Posted on 12/20/2003 11:51:02 AM PST by bdeaner
A book written with truth, wisdom and insight shouldn't be revolutionary. Unfortunately, reporting facts about black America can be downright subversive. In his new book, , Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson ("the other Jesse") tells it like it is. He is the founder and president of the successful non-profit (BOND), whose purpose is "rebuilding the family by rebuilding the man".
Rarely do I come across writing as brutally honest as my own when dealing with the black community. Liberals in general won't like it, liberal blacks in particular will hate it, and conservatives will wonder what took so long. SCAM is a well-documented and devastating critique about the havoc wreaked on black America by so-called leaders, which is why the book hasn't and won't receive the kind of media coverage it deserves.
Return to Our Roots
Reverend Peterson contends that black America's biggest problem is not racism but its own immorality, and that it should reject self-appointed leaders and return to the values that once made it strong. "Because of Jesse Jackson and the [ and and others, we are more divided as a race than any other time in history", Reverend Peterson told me in an interview last year.
Approval of Immorality
"If white Americans were to leave the country tomorrow, in ten years America would be a ghetto" writes Reverend Peterson. Ouch! But one look at major cities run by black mayors, police chiefs and black-dominated city councils provides ample evidence to validate his assertion. In the District of Columbia, for example, incompetence abounds, crime rates are out of control, abortion and illegitimacy rates are high, and the number of new AIDS cases is higher than in other large U.S. cities. Blacks, who make up 61 percent of the D.C. population, represent 80 percent of AIDS diagnoses.
The solution? The irresponsible, bureaucratically inept D.C. government has decided to put condom dispensers in government buildings, encouraging a city rife with a multitude of sexually-transmitted diseases to continue having illicit sex.
In SCAM, Reverend Peterson deals firmly with black churches, once moral leaders in the community, and how pastors have abdicated responsibility for shepherding the flock in favor of promoting immoral liberal agenda. He describes a program called (headed by an advisor to the Congressional Black Caucus), which distributes free condoms and promotes "tolerance" for homosexuality. Over 5,000 black churches participated. Instead of following biblical teachings about homosexuality, some black pastors have become complicit in the movement. Did you know, for example, that Pentecostal preacher Al Sharpton supports homosexual marriage?
And it doesn't stop there. Not only do some black churches support pro-abortion Democrats and celebrate —invented by an anti-Christian convicted felon—but black ministers have invited the anti-Christian, anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan to preach hatred of America in their pulpits.
Drinking Poisoned Kool-Aid®
In 1978, cult weirdo Jim Jones convinced 913 followers (mostly black) to commit suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid®. The followers gave the poison to their children first, then drank it themselves. Reverend Peterson argues the same brainwashing process has happened to millions of blacks and that a "cult of blackness" has been created by "corrupt civil rights leaders, legislators, black journalists, and leftist black preachers." The very word "racism" is a mantra used over and over again to condition blacks and link the word to whites and conservatives, no matter how absurd the linkage (think James Byrd).
Reverend Peterson chastises peddlers of dangerous and racist (and ignorant) notions like the phony Afrocentrism and ebonics ("gutter language" disguised as "black speech") who continue to destroy the black community and foster racial tensions.
Back to Africa?
Reverend Peterson has spoken out against these and other ridiculous ideas only to be vilified and in some cases, physically assaulted. The truth hurts. He asks, "Instead of reparations, how about a ticket back to Africa?" Excellent question. Murderous dictators, slavery, famine and strife? No, thanks!
With uncompromising courage, Reverend Peterson asserts, "Black people should ask themselves what debt they owe to whites—both Americans and British—who lobbied and fought and died to bring an end to slavery..." Audacious and observant. To date, black Africans and Arabs are still in the human bondage business.
SCAM offers a compelling argument against racially divisive "leaders."
"Over a decade ago, I began to realize that the so-called black leaders like Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton, and others were lying about why blacks are in trouble today", writes a former welfare recipient-turned-ordained minister, mentor, entrepreneur and man of integrity.
Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, author of , has written a book in which truth fills every page. As I wrote in the , a black person who claims that black America's biggest problem is not racism but its own immorality is a revolutionary in today's politically correct climate. "My message to the black man and to the black community is one of hope and encouragement, not one of anger and despair."
Our Own Worst Enemies
Black leaders have brainwashed blacks into hating whites for their problems, and this racial hatred has continued to enslave blacks, says Reverend Peterson. But blacks are their own worst enemies, handicapping themselves by listening to black leaders. To continue perks and corporate shakedowns, limousine liberals like Jesse Jackson have to keep stirring the pot of hatred. "If blacks do not abandon this mentality and this rage against white America—and if we do not accept responsibility for our own failures—we will forever remain defeated", he contends.
How the Government Undermined the Black Father's Role
As someone who grew up without a father, Reverend Peterson understands what accepting responsibility means. He's an eyewitness to what fatherlessness does to children.
The welfare system bears most of the blame in undermining the black father's role. Anyone objectively examining the history of the welfare system can see that it's one of the main reasons black men are no longer heads of their households. Forty years ago, the welfare roles exploded and the system strongly discouraged black men from remaining in the homes and encouraged single women to remain on welfare. "The welfare system also allowed men to impregnate women without guilt or commitment to them or their children."
. Although the system has been reformed, the effects of dependency have remained. The most shameful is that the social stigma against illegitimacy has all but vanished in the black community.
Why Are Black Women So Mean?
"If you go to any post office or bank today and deal with the typical black woman you find there, you'll know why the title of this chapter is so appropriate." Amen! So begins my favorite chapter of the book, "Why Black Women Are So Mean".
Reverend Peterson admits he's partly joking, but does attribute the bitterness and resentfulness of some black women to being single parents who must play many roles: provider, protector, nurturer and disciplinarian. Not only are they challenged by these issues, they must also deal with being abandoned by their irresponsible men.
. Fatherless boys are twice as likely to end up in jail even when race and income are held constant. Regardless of income and race, there is a strong correlation with the number of single parent families in a community and the crime rate.
Restoring the Family
I could write 10 more columns about SCAM—it's that important—but I'll end the review with the most important insight. Throughout the book, Reverend Peterson offers biblical prescriptions for curing the ills of broken families and communities. The final chapter is a "blueprint for true freedom", which includes restoring God's order to the family (husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of his church), committing to prayer, forgiveness, marriage, repudiating "black culture", embracing entrepreneurship, and most importantly, rejecting black "leaders" and following Christ.
Reverend Peterson urges blacks to return to belief in God and confronts what in today's society is deemed taboo: sin. He offers biblical solutions to that age-old problem and its consequences on the black family.
Only Christ can set us free from hatred, bitterness, resentment and our own sin. He says,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. ."
That's a prescription for us all.
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