That's beside the (his) point. In terms of heritage, he's absolutely right.
Posted on 03/19/2005 4:31:04 PM PST by Michael2001
A conservative pastor and Christian broadcaster is urging Israeli officials to pursue a closer relationship with the black community in America -- particularly, he observes, since Jews and blacks have much in common in terms of their cultural experiences: their traditions of struggle and deliverance.
Glenn Plummer, the outgoing chairman and chief executive officer of the National Religious Broadcasters, recently spoke at this year's NRB Convention in Anaheim, where he addressed an audience that included members of the Israeli Knesset. In his talk, he drew out the many similarities he sees between the historical struggles of American citizens of African descent and people of Jewish heritage.
Plummer advised the Knesset members that many cultural commonalities exist which could serve as the basis of a mutually beneficial relationship between blacks and Jews. "I think they received it," he says, "and I think it's worth pursuing."
The similarities between the two diasporas are noteworthy. For instance, Plummer points out, the Jewish people were once enslaved, and saw their people delivered from captivity and oppression by the hand of God. "The black community here in America was also in bondage," the broadcaster says, "and God brought black Americans out of slavery."
And while black slaves' deliverance was not without bloodshed, Plummer notes that their ultimate liberation was accomplished largely by divine intervention, "without weapons of warfare." In other words, he asserts, "Blacks didn't rise up and fight their way out of slavery -- it was God all by Himself that brought them out, had the laws change, had other races of people -- whites and Jews and others -- standing for them."
And because blacks and Jews have so much in common, the outgoing NRB chairman says he thinks Jews should work towards developing the same kind of relationship with blacks that they currently have with the largely pro-Israel Evangelical Christian community.
"Because you have so much in common," Plummer says, "and because blacks in America are predominantly Christian and respect the Bible -- that's a great group of people that you all can pursue like you have Evangelicals and create a relationship with." He adds that by forging ties with black America, the Jewish community can have a sort of "second tier of friends" that will stand with Israel biblically and offer their support.
No one in the USA today has ever been enslaved.
That's beside the (his) point. In terms of heritage, he's absolutely right.
The black pastor is a conservative and so are the Jews in his audience
Then I'm supposed to forget that my forefathers were enslaved by tribal chieftans and then sold as chattle to the New World, right? I mean, it's all "crap."
Right?
Every race on the face of this earth has been enslaved at one time or another. Let's not forget that the Roman Empire not only enslaved the Jewish people and African people, but their power and brutality extended across the European continent and enslaved the modern day Irish, Scottish, English, Dutch, and German peoples as well. Instead of creating another segragated portion of society, how about we just claim to be American!
I have no problem with that, and that's how I define myself.
But I take an exception to anyone referring to slavery as "crap", especially in this nation founded upon the principle of liberty.
How can a black pastor be described a conservative, yet play the race card?
Just duh...
Hmmm... Okay. You'll now tell neo-Confederates to get over what happened in the Civil War because it didn't happen to them. Right?
One more thing, I have no "special status," okay? Affirmative action hasn't done anything for me.
That's a good thing.
How is mentioning a common heritage "playing the race card?" I thought that meant asking for special status or privileges?
The problem that I have is when persons bring up the past, and then use it as an excuse for present failure. Neither the pastor nor rdb3 has used slavery as an excuse for present day failure.
No, sir. I never have used slavery as an excuse for anything happening today, and I never will.
Thanx for noticing. Apparently, this goes over the heads of some.
"No one in the USA today has ever been enslaved"Good eye.I had to re-read the article.
What race card is he playing? Thanks to buttwipe race-card hustlers like Farakkan and Jackson and Sharpton, there are strained relations between Blacks and Jews and that hurts America.
Remember that mob that knifed a guy to death in NY just because he was a Jew? Remember that firebomb that anti-Jewish incitement caused?
Its time for Blacks and Jews to reconcile, and look at their commonality which includes being Americans.
Do i dwell on the fact that my Irish ancestors were oppressed by the british and brought to the New World into slavery working the fields right alongside Africans?
No. It was so long ago, there is not even a post-memory of it.
I am just sick to death of this type of thing. I have no favored ethnic identity; just a SAWB (smartasswhiteboy)
Who is going to speal up for me?
Chill out Homes.Are u one of those brothers with a chip on his shoulder?I am sick of hearing about poor and oppressed AA's.No one is denying slavery existed,but imo we've bent over backwards to make ammends.Do u feel differently?If so,would you like to elaborate?
"Because you have so much in common," Plummer says, "and because blacks in America are predominantly Christian and respect the Bible -- that's a great group of people that you all can pursue like you have Evangelicals and create a relationship with." He adds that by forging ties with black America, the Jewish community can have a sort of "second tier of friends" that will stand with Israel biblically and offer their support.
Until recently I did not realize that "Black" was a religious designation or that "Evangelical" was a racial designation, but apparently this is the case. Why else would "Evangelical" refer only to white Protestants?
This is the first time I have heard a Jewish-Black alliance pitched in the name of the Bible. Traditionally it has been a liberal alliance, indifferent or hostile to Biblical teachings and stressing Israel's post-Biblical history as an oppressed people (oppressed, of course, by "Bible-thumpers"). Israel has not always been on the receiving end of slavery and "oppression," as the Bible makes abundantly clear. But Israel's Biblical history has never been a major theme of anyone who wishes to picture the Jewish tradition as a liberal one.
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