They aren't really black

Very interesting comment on race from Voddie Baucham...

One of the issues underlying the current debate is philosophical assumptions that dominate the modern American landscape. I don’t think the average Evangelical has a clue as to the scope of Neo-Marxist thinking in our culture. For example, as I have conversations with black Christians who adamantly support Senator Obama (which is virtually every black Christian I know), I always ask why (especially in light of his support for black genocide, i.e. abortion). The response is almost universal. “This is a monumental step for black people,” they say, as the look at me incredulously wondering what planet I live on. Then I ask, “What about Justice Thomas and Dr. Rice?” The response here is not ‘almost’ universal, it is absolutely universal, “They’re not really black.” Unless you are black, you may not understand that response. However, blackness in many ways is defined less by skin color than by the view that blackness is about oppression, victimization, and the struggle to overcome.

Similarly, the current philosophical landscape views women as a victimized, oppressed class struggling to overcome. Ironically, women are often referred to as “minorities” in America even though they actually outnumber men! Hence, a woman like Governor Palin is viewed as a non-woman in much the same way Clarence Thomas and Condi Rice are viewed as non-black. I have lived with this stigma most of my adult life. My barber calls me and my family “white” because he knows that I am a political and theological conservative. In fact, most of the black people I know (including my own family) would consider me non-black because I am not a socialist, or Gramscian neo-Marxist (though they would never use those terms).

They aren't really black? Pastor Baucham is right, that makes no sense to me as someone who is white.

What political conversation exposes is that for the left it is not about what is best for black people, it is what neo-socialist political agenda can be pushed on America in the name of racial equality. There are quite a few black Americans who are successful but come down on the wrong side of the political spectrum, people like former Congressman J.C. Watts, Justice Clarence Thomas and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. These individuals are educated, eloquent, successful by any measure and yet they are shunned by the vast majority of self-imposed black leadership because they challenge the assumptions and stories of racial inequality that are the lifeblood of the leftist movement.

It is refreshing to read the thoughts of a new generation of black Christian leaders who have rejected the victim mentality and the black liberation theology that has held many predominantly black churches in bondage for so long, leaders like Pastor Baucham, Thabiti Anyabwile and Ken Jones. No amount of earthly oppression can compare to the bondage of sin, and these men recognize that and preach Christ crucified as the only remedy for that enslavement. Pray that God will raise up more men like these to put Christ back in the church.