{"id":1949,"date":"2011-08-05T12:03:46","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T16:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dcdistrictdiva.com\/?p=1949"},"modified":"2011-08-05T12:03:46","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T16:03:46","slug":"how-do-you-love-people-so-much-they-stop-being-racists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/how-do-you-love-people-so-much-they-stop-being-racists\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do You Love People So Much They Stop Being Racists?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This picture and caption are a part of the lead story on Fox Nation<\/a> right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

****Updated*****So, I assumed that people would see this image and headline of our President and be equally taken aback. \u00a0I should not have made that assumption, so allow me to explain what is wrong with this picture:<\/p>\n

1) The only “hip-hop” figure in this picture is Jay-Z. Chris Rock is a comedian, Charles Barkley is a former NBA player, and Barack Obama, as you know, is our President. \u00a0The piece that Fox Nation links to is from\u00a0Politico<\/a><\/em>, and shows that there were several high-ranking government officials present, several of the President’s law school friends, and several other celebrities, including: \u00a0“Steve Harvey, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Grant Hill, Gayle King” –none of whom are associated with the “hip hop” industry.<\/p>\n

2)Using “hip-hop” to describe President Obama’s private birthday party is Fox Nation’s not so subtle race-baiting reminder to its audience that the President is black. Describing President Obama’s birthday party in the Rose Garden as a “Hip Hop BBQ” — because among other things, the guests were served BBQ chicken — incites in the minds of its audience the stereotypical images of violent Black male thugs eating chicken and occupying a space they shouldn’t occupy: \u00a0the White House.<\/p>\n

3) This image and headline coupled with Fox Nation’s history of racism and race-baiting<\/a> allows the reader to conclude that their actions were intentionally and strategically offensive. They know their audience and they know what their audience likes to see. It is disgusting. \u00a0It is discouraging.<\/p>\n

Sigh.<\/p>\n

We can’t change these people. We cannot argue them into reason. \u00a0And we cannot match their hatred. All we can do is pray that God changes the hearts of these hateful people. \u00a0 When you see people so full of venom and ignorance, it ought to make you sad, not angry. When you are sad for them instead of angry with them, you can find compassion in your heart for them. \u00a0Then, you are able to pray that they reach their highest God-given potential. \u00a0That is how we love them. And that is how we avoid become consumed by their hatred. \u00a0As Christ commands in Matthew 5:<\/p>\n

\u00a043<\/sup>\u00a0\u201cYou have heard that it was said, \u2018Love your neighbor\u00a0and hate your enemy.\u2019\u00a044<\/sup>\u00a0But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,\u00a045<\/sup>\u00a0that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.\u00a046<\/sup>\u00a0If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?\u00a047<\/sup>\u00a0And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?\u00a048<\/sup>\u00a0Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s be perfect, family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This picture and caption are a part of the lead story on Fox Nation right now: ****Updated*****So, I assumed that people would see this image and headline of our President and be equally taken aback. \u00a0I should not have made that assumption, so allow me to explain what is wrong<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[181,316,352,353,354,405,425,467,561,762,763],"class_list":["post-1949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-usual-dithering","tag-christ","tag-evil","tag-forgiveness","tag-fox-nation","tag-fox-news","tag-grace","tag-hatred","tag-ignorance","tag-love","tag-racism","tag-racist"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2011\/08\/281719_720662514398_1703501_37347079_6333218_n.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7nB6F-vr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}