Sanctum Santorum

Today marks what should be an ignominious event in our nation’s history, but sadly remains one which instead is willfully ignored.  The Rosewood Massacre, the result of an unproven and quite likely unfounded rape accusation made by a white woman against a black man began 89 years ago on this date.
You will most likely not hear any mention of this sad event.  Most of what you will hear today will concern the results of the Iowa Caucuses, particularly what many feel is a surprising surge by Rick Santorum to narrowly finish second to Mitt Romney.  It is an odd comparison that the willful ignorance of the historical murders of innocent African-Americans is edged out of any coverage while the willful ignorance of a politician who assassinates the character of a group of people using the same flawed perspective employed by bigoted and racist mobs nearly 9 decades ago is widely displayed.  Muhammad Ali once said “The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”  What an incredible waste we’ve had to endure if a perspective embedded in bigotry persists for hundreds of years.
Continuing to reveal the iniquity of his innermost feelings, Rick Santorum waded in deep with his proposal on improving the lives of “black people”.  Santorum continues to perpetuate the increasingly popular and long-held stereotype that the majority of welfare recipients are black, lazy, and undeserving of any type of empathy, much less assistance.
If one wants to believe the stereotype is not widely held within the ranks of the GOP, one only has to recall the recent statements made by media whores Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump, who would justify the abrogation of child labor laws so that indigent, indolent black children (their presumption) could learn the value of an honest day’s work.  I watched the crowd around Santorum break into applause, a tacit agreement to his bigoted assertion, knowing full well that there was an extremely high likelihood that a number of them were recipients of some form of the “welfare” Santorum was denigrating.  The fact of the matter is that white Americans account for the largest percentage of welfare payments each month because they make up the largest sector of the population.  Using the conservative notion that any form of monetary disbursement by the government should be considered taboo, programs like Social Security, food stamps, veterans benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment benefits and corporate bailouts would be considered “welfare”.  Sadly, Santorum and those of his ilk only focus on welfare statistics that show people of color are disproportionately represented without acknowledging such representation is due to higher poverty rates among that segment of the populace.
I understand Santorum’s pandering to the racial hostility of the electorate, however.  Iowa is a state which has a 91% white population.  The GOP has been playing to the prejudices of its membership (rather than trying to address and alleviate them) ever since Southern white voters defected from the Democratic party en masse pursuant to the signing of the Voting Rights Act by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965.  Aghast in the face of nationwide rioting following the murder of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Richard Nixon rode the “law and order” mantra into the White House because the voters who supported him understood the code meant he would “put the coloreds back in check”.  George Bush the elder used a similar stratifying scare tactic with the now infamous Willie Horton ads in 1988.
Today, Santorum, Gingrich, Trump, et al. are losing the desire to conceal their hatred.  The presence of a black man in the highest office of the land has made them feel that unleashing the full measure of their vitriol is perfectly warranted.  It is sad to witness that the mindset of the candidates and the voters have utterly failed to progress in all these years, that racial politics is the course de rigueur.  It is despairing to know that socially and politically, this segment of the American population wants to revisit Rosewood, FL once more.  Sad, but completely expected by those of us who continue to endure this ignorance.

©2011 Ronald B. Cason, all rights reserved

“Cross Culture”

“It’s not color. It’s culture. That makes folks mad because you can’t be held to blame for your color — but you can for your culture.”

Initially, it seems to be the kind of statement that makes a whole lot of sense.  But I ask you to look a little deeper.  The person who issued this statement wants you to believe that you are accountable…for your culture.  Before I accept this notion, I’d want to know the definition of “culture” to which this person is referring.  I’m also keeping in mind that previously, this person claimed that I, and others like me, come from a “culture of violence”.  This person never provided a definition of “culture” for that expression either.
I can be a little understanding at his reticence to provide a definition, because on one hand, his listening audience will latch on to these notions and run wildly down the middle of the highway with them because they voraciously seek validation for their feelings, and validation comes so easily when it is expressed in a terse but catchy phrase that seems to make sense (but actually does not).  On the other hand, 59 years ago, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn came up with a list of 164 definitions for “culture” in their book Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions.  
Because the person to whom this catchy quote may be attributed seems to have wanted to simplify an exceedingly complex concept, I will adhere to the three simplest and most commonly used senses of the term “culture”, to see if this statement actually holds water:

• Excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities
• An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning
• The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization, or group

I would suppose that a person could be “held to blame” for not having excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities, but if I consider that the main reason for not developing such taste lies in not being exposed to “high culture”, could you really possibly blame the individual for their own lack of opportunity?  Possessing “an integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning” could well be held against an individual, but once closer scrutiny is given to the definition, could you, with any honesty, blame an individual for the collective integration of human knowledge, belief, and behavior of a people based on his or her capacity for symbolic thought and social learning? On the very face of it such supposition is ludicrous.  The last definition may be the one the person to whom this quote may be attributed was suggesting: the shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization, or group.  The problem, however is in attempting to stigmatize a group as a culture when you are basing the culture on color.  Especially when you are attempting to isolate one particular aspect of the culture and apply it as an aspect of the color.  Are you seriously attempting to blame people who don’t participate in any criminal or violent behavior as not only being criminal and/or being violent, but also as being responsible for those who are?  Or do we really need to banter the erroneous belief that because a person is  certain color, then they must also be criminal and/or violent?  If that is the case, would it then be appropriate to hold all those of a particular color and culture as being responsible for the violence perpetrated by a few to advance a the shared attitude, values, goals and practices of bigotry, hatred, intolerance?  Certainly not.  The source of this inane quote is merely trying to assuage his own bigotry which he constantly denies.  Those who quickly accept the flawed logic of this statement may well be doing the same.  Though this person is very smart, and very crafty with his wording and the way he uses his words to exert influence…be mindful that “the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made” (Genesis 3:1).  Now, I’m not saying this person is the devil.  But as a believer, I must be aware how the devil will manipulate situations, words, and yes, even people to move me into an area of sin.  I cannot allow another person’s hatred to move me into a position of hating.
I need to be aware of what God says about hating others.  “But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:11 KJV)  While this person has, in the past, acknowledged a belief in “a higher power”, he has openly voiced disdain for Christians and  Christian organizations (including churches).  Yet, among his many adherents are many Christians.  I fail to understand why people who follow God would allow themselves to be led by the godless, especially into an area that is the opposite of where God is trying to lead you.  Racism, bigotry, and prejudice are all areas that we should consciously avoid.  Don’t step into the craftiness of the wording.  I must be constantly, consistently mindful that the more wise I think I become by accepting statements such as the one at the top of this message, the more I may well be venturing into folly.  1 Corinthians 3:19:  “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.”

©2011 Ronald B. Cason, all rights reserved

“The Fabulous and The Fabricated”

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to view “The Fab Five” documentary on ESPN.  I thought it was a well done work, and brought back many memories of watching a group of young athletes who were genuinely fun to watch.  The improbability of a group of five freshman playing so well that they would advance to the championship game of the NCAA tournament was lost on many when it happened, and remained lost after the airing of the documentary.  The talent of those players was further highlighted by the fact that the team again made it to the championship game the very next year as sophomores.  The reason this remarkable achievement will forever go without achieving its due respect is two-fold:  they lost both championship games and the comments of a precocious, garrulous and angry 18 year-old freshman named Jalen Rose had been brought to light 20 years after the fact and overshadow everything mentioned in the documentary.

