The Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. has really set the cat amongst the pigeons when he spoke at the funeral of soul singer Aretha Franklin.
Franklin had herself brought up four children by four different men, none by either of her two husbands ....
.... a fact that the good reverend seems to have missed, when he said at Aretha Franklin's funeral that black America was losing "its soul" and described children raised without a father as "abortion after birth" .....
.... he then asserted that: "It amazes me how it is that when the police kills one of us, we're ready to protest march, destroy innocent property. We’re ready to loot, steal whatever we want. ... But when we kill 100 of us, nobody says anything. Nobody does anything.”
Ignoring the audible mutterings from the predominantly black congregation (or perhaps because it was a predominantly black congregation), he continued: "If you choose to ask me today — Do black lives matter? Let me answer like this. No. Black lives do not matter. Black lives will not matter. … Black lives should not matter. Black lives must not matter. Until black people start respecting black lives and stop killing ourselves, black lives can never matter."
He also said "Where is your soul, black man? As I look in your house, there are no fathers in the home no more. Where is your soul? Seventy percent of our households are led by our precious, proud, fine black women. But as proud, beautiful and fine as our black women are, one thing a black woman cannot do. A black woman cannot raise a black boy to be a man. She can’t do that. She can’t do that.". Its "now time for black America to come back home."
..... by now he was in full steam ahead mode "There was a time when we as a race had a thriving economy," he said. "I remember we had our own little grocery stores. We had our own little hotels. They weren't big and fancy, but they were ours .... As bad as the days as Jim Crow and segregation were ... it forced us to each other instead of forcing us on each other. We quickly come to realize that as a people, all we really have is one another."
"But when we marched, when we protested, when we got through saying we shall overcome, yes, we were rewarded with integration, we got what we fought for, we got what we marched for. But with the birth of integration, there also came the loss of not only the black community's economy, but there also came the loss of the black man’s soul."
Of course then came the storm of criticism from the wealthy blacks attending the funeral, and who live very different lives, and forget the reality for 99% of black Americans.
Stevie Wonder, who played immediately after Rev. Williams' eulogy, seemed to reply to the comments, saying: "We need to make love great again, because black lives do matter. Because all lives do matter." While Vaughn Franklin said of the speech "It has been very, very distasteful."
Social media went bananas, with one twitter user saying that "Reverend Jasper Williams Jr, pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA, is a homophobic, sexist, misogynist, ableist, uneducated bigot who is disrespecting Auntie Aretha Franklin at her funeral," and another that "Reverend Jasper Williams plantation style speech at #ArethaFranklinFuneral is a prime example why there is a total disconnect between young Black people and the older Black church crowd. All that cowardly "you's gots to do better" talk ain't fooling these kids."
However, the reverend was in no mood to back down .... "I'm sure much of the negativity is due to the fact that they don't understand what I'm talking about," he said in response. "Anybody who thinks black America is all right as we are now is crazy. We're not all right. It's a lot of change that needs to occur. This change must come from within us. It is ludicrous for the church not to be involved. The church is the only viable institution we have in the African-American community. We must step up and turn our race around."
Personally I think he was simply telling it as it is.
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| Aretha Franklin - Died: 16 August 2018 |
Franklin had herself brought up four children by four different men, none by either of her two husbands ....
.... a fact that the good reverend seems to have missed, when he said at Aretha Franklin's funeral that black America was losing "its soul" and described children raised without a father as "abortion after birth" .....
 |
| Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. |
.... he then asserted that: "It amazes me how it is that when the police kills one of us, we're ready to protest march, destroy innocent property. We’re ready to loot, steal whatever we want. ... But when we kill 100 of us, nobody says anything. Nobody does anything.”
Ignoring the audible mutterings from the predominantly black congregation (or perhaps because it was a predominantly black congregation), he continued: "If you choose to ask me today — Do black lives matter? Let me answer like this. No. Black lives do not matter. Black lives will not matter. … Black lives should not matter. Black lives must not matter. Until black people start respecting black lives and stop killing ourselves, black lives can never matter."
He also said "Where is your soul, black man? As I look in your house, there are no fathers in the home no more. Where is your soul? Seventy percent of our households are led by our precious, proud, fine black women. But as proud, beautiful and fine as our black women are, one thing a black woman cannot do. A black woman cannot raise a black boy to be a man. She can’t do that. She can’t do that.". Its "now time for black America to come back home."
..... by now he was in full steam ahead mode "There was a time when we as a race had a thriving economy," he said. "I remember we had our own little grocery stores. We had our own little hotels. They weren't big and fancy, but they were ours .... As bad as the days as Jim Crow and segregation were ... it forced us to each other instead of forcing us on each other. We quickly come to realize that as a people, all we really have is one another."
"But when we marched, when we protested, when we got through saying we shall overcome, yes, we were rewarded with integration, we got what we fought for, we got what we marched for. But with the birth of integration, there also came the loss of not only the black community's economy, but there also came the loss of the black man’s soul."
Of course then came the storm of criticism from the wealthy blacks attending the funeral, and who live very different lives, and forget the reality for 99% of black Americans.
Stevie Wonder, who played immediately after Rev. Williams' eulogy, seemed to reply to the comments, saying: "We need to make love great again, because black lives do matter. Because all lives do matter." While Vaughn Franklin said of the speech "It has been very, very distasteful."
Social media went bananas, with one twitter user saying that "Reverend Jasper Williams Jr, pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA, is a homophobic, sexist, misogynist, ableist, uneducated bigot who is disrespecting Auntie Aretha Franklin at her funeral," and another that "Reverend Jasper Williams plantation style speech at #ArethaFranklinFuneral is a prime example why there is a total disconnect between young Black people and the older Black church crowd. All that cowardly "you's gots to do better" talk ain't fooling these kids."
However, the reverend was in no mood to back down .... "I'm sure much of the negativity is due to the fact that they don't understand what I'm talking about," he said in response. "Anybody who thinks black America is all right as we are now is crazy. We're not all right. It's a lot of change that needs to occur. This change must come from within us. It is ludicrous for the church not to be involved. The church is the only viable institution we have in the African-American community. We must step up and turn our race around."
Personally I think he was simply telling it as it is.
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