The Darrell McClain show
Independent media that won't reinforce tribalism. We have one Planet; nobody's leaving so let’s reason together!! Darrell, McClain is a Military veteran with an abnormal interest in politics, economics, religion, philosophy, science, and literature. He was born and raised in Jacksonville FL, and went to Edward H white High School where he wrestled Under Coach Jermy Smith and The Late Brian Gilbert. He was a team wrestling captain, District champion, and an NHSCA All-American in freestyle Wrestling. He received a wrestling scholarship from Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa. After a short period, he decided he no longer wanted to cut weight which effectively ended his college wrestling journey. Darrell Mcclain is an Ordained Pastor under The Universal Life Church and is still in good standing, he's a Believer in The Doctrines of Grace Also Known as Calvinism. He joined the United States Navy in 2008 and was A Master At Arms (military police officer) He was awarded several awards while on active duty including an expeditionary combat medal, a Global War on Terror medal, a National Defense Medal, a Korean defense medal, and multiple Navy achievement medals. While In the Navy he was also the assistant wrestling coach at Robert E Lee High School. He's a Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under six six-degree black belt Gustavo Machado, Darrell Trains At Gustavo Machado Norfolk under the 3rd-degree black belt, and Former Marine Professor Mark Sausser. He went to school for psychology at American Military University and for criminal justice at ECPI University.
The Darrell McClain show
The Impact of Empire: Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. on Colonialism, Justice, and Spiritual Truth
How have empires and colonial powers shaped our world and our minds? Tune in as we feature a profound sermon by Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Pastor Emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, who critiques the destructive nature of empire and imperialism. In his stirring message, Dr. Wright delves into the moral contradictions of American history, from slavery to modern foreign policies, and calls for genuine repentance and justice.
Discover the pervasive impact of colonialism on language, education, and cultural identity. We'll explore how colonial empires have influenced languages and education systems worldwide, leading to a miseducation that distorts the truth about colonized peoples. Through compelling examples like the Thanksgiving myth in the United States and the imposition of European customs in African and Caribbean nations, we highlight the harmful effects of this distorted education and stress the need to challenge these false narratives.
Lastly, we examine the concept of a colonized mindset and how historically oppressed people often give overwhelming support to oppressive leaders. Reflecting on biblical references and modern political dynamics, we discuss how national religious leaders may prioritize political power over spiritual truth. We affirm God's everlasting power and presence, reminding us that God's divine plan transcends the transient nature of earthly authorities. Join us for an inspiring conversation that urges us to seek justice and truth in our spiritual and political lives.
Welcome to the Jerome McLean Show. I'm your host, jerome McLean. Independent media that will not reinforce tribalism. We have one planet, nobody's leaving.
Speaker 1:So let us reason together as I come to you on what, in my religious tradition, would be the first week of the month, so that means it is Communion Sunday.
Speaker 1:I have Sunday. I have decided that it is not just important to feed our physical and intellectual bodies, it is also very prudent that we start to fill our spiritual bodies as well. So on Sundays, there was a period of time where I used to do classic episodes where I would just post episodes of things the shows that have been done in the past that I have liked, lectures that I have listened to, etc. And they will be on different topics, different subjects, but it will be just so you can get the flavor of what I think is very important in the struggle where, let's just say, our politics and our spiritual values collide. And so I'm going to start off here with a wonderful sermon from Dr Jeremiah A Wright Jr, the Pastor Emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, illinois. We're going to go to this beautiful sermon, done several years ago, called, titled by Dr Wright Jr, a Colonized People. I hope you enjoy this sermon as much as I have.
Speaker 2:I think it's going to be on the screen. If you don't have your scriptures or your smartphones, I invite your attention to John the Gospel, according to St John, the 19th chapter, the first 15 verses from the New Revised Standard Translation. Then let's read together Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged, and the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying Hail, king of the Jews and striking him on the face. Pilate went out again and said to them Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him. So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them here is the man. When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to them Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no case against him, case against him. The Jews answered him we have a law and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the son of God.
Speaker 2:Now, when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to him do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you and power to crucify you? Jesus answered him. Him, but the Jews cried out if you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor. When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat on the judge's bench at a place called the stone pavement or, in Hebrew, gavata.
Speaker 2:Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover and it was about noon. He said to the Jews here is your king. They cried out Away with him, away with him, away with him, crucify him. We have no king but the emperor. We have no king but the emperor. As you have your seats in the presence of the Lord, I ask your prayerful consideration of the theme of colonized people. We have no king but the emperor.
Speaker 2:Empire, empire. The notion of empire and imperialism is a dangerous and a sick notion. The notion of one country being in power and taking over other countries and making those countries colonies of the superpower is a devious and destructive notion. It is a warlike notion based on a warrior mentality of conquerors and conquered, superior and inferior, the victors and the victims, the powerful and the powerless, a total disregard for other people's countries, other people's cultures, other people's customs, other people's ways of life. It is sick, it is dangerous, it is devious and it is destructive. Yet it is an old, old way of thinking that is still with us in the 21st century.
Speaker 2:Some of us see the United States as the righteous Empire, empire, imperialism, colonies and the colonized. Either you are on our side or you are on the side of evil. This is a war of good versus evil and, of course, our side is the good side. Our track record to the contrary, notwithstanding our enslavement of the Africans, our training of assassins, our unqualified support for Zionism, our complete disregard of both the Palestinians and the United Nations resolution supporting the Palestinians, our suppression of third world peoples, our ignoring the need for affordable medicine in the fight against HIV AIDS ignoring the need for affordable medicine in the fight against HIV AIDS and our disregard for the world's opinion about our racism and our refusal to discuss reparation for blacks and the victims of the West African chattel slave trade. No, our absolute arrogance, refusing to acknowledge any wrongdoing in the slave trade. We won't even say I am sorry, and it's probably because we ain't sorry.
Speaker 2:Like I have said for years, if we repent, we just might have to repay, and we ain't about to repay. We can repay the Jews, we can repay the Japanese, but we ain't about to repay the Africans. Because this is America United we stand and in God we trust. That's what you got on your money, but that ain't hardly what you got on your mind. What we trust in is the almighty dollar, our money and our military. We are a righteous empire. Empire, imperialism, colonies and the colonized. And you're either on our side or you're on the wrong side. The notion of empire, the notion of emperors we have no king but the emperor that's a dangerous and sick notion. Some of you can remember yours, old enough to remember anything, and for the millennials, let me remind you, you can google it.
Speaker 2:In recent years, the British Empire has had to give up some of its power and give back some of the land. A colony that Britain just took over, hong Kong, was one of those colonies. Hong Kong was a colony of the British Empire and the Britons shed tears as the British turned Hong Kong back over to its citizens. Britain's over here, next to France, germany, switzerland. Hong Kong way over here, halfway around the world where Japan, korea, mainland China, taiwan. But Hong Kong was a part of the British Empire, it was a colony, and I remember watching television, I got so tickled that the British flag came down in Hong Kong. Y'all. So tickling, the British flag came down in Hong Kong, y'all the British soldiers saluted the symbol of oppression, the symbol of tyranny, the symbol of colonization, domination, and as the national anthem played, bagpipes tears were shed.
Speaker 2:I seen it, y'all I seen it. And a few years before that, all the way down at the bottom of Argentina, in South America, there's a tiny little piece of real estate about the size of Lubbock, a country that the natives call Las Malinas. In Argentina, in South America, in Los Angeles and Las Malinas, they decided, the citizens, they didn't want to be a part of the British colony, British Empire, anymore. They didn't want to be a British colony, colony, colonized, colonization. They decided that they were going to be free. They declared their independence. So the British, who refused to call this little dirt heap Las Malvinas, they called it in their arrogance. They renamed it the Falklands.
Speaker 2:The British sent the entire British Navy from England down to the Falklands to preserve the integrity of the British Empire. What an enormous waste of money and manpower to preserve an anachronistic idea whose time has been dead and gone. I am telling you the notion of empire, imperialism, the notion of one country being in power, taking over other countries and making them colonies of the superpower, that is a thick, dangerous, devious and destructive notion. In my lifetime I've seen Kwame Nkrumah lead his people in Ghana to break free of the British Empire. Kwame Nkrumah lead his people in Ghana to break free of the British Empire. Why do you think they speak British English in Ghana, in Nigeria, in Sierra Leone, in Jamaica, in Turks and Caicos, in the Bahamas, in Trinidad and Tobago and in Dallas, Texas.
