Dear Mr. Jim Crow I think We Need You: What Happened To Black Preachers After 1965
A Tribute To Rev. CT Vivian As He Took On Sheriff Jim Clark
PimpPreacher.com New Orleans Bureau 07/03/2014 - Repost by demand 10/10/2014
I never thought I would say the words I am about to utter, but the sad reality is becoming too obvious to ignore. Black Preachers need another visitation from you Mr. Jim Crow. Not only do they need you, but in so many ways I believe you made the Black Preacher a better Preacher. Hear me out Mr. Crow.
Because of your mean and hateful demeanor from 1887 - 1965, you gave the Black Preacher a common enemy, a visible threat, and someone to strategize against. When you were alive and well, the Black Preachers stood united around one common goal; and, unlike anytime in African American History, they had a sense of purpose. When you encourage Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam to kidnap Emmett Till, it was the Black Preachers who networked down through the red dirt roads in Mississippi to find him. Unfortunately, The Black Preachers arrived too late. When Rosa Parks stood still, with pride, for her mugshot photo, your hatred of equality gave birth to a beautiful movement.
Because of you, Mr. Jim Crow, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth challenged a young, gifted Black Preacher from Atlanta named Martin Luther King to get more active in the real fight in Birmingham. Oh yes, Mr. Crow, you made the Black Preacher better in many ways; but, the biggest and perhaps most important area was selflessness. During your 70 year life span, Black Preachers operated as one single organism – never caring who received the credit- as long as the people reached the Promised Land. You caused a spontaneous outpouring of compassion that raced from the pulpit to the corner liquor store; compassion that we have not seen since 1965.
Not only did you make the Black Preachers better, but you also made the Black teachers better. You stood in the way of Civil Rights. You blocked the exterior entrances of Separate but Unequal Schools, causing Black Students to evolve under strenuous academic conditions. It was under your reign, Jim Crow, that Black Teachers had to prepare Black students to exist, and excel, in a segregated society. Because of your determination to see African Americans remain intellectually inferior, those black Teachers passed with flying colors. Jim, you created that environment, and I don’t know how we survived your rage, but we did.
In the years since President Johnson handed that famous ink pen to Dr. Martin Luther King- that single moment marked the decline of Clergy Activism in our Communities. That moment in the Oval Office also marked the beginning of the Prosperity Gospel, because Black Preachers no longer had you as a formidable opponent. Gone are the days when very few people wanted to be a Pastor- that lifestyle seemed boring and mundane- now it has become a coveted career path. Gone are the Black Preachers who felt as Fred Shuttlesworth did when he said “this entire community is my Pulpit.”
Today we have Black Preachers who are only concerned about their Love Offerings, and their Church Buildings. Gone are the days of Jim Crow.
Now You’re Gone Mr. Crow!
Every now and then we’ll get a glimpse of how great our Black Pastors were during the days of Jim Crow- on those occasions when Rev. Jessie Jackson or Al Shapton dust off their marching shoes in protest. Other than that, the Black Preacher, as we knew them during the days of Jim Crow, are all but extinct. Without Jim Crow there is no leadership coming from the multitudes of pulpits throughout our communities- only Church Taxation without Representation.
With the absence of Jim Crow, community strategy sessions have been replaced by Pastor Empowerment Conferences. Without Jim Crow, the SCLC has become a trivia question that many Black People can’t answer. Without Jim Crow, we lost preachers like Rev. Avery Alexander and Rev. Cordy Tindell Vivian, only to replace them with Bishop Eddie Long and Bishop T.D. Jakes.
As I watched the blood pour out of the mouth of Rev. CT Vivian, I became sad. Not because of the pain that he must have endure at the hands of Selma, Alabama’s Sheriff, Jim Clark, but at the thought that there is not one Black Pastor that I consider his equal today.
To Rev. CT Vivian, I say thank you for dedicating your life to defeating Jim Crow – I owe my freedom to the Black Preachers of your generation. To the current Black Preachers who couldn’t care less about the communities surrounding their own Churches, I say shame on you for destroying such a beautiful legacy.
To Jim Crow, I say these current Black Preachers don’t fear God, so maybe they might fear you should you decide to resurrect yourself.
TJ – CHURCH FOLK REVOLUTION
