It was the late scholar and historian Dr. Manning Marable
who once sagaciously suggested, “The power of a democracy depends upon its
informed citizenry.” Those who participate in the experiment of democracy, in
the American project, must be aware of the logistics of the political realities
at any given moment. What we don’t know and fail to understand can be the
direct and primary cause of the perpetuation of our own oppression,
discrimination, and disenfranchisement. As African Americans, our vote is critically
important because it has never been our inherited American privilege but our
blood-purchased right that can never be taken lightly or for granted. That’s
why the clergy who are encouraging their parishioners to stay home and not
exercise their democratic capacity in the voting process is extremely
troubling, counter-productive, and tremendously flawed.
With that being said, those who disagree with the
President’s Obama’s stance for the equality of marriage for same sex couples
are indeed entitled to have an alternative opinion. The privatization of the
moral ethos of the Black Church has been conservative in its orientation for
the majority of its followers. The major flaw I see is the confusion between
religious proclivity and constitutional authenticity. If you don’t agree with
the President’s view because of your religious beliefs, that’s fine but now is
not the particular moment to engage in a narrative that contributes to negative
political backlash because of one disagreement. This is a terribly narrow and
nearsighted. Even if your religious views may cause you not to agree with the
Same-sex marriage issue, you should still
want and fight for all citizens to
enjoy the same benefits of society that you have. I agree with Dr. Otis Moss Jr
when he says,” There is a difference between religious rites and constitutional rights.”
Sometimes our doctrinal orthodoxy blinds us to democratic opportunities.
High-profile ministers who have been quiet in the midst of pervasive injustice
are now realizing that their microphones are still working and are fired up on
this issue. How theologically expedient. There is too much at stake to not galvanize
our churches, mosques, temples etc. Education,
healthcare, mass-incarceration, mandatory minimums, student loan debt, stand
your ground laws, woman’s rights, and job creation are issues that some
unthoughtful, uncritical, pious, religiously obsessive clergy are encouraging
their members to walk away from.
E. Franklin Frazier said that the black church was the first
place of Black Americans to engage in “social cohesion.” That’s still true. The
church has the authority to legitimize and validate sociological movements in
the Black community. So if Pastors are telling their flocks to stay home on Election
Day, that Pastor is holding a position he or she is not qualified for and has
consequentially disqualified themselves from future leadership in our
community. This displays the ultimate crisis of leadership that is so prevalent
in our religious communities. I believe it’s that crucial. Roll out of that
church. Our ancestors died for the right to choose to vote not so we could
choose not the vote. The duality of the Black vote is an extraordinary event.
We vote for those who never could and for those who we hope always will vote. These
ministers are historically ignorant, politically irrelevant, culturally
disembodied, and theologically deficient.
