Still no shepherds cry

By Clenard Childress

Prophetic voices point us to the future by causing us to remember and consider the cornerstone truths of our past — lessons learned though struggle and adversity, conquest and success, tragedy and pain, victory and gain — all providing guidance to the Promised Land and the fulfillment of our purpose. The Voice of God often in the scriptures introduced Himself to His spokespersons by saying, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" pointing them back to their origins as a basis from which to move them forward.

To turn a deaf ear to their instruction assures a depleted present and an even more decadent future. Their messages implores us to "redeem the time," to retrieve what we have lost that we can proceed with the certainty of success into the future. Yet, the extreme folly of failing to hear their messages pales in comparison to the destruction incurred when those prophetic voices choose to be silent.

The African-American Clergy's much vaunted, and heralded heroic past, is in danger of becoming a mere wisp of a thought or memory, marginalized in the minds of Americans, and the world, due to its lethargic and anemic response to the present moral and political crisis within our country. The enormity of their 'missing-in-action' stance is staggering, especially when you consider the evidence of depravity is so blatant within our culture, and even legislated by our present administration. For like God in the Garden of Eden who asked, "What is that that thou hast done?" God is asking the question again — "What have you done? What have you done?" God asked the question in Genesis of Adam in an attempt to force him to reflect on his actions in light of the revealed truths of his past. Sadly, Man failed to do so then, and it grieves me to say, even though we are warned across the ages by Adam's outcome, we are failing to do so now.

Dr. Martin Luther King in his book, "Where Do We Go From Here?" said this about the importance of leadership:

"And so we will have to create leaders who embody virtues we can respect, who have moral and ethical principles we can applaud with an enthusiasm that enables us to rally support for them based on confidence and trust. We will have to demand high standards and give consistent loyal support to those who merit it."

I watched, as well as did most Americans, the wave of African-American Clergy totally abandoning their conscience and calling, for support of a Presidential candidate in whom they had only one thing in common: "the color of his skin." Barack Obama did not, and does not embody the virtues of our Clergy, nor their congregations. I do not find it moral or ethical the outright advocating and marketing of abortion by this President's Administration which has proven to be a systemic plan of genocide against African-Americans at home and abroad (MAAFA21 NSSM). Therefore,

I cannot applaud the administration's determination to undermine and diminish marriage, the essential building block of all society, and then be accused of "bigotry" by President Obama for not desiring to perform homosexual marriages...

I cannot rally to support an administration that willfully abandoned inner-city Black Youths who were succeeding in a School Voucher program in Washington, DC, only to find out one morning it had been de-funded (no stimulus money here) relegating them and other young black children back to an NEA-controlled public school system that has, and continues to, abysmally fail them...

I cannot have confidence or respect for an administration that demands a healthcare system, they themselves are not subject to, which seeks to exponentially kill Black Babies by Abortion, (Freedom of Choice Act disguised) and reduces care to those who made the country the greatest in the world — our seniors — and is by all the objectivity I can perceive, unconstitutional...

We could go on but there is no need. Suffice it to say, I am writing this due to the repetitive cry over the airwaves of high ranking democratic officials, and "vested" African-American Clergy, to rally the Black Community — especially the youth — to once again go to the polls in droves, and as in 2008, to vote for "change." This is unthinkable, surely presumptuous, and plainly depicts the Democratic Party's perception of the Black Community fully: Blind... Ill informed... Trust in-a-party that habitually cheats on them at their expense! The old proverb certainly should and hopefully will be applied here:

"Fool me once, shame on you — fool me twice, shame on me!"
The clear mandate for our Shepherds — who have been silent — is to cry out for the sake of truth, the truths that birthed them... called them... assigned them... and blessed them... When they cry out, the shame within our community will cease and we will demand accountability to the values Dr. King espoused for our leadership. Those of you who have come to the right conclusion — that this is not what you voted for, and by so doing, led many astray — it's time to regroup and profoundly execute the office of the Prophet as the Shepherd of your churches and voices of Truth in your communities. We can turn this around!

Lastly, In Dr. Martin Luther King's message, "The challenge of a New Age," he says this,

"The urgency of the hour calls for of wise judgment and sound integrity — leaders in love with justice, leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity, leaders who could subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause."

© Clenard Childress