From the Desk of Professor Jonathan L. Walton

Frederick Douglass: A True American Patriot

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 08:03:32 -0700

The 4th of July is a high and holy day on America’s civil religious calender. It is a time for Americans to read patriotic speeches by the “founding fathers,” extol the virtues of “sacred” documents such as the Declaration of Independence, and unite our voices with the national hymns of Francis Scott Key and Julia Ward Howe.

Moreover, today we will hear, explicitly and implicitly, the theological doctrine of American exceptionalism proclaimed from both ecclesial and secular pulpits. Just as John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, declared America to be a “City on a Hill,” many will continue to elevate America as the moral arbiter of the world; God’s divine voice and example in all matters of freedom, justice and democracy.

But there are also those who have used the 4th of July to indict this nation concerning the incongruence between her self-professions and actual social practices. Famed abolitionists and American statesman Frederick Douglass is an example. Before the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society on July 4, 1852, Douglass offered what many consider one of the greatest speeches of the century.

Continue Reading at Religion Dispatches

“Great” Moments in Gospel Music

Thu, 3 Jul 2008 13:24:40 -0700

Church Announcement:

For all of you who have signed up for the Wednesday night pole-dancing ministry, we ask that you would please provide your own dollar bills. The minister of music will not longer be able to “break a twenty.”

Praise da’ Lawd Saints! And enjoy the video....

One Luv,
JLW

AirTran Airways

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 15:03:32 -0700

This is dedicated to all the folks at Atlanta-based AirTran Airways, particularly the crew at LAX and Todra Blank in customer service!

Ya’ll know I got a sense of humor. But damn. NEVER AGAIN!

JLW

Senator Obama: No Faith in Our Fathers

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:48:04 -0700

My father is my hero. Like his folk-legend namesake John Henry my father modeled physical strength, moral fortitude, and a work-ethic that comparatively puts Max Weber’s Anglo-privileged Puritans to shame. He is far from an anomaly. My father is no different than the countless African American fathers across this country who are devoted to their daughters and sons. And as an active African American father myself; I am thankful for all of the wonderful examples of fatherhood that I have witnessed throughout the course of my life. Proud black men in my family, neighborhood, and church taught me that the characteristics of a good father transcend race, income, and even marital status.

Unfortunately, such men are rarely acknowledged and even less affirmed. There is a profound deficiency in the public understanding of African American fatherhood. Cliff Huxtable aside, African American fathers are all too often represented as absentee sperm-donors and socially and economically irresponsible. This is even true in the one place that one might think African American men might be celebrated, the black church.

Over the years I have come to have little appreciation or tolerance for Father’s Day Sunday service within many black Christian congregations. Rather than being a moment, like Mother’s Day, to lift up the love and commitment of African American parenting, it has become an opportunity for some “Strong Black Man” to stand behind the pulpit and lecture to mostly female congregants about black male accountability. Anyone who has spent time in a predominantly black congregation is familiar with these patriarchal and patronizing tropes of chastisement that were sharpened somewhere between the Moynihan Report and the Million Man March. “Men its time to take responsibility and be fathers!” “It doesn’t take a man to make a baby, but it takes a man to raise a child!” “Black men it is time to stand up and assume your rightful place as head!” And by the end of the worship service, instead of feeling honored, one feels as if they just sat through a Tyler Perry stage play.

For these reasons I was saddened but not surprised to hear presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama use Father’s Day to deploy and extend this well worn pathology discourse at a traditional black church on Sunday. Standing before Chicago’s Apostolic Church of God and throngs of journalists, Senator Obama utilized the moment to wax eloquently about how black fathers are “missing from too many lives and too many homes,” and how black men have “abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men.” As a result of the numerous national news headlines on the Monday following Father’s Day (“Obama Calls for More Responsibility from Black Fathers“ NYT), Senator Obama has contributed to a conception of responsible African American father as the shocking exception as opposed to the standard norm.

Continue Reading at Religion Dispatches...

Feeling Old??

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:28:34 -0700

Can you believe it? It was twenty years ago this week that the Harlem trio Guy released their self-titled album. Led by the smooth vocals of Aaron Hall and the hybrid funk samples and hip-hop “swing” beats of Teddy Riley, Guy ushered in a new sound for R&B in the forms of “new jack swing” and “hip-hop/soul.”

I copped this album (yes album) along with Guy’s quickly released follow-up The Future during my sophomore year in high school. And like many 30-somethings, songs like Teddy’s Jam, Piece of My Love, I Like, and Let’s Chill comprised the teenage soundtrack for getting our awkward groove on!

One Luv,
JLW