WEDNESDAY'S WORD - EMANCIPATION - Sadell Bradley 06/17/2020

 

"Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men's skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact." - President Lyndon B. Johnson

To EMANCIPATE means to set free, especially from legal, social, or political restrictions; to free from slavery. Emancipation is also used to describe a child being set free from the authority of their parents or the foster care system. The word derives from the Latin, emancipat - which means 'transferred as property.' The day Africans were emancipated from chattel slavery - the most brutal form of sustained bondage was June 19, 1865, and is commemorated yearly by the holiday Juneteenth. Learn more by clicking this link: What is Juneteenth?

From Owned to Owning Those words 'transferred property' evoke a lot of feelings. Africans were brought to the colonies to be owned as property. Millions of human beings were owned by other human beings for hundreds of years. They were brutally treated and forced to produce billions of hours worth of FREE labor in almost every sector of society. Not only were historic buildings such as the White House built; the foundation of America's wealth was generated on the backs of slaves. Then racist systems, laws, and practices like Jim Crow, redlining, gerrymandering, Plessy vs. Ferguson, mass incarceration, police brutality, racial violence, etc. continued to hold masses of African-Americans back economically and socially. It is a blight, a stain, and one of this Country's greatest sins. Its effects still reverberate. Through many subsequent generations, despite these obstacles and systems, Blacks have striven to move from being owned, through owing and debt, into ownership. The economic impact and loss to our communities have put us hundreds of years behind as described in the article below: It will take 228 years for black families to attain the wealth of white families.

JESUS IS A LIBERATOR

Why is it important for Christ-followers to care about the lives of the poor, the disenfranchised, and the oppressed? Because that is the ministry of JESUS! In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus told us, 'whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ and in turn, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’ Isaiah 61:1-3 and Luke 4:18-19 tell us that Jesus was anointed to preach good news to the poor, to mend the brokenhearted, to recover the the sight of the blind, to set the captives free, and to proclaim God's free flowing favor to all. Sure, we want God to bless America, but John 3:16 says GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.