What Rose said was that, as a 18 year-old youth, “For me, Duke was personal.  I hated Duke. And I hated everything I felt Duke stood for.  Schools like Duke didn’t recruit players like me.  I felt like they only recruited black players that were Uncle Toms.”  Subsequent to this statement, Rose reiterated that this was his feeling 20 years ago.  He further stated that He no longer feels this way.  He still thinks Duke recruits players who fit a certain profile, but that is to be expected and he understands why they do so…that most colleges follow the same recruiting technique.  “Well, certain schools recruit a typical kind of player whether the world admits it or not. And Duke is one of those schools,” he said. “They recruit black players from polished families, accomplished families. And that’s fine. That’s okay. But when you’re an inner-city kid playing in a public school league, you know that certain schools aren’t going to recruit you. That’s one. And I’m okay with it. That’s how I felt as an 18-year-old kid.”  I knew that there would be a multitude who would only see the “Uncle Tom” comment and vilify Rose without any acknowledgment that the comments were those of a brash and at times unthinking 18 year-old, not those of a 38 year-old adult.  One person I thought had a good grasp on the facts was Miami Herald columnist Armando Salguero.  Salguero’s op-ed piece posted in the March 18, 2011 edition of the Miami Herald cogently discerned that the comments by Rose were the unfortunate and misguided statements of a young man who might not have been motivated entirely by race, but by class.  While Salguero’s discernment of the youthful Rose’s misplaced anger proved artful, his recognition of the possible cause seemed to disintegrate to me because he latched onto a belief held by many outside of the African-American community trying to peer in with lenses tinted with self-righteousness.  Salguero states:

“I know what you’re thinking: You’re not black. You don’t know. And that’s true, I cannot identify completely with the black race. But I completely embrace the human race, and its history is replete with black success and education and wealth.

Unfortunately that’s not the message that rings loudest in the black community today. There seems to be a segment of American black culture that measures its blackness based on how much street credibility it has. And that credibility apparently is gained by how hard a man’s circumstances were growing up.

The harder, more blighted and more violent the neighborhood, the more credibility it offers. The more distant the father, the more credibility goes to the son. The more jobs mom had to work to make ends meet, the more credibility the latchkey kid gets.

This stinkin’ thinkin’ embraces unfortunate circumstances and uses them as some misguided measure of social supremacy — with the man who survived the most crap being the winner.

And, in turning a situation that already is askew completely upside down, the logic further dictates that black men from more educated, middle class and complete homes must obviously be less black.

The sad thing about this approach is it celebrates poverty and hardship and frowns upon prosperity and blessing.“

 

I believe Salguero was on point in his observation that Jalen Rose’s negative comments about Duke and the Black players in the Duke program were essentially borne out of a resentment based mainly on class differences and less on racial stratification.  Where we digress in convergence of thought is where Salguero opines that “there seems to be a segment of American Black culture that measures its Blackness based on how much street credibility it has.” Without actually saying it, this comment alludes that the segment of “American Black culture that measures its Blackness based on how much street credibility it has” is somehow a majority segment of the Black population.  I have seen firsthand that this is not the case.  The majority of the “Black culture” may laud the transition from pejorative circumstances to superlative life situations, but the portion that will erroneously assert that the “real Black people” come from meager conditions and elevated themselves by “rough and tumble” means is not as large as many will think.  The notion of “street credibility” didn’t really exist until recording industry executives changed the nature of hip-hop music by extolling the ‘virtues’ of ‘Gangsta Rap’.  The imagery of Black middle class life  subsequently dissolved from mainstream media, replaced by a romanticized ‘gangster’s rags-to-riches’ theme that excluded hard work and education as its base principles.  Within the larger Black community those All-American values continued to be espoused despite the increasingly shrinking opportunities availed to pursue them.

©2010 Ronald B. Cason, all rights reserved.

“Black History Month”

