Lindell's Gospel

Given the choices made, perhaps they'd be better off as Crack Hoes?

Professional athletes (Plaxico Burris, Adam Jones are recent examples, but there are more) often make bad choices. Although Michael Vick was dealt a bad hand (he was, I think, tried in the media) I question his judgment on the whole ‘dog electrocution thing.’  For all the bad behavior that startles me about young black athletes, I must say that on yesterday I learned something far worse about young white nursing assistants.

Two 18-year old female nursing assistants, volunteering at the Good Samaritan Home in Southern Minnesota, committed acts against vulnerable adults (Alzheimer’s patients, stroke victims) so vile and humiliating that I cannot recount them here. The actions of these young female nursing assistants —many of a sexual nature, were instances of humiliation that makes one turn away. In many ways, it is like reading the New Yorker magazine accounts of the Abu Gharib torture scenario against detainees. What appears in the indictment seems like a narrative recounting the Spanish Inquisition.

How does this happen? Two girls, looking more like homecoming queens than crack whores, construct and execute torture and humiliation against vulnerable adults…in small town America, no less…are you kidding me?

This incident, perhaps, bespeaks a larger evil at work in the our culture: The illusion of parenting. Many athletes—of both races—are reared in the dreaded ‘single-parent’ home (advanced as a convenient false myth—for why boys misbehave.) I coached basketball for 20 consecutive years and that journey enlightened me to America’s ‘parenting crisis.’ Over time, I saw parents presenting more and more latitude—in terms of decision-making-- to their young athletes. Yes, I mean parents asking kids of 9 or 10 what sports they wished to play and whether of not they wanted to continue in the sports and whether they were happy with the coach.

 During my mid-twenties, I was away from coaching, still trying to play competitively. When I initially returned, I primarily worked with white kids. I looked at their insolent behavior and thought: “Ok, this is a racial thing.” The next season, I had black kids who, by and large, behaved similarly with their parents. I thought: “This is a generational thing.” After my third season, I concluded my bewildering observations were a microcosm of society.

There was nearly a ‘full-on’ abdication of decision-making from parents to children. I can’t tell you the number of parents of 15 year olds who stared at me and said, “I let little Mary make choices about where she wants to go to school.”  There isn’t time in the post to present all the psychological reasons why this is more than just poor parenting—it’s eroding basic strands of society’s DNA which turn on ‘respect for adults and leaders.’  Thus, I’ll present a physiological truth: A PhD friends— former Associate director of a top Medical school -- opined that the area of the brain controlling decision-making and choice isn’t fully formed until one reaches 24 years.

So, I ask: What are parents doing?

My years in the basketball coaching world showed me that today’s parents offer kids FAR too much latitude in decision-making and choices. I’m still speechless at the kids who had expensive mobile phones, MP3 players and a HD Television (in their rooms, mind you) but their parents rarely came to watch them play.

 Parents, it seemed, replaced ‘investments of time,’ with ‘bestowing gifts of technology.’ They mistakenly deduced that by giving little Mary or little Devin a ‘choice paradigm’ at a young age was akin to maturation development.  Twenty years of being around teenagers left me with an alternative viewpoint. The kids I met CRAVED someone to tell them what to do. The soft veneer was, “I want to make my own decision.” The internal plea was, “Someone please help me by telling me what I should do because I'm a 14 year-old lost soul.”

It’s a rare kid who at 15 can make good choices. After coaching and training hundreds of kids I say this with certainty: 90% of them shouldn’t have been allowed a driver’s license until they were 18, let alone make real life choices.

I have many flight attendants friends—they are quirky and pragmatic observers of society.  My friend Richetta—who flies out of New York’s Kennedy Airport-- says that the most ill-behaved, disrespectful, acrimonious children are U.S kids. Many of them, she says, speak to the parents in brutal , hostile language and are overtly rebellious. She further said: “…rarely, if ever, do kids from Latin American or Caribbean countries misbehave or show rudeness on flights or in the departure lounge. She