The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.
Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.”- Habbakuk 1:1-4
Dr Martin L. King,, Jr. in 1965, after years of fighting against poverty and injustice against Black Americans, introduced what he called a “economic reparations” plan which he felt would close the economic gap between Black and White Americans and provide some level of justice for the sin of slavery against Black Americans.
King said it was impossible to completely economically atone for slavery but that some reparations should be provided to Black Americans to “help” us by leveling the playing field. His proposal was that the government provide $50 Billion Dollars in economic reparations over a ten year period to Black Americans.
The Government responded to King’s proposal by creating the:
- The Social Security Act 1965 (Created Medicare and Medicaid) – July 19, 1965
- The Food Stamp Act of 1964- August 31, 1964
- The Economic Opportunity, which created the Community Action Program, Job Corps and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), Head Start, Legal Services, and the Community Action Program– August 20, 1964
- The Elementary and Secondary Education Act – April 11, 1965
Initially, Head Start was intended to be an eight-week summer program designed provide preschool children from low-income families with a program that would meet emotional, social, health, nutritional,and psychological needs.
Head Start was then transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services by the Nixon Administration.
In 1968, the government created “Project Follow Through”, in support of Head Start, which was the largest educational Initiative in U.S. History.
Billions have been spent for the specific purpose of train millions of disadvantaged and at-risk Black youth in academic, vocational, and social skills, in order to help them cultivate and develop the necessary tools to qualify for and access gainful employment.
Overall, over $15 Trillion dollars have been spent, since 1965, specifically on the so called war on poverty which supposed to benefit Black Americans.
The problem is that the War on Poverty was filled with traps within it, intended to break down the Black family and make as many as possible dependent on government and prescribed medication.
The government painted the programs with all the ‘bells and whistles” and broke the American people in the process, while never intending for this so called war on poverty to succeed.
While spending billions to “help”, the same federal government increased regulations that would nullify the job training, especially in Building trades.
On a local level,greedy and self serving Black leaders in American’s inner cities also played a prominent role in this facade, as pawns of a nefarious agenda. These so called leaders conned and manipulated the constitutionally and Biblically illiterate. They promoted class warfare and racial hatred. They passed local ordinances and regulations that helped to underdevelop the community and kill jobs.
These corrupt “leaders” found a way to spend trillions of dollars in ways that personally benefited themselves through administrative costs, salaries, and other perks. Indeed, they have been poverty pimps in a very real way.
I call it the $15 Trillion dollar hoax!
Yet, the people are without excuse.
“Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.”- Habakkuk 2:19
We allowed all of this because decided to trust government and man, rather than sticking to the faith and godly principles which got us through slavery and Jim Crow.
We put our faith in things and in people that were devoid of the “breath of God’. We became idol worshippers, exchanging our faith for some guarantees that government really could not deliver. That government never intended to deliver.
So in the end, I conclude, we got our reparations. Far more than even Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. had asked for. However, we allowed ourselves to be manipulated and we elected local and Congressional representatives (i.e., Black Caucus) on the basis of “Black Pride” rather than Biblical ethics.
We got what we ask for, tragically. We received the fruit of our faith in man and government.
Now, it is time for us to turn back towards God in faith, repent for our idolatry and begin to stand upon the principles which have never let us down.
It is also time for us to fully embrace citizenship and all the responsibilities which come with it, including Constitutional literacy.
Ironically, while Dr. King wanted reparations for Black Americans, he did warn us to never exchange our faith for materialism. He also said that there are things that no civil rights bills can do for us, but that we should “reach down in the innermost part of souls and sign with a pen of self asserted manhood, our own emancipation proclamation”.
King saw reparations as a ‘hand up”. He never wanted us to look for or accept government being our “security blanket”.
Yes, we are in a mess, but nothing that is too great for God, if we will humble ourselves.
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray , and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land”- II Chronicles 7:14
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: African American, Black, Black Americans, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Food Stamp Act of 1964, Head Start Program, Martin Luther King, War on Poverty
