Some years ago I read a book that seemed to suggest that the strong black woman was inevitable because black women have always had to take the lead, starting in West Africa. In The Black Woman, edited by La Frances Rodgers-Rose, the editor says Continue reading
Every society has myths that either makes the society famous for being archaic or heroic in a supernatural way. Whether folklore or tradition, many myths become so entrenched in society that they are hard to distinguish from reality. What’s more is people unknowingly perpetuate myths, and, unfortunately, continue a cycle of abuse in the process.
Over the weekend I took my friend, Kim, to see A Song for Coretta by Pearl Cleage. We agreed that the play, about the convergence of the lives of five women paying their respects to the deceased civil rights leader, was wonderfully complex, funny and thought-provoking. Kim thought, however, that a part that highlighted rapes in the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina may have been exaggerated. I wondered the same, but I had another exception to the play: the deification of Coretta Scott King.
The goddess talk, though little, bothered me. As the women discussed unresolved issues in their lives, one woman would say something like, “Ask Coretta. Maybe she can tell you what to do.” And I’m thinking, “But she’s dead. She ain’t saying nothing to you.” As I think about it, what they said, their attitude toward King, was more than deification but also suggested divination. I never mentioned this to Kim and am only saying it now because as I pay tribute to the women in my life this month, I recognize how easy it is to give God-status to someone who has inspired your life and not be able to let them go when they die. This my entire family did for my maternal grandmother, Verlenia Thomas.
My Sister Sharon & Grandma Thomas
Yes, she was on her church’s steward board and missionary society and taught Sunday school, was her block club secretary, kept in touch with everybody, cooked meals for the needy and visited the sick. But these weren’t things she did to look good. She felt them her Christian duty. And I knew this because her 80-year-old knees would hit the floor every night and her shaky hand would hold a stubby pencil to write the notes throughout the pages of her Bible what the Lord spoke to her. She was in God’s presence, not just around His people. My grandma communed with God, not just fellowshipped with His people. She had a great reputation among people because of how she lived her life in public. She had a great reputation with me because how she lived in public was also how she lived in private. Verlenia Thomas was a holy woman and my great example of a model Christian.
Her life reflected “follow me as I follow Christ,” and as I remember her life I will indeed remember that she could love me because she first loved Jesus Christ and obeyed Him. Her life always pointed everyone to God. We often missed her direction because once we got to her, we felt like we were in heaven; everything seemed like it would be all right for eternity. But I know she wouldn’t want me to glorify her, just the one who she worked so hard to glorify. We must give honor to whom honor is due but always recognize that God is the reason anybody can do anything good.
Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith
Happy New Year!
This is the start of a new decade and, for many, the start of a new day for a new life. Some of us have been knocked down. Others of us have been knocked out. Some have been mishandled and misplaced, but we find ourselves here on this day, and I thank the Lord! Times may have been tough, but God got us through.
On this, the seventh and final day of Kwanzaa, focusing on Imani (faith), let us place faith in God and not in our black selves to be better and to live better lives. As we prepare blackeye peas and promises to do better, let us remember that God has laid the foundation for us to do well. It’s not the luck of a pea or the faith in self that has kept or will ever keep us. God has kept us, and He is the one who tells us who we are and what we should think about ourselves:
We are beautiful because God says we’re beautiful (Psalm 139:14).
Our blackness is relevant because God says it’s relevant (Acts 17:26).
We can be used to do anything because God uses us too (Acts 2:10, 8:27).
As we encounter trials this year, including white racism, let us have faith in God because He has given us the proper perspective to deal with racists and any other haters. We can be proud of who we are and have faith in where we can go because of the faithful one, our Lord Jesus Christ, who gives meaning and purpose to our lives. We can make 2010 a good one because of Him.
Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith
About 10 years ago, I thought I had my career all figured out. I would be an acclaimed academician, teaching, writing books and papers, publishing them in journals and presenting them at conferences. I called myself a scholar and defined that that would mean always engaging students and writing papers that would give attention to African American issues. All this was to put my name on the map and to contribute to the exultation of African Americans. The plan was air tight but not right because I hadn’t sought the Lord’s direction. After accomplishing most of the plan, it fell apart because I fell apart, buckling under the weight of self-determination.
Self-determination: “[T]he ability or right to make your own decisions without interference from others” (Encarta Dictionary) or commonly defined during Kwanzaa “to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.” This is kujichagulia, the second principle of Kwanzaa. And though this is the fifth day of Kwanzaa, deconstructing self-determination is important to understand the overall danger of Kwanzaa for Christians.
1. Self, based on self, cannot be your focus. “None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). Understand that when you of your own power decide for yourself who you are and where you’re going, you will end up bankrupt every time. Christians are not meant to define themselves or their destiny. When we do, our lives fall short of what God intends; we are incapable of bringing forth good success.
2. It is always the job of the creator to name and define the creature. “You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, ‘He did not make me’; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’” (Isaiah 29:16)? If we decide apart from God who we are and where we are going, we are regarding God, the potter, as the clay, disregarding His authority in our lives to name and define us and tell us what to create and say on whoever’s behalf.
3. Definitions determine destiny. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” Proverbs 18:21. What we speak (life-defeating or life-affirming words) will be our focus and we will receive the fruit (consequences) of what we speak. So we can either become what we say we are based upon our own notions or we can become who God says we are based on His notions. Our notions are always life-defeating; when we act on our own accord, we are following our old life, one that was without Jesus Christ. Once we accepted Jesus Christ as savior, we were given a new life so our notions must be His notions (2 Corinthians 5:17); He is the one who defines us and, thus, determines our destiny.
King Uzziah had a good destiny when he allowed God to define him and followed his God-given destiny. The minute he was self-determined and tried to move out of his God-determined place as king and act like a priest, he became weak; God struck him with leprosy and he died with it. He no longer ruled and lived alone until he died. Self-determination always has dire consequences.
No Christian should be in the business of naming or defining herself, and any creativity and speaking forth should be to develop Christ’s kingdom and not the kingdom of self, be it an individual self or a black collective self. Any movement apart from the direction of the Holy Spirit is self driven, flesh driven, and has no part in the kingdom of God.
Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith