plantation controlled how you lived, ate, dressed, and when you worked. The capitalists determine where you live, what you eat, how you dress, and when you work. These two ideologies are identical, except with slavery you were compelled to work. In the capitalist world, you are compelled to work in a lesser-physical way. The American dream for the working class, or, as Marx refers, the proletarian class, will not be achieved unless the capitalists in this country allow it to happen. The working-class people in this country need to stop being so purblind and naive to the foxy ways of the capitalists and the promises made by political leaders. You should know by now that political leaders are not obliged by the promises they made in their campaign speeches.

The working-class Whites also need to be more aware of the permeation of poverty as it is reaching all working-class Americans. The struggle is no longer a Black problem; it is now a working-class problem. I see many working-class Whites that are experiencing economic wretchedness, just like Black people in this country. Remember, the capitalist is in the business of getting rich, and if they need to exploit, they will execute this process on whoever works for their companies. When employees have been working for a company for many years, just right before retirement, they are dismissed for cheaper replacement. This will not hurt professional athletes, entertainers, and employees that are paid millions for their expertise and services; however, for people of the proletariat class, this is a devastating blow. The capitalists treat employees like they are machines—once the machines get old and stop producing and start causing companies lots of money for repairs, they will not hesitate to replace them with newer or better ones. This is how long-term employees are treated. If long-term employees remain as workers for their respective companies into retirement, companies will have to partake in their retirement benefits. And companies do not want to be a part of this. So the best thing is to dismiss their long-term employees before retirement.

In this country, employers in our society ask us to be loyal and commit ourselves to our jobs, our professions, and our employers, but employers always find ways to get rid of employees who have given them years of service and dedication. The capitalists are cold-blooded businessmen who only think of themselves and their businesses. And so we have employees that learned to become just as cold-blooded as their bosses. Let’s look at an automobile salesman. You have to be a liar, a cheater, a smooth talker, and coldhearted to be successful in this position. I can remember working as a salesman and seeing just how these salespersons trick old men and women who put their trust and belief in them that they are going to give them the best deal on the vehicle that they want to buy. One time, after taking these elderly people for all their money, one salesman came back to the area where the other salesman stood to meet new customers and bragged about how they slammed that old couple and made thousands of dollars on the deal. All I could do was shake my head and walk away, saying, This is not for me. Finally, I had to quit.

This happens when people are not paid adequately by employers; it turns them into dishonest and corrupt individuals. When people are suffering from difficult economic times, they become cruel, dishonest thieves, and in extreme situations, they can or may become murderers. People are laid off from their jobs without prior notice, and they have mortgage payment, car payment, families to take care, and other financial obligations. Having to face a dilemma like this is a difficult situation for anyone to confront. But businesses do not think about the problems and hardships that they are creating for the people they fire or terminate. Going through times like this can cause a person to become hostile and belligerent to others and likely to hurt themselves. It is hard for working-class Americans to be happy, because they don’t know the day or time when they might lose their jobs and, as a result, lose everything that they have worked so hard for. Even if you can achieve the American dream, you will have a difficult time enjoying it, because there is always the thought of being laid off from your job. As long as you are working for a capitalist, you are subjected to termination in the blink of an eye, and for this reason alone, it is impossible to achieve the American dream. This is capitalism at its best. The working class in this country will be at the mercy of their employer and at the mercy of all businesses as consumers. The people need jobs and goods, and the only way to get them is by working and paying for it. The people who have it all are the people we work for—they are the capitalists!

Chapter 2

Religion and Its Purpose

We must agree that religion is the most controversial subject ever known to mankind and the subject of many different interpretations and contradictory findings.