I had really not intended to write anything at all about “Black History Month”, which commenced yesterday.  Over the years, I’ve come to realize the hard feelings that get aroused because Black people want to celebrate the significant contributions made by Black people, not only within our own communities, but to our country and, in fact, our world.  These contributions are normally given short acknowledgement, if any at all, in the history books selected by various school boards across our land.
A friend and fraternity brother of mine e-mailed a couple of links to news articles of local interest.  One link gave information on local “Black History Month” festivities and featured a prominent picture of another member of my fraternity.  It was when I was reading that article that I decided I had to write, yet again, a piece on “Black History Month”.  There was nothing in the article itself that compelled me to write, but the ugly commentary that followed what ordinarily would have been an informative, albeit benign article.
What seems to be lost in any discussion about “Black History Month” is the history behind “Black History Month.”  “Negro History Week” was started in 1926 by historian Carter G. Woodson.  Woodson’s goal was to educate Blacks about their cultural background, and instill in them a sense of pride in their race.  Woodson sought to make the history of African-Americans be considered a more significant part of American history as a whole.  Over the years, the contributions of African-Americans have been getting more mention in the history books, but when “Negro History Week” was started in 1926, they weren’t.  I vividly recall history classes in elementary school in the 1960’s and 1970’s where the only mention of Black people outside of slavery was the one or two sentences about Crispus Attucks.
Historian John Hope Franklin said that it was always Carter G. Woodson’s hope that one day, there would be no need for “Negro History Week”, that it would one day “outlive its usefulness”.  To those who expressed comments about the Peoria Journal Star’s article such as “When is White History Month?” and to those who complain that such commemoration is another example of “playing the race card”, it may appear that time has come.  The election of the first African-American President of the United States supposedly ushered in the era of “post-racial America”.  However, the rancor and vitriol that pervades comments  about the “:Black History Month” article in the Peoria Journal Star indicates otherwise.  Haley Barbour’s false claims of attending integrated schools in Mississippi and of befriending Verna Bailey, the first Black woman to attend the University of Mississippi would indicate otherwise.  Barbour’s claims that the White Citizen’s Councils in Mississippi were a proponent of racial equality would indicate otherwise.  Joy Massof’s egregiously erroneous textbook “Our Virginia Past & Present”, which states that “Thousands of Southern blacks fought in the Confederate ranks, including two black battalions under the command of Stonewall Jackson”, a claim countered as false by actual historians, would indicate otherwise.  Michele Bachmann’s historically inaccurate assertion that “the very founders that wrote those documents (the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America) worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States” would indicate otherwise.
Sometimes, we need to be reminded of the truth, no matter how ugly it is and how much it makes us squirm.  Being uncomfortable with “Black History Month” indicates a larger problem with perception of others whose difference triggers resentment.  Ronald Reagan once said:

“There is sin and evil in the world, and we’re enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might. Our nation, too, has a legacy of evil with which it must deal. The glory of this land has been its capacity for transcending the moral evils of our past. For example, the long struggle of minority citizens for equal rights, once a source of disunity and civil war is now a point of pride for all Americans. We must never go back. There is no room for racism, anti-Semitism, or other forms of ethnic and racial hatred in this country.”

Our main problem today is that we refuse to deal with that legacy of evil honestly.  Because of this, we have yet to “transcend the moral evils of our past”.  John 8: 31-32 states:

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

If we remain in His Word, continue in His Word, last in His Word and endure in His word, we are His pupils, His learners, and we will know what is true in things pertaining to God and the duties of man.  That knowledge will set us at liberty from the dominion of sin.  The animosity we display towards one another over a difference in skin color is hatred.  We can try to deny it, but that is the truth.  People will always come back and say “I don’t hate anybody, but…”.  The qualifier, no matter what is inserted after that word “but…” indicates some willingness to hold on to an idea that puts one at opposition to the first part of the statement.  1 John 3:15 says:

“Whoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”

The simple fact of the matter is that hate is not of God, and God does not want us to partake in it.

©2011 Ronald B. Cason, all rights reserved.

