Donnie McClurkin and the Unmasking of Black Hypocrisy [View All]

Barack Obama's inclusion of Donnie McClurkin has certainly brought his campaign some attention although I am not sure if it is the kind that was desired. It's going to be interesting to see how this issue plays out. I have long felt that the was Black America comes to terms with the issue of Gay rights will speak volumes about the direction our people will head in at this turbulent time in our nations' history.

As a community, we have had significant problems in addressing the issues of Gay rights. From outright homophobia and hatred, to a head in the sand attitude of denial, the Black community has generally treated the issue of homosexuality and Gay rights as something that didn't concern us. But there has been one consistent undercurrent that run beneath this morass of phobia and indifference: That the struggle for Gay rights is very, very different from our struggle for civil rights. In fact, when any issue regarding homosexuality is often raised in the Black community, the issue itself often gets buried in the inevitable indignation that Gay rights activists can actually see a commonality between their cause and the causes we sacrificed so much for.

And I think there is a good reason for our community to muddy the waters with this righteous outrage: Because if we looked at the issue straight on, we have some very uncomfortable truths to deal with. The core, the very heart and soul, of the civil rights movement was the notion that we were American citizens that were being treated as second class persons: As something less than. And we got tired of it and set out to change it. And if you look at the movement from that perspective of purity, then the struggle for Gay rights is no different from the struggle that ANY minority group has faced in this country.

As our community has struggled with this issue, I have been observant of how many in our community, especially the clergy and the churches have framed the debate on this subject. Most have taken to the same playbook used by The Christian "White" and framed this issue as one of morality. "It is against Gods Will" Or "It's not natural". I'm sure they sound familiar. But all we have to do is take off our blinders and look back in time and we would see that theses exact same rationales were used to oppress us. The Bible was used to justify Slavery. And there was many good Christians who went to bask in the glory of the Lord on a sunny Sunday morning after lynching some poor Black soul the night before.

"But it's different!" people like McClurkin will say. Why is it that our perception and reading of Christian morality can expand when it comes to Blacks but stops for Gays. I think we play a dangerous game when we adopt the rhetoric of those such as AFA, or Focus on the Family to justify our opposition to Gay rights. Those organizations probably have issues with civil rights and things like inter-racial marriage as well. But Gays make such a convenient and ,unfortunately, weak target for their bigotry. But make no mistake about it: If the climate was right they'd be coming after us too.

I'm disappointed but not surprised by the cover provided by Clinton and Obama to proponents of this level of bigotry. And it brings me to another disappointing revelation. The more our community ignores, or even worse, adopts the reasoning of the very people who would also deny us our rights, the more we avoid addressing critical issues in our communities. HIV is spreading like a wildfire in our community with Black women representing the demographic which is bearing the brunt of this onslaught. Single parent households are also the norm. So when members of our community try to support entrenched discrimination on the basis of some sort moral superiority that rests on the sanctity of marriage, I just have to scratch my head and say :wtf: And of course, we unwittingly set the table for those who would seek to discriminate against us because, if we can ratiionalize discrimination against Gays, why can't someone rationalize and codify discrimination against us. Again.

So I'm sure this issue will blow over. McClurkin will or will not perform. Our community will fail to see why the Gay community is so upset while at the same time bemoaning the fact that it seems that everybody and their mother is hanging a noose these days. And unfortunately, many of us will stick our heads back in the sand and never connect the dots to see that endorsing entrenched bigotry can result in an environment in this country where a Black US attorney can go to Jena Louisiana and say he didn't see a problem with someone hanging nooses in a "White" tree.

Nope. We'll keep whistling past the graveyard while the band plays on.