Different religious communities will agree in part that God created this world for mankind to live in congeniality, harmony, and peace. We, as member of the human race, were supposed to enjoy the beauty of his creation. In creating the world, he allotted for every living organism to be independent, but at the same time, we must live as individuals, to define and know ourselves. We were made as separate entities so that we can put our individualities together and create a better environment for us to live in. But for some unknown reason, mankind has managed to live indifferent of that perspective. His infallible words were revealed to assist mankind to respect, love, and demonstrate altruism toward their fellow human being. But from culture to culture and from geographical location to geographical location, mankind has found a way to have differences in their comprehension and interpretation of the Creator’s instructions, as well as agreeing to a common understanding. From the age of antiquity to modern times, we have been indifferent to the Creator’s plans and instructions. What bother me the most are all these television ministries whose ministers have become outspoken and dogmatic about the Creator’s plans and instructions to the world. Most of them, you would think that they have a personal relationship with God, meeting him at their churches.

We read the Bible to get a better understanding and to develop a personal relationship with God through his words, and we should pray to ask for a clear and complete revelation and comprehension of his words. But instead we have new church leaders popping up from every street corner and every village and every valley. The commonalities among them all are different interpretations and practices. If they all are reading the same book and believe in the same God, then why do we have so many different interpretations? My speculation is, the lack of education and not having enough training, and because people have the tendency to interpret anything based on their own understanding. Those who are well educated have become dogmatic in their deliverance, and most of their church members just accept what the minister says. Members tend to believe what their religious leaders tell them.

One time, I was on my way home around noontime and I was listening to a radio ministry on one of the local stations. I was surprised to hear this minister talking to the congregation as if they were walking in sanctuary, and he said these words: I see some of you coming into the church with saddened faces and looking unhappy. You don’t come into the Lord’s house looking so depressed and defeated. He finished his commendation by telling them that when you come into the house of the Lord, you are supposed to be happy. And if the Lord has a blessing for you, it doesn’t matter how long it takes; you must wait on him to bless you, with a smile. He continued by saying, your blessing might take five years, ten years, or twenty-five years, yet still you should wait on the Lord. I was so taken by this commendation all I could do was turn my radio to a different station. When ministers and leaders of the church make statements like that, they are not helping their members to become aggressive at working to make life for themselves and others who are dependent on them meaningful. Too many leaders of the pulpit are telling their members to wait on the Lord for their blessing but are asking the congregation to bless them every Sunday. Members must wait on the Lord while the ministry gets their blessing from them. The church communities’ leaders have demonstrated too many times that they are more interested in tithes than helping their members through these hard economic times. I’ve heard members from various churches that were informed by the pulpit leaders that their blessings had been put on hold because God was testing their faith and they shouldn’t question God’s decision concerning the time or moment when they would receive their blessings. No one knows how and when God is going to bless someone. This is so out of place for preachers or church leaders to tell members of their congregation about a blessing from God. Why will God tell anyone about a blessing he will bestow upon another person? Preachers and church leaders do this to give hope to their members, like doctors give medicine for toothache. The medicine is a temporary fix until the pain returns.

Political leaders and church leaders get together and conspire to use the people to accomplish their goals. Political leaders make promises to voters until the election is over. Preachers and leaders of the church tell their congregations that they need to be patient, that a blessing is coming soon, God is testing their faith, and you can’t hurry God! The church and state before the French Revolution were one and the same. Following the French Revolution, the church and state became two separate entities. That was when taxes were collected and paid to the states and tithes were collected and given to the churches. In those days, the leaders of the churches were also the leaders of the state. The leader was called the priest-king, as he controlled both the state and the church. Pulpit leaders, like political leaders, have so much control over voters and the members of their entities, and the people are so purblind that neither voter nor church member is able see through the chicanery that is being played on them. Political leaders say they are going to create laws to change working conditions and increase minimum-wage salaries, but they never do. Be mindful that most of your political leaders own businesses, work on boards of most corporations, and are promised favors by corporations when they need it. For this reason alone, they will not pass laws to make companies and corporations create better working conditions, wages, and benefits for employees. Pulpit leaders tell their members they should work for companies that pay low wages and have little to no benefits, and they tell them a job is better than no job at all: Be thankful for the job you have and pray to God for better jobs. This is the kind of advice that church leaders give to their members.

In 1857, George Fitzhugh published a book, Sociology for the South. Among the many things he elaborated on, the most intriguing were the two entities in every organized culture that exploited the masses of its people/citizens, the church and government. I found that to be so true. Churches receive billions of dollars from donation and offering every year, and the government receives millions of dollars from taxes in this country weekly. The American government spends millions of dollars to aid foreign countries, and we have people in the United States that are experiencing homelessness, starvation, poverty, depression, and the need for medical treatment. Churches in this country provide very little help to domestic needs but give help to foreign countries, to show off their religious denomination. In the churches, members have gone to financial committee leaders to ask for subsidy and have been refused help without hesitation. What is wrong with churches and political leaders in this country? They would rather provide subsidy to foreign countries before providing help to the poor people in this country and members of their churches.

The United States government offers technical assistance to indigent countries that are classified as third world and undeveloped. This is when technical assistance is offered in conjunction with religion to open the door and establish diplomatic relationship. The US sends missionaries to create a religious atmosphere while introducing Christianity and its doctrine. Be mindful that these indigent countries are undeveloped, and the first thing American officials do is implement a plan to provide infrastructure constraint: this is a plan to provide technical assistance in establishing things, such as roads, telecommunication systems, school systems, hospitals, and any kind of infrastructure that will upgrade these countries’ status to develop. The final acquisition is to build and construct a military base to provide protection from foreign invasion, or at least that is what is being said to the leaders of these countries. Then, businesses from America are being built and organized in these countries. Now, the country has a new political system, a new economy, a new religion, and a new identity. And to add, the country has been colonized with knowing. This is a systematic approach to what political scientists call neocolonialism, the colonizing of countries without having wars but through peaceful and religious methods instead. Like using God and his words to enter another country and pretending to provide technical assistance and then taking advantage of that country by adding them to their allegiance, including another country to their side, which creates a stronger position in the bipolar system. The United State has been using this method to enter other countries, not only to colonize these countries, but also to take all the natural resources from them. These are poor countries, and their people are starving, yet we introduce a religion, technical assistance, homes, food, and education and most of the things that we have here in America. Most countries in the world believe that in America, all its citizens are well-off and living a productive life, living the American dream. From the moment missionaries and official representatives from America show up and present plans to eradicate poverty and implement financial security, these countries become overwhelmed by this and the doors are opened to the missionaries without hesitation. The people begin to feel and believe that a miracle has happened. That the Lord has sent help to their country and to their people, who are in desperate need. But from the United States perspective, it is a successful move to gain position along the lines of the bipolar system and to create business for American companies, say, for America to have opportunities to get cheap oil and sell it to Americans for a profitable gain. The whole concept is to use any means necessary to gain entry to these indigent countries in order to rob them of their natural resources and to spread America’s political, economic, and religious practices to execute neocolonialism and impose democracy, using religion and the words of God to do the work of the devil, to gain wealth, power, and world recognition. That is the typical process used domestically and internationally by government officials and men of the cloth in America, yesterday and today!

Today’s church leaders appear to be more into tithes, offerings, and soliciting proceeds from books that members are compelled to buy. In Black churches, the pulpit leader usually talks about money and begs for support to help some cause he promised to donate funds to. I can remember going to this Black church in the low county of South Carolina and the service lasted five and half hours. The officers were asking for tithes, offerings, and love offering for the pastor for at least two hours. What stands out in most Black churches is the fact that the leader of the church very seldom asks the members for money; they have special members or assistant pastors and leaders to stand before the church and have each row stand up and announce how much money they want each person to pay. This is done to let other members know who is giving and who is not. This will make those members and visitors look cheap and noncooperative. This is the process that is used by many nondenominational churches, where it was pastors or leaders who established the church on their own. These types of churches usually are made up of family members, where the father is the lead pastor, the son or daughter the assistant pastor, and the remaining positions filled in by a few members that may include cousins or close friends. Most of the sermons are read straight from the Bible and there is yelling and screaming, but nothing of importance is said to help the members become better at living or becoming a better Christian wife, husband, or human being. The music is extremely loud and redundant, and members appear to be dancing rather than shouting. Majority of the members dress promiscuously and inappropriately for church, where the attire that the young people choose to wear is short and skintight, like dresses that show too much of their chest and legs.