Speaker 2:Because they were a part of the British Empire. They were once crowned colonies, like Hong Kong and the Falklands. Why do you think they speak French in Cote d'Ivoire, senegal, guinea-bissau, martinique, saint-martin, burkina Faso and Haiti? Because they were once part they were colonies of the French Empire. Why do you think they speak Spanish In Cuba, puerto Rico, honduras, nicaragua, paraguay, uruguay, costa Rica, angola, the Philippines, argentina? Because they were colonies of the Spanish Empire. Why do you think they speak Dutch in St Claude? It was a colony of the Dutch Empire. Why do you think a town in your Bible, northeast Africa, is called Caesarea Philippi named after Caesar Philip, after the Kaiser Philip, after the Emperor Philip? Because Palestine was once a colony of the Roman Empire? Why do you think, in this text this morning, pontius Pilate is the Roman Empire? Why do you think, in this text this morning, pontius Pilate is the Roman procurator living in a palace in Jerusalem with Roman soldiers, the Roman legion stationed there to keep the natives in line? Because Jerusalem, jerusalem and Palestine was a colony of the Roman Empire and the citizens of Jerusalem and Judea were a colonized people. When they tried to trap Jesus on the paying of taxes question, remember what Jesus asked him, whose picture whose image is on the money? Caesar's image, the Kaiser's picture, the emperor's face? The people in our text are a colonized people. They are a colony of Rome. And a colonized people are a prime example, a number one, exhibit a, of why the notion of Empire, the notion of Emperor, the notion of imperialism, domination, subjugation, superior, inferior is such a devious, dangerous and destructive notion. Colonized people are given colonized information. In my field, teaching seminary, they call it colonized education. Y'all know something about colonized education. In colonized education you learn that in the British colonies, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Thanksgiving holiday was a day to commemorate the grateful colonists sitting down to a meal with the Native Americans. They made it through a terrible winter because the kind Indians had showed the colonizers how to survive. That's colonized education. No, that's what Carter G Wilson calls miseducation. That is a lie the colonizers tell, just like they lie about bringing civilization to America, taking civilization to Africa. The truth is that the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony somebody say colony, the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 declared the first Thanksgiving to give thanks for the massacre of hundreds of Indians by the British settlers. Now that's the fact. Colonized information and colonized education is the fiction. And the same is true in South Africa, when the British and the Boers took over the country of the Zulu and the Bantu, like the British took over the country of the Seminole, the Iroquois and the Apache. Right here, the British and the Boers, the Afrikaans, started teaching their lies, teaching their fiction as history and education. And after a while black folk got tired of the fiction, tired of the lies, miseducation. Think about it, think about this, think about this Kids in Tokyo, japan, go to school to learn Japanese history.
Speaker 2:Kids in Beijing, china, go to school to learn Chinese history. Kids in Seoul, korea, go to school to learn Korean history. In England, korea, go to school to learn Korean history. In England, kids go to school to learn English history and kids in the English colonies go to school to learn English history. African Americans in Dallas go to school to learn English history. Colonized kids learn colonized history. Their education is colonized. It is miseducation.
Speaker 2:A colonized people are miseducated. A colonized people are confused, those who swallow the lives of the colonizers. Where the colonizers are the conquerors and they are the conquered, they get confused. Where the colonizers are superior, they are inferior. Where the colonizers are the conquerors and they are the conquered, they get confused. Where the colonizers are superior, they are inferior. Where the colonizers are beautiful and they are ugly. Where the colonizers are powerful and they are powerless. See, somebody's missing this. Tell your neighbor you're missing this. Let me put it another way those who swallow the lies of the colonizers. Where white is pretty and black is ugly. Where white folks got good hair and black folks got bad hair. Where the way white folks worship is intelligent and the way black folks worship is ignorant. Where if you're white you're right, if you're yellow, you're mellow, if you're tan, you're my man, if you're brown, stick around, but if you're black, those who swallow the lies of the colonizers are not only miseducated, they end up confused women. They hate their own man, they hate their own color, they hate their own culture. They can out Roman the Romans, they can out French the French, they can out British the British and, as they say in Chicago in the hood, we can out white, white folk. They are confused.
Speaker 2:I was teaching a class of I won't call the name of the seminary one of our seminaries and intensive and urban ministry urban ministry in the 21st century and there was a PhD in my class from Dominica. Dominica is a Caribbean colony in Ireland. He said to me, dr Wright, our people have been brainwashed by colonialism to such an extent that they will not allow any gospel music in their worship services. They are so Anglican, like many United Methodist churches, they're English. These are black folk, dominica, british, confused. I'm telling you.
Speaker 2:We had a search committee in one of our churches in Chicago Asked one of the candidates for their pulpit Derub, you don't plan on turning our church into another trinity, do you? With all that loud music and folks shouting and carrying on? And the candidate said no. He was hired on the spot. I told the candidate you should have said no, no, no, no. I plan on helping y'all die.
Speaker 2:Just as you are cold-colored and confused, the colonized people are miseducated and you'll die just as you are cold-colored and confused.
Speaker 2:Colonized people are miseducated, the colonized people are confused and the colonized people are programmed for failure.
Speaker 2:The colonizers will never accept you as equal, nor see you as capable of being on their level. They are superior. So you are programmed for failure. Any people of any color who have a hierarchical view of life, where some people are superior and others are inferior, where some people are more equal than others, where some people are born to be up by virtue of their color and others are destined to be down because their white god has said it is so. Those people will never espouse or embrace a philosophy of equal opportunity for all, because to them, all aren't equal. Some, therefore, are seen from Jump Street as expendable, not worth the time, not worth the energy, not worth the money tracked in the first grade, for no access to college and easy access to prison. They are programmed for failure and the programming is so subtle, so thorough, so slick that you will end up with the colonized people thinking just like the colonizers, thinking just like they had been programmed to think. Look in the text. Look in the text.
Speaker 2:We have no king but Caesar.
Speaker 2:We have no king but the emperor. You still missing this. Do you know what it means when a colonized people get so confused that they give Caesar a 90% approval rate? We have no king but Caesar. We have no king but the emperor. We have no king but George W. We have no option but war. We have no alternative but murder, military tribunals.
Speaker 2:These are the same people in the text, in this text, saying we have no king. These are the same people whose faith said that they had another king. Let me refresh your memory. Their faith taught lift up your heads, o ye gates, and be ye. Lifted up ye everlasting doors and the what king of glory shall come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, o you. Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory. They had another king, but they let their human condition robbed them of their divine position. They let, in other words, what man had done to them blind them to the possibilities of what God could do for them. They let a temporary reality, caesar, make them lose sight of the eternal destiny, the Savior. They. They traded an eternal king for one who would only be king for a little while.
Speaker 2:We have no king but Caesar. We are thinking like we have been programmed to think. And if you think that black folk giving Caesar a 90% approval rate, consider this. Do you not know that there are some black folk, not in Dallas but in Chicago in our day and age, who still think that there's no black person qualified to be the mayor of Chicago? A colonized people see themselves as subservient. They see themselves as inferior. The programming is so subtle, so thorough and so slick that you end up with colonized people thinking just like the colonizers, thinking just like they have been programmed to think. A colonized people are miseducated, they're given colonized information, they're given a colonized education. A colonized people are confused. They really think other folks are better than their own folks. And a colonized people are programmed for failure. And then this text says something else.
Speaker 2:This text teaches us some other things about colonized people. Look at the text with you. Number one a colonized people look to the government for deliverance and not to God. They look to the government for answers and not to God. And they look to the government for direction and not to God Jesus came to deliver the people. Peter said to him thou art the Christ, son of the Living God, the Christ as God's anointed one, the Messiah, the Deliverer. Jesus said if the Son shall set you free, you shall be free. Indeed, jesus Christ was the Deliverer, jesus Christ was the answer for whatever the question, and Jesus Christ was the one to turn to for direction. What did Jesus himself say? I am the way, the truth and the life. But they call eyes.
Speaker 2:People look to the government and not to God. They turn to the Roman government instead of turning to a righteous God. And just in case you did not notice, please read verse 6 again. These are the religious leaders, these are the national preachers. These are the megachurch leaders, the chief priests, folk like Creflo who said Trump is the answer. These ain't no obscure storefront fly-by-night jack-leg. These are the national preachers. These are the national leaders turning to the Roman government rather than turning to a righteous God. And then look how they back-punch his pilot into a corner down in verse 12. These are the religious right backing pilot into the corner. If you release this man, you are no friend of the Emperor. No friend of the Emperor, no friend of the Emperor. They got him scared.
Speaker 2:Now you here, on the emperor's payroll, you better act right. And the empire says I have the power to release you, I have the power to crucify you. Jesus did not bat an eye or back down an inch. When you are secure in yourself, when you know who you are, and when you know whose you are, you are not impressed or intimidated by the titles that humans give to each other. Jesus answered him. You wouldn't have any power whatsoever unless God gave it to you. You unless it came from above. In other words, you are not in control. God is in control. God is not impressed with your credentials and the Son of God is not in awe of who you think you are, these church folk who turn to the government, official national preachers, the nation's chief priests, that the man they sent into Pilate's palace is the same man who healed the man born blind. They forgot what God could do. He's the same man who fed 5,000 with a few fish and some barley bread.
