Who killed Trayvon Martin? An honest discussion on race and crime

Trayvon Martin (Wagist.com)

Earlier this week on July 16, Attorney General Eric Holder addressed the NAACP convention in Orlando in the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict.  In the speech, Holder said that the “tragedy provides yet another opportunity for our nation to speak honestly – and openly – about the complicated and emotionally-charged issues that this case has raised.”  In truth, the national conversation about the killing of Trayvon Martin has been anything but honest.

 

George Zimmerman admits that he shot and killed Trayvon Martin.  Even though Zimmerman pulled the trigger to fire the shot that ultimately killed Martin, he was not the only cause of Martin’s death.  There seems to be plenty of blame to go around.

Read the rest on Atlanta Conservative Examiner

Ten myths about gay marriage

Kurt Löwenstein Educational Center International Team/Wikimedia

Same-sex marriage is once again in the news. This week the Supreme Court is hearing two cases on same sex marriage, either of which could conceivably make gay marriage the law of the land and strike down the definition of marriage laws in place in 37 states and the federal government.

There are many myths and much misinformation surrounding the same-sex marriage issue:

Myth #1: Defense of marriage laws are “gay marriage bans.”

While the media and homosexual activists often refer to these laws as “gay marriage bans,” in reality they do often do not ban anything. The laws simply create a definition of marriage according to the government. The heart of the federal DOMA simply states, “… the word `marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word `spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.”

 

Read the rest on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/list/ten-myths-about-the-gay-marriage-debate?cid=db_articles

A Klan killing in Georgia

There is now a historical marker near the bridge over Broad River where Penn was murdered. (David W. Thornton)

In the early morning of July 11, 1964, three U.S. Army officers passed through Athens to their homes in Washington, D.C.  from Ft. Benning where they had been training.  At the wheel was Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn, a veteran of WWII who had earned the Bronze Star for his service in the New Guinea and Philippines campaigns against the Japanese.  All three officers were black.

Nine days before the men started their drive home from Ft. Benning, President Lyndon Johnson had signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.  This landmark legislation banned racial discrimination in hiring and ended segregation in public places and many businesses.  Local members of the Ku Klux Klan in Athens had heard rumors that Georgia might become a “testing ground” for the new law according a 2004 article from Online Athens.

Continue reading on Examiner.com A Klan killing in Georgia – Atlanta Conservative | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/a-klan-killing-georgia#ixzz1m2HDpozL

Obama and racism

President Obama has competition from black Republicans (Elizabeth Cromwell)

It is inevitable that racism would become part of the discussion about Barack Obama’s presidency. After all, President Obama is the first black president of the United States. As the son of a Kenyan father and an American mother, he is an authentic African-American and that makes him unique among American presidents.

Many liberals and Democrats present the flap over President Obama’s birth certificate as a racial issue. This is partly true, but it is essentially a constitutional question. Most black candidates would not be subject to the question of whether they were a citizen. It was Obama’s unique background, and his refusal to provide the long form birth certificate for three years, that fueled the fire of the birther movement. Further, a white president, Chester A. Arthur, was opposed by a similar birther movement that believed he was ineligible to be president because he was born in Canada. (He was actually born in Vermont.)

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Obama and racism – Atlanta Elections 2012 | Examiner.com
http://www.examiner.com/elections-2012-in-atlanta/obama-and-racism#ixzz1LJHBfT3a

Part 2: The return of the black Republicans

Herman Cain is challenging President Obama (Gage Skidmore)

Rep. Allen West (R-FL)

Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC)

Rep. Jefferson Franklin Long (R-GA), the first black congressman to speak on the floor of the House of Representatives

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Race, slavery and the Bible

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Georgia was at the center of America’s racial struggle, for good and bad. From its colonial days, Georgia was a slave-owning colony and then state. It stood in the heart of the Confederacy and, even after the abolition of slavery blacks were treated as less than equal. A few miles from where I grew up and less than ten years before I was born, Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn, a black US Army veteran of WWII, was murdered by Klansmen in 1964. Martin Luther King, Jr., an Atlanta native and pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, became the face of the civil rights movement. King represented a full circle between past attempts to use the Bible to justify racial discrimination. King, and other Christians like him, was instrumental in banning slavery and segregation in the US.

Over the years, religion has been used to justify slavery and segregation as well as racial reconciliation. Pastors and congregations have used Bible verses to support arguments on both sides of the racial and political spectrums. What does the Bible really tell us?

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Race, slavery and the Bible – Atlanta Conservative | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/race-slavery-and-the-bible#ixzz1BEbq9DQS

Part 2: Abolition and civil rights
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/abolition-and-civil-rights-race-part-2

Part 3: Where do we go from here?
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/where-do-we-go-from-here-race-part-3

I believe in the Kingdom Come, when all the colors will bleed into one. - U2

Photo credit: Louisa Stokes
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1722

(This article originally published Feb. 24, 2010. It has been one of my most popular posts. Thanks to all who viewed it!)