Martin Luther King Day of Service

When Martin Luther King Day first became a holiday back in 1986, I was proud, but immediately recognized that not everyone would feel the same way I did. Because less than one-third of American companies actually provided paid leave for the holiday, I’ve not had many opportunities to celebrate the day and get paid for it, as we might with other federal holidays. While that has never been overwhelmingly important to me, I would have expected that percentage to have increased over the past 24 years. That would seem to indicate a growing acceptance, rather than resistance, to the ideals of equality and unity as a country Dr. King’s dream represented for America. What has endured during the time the holiday has existed and what has endeared me to this holiday is actually participating in serving on this day. That has been made difficult when one doesn’t have the option of taking the day off, because a full day’s pay is a considerable sacrifice. What particularly saddens me, however, is the way the day is continually trivialized in a way that erodes, and in fact, demeans what the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for.
A few things happened over the course of the weekend that made me think about the corrosion of what has come to be known as the Martin Luther King Day of Service. My wife works for a major health care provider. She tells me often of people who inquire about their benefits under Medicare and often derisively query as to whether or not certain changes in benefits are due to “Obamacare”. In the same breath they will ask “When will I get my refund check?”, which is being provided due to…”Obamacare”. It makes me wonder for a brief moment if the fact that the POTUS’s skin color is different from theirs is the motivating force for their dislike of the new Health Care Reform Act, or is it really due to the huge expense this act will incur. We will see if the Health Care Reform Act is actually repealed and these same people complain because the refund checks will then be rescinded.
We happened to go into a Wal-Mart on Saturday and saw sales on a bevy of those lightweight aluminum pans that people use for festive holiday occasions. We were initially puzzled, wondering what holiday was coming up that would call for copious amounts of food? When I saw a picture posted by a friend on Facebook of the “Martin Luther King Day” sheet cake also on sale at Wal-Mart, I figured the same marketing genius who placed holiday hams on sale and indicated they would be ‘great for Hanukkah’ must still be employed by Wal-Mart. I guess they figure that since it is a “black” holiday, there will be an abundance of grilled pork and fried chicken to be consumed and these big pans will be in high demand. I’ve yet to attend a service event on the Martin Luther King Day of Service where food was provided. I’m usually given a broom, a mop or a shovel and pointed to where I am needed. Any food is usually obtained on the way home at one of the several fast food establishments that don’t provide their employees with a paid day off.
I then became quite curious when reports started surfacing that the Governor of Maine had told the NAACP to perform an act of osculation on his hind parts. Maine Governor Paul LePage drew the ire of many when he responded to a reporter’s question in this manner:

“They’re special interest…end of story. And I’m not going to be held hostage by any special interest. And if they want, they can look at my family picture, my son happens to be black., so they could do whatever they’d like about it. The fact of the matter is there’s only so many hours in a day, so many hours in a week and so much that you can do. They invited me to go to the state prison to meet black prisoners. I told them I would go, I would be more than happy and go but I would meet all prisoners and that wasn’t acceptable to them, so tough luck.”
LePage was then asked what was his response to “them” (I’m assuming the reporter was referring to State NAACP leaders) saying that this is more than just one incidence but rather a pattern? LePage stated “Tell them to kiss my butt.”

Now, to be fair, I had to find out what precipitated his comments. It appears that the NAACP extended an invitation to the Governor to attend the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrations. The Governor declined due to prior commitments. One report I read indicated the prior commitments included attending a funeral for a state trooper who had been slain in the line of duty. I could see where a commitment like that might take precedence over attending a breakfast or a dinner. Speaker of the House John Boehner came under a fair amount of criticism for not accepting the President”s invitation to attend the Memorial service in Tucson, AZ in order to host a cocktail party. On the other hand, the NAACP contends that this is not the first time they’ve extended an invitation to meet with Governor LePage and he has not accepted that invitation. One previous invitation occurred during the campaign and I am mentioning it because it is the same one the Governor mentions in the above quote: then candidate Paul LePage was invited to meet voters at the Maine State Prison. If the NAACP sought to have the Governor meet only with black prisoners, and refused to consider his assertion that he would meet with all prisoners, they were truly wrong. Rachel Talbot Ross, president of Portland’s chapter of the NAACP stated that the invitation, which went out to all candidates, did not specify the race of the prisoners. She went on to say, “We would not be allowed to have that kind of program at the Maine State Prison.” This assertion seems to be corroborated by Denise Lord, associate commissioner in the Department of Corrections.  She indicated that she would be surprised if the prison had allowed an event that was only for black inmates. Perhaps most telling are Governor LePage’s opening words of his response:

“They’re special interest…end of story. And I’m not going to be held hostage by any special interest.”