Speaker 2:They forgot what God could do. He's the same man who passed by the pool near the sheet gate and healed a man who had been sick for 38 years. They forgot what God could do. He's the same man. Somebody say same man. He's the same man who, over in Bethany, just a stone's throw away from where they're standing in this text, had gone by the grave which had held Lazarus for four days and had demonstrated how theology could reverse the laws of biology if God willed it to be so. They forgot what God could do. They sent into Pontius Pilate's palace the same man who spoke out on a stormy sea and the wind and the waves obeyed his will. They forgot what God could do. He was the same man of whom John said in his prologue in the beginning was the word same man, and the word was with God. Same man, and the word was God same man. The same was in the beginning with God. Same man. All things were made by him the sun, moon, stars were made by him.
Speaker 2:Same man the earth and all the other planets were made by him Same man. The cattle on a thousand hills were made by him Same man. The earth and the fullness thereof were made by him Same man. Even Pontius Pilate was made by him Same man. This is the same man of whom John says in John 1, 14 the word became flesh and dwelt among us. That is who is up in Pilate's palace.
Speaker 2:They forgot what God could do. A colonized people, miseducated and confused, programmed for failure, they look to the government and not to God, and they also tend to forget what God can do. God can take what man meant for evil and turn it around into good. Ask Joseph. God can get in a lion's den and turn hungry lions into soft pillows for a sleepy prophet. Ask Daniel. God can get in a barren womb and bring new life into some dead situations. Ask Sarah, ask Hannah, ask Elizabeth. God can get in a barren womb and bring new life into some dead situations. Ask Sarah, ask Hannah, ask Elizabeth. God can get into a fiery furnace and cool the flames so they will not burn. Ask Shadrach, ask Meshach, ask the Vendical. God can do anything but fail. But then this text also teaches me that a colonized people not only forget what God can do. A colonized people too often miss what God is doing. And when you keep on reading, both in this text and in our lives, in this sacred story and in the story of our people, what you will find. I submit unto you that.
Speaker 2:Number one God is working behind the scenes. While they were working on condemnation shouting crucify him. God was working on soul salvation. His blood would take away the sins of the world. God was working behind the scenes While they were planning a crucifixion. God was getting ready for resurrection. God was working behind the scenes while they were planning a crucifixion. God was getting ready for resurrection. God was working behind the scenes. While they were looking forward to a bloody Friday, god already was putting in place a blessed Sunday. God was working behind the scenes. When you keep on reading in this story and in the story of our people, god is working behind the scenes. That's number one. Number two God is working it out, even when you can't figure it out. God's ways are not our ways. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. As high as the heaven is above the earth, so far are God's thoughts from our thoughts and God's ways from our ways. But even though you and I cannot figure it out, please rest assured that God is working it out.
Speaker 2:Somebody going through something right now, this morning, at St Luke. You need to know that God. Tell your neighbor, god is working it out for you. Turn on the other side. Tell them, god is working it out for you. Don't you let the cares of a colonized existence make you miss what God is doing. What is God doing?
Speaker 2:God is working behind the scenes, god is working it out and God is still working miracles in my life and in your life. God is a miracle worker. God is still working miracles in my life and in your life. God is a miracle worker. God is still God. God is still in control. God is the Alpha and the Omega. God is the Ancient of Days.
Speaker 2:God is the answer to our problems, not Trump. God is the burden bearer and a bomb in Gilead. God is a company keeperer and a bomb in Gilead. God is a company keeper and a caretaker. God is older than colonization, stronger than capitalism and mightier than militarism.
Speaker 2:God is the one who was here before the Roman Empire and the one who is still here long after the Roman Empire Ain't nothing but a memory. God is the one who was here before the British Empire and the one who's going to still be here when the British give up their foolish dream of being superior to other people. God is the one who was here before George W. He was here before Bill Clinton. He was here before Bin Laden. He was here before Afghanistan. He was here before Barack. He was here before Barack. He was here before there was the United States.
Speaker 2:God is the one who will be here long after all the current emperors and empires are dead and gone. God is the joy and the strength of my life. God is our refuge and strength, our very present help in trouble. God is the one who loves you unconditionally and the one who loves all other people just as much as God loves you. God is the same God who sent God's Son into this world not to condemn the world, but that the world, through him, might be saved. God is the same today that God was on yesterday. God is the one who promised to keep me, never to leave me, and God has never, never, never, never, ever come short of God's word. So you head back and say God is.