Most of the members are experiencing hard times, yet the pastor and leaders of the church still ask them to give up their money intended for rent, mortgage, utility, car payment, insurance premium, or what other financial obligation they have to pay, and give it to the church because God will bless them by the time the payments are due. Some churches and gospel groups have made songs to encourage members to neglect paying bills and give what they have to the church. People in these churches make false testimonies to encourage other members to take their last dime and give it to the church. The church exploits poor members and tells them that when they make sacrifice to give to God, it will enhance their blessing from him. Like most companies, they will have drop boxes asking their poor members to donate to some charity they have promised to subsidize. I remember going into a local gymnasium to work out, and the owner had a memo asking his members to donate money and items to one school for the blind. People with money, or the means to make money, always ask poor people to donate to charities and organizations they promised to subsidize. The church is the biggest exploiter of people in this country. I get so upset when listening to television ministries, because most of them are begging for money and are extremely dogmatic and they give a persona as if they know more than anyone. Then they talk about what the Bible says like they themselves had a meeting with God and God told them exactly what to reveal to the world. Most of these guys are rich, and they are getting their wealth from the masses of people, who happen to be working-class, blue-collar workers who are looking to be blessed by God because of their tithes and offerings. What these people need to know is that television preachers are telling them to wait on God for their blessing while they, the preachers, are getting all their blessings every Sunday from their members.

There are three reasons most people go to or belong to a church organization. The first one is conformity; they go because other people go, to be part of a group and be able to say, I go to church, I am a member of that church, I am a Christian, like my next-door neighbor, I believed in God, and Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. This is a way to get some social recognition from the community and the followers of one of the most dominant religions in the world. When a person reveals to other Christians that they are followers and believers of the Christian faith, immediately they are accepted into the circle of the religious community. The second reason that most people go to church is compulsiveness—they are compelled to go for the if reason. If I die and I don’t go to church, I will go to hell, and if I go, I will have a chance of getting into heaven, they reason. The safe thing for me to do is to go to church, and I will be looked at differently and I will have a chance of going to heaven. The third and final reason most people go to church is expedience: What’s in it for me? When people go to church, they are looking for something in return, such as what blessing they will get, if their luck will change, if others will be kind and generous to them, and if they will be viewed by others as a good and faithful Christian. These are the reasons most people go to church. However, we should go to church to transform our mind, body, and soul and to ask God to make us pure, make us a better person, and help us to become an altruistic person and help others to be like Jesus. The world we live in makes us do things that we shouldn’t as human being, and the church should be a place for us to renew our minds and become a better person, a person that is strong in faith, so that the world cannot make us do the wrong things or make us sinners. If we are strong in our faith, no situation or adversity can make us go wrong. Most so-called Christians are the worst people to deal with. They lie, cheat, steal, and will not help anybody. They are so envious and selfish and are always looking at other people with critical eyes and quick to reveal how much divinity they have and what other people don’t have. I’ve found that the worst people in our society are the so-called Christians or the churchgoers. I have known Christians who knew that someone needed a job, ride, money, or accommodation and they refused to provide any assistance. They created excuses not to help people. And they call themselves believers in Christ! I have known some Christians who turn their noses up or frown at members in the church because of what they wear in church. For most Black churches, people go to church like they are going to a fashion show. It is a time to show off your new car, new dress, new suit, and women wear hats and jewelries like they are going to see who can dress the best. I’ve never seen such a thing. We don’t go to church for worship; we go to outdress one another, show off our material possessions, and gossip about other people, forgetting the real reason we came.

This is why ministers treat their members the way they do, because members are not in the church to become better people or better followers of Christ and live according to his teaching.

Living in Charlotte, North Carolina, for a while, I had the opportunity to confabulate with members from various churches. I was stunned to know what was going on in some of these churches. A longtime member of a popular church in the area informed me that as members of this church he and his family attended, in order to become a member, you have to submit copies of your check stub and verify the amount of money you earn weekly or monthly. Then, the church finance officers will tell you how much your tithes will be each time you pay it. This is absurd, for members to be treated this way. This church was treating its member like they belonged to some country club or government program where you pay according to the amount of money you make. I had the opportunity to visit that church and found out what that member told me was the truth. However, I also found out that the pastor was asking each member to pay seven hundred dollars to support a financial proposition that the church was trying to close at one of the local banks. This church also had school and athletic programs, and members had their children enrolled and were charged tuition and fees, just as private schools are charging. After the minister instructed its members about the seven-hundred-dollar donation, he began to expound on the church business: some of the members were not paying the tuition and fees for their children on time. He was upset and asked them to handle the late tuition and fees as soon as possible. He then went on to say that members were sending the kids to school knowing their tuition wasn’t paid. When he finished with the late tuition and fees, he began to talk about a member of that church who owed the church money and promised to pay it back but never did.

Now, what is wrong with this situation? He was asking his members to donate seven hundred dollars to pay for property to expand the area of the school owned by the church, he was telling members about being late on fees and tuition, and he was declaring to the church at large the private business of a member who borrowed money from the church. The question is, Is this how a church is supposed to treat its members? The money to operate and pay the financial obligations of this church came from those members who came to church on Sundays that had children enrolled in the school operated by the church. How could he stand before his congregation and expose them and make them feel bad about not being able to pay tuition and fees on time? And to the member who borrowed money and hadn’t paid it back after several months. I talked to a member that attended this church and he told me about how he and his wife were treated. He said they were members of this church for years. He and his wife gave more than their share of tithes, offerings, donations, and building funds and partook in solicitation rallies to help the church. They were experiencing financial hardship and were about to lose their home and all the things that they had acquired over the years. He and his wife didn’t know what to do; they had no one to turn to, and the bank wouldn’t allow them to make a loan because they had no jobs. He and his wife decided to ask the church for help. They made an appointment to meet with the finance committee. The date and time were set, and the meeting was to take place within weeks. After waiting for almost a month, they finally got the opportunity to meet with the committee and stated their need and a request for financial loan. He said the committee members, made up of people who knew them and what kind of services he and his wife gave to the church, looked them straight in the face and told them that the church could not give them a loan or offer any financial assistance to them. That he and his wife needed to get rid of some of their possessions and downsize their living habits. He and his wife left the meeting and made a promise not to attend the church anymore.

What most Christians fail to realize is that these churches, especially those that air on television and project high-profile images, are not about saving souls and/or helping their members who are having financial problems, personal problems, or are in need of support, whether the support sought is mentally, physically, or financially. The only answer these ministries will give to you is what they have said to all their members: Be patient, wait on the Lord, and your blessings will be delivered. These are the answers you will get, and they will not help you financially but reach out to help the poor, starving person that lives on the streets. These churches are operated by greedy, selfish leaders that are sucking their congregation dry. Why would they help the vagrant people on the street? Because the poor man is never going to amount to anything, so they can feel like they did something special. But the members that may drive a car or live in houses as good as or better than theirs, they will not help. What we need to know about the so-called leaders is that they are wealthy people, people in the position to help others in need. If you are going to take what people give or do for you into making yourself independently better than those who give to you, you should be willing to help them when they are in need. But they would rather help the vagrant on the street because he is not going to make himself better with the help. If you are a prudent person who happens to be experiencing adversities and needs help, very few people will offer to help you. You will probably get help from a drug dealer, a pagan, and an atheist before you get help from most Christians!

I can recall one friend of mine. He and his family were living