This is true.  The NAACP does represent a special interest.  But then… most groups who meet with government officials represent a special interest.  During his campaign he met with a group of fishermen at a Republican forum.  Special interest.  Governor LePage quickly tried to rebuff the notion that his refusal to meet with the NAACP is racially motivated because he has a black son.  It is disputed whether or not Governor LePage’s “son”, Devon, has actually been adopted by the LePage’s or if he has been naturalized as a U.S. citizen, but he has been a part of the LePage household for 8 years now.
My personal feeling is that the Governor is not a racist.  He definitely has a problem with the NAACP.  That doesn’t bother me so much, because I have a problem with the NAACP.  I fail to understand why they continue to support Planned Parenthood when their cover has been blown. (Planned Parenthood is an extension of the racist eugenics movement.  Planned Parenthood has supported the NAACP financially and in return, Planned Parenthood gets endorsed by the NAACP, to the point were, as more and more activists, clergy and even some politicians are calling for government funding for Planned Parenthood to be eliminated, the NAACP remains ominously silent).  Even though he has a problem with the NAACP, Governor and First Lady LePage have vowed to “put people before politics in all they do.”  Now, that statement evokes a sense of compassion.  The refusal to meet with his constituents (and the populace of the entire state of Maine are, in fact, his constituents) does not.  Even if he sees the NAACP as a liberal organization with ideals and goals that directly oppose his political ideology, he should still consider these words from the man whose birthday is being celebrated:

“Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence, when it helps us to see the enemy’s point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves.” -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In his efforts to bring about racial equality in this country, Dr. King knew that all people would be elevated when equality would be achieved. That doesn’t mean that Governor LePage has to agree with the NAACP, but at least hear their concerns and see how they might be addressed within the framework of his policies.  We’ll see if that happens when Governor LePage does meet with Ross and others as he recently agreed, though a time and place for the meeting has not been set.

 

© 2011 Ronald B. Cason, all rights reserved.

“Sent for a Loop”

Bob James, a jazz and jazz fusion keyboardist is one of the artists who played a major role in bringing fusion jazz into the mainstream. Often called a progenitor of smooth jazz, he has also had an affect on hip-hop, as his compositions have been heavily sampled.

Tracks from James’ simply titled albums have frequently been looped and inserted into hip-hop hits. James released “One” in 1974, and two tracks from that album are touted as being the most heavily sampled tracks in hip-hop history. Eric B. and Rakim used “Nautilus” in their 1988 hit “Follow The Leader”. Hip-hop icons Run-DMC also sampled the track on “Beats to the Rhyme”. One source shows “Nautilus” has been sampled approximately thirty-two times. In 1975, James’ “Two” was released, which included “Take Me to the Mardi Gras”. This track was sampled an incredible forty-two times. Some of the best known hip-hop artists who have sampled this work are Run-D.M.C. again, LL Cool J, The Beastie Boys, Missy Elliot, Will.i.am, Common and Wu-Tang Clan.

The 1981 release of “Sign of the Times” still found James making music that would subsequently be sampled in hip-hop. Witness Warren G’s “Regulate”. It would appear that Bob James is the real gangsta here.

©2010 Ronald B. Cason, All rights reserved.

“Sampling Tracy”

John Francis Anthony Pastorius passed away in 1987 following a violent altercation at a Fort Lauderdale drinking establishment. Better known as Jaco Pastorius, he was widely acknowledged for his skills as an electric bass player. Perhaps best known for his association with the fusion jazz group Weather Report, Pastorius also played with Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny and Joni Mitchell among others.

The great jazz bassist Charles Mingus is credited with saying “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” Pastorius was known for compositions that were vastly complex, yet his dexterity with the bass made them sound rhythmically simple. One of my favorite Pastorius compositions “Portrait of Tracy”, released in 1976, epitomizes this concept. It is an extremely complex piece, constantly changing in meter with eerily shifting harmonics. Yet, Pastorius plays it with a mastery that allows the simplicity of its beauty to fully be displayed.

Twenty years after Pastorius released this song, I was very surprised to hear the opening of it sampled on an R&B record released by the group SWV. The same melody, but the complexity of the original replaced by a soothing ballad on the song “Rain”

.

Subsequent examples of “Portrait of Tracy” being sampled appear in the song “Pigeon”, released on the 2001 album “The Cold Vein” by hip-hop artists Cannibal Ox, Amon Tobin’s “Day Trip”, Chingy and Tyrese’s “Pulling Me Back”, Steve Spacek’s “Hey There” and Hot Stylz “Faucet”.

©2010 Ronald B. Cason, All rights reserved.

