The district of Ferguson Minneapolis is the latest city to offer up the life of our people as a tribute to the race game that’s being played out in America.
In Mockingjay PART I – the follow up to Hunger Games: Catching Fire, there were some striking similarities both in imagery and systemic flaws that overlap with what is developing in our country following the Ferguson verdict death of George Floyd.
In both Panem and America, there is a system in place that doesn’t merely strip resources from the “have-nots” – it then pits them against one another to fight (to the death, at times) for the scraps that the “haves” have left behind. This is the black on black crime that the folks at Fox(hole) News keep wanting to talk about. This type of “game” plays out in a form of population control akin to Egypt when it enslaved the Hebrew nation until the Red Sea’s borders began to swell against such a kingdom of quarter quells. Though I do not recall President Snow referencing the Hunger Games as a means of population control, the fact that it has gone on annually for a couple of generations suggests this as an intentional tool of attrition.
Yet, the minute we try bring attention to what is at work behind the scenes of an unjust and imbalanced society, the Conservatives (with a “Capitol” C) come out with their own propos – spinning the attention back on blacks as a problem instead of the broken system that they are benefiting from.
When I see the national guard posted up in Ferguson an armed police force aiming weapons against unarmed and peaceful protestors, I can’t help but think of the Capitol’s “Peacekeepers” who occupied districts with extreme force to uphold “order.”
They then became the violent hand of President Snow used to quell the rising rebellion that Katniss Everdeen sparked. Though she was not the first tribute, her uprising brought out the issues at the heart of Panem.
Equally, though Michael Brown is not the first black youth George Floyd in the latest African-American to lose his life violently to those who are meant “to protect and serve,” the outcome of his death has set the nation afire. It is the tipping point of our generation – fueled further by the continued wrongful deaths of scores more African-Americans who have died at the hands of the police since Michael Brown. “The Capitol,” in its abusive attempt to keep it, is finally losing power.
But the Capitol should beware because eventually, THEIR youth will be offered up as tributes (spoiler alert for Mockingjay Part 2!) – sacrificed against their will once this “Panem-demic” spreads to their doorsteps* in the same way that America’s “war on drugs” spilled over from the ghettos into suburbs. If you are not hip to what I’m referring to, the government (purportedly) sent in drugs to neutralize would-be supporters of grass roots civil rights and civil disobedience movements. Unfortunately for the country, they couldn’t control the substances well enough to keep the rebellious youth of white America from dipping their noses into Pandora’s box. How’s that for white pow(d)er?!! But, I digress. Besides, like Benjamin Watson said, this is not a “skin problem” – it is a “sin problem.”
We are paying tribute with the lives of our citizens. This is beyond race. This is beyond age. This. Is. Injustice. The picture that rests above these words reflects a range of age, race and situations that have stretched across our nation. The sad part is that for every story that breaks the news, there are always thousands of others that are covered up and go unnoticed. Take a minute to look at the faces. Do you see any that you do not recognize?
Can you hear the cannons booming as Panem’s version of TAPS plays softly in the distance?
There are many sides to this developing story. There’s the side of the peacekeepers who bring their cultural biases and fears into the fracas – fueled by a culture that is bred to hate and fear them. There’s the side of the dead whose voices, though they can no longer breathe, speak to us from the grave as Abel’s blood did after Cain killed him. #ICantBreathe
Speaking of brother against brother, there is certainly a metaphorical trigger being pulled on our community as it relates to “black-on-black crime” that no one within our community has tried to deny. It’s not that we do not wish to address it because it is an obvious problem. However, these crimes are not carried out by deputized thugs. We’re not in the Wild West riding with The Regulators who took the law into their own hands under Billy the Kid’s leadership. We have our hands full enough as it is dealing with thugs… but thugs in uniform?!! Who will police the police?
There’s the side of those who have been abused by the system in place but managed to make it out. What some have referenced as the Black elite. There are two factions here. Those who are apathetic and will not rise against the system which they are now assimilated into; and those who are tormented and angered by the life that plagues them simply by way of image and association (pulled over for “driving while being black”).
There’s the side of those who have been conditioned to destroy our own – resorting to looting and burning down the very houses and businesses within their communities driven by anger and fear. This fear can program a person to think and behave how the enemy… but we must remember who the REAL enemy is.
Fear and anger are weapons of the devil. So, in truth, I don’t want to hear about how scared, angry and sad we are. I REFUSE to fear for my son’s life. I will not lose myself in the anger about the loss of yet another Black life. I will not remain sad about the state of affairs around me. I am MORE THAN A CONQUEROR in Christ! We were not given a spirit of fear nor should we let the sun go down on our anger – we have been given power, love and a sound mind by God.
Don’t let fear in – it will program your subconscious to bubble up anger to a boiling point over time; causing us to lash out at our own people (again, looting and burning OUR own communities) or the authority (disobeying and showing both warranted and unwarranted disrespect to police). This is what Peeta did when he choked out Katniss after being reprogrammed with fear by and rescued from President Snow.
We simply cannot fight fire with fire; everything burns. We ALL burn.
Though the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force, it is a supernatural force that fights supernatural enemies behind the scenes with spiritual resources. Look through the right lens. The devil has sown seeds of dissension on both sides of these issues and then slipped away into the shadows as we fight one another. The greatest trick the devil ever did was to convince the world he didn’t exist; and we simply cannot continue to focus our attention on the usual suspects. We are losing ground and rounds in a boxing match where we’ve been blindfolded by our opponent.
But if we fight the darkness with the light of Christ, everything and everyone will be illuminated – brought out from the kingdom of darkness which uses ignorance and hate to fuel the flames that are catching fire.
Such a fire will consume us with misdirected passion. Burned out from the passion we’ve spent, we end up fighting a spiritual battle with carnal means instead of the weapons of our TRUE warfare. This is what satan wants. If we’re too tired to fight, we won’t see straight enough to turn our battles on him and his demonic ranks. But WHEN we do learn to aim correctly, the house of the prince of the power of the air will CONTINUE to topple:
‘For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.’ – Ephesians 6:12
‘For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;’ – 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
‘Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker.’ – 2 Samuel 3:1
My beautiful Black people – don’t be the Mockingjay. Don’t mimic the tactics you hear and see around you. Reflect the light of God. If you think what I’m saying makes no sense, I know at least one person whose quote you may take with a lesser grain of salt:
‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.’ – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
