It is often said “politics makes strange bedfellows. ” Decisions to be “politically correct” are bringing angst to three headliners.
Three men, one caucasian and two African American men are in the headlines right now. What do Joe Paterno, Jesse Jackson, Jr. and James Ammons have in common?
Respectively, from their leadership positions as a sports guru, a congressional lawmaker and a college president, these three men hold or have held seats of power that can make or break the destinies of young people entrusted to their care.
Now at Pen State there was a struggle to determine whether to remove the statue of Joe Paterno because he failed to protect victims of sexual abuse.
Florida A&M University President James Ammons is resigning following yet another hazing incident.
Jesse Jackson, Jr. is currently absent from the halls of Congress while battling a medical condition reportedly related to a mood disorder. Congressman Jackson along with other members of the Congressional Black Caucus is known to support the president’s anti-life and anti-procreative family agenda.
Our hearts and prayers go out to Jesse, Jr. and indeed all these men. As a woman I can only imagine, how as a man called to be a leader, how one has been naturally designed to protect and provide for his family and youths of his community; how sad it must be to be tempted or required to support initiatives such as abortion and homosexual marriage or in the case of the hazing, to have to defend the bullying; when a man is designed to protect his family and those of whom he is given charge over.
We live in such a society today that the weakest of our society are bullied and brutalized in the womb, that’s the babies. And then we are encouraged to look the other way when the natural procreative family is dismantled, replaced by a more “tolerant homosexual agenda.”
And, so living in a time and required to be a man and a leader, it has to be a challenge. Does a person choose to be “politically correct” currying the favor of humans while seeking fame and fortune?
Knowing that seeking to gain the world can cost a man his soul. So certainly our hearts and prayers go out to these newsmakers — that they’ll be able to get their bearings, get their focus.
Sometimes we have to step away from our careers and professions and find our quiet moments of reflection that will call us back to those high places of high callings. My uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. often cited the life of Paul the Apostle who said that things that he should do he would not do and things that he should not do he found himself doing. And he found that to be a dilemma.
We would like to see hazing stopped. Hazing is a violent act and certainly although having a different name than bullying, hazing is just still a sanctioned form of bullying and it has to stop.
And as far as Congressman Jackson is concerned, I grew up knowing Congressman Jackson’s family, and am probably closer in age to his sister Santita.
Mr. Jackson’s voice and legacy, like many voices, is torn between values and political agendas. Supporting a pro-death culture brings destruction upon oneself and that is enough to make someone suffer.
Again, our hearts and prayers go out to these men and their families , it is still so sad to see them struggle with these moral dilemmas.
As an African American woman, I’m looking at the lives of two African American men who are suffering and experiencing moral dilemmas. However, this issue is not one that is challenging only one ethnic group but all people across the globe are suffering from moral turpitude. For instance, Caucasian children, Asian children, Native American children, and African American children are subject to hazing or bullying and children are reacting and responding to this by dying either by suicide or succumbing to the pressures.
Little babies in the womb, although African American babies are specifically targeted for abortion in America and girl babies are specifically targeted for abortion in China, the sex-selection issue, babies in the womb are at risk everywhere.
And certainly child molestation is not ethnically specific.
In every case being discussed here, the civil rights of the victims are at risk. There rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are in danger.
So let’s not look at it as an African American perspective. Let’s just look at it for what it is. Three more men join the growing list of those falling into an abyss.
Three men in the news are faced with moral dilemmas from not doing what they knew to be right but rather went along to try to get along; tried to be politically correct and we can see that here we have three men chosen to be leaders whose legacies are now deeply affected.
God help us. Can the church say amen?
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