“Church in a Truck” or “I Found Love on a Two-Way Street and Kept It on a Crowded Highway”

It had been a long and dreadful day of moving.  I don’t think there is anyone who enjoys the tedium of packing and moving but I doubt if there is anyone who loathes it more than I do.  Exhausted and still unfinished, we went to sleep with the knowledge that we only had a little more to go before we could hit the road to begin new lives in Florida.  We awakened quite early, approximately 2:30am.  Getting the remaining items on the truck proved to be an extremely frustrating task, and near the end of it, my temper got the best of me.  That was strike one. Once Sharon prayed, things seemed to go back to normal.  By 4:30am we were on the road.  Approximately an hour and a half outside of the Atlanta area, we decided to stop for breakfast.  We prayed not only for our food, but for our friends and family members for whom we had been praying during our fast.  I then took over the driving chores and we resumed down I-75.
A couple of hours later, it was time to fill the gas tank.  The closest gas station was in some strange little one-horse town whose name I cannot remember.  The gas was nearly $3.00 per gallon.  We decided to get water and a couple of snack items, which were also greatly over-pried.  That stirred my anger again, and though it was very subtle, it was there.  Several hours later, We stopped for gas again.  The gas station we stopped at this time had an awkward entry for a 16-foot truck with a car transport trailer attached to it.  I wasn’t able to completely straighten out the trailer when I parked to fill the gas tank.  As a result, leaving the gas station became perilously difficult as the trailer came dangerously close to hitting the pump.  No matter how much I tried, I could not get the trailer to go straight when I tried to reverse the truck.  Sharon elicited the aid of a police officer who “fortunately” showed up. He directed me out of the gas station without any damage to the truck, the trailer or the gas station.  God will send you what you need at just the right time.
As soon as we got back on the highway, the rain started coming down.  Again, my anger burned.  Sharon seemed to sense it and remained quiet.  She turned on the radio, searching for Gospel music.  (She knows Gospel music has a very calming effect on me.)  We found a station, but instead of music, we fell upon a sermon.  The pastor was preaching about how the sins of our past can be and often are a sort of Genesis of our future.  It reminded me of Proverbs 26:11 “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.“  He stressed how we are continually faced with temptation, but not to mistake temptation for sin.  “Being tempted is not a sin” he said.  “Yielding to the temptation is the sin.”  We often get so prideful that we have a far greater evaluation of where we are in our spiritual walk than what the reality of where we are in our spiritual walk is!  That’s dangerous because we then start taking credit for what we’ve overcome.  We need to realize that we haven’t overcome a thing.  God did it all.  For every situation we encounter that is sinful, God gives us a way out.  Our thinking causes us to look for a way in, thinking we have the power to get ourselves out.

Shortly after that sermon, I did feel a little better, but was still being consumed by anger. After a few commercials, another preacher came on the air.  This woman of God delivered a powerful and emotional message.  Honestly, I had gotten so far into my anger that I wasn’t listening to it initially.  I kept hearing Sharon agreeing with her pronouncements, kept dealing with trying to drive through the storm and keeping an eye out for the trailer I was pulling behind us.  I know she was preaching about remembering the things God has done for you.  At one point she said “remember the electric bill He paid for you!”  Sharon lost it at that point.  She began weeping.  The memory was as fresh in my mind as if it happened yesterday.  We were both out of work and received a final notice from Cobb EMC.  Sharon called them to see if we could forestall the service being shut off.  I had mentally prepared myself to many nights by candlelight until God made a provision for us to pay the bill.  Much to my surprise, the representative Sharon talked to submitted our bill to some program Cobb EMC has for people in the situation we were in, where they actually paid for our bill.  In fact, we were left with a credit balance on the bill and wound up not having to pay for a couple of months.  By that time I was working again and we were fully prepared to pay by the time we had accrued a balance.  When the preacher went off the air, I grabbed Sharon by the hand and we started talking about the sermons we heard.  Then we prayed together and asked one another for forgiveness.  My anger had totally dissipated.  So had Sharon’s.  And as if to make it clear that He was the one who made sure we heard both those messages, the moment we prayed and asked each other for forgiveness, the rain clouds disappeared and the sun shine came out.

Such a Time as This

“A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;” –Ecclesiastes 3:7 (KJV)

Despite my goal to write something in this space every day this year, a very fortunate circumstance came about that completely changed that goal.  I found myself really struggling to consistently and adequately develop subject matter on which to write.  I missed three days of writing in February before Ash Wednesday.  A couple of days before Ash Wednesday, I decided to join an old and dear friend in a forty day fast for the Lenten season.  The fast concluded yesterday at 6:00 pm.  My wife joined us in the fast and together, praying three times a day we found that we were able to draw much closer to God than I thought I was doing in my writing.  It became apparent that the fasting was much more about developing a stronger relationship with God, whereas my writing was more about developing my own talent.  God calls on us to divest ourselves of our selfish nature.  I discovered that during the time of fasting, my prayer list grew substantially.  I soon found myself praying for people I did not know.  I was praying for people who did not like me and with whom I reciprocated that feeling.  I prayed for people who have an intimate relationship with God.  I prayed for people who aren’t intimate with God at all.  I prayed for people who share in my faith.  I prayed for people who are leaning towards other belief systems.  I prayed for people who are going through severe trials and tribulations.  I prayed for people for whom life seems to be smooth sailing.  I don’t know all the results of those prayers.  What I do know is that they did not go unheard.  What I do know is that they did not go unanswered.  One result of this dedicated prayer is that I am now residing in Florida because we prayed and moved in faith.  I am so confident in God that I am able to take that first step up without having to see the entire staircase.  I don’t regret not being able to meet my goal of writing something everyday, because it was replaced by a greater goal: to fellowship with my God every day.  Truly, there is a time to keep silent and a time to speak.

“Hat Trick”

“‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’” ~Mark 11:22-24
James Allen published a book in 1902 titled “As A Man Thinketh”, the title of which was paraphrased from Proverbs 23:7: “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.” Wallace Wattles published “The Science of Getting Rich” in 1910.  Napoleon Hill published  numerous books beginning in 1919, including “Think and Grow Rich” (1937).  Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” was published in 1936.  Norman Vincent Peale published “The Power of Positive Thinking” based on several Scriptures Mark 11:22-24 being the foremost.  Anthony Robbins published “Unlimited Power” in 1987.  Rhonda Byrne published “The Secret” in 2006.  Some of the aforementioned books directly attribute the basis of their focus on Scripture, while others do not.  But they all attest to an immutable law that God gives us: our thoughts can be life changing.
I was told many years ago that the way I think affects the things I say.  The things I say directly impacts the way I act.  My actions affect the way I live.  Therefore, if I am to make changes to the way I live, I have to start with changing the way I think.  God’s Word shows us that He wants us to be transformed, and the transformation will be accomplished by the renewing of our minds.  “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” ~Romans 12:2 From this, I see that renewing my mind will open me to discern the will of God.  Ephesians 5:17-18 gives me insight on renewing my mind: “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” Seeking wisdom, disdaining foolishness, depending on the Holy Spirit will lead to a mind-changing, life-changing lifestyle.  Proverbs 15:33 demonstrates one method of attaining wisdom: “The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.” I had to turn to my Concordance, just to be sure, and found the Hebrew word for fear, yir’ah,  יִרְאַת.  Now, I know we have come to relate this term as a measure of respect, but I think we’ve softened the meaning of fear a bit too much.  One might rationalize it by saying why would a loving God want us to actually be afraid of Him, but just think back to when you were a small child; when your parents strongly admonished you against doing something, and you did it anyway.  It didn’t turn out like you thought, and you knew you were going to really get it when you parents found out.  You probably wouldn’t refer to the feeling you had for your parents as ‘respect’.  You were afraid.  But it did not change the fact that they still loved you.  A feeling of fear like that is humbling.  It strips away confidence in self and makes us feel small like that trembling child we used to be.  Just keep in mind that with God, we only have to tremble when we’ve been disobedient.  As long as we’re being obedient to Him, we’re learning to be imitators of Him.  “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ‘In your anger do not sin’: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” ~Ephesians 4:22-31.