Trump's Controversy - The Black Church in America

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Reverend Dr. Ralph Warnock,
Senior Pastor Ebenezer Baptist Church and also one of the two Georgia U.S. Senators

Who: Donald Trump

What: Spoke at the 180 Church, supposed to be predominantly black

Where: in Detroit Michigan

When: 15 June 2024

Why: to farm some ‘black’ voters for his 2024 presidential campaign

This piece is about a limited definition of a black church, limited because it is wider than what I think. Before we delve into the weekend uproar, let me state upfront that the pastor of 180 Church, Rev. Lorenzo Sewell, is a black man. Here is his disclaimer.

“I let the Trump campaign know clearly that I don’t endorse any candidate,” Sewell said. “I’m a pastor. I can’t trade my spiritual influence for political influence.” He told the Detroit Free Press.

What is a black church? It is a building where African Americans gather, especially on Sunday to be baptized, to testify, praise and pray. When grouped together, these buildings form the black church, a way of worship white businessmen stole and called it T.V. evangelism. They made money hand over fist. The black church is a seven-days-a-week way of life, not a campaign stop during a presidential election.

Churches in plantation states like Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina etc. were small, but they were an improvement. From what? Enslaved Africans used to worship in the forest, away from masters’ prying eyes. Out of these small churches grew a unique way of Christianity, black existentialism if you will. They say Christ exists but, they interpret it the black way, the way their enslaved ancestors existed, in a strange land called America.

St. Paul’s Cathedral in England is a Christian church, but not a black church. The Pope in the Vatican, is a Christian but he does not worship like Reverend Ralph Warnock in Georgia. The controversy about Donald Trump’s visit is what was shown on television, white parishioners in a white church being presented as black parishioners.

Black Church Movie Scenes

1. Funny Valentines

2. Fighting temptations

3. Diary of a Mad Black Woman

4. Waiting to Exhale

Can you think of other movies with black church scenes?

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Blogger Without Borders

 

 

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