The writer, Carol Kuruvilla (no idea of her ethnicity, but judging from her name and appearance, she may be Indian in heritage), posted a story with the same title as my post - but, with her article White-splaining to White Christians.
However, I assume that she is using the term People of Color as a way of giving her credibility in White-Shaming those Pale People.
Kaepernick certainly was raised as a Christian; he has been said to have Biblical tats - see his back's tats below.
Frankly, I have absolutely no idea what to make of the surrealistic tat that covers most of his torso. It looks more demonic than angelic, but - what do I know? My simple-minded understanding of tattoos:
No specific Catholic prohibition against them. Many do oppose them, not always on Biblical grounds, but for other reasons. It's not a new concept.
Some Protestant churches forbid them, as does Orthodox Judaism.
So ubiquitous in the younger generations, that it's essentially a non-issue.
Kaepernick's current beliefs are still believed to be based on that Christian background. Many have pointed to his Muslim girlfriend as a possible source of his protest. He wouldn't be the first man to alter his thinking as a result of new influences. However, I'm not saying that he is Muslim, or that the girlfriend's beliefs weigh all that heavily in his actions.
It's Kaepernick's action in tying his protest to the Anthem that has caused the problem. He was, after all, paid quite well for his work on the field. He certainly has the right to use his fame to protest in his spare time - we ALL do - however, he was on the clock in the stadium.
Many disagree with his position about America. Others agree.
What is common about the fans' response is that they don't want to see it on television, as a condition of watching the game. In short, by injecting his politics into the televised portion of the game, he has forced the fans to SUBSIDIZE his protest. They pay ESPN for the right to watch the game. Now, they are also paying to watch his protest.
Which, many are NOT happy about doing.
Rev. Traci Blackmon, a United Church of Christ pastor (no church mention in the article), says that the protest is occurring at the perfect place and time.
No, Ms. Blackmon, Americans do NOT 'worship' football. We don't care whether the bodies that "endure physical abuse" are White or Black.
Don't make assumptions about the neighborhoods we live in - I have always lived in mixed neighborhoods as an adult with choice on where I live.
A little more information about Rev. Blackmon:
Those UCC Justice Ministries? I thought they sounded familiar, so I looked them up. They come out of the very radical Cleveland, OH-based organization. They are NOT affiliated with the Church of Christ (I have cousins who are members of that church, which is NOT radical).Traci Blackmon was ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and served for several years in ministry before stepping in as pastor of Christ The King. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Birmingham-Southern College (1985) and a Master of Divinity degree (2009), with a coursework emphasis in Womanist Liberation Theology, from Eden Theological Seminary.
Here's some deep background on the UCC. Capital Research, a think tank, looks at nonprofits that have underlying aims, among other things.
Jeremiah Wright, Obama's inflammatory pastor, runs a UCC church.The Capital Research Center was established in 1984 to examine how foundations, charities, and other nonprofits spend money and get involved in politics and advocacy, often in ways that donors never intended and would find abhorrent.From the start, CRC has exposed how those organizations are “captured” by interest groups and used to undermine Americans’ freedoms.Today, we study unions, environmentalist groups, and a wide variety of nonprofit and activist organizations. We also keep an eye on crony capitalists who seek to profit by taking advantage of government regulations and by getting their hands on taxpayers’ money.We’re not afraid to take on the Washington Establishment—Republican, Democrat, or anyone else.
Discover the Networks has more on the UCC.
"No, Ms. Blackmon, Americans do NOT 'worship' football."
ReplyDeleteI remember how shocked I was when I first encountered the notion that football games (and athletic events, generally) constitute a religious ceremony. But I'm convinced now that they are (at least, for an awful lot of people).
No, Americans don't 'worship football.' But it is increasingly difficult to deny that they constitute one of the central religious rites of America's unofficial civic religion. Otherwise, why would we care so much? If it were just another silly game, why bother? Just turn the TV channel -- problem solved. Hasn't there been some TV series where you just thought, "You know, this is getting to be a bit much. I think I'll watch something else from now on." I'll bet it didn't make national headlines.
People feel very viscerally about this, in a way that is almost involuntary. To me that's a sign that people perceive that somehow the divine has been tread upon...
I still disagree. Many people, most of them probably extroverts, feel emotionally in group experiences.
ReplyDeleteThey're the sort of people who gather in political rallies, join clubs, and hang out in frats and class reunions. They just like gathering together with like-minded people and doing the same things together.
I agree, Linda. Emotional interest, certainly. People get caught up in professional sports even more than we did for our school teams in high school. Look at England's occasional violence between competing rugby teams' fans, and it is even worse in South America. Fans may identify with a particular team - and it doesn't even have to be one from their own city or state - but there really is nothing religious about it.
ReplyDeleteJust as there is nothing religious about "people of color" rioting, vandalizing, looting, and attacking whites in Baltimore, Ferguson, St. Louis, or wherever. I suppose the overt racism inherent in black flash mobs attacking whites, the "Polar Bear Game", or the burning to death of elderly white women, elderly white men, and other white women and even children could almost constitute a new "religion" for blacks: The Church of Get Whitey, aka Black Liberation Theology.
But it isn't religion either. Just envy, dissolution, blaming all of their problems on whites, on slavery which died well over a hundred years ago in this country, and the fanning of the flames of black racism by scum like Jackson, Sharpton, Obama, and others race-baiters. Like these fake ministers Wright and Blackmon. Ay, mon? I'm quite surprised her "Womanist Liberation Theology" degree didn't require her to change her name to Blackwomon.
Activist ministers and priests of any religion make me sick. Instead of using their position to improve the spiritual lives of their flocks, they become "social justice warriors", indoctrinating their parishioners in their own diseased - or simply misguided - ideology. Kumbaya.
[Fran wrote a bit about this when a character in one of his novels a couple of his novels - Father Ray Altomare - took over a parish that had been led by the recently deceased Father Schliemann. Altomare started out as an activist priest, but fortunately saw the Light and became an excellent parish priest.]