Sunday, August 26, 2018

"Enough With The Victimhood" by Sylvia Thompson



Millionaire Athletes and Their Lost Cause 


I must admit I have never in my life purchased a ticket to a sports event. I am not a sports enthusiast. But I am an American black citizen, and I have had it up to the gills with black people who embrace victimhood. I also highly resent my being expected to do the same in order to affirm my "blackness."

Black victims these days, for the most part, are the product of decades of Black Americans being used primarily by white progressive leftists to advance an anti-American agenda.

The current brouhaha surrounding the despicable behavior of NFL athletes toward the National Anthem and the American flag is a prime example of what the Left has done to my race.

One must assume these players and their guilt-conflicted white coaches and owners (and victimhood-inflicted black coaches) are being manipulated by the Left, because no intelligent, thinking people would deliberately cut themselves off at the knees. Essentially, what these young misguided mostly black men are doing is ensuring the demise of their lucrative paychecks.

Further, I would wager that if these teams consisted of all white athletes, none of this idiocy would be allowed. We are witnessing this travesty because the vast majority of players are black and can whine "oppression" if appropriate action is taken against them for their unconscionable behavior.

The twisted reasoning that claims these protests are to highlight "injustice" and "police brutality" is a laughable crock. What they do in fact is dishonor valued symbols of this nation's heritage and cover over truth about black crime.

Black males bear the brunt of police encounters because black males commit disproportionately more crimes. Police encounters with black men are so often confrontational because so many of these men, especially the young, don't think "compliance" applies to them. They foolishly assume they are above the law and disrespect for police officers is an act of honor.

These young blacks, sadly, took much of their direction from racists Obama and Eric Holder during Obama's destructive, eight-year regime and Holder's corruption of the Justice Department. These two men, abusing their federal powers, gave young blacks the impression they need not heed the law, because laws are somehow unjust when they are applied to black Americans. The NFL lot, and any other athletes taking a similar stance, are also influenced by Obama's and Holder's disdain for law and law enforcement.

I am not familiar with one case where a black suspect to a crime was not proven legally to have caused the behavior against him, particularly in cases where the police officer involved was exonerated by facts. Michael Brown of "hands up, don't shoot" infamy is one good example. Blatant lies were spread to cloud the truth about Brown's case.

Back in the day when I was growing up in the racially segregated South, the opposite prevailed in many cases. There was much injustice particularly toward black men, but not today. Today, too many blacks have been fed the notion that it is now "pay-back" time, and they can flaunt their lawlessness because some whites flaunted theirs during an earlier time in our nation's history.

Although Obama and Holder no longer wield power in this country, some of their minions continue on the pernicious path of "paying back" American whites for wrongs, real or imagined. But as the saying goes, there is a new Sheriff in town and he is not guilt-conflicted. He expects fair play under law and tolerating pay-back is not part of his agenda. Black Americans, when they break the law, can no longer claim victim status simply because they are black. Those days are over.

American laws and law enforcement personnel will be respected in America, again; our traditions and values will not be impugned in America without consequences, again. Anybody unsettled about this turn of events is welcome to leave this country. I suggest all the black players try a country in Africa, and see how successful they will be at making millions playing games. They will all soon learn what oppression really means.

Some self-directed, independent-thinking blacks (and there are many of us) have offered that if these millionaire protestors want to tackle some real problems, they might consider the thousands of black children killed in abortions annually (by the progressive Left), or perhaps the many, many young blacks murdered routinely on inner-city streets by other young blacks
(in cities run by progressive, leftist Democrats), or the downright criminal state of education of black inner-city children, orchestrated by the progressive leftist National Education Association (NEA). The NEA's aim is to produce unintelligent pawns to feed the cause of progressivism.

I am annoyed by the expressions of "sincerity" gracing the faces of the NFL protestors-as if to convey the "hallowedness" of their cause. In actuality, they provide a picture of grown men allowing themselves to be made fools of by the progressive Left. I don't doubt, however, that some of these men have been coerced into compliance with this lost cause, either through threats of violence or shunning (from coaches and players). Alejandro Villanueva of the Pittsburgh Steelers and former Army ranger is very likely a victim of such threats. He was publicly castigated by his leftist coach for his patriotism. The coach demanded unity behind an ignorant cause.

And finally, this issue has nothing to do with First Amendment rights.  President Trump's speaking out against the clownish behavior of the athletes, on behalf of the majority of American citizens, does not mean he can or would stop any of these misguided people from making fools of themselves. To restrict them, as a government entity, would indeed be a violation of the First Amendment ... But their employers, if they were to develop even a modicum of testicular fortitude, could and should fire them for doing major damage to the bottom line of the business. The rest of us non-millionaire "Joes" would certainly be pink-slipped by an employer if we dared to be so clueless about the necessity of profits and so disdainful of the sensibilities of customers.

I will wait patiently for the true sports enthusiasts to vent their rage by simply boycotting the games. It will be sweet revenge to witness the slain goose cease producing its golden eggs.

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Doing God's Work Without Even Knowing It

We just began 2nd Corinthians in our pastor's Bible study at our church. Yesterday evening we wen through the first eleven verses, of Chapter one.

When he got to verse 3 of Chapter 1, Dr. Marr began talking about how God often uses our experiences, both good and bad, to help others. God often says “You know what? I need to help this person out – and the best way to do that right now is to send you, because you know what they're feeling. You've been there.”

“3) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4) who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

Dr. Marr talked about how only people who have been divorced truly understand the devastation that divorce can cause. He spoke of how the experience of losing a loved one can only be understood by someone who has had the same experience.

Then he looked at me and said “I pick on Glen sometimes because of his experience. He lost a son and he wrote a book about it. The raw emotion he was able to express will definitely help someone who has had the same experience. For me it's a good book but I've never lost a child so it doesn't have the same meaning to me as it does to someone who has had that experience.”


Once again he drew an emotional response from me. He often catches me off guard when he tells people about my son and my book. But I don't mind. Because as he was discussing verse 3, I was already thinking of the same thing – how I have been able to comfort and encourage other members of “the club” because of the comfort and encouragement I received from God years ago.

When the class was over Dr. Marr walked over and said “Hey – I'm sorry I put you on the spot but it just fit.”

“It's OK,” I said. “I have actually lived that scripture – more times than I want to think about.”

And it's true. I have given dozens of copies of my book to fellow club members (all members get a free, signed copy) and I have a friend who lost her Marine son in 2010 and she buys copies to give to Gold Star families.

One of the women in the class asked how she can get a copy of the book. Dr. Marr told her that it should be in the book store but if it's not they have copies in the office. I supply the church with copies so they can give them to anyone whom they believe will benefit from it.

The Apostle Paul said a lot of important, meaningful things in his writings. But this one verse, 2 Corinthians 1: 3, may be his most meaningful for me. Because without realizing it I have been fulfilling scripture. I know God has used me to comfort those with whom I share a common and tragic experience. As I have said before - I believe I was supposed to write this book, even though it started out as simply a few pages of memories.

The very best compliment I have ever received about my book has been said to me more than once. Several people have said “Thank you for putting my feelings into print. I thought I was the only one who felt this way.”

Even though I never set out to put anyone else's feelings into print (I was working strictly for me - or so I thought), what a wonderful and heartwarming comment that is. And while I still wish I had never become a club member, I'm honored to be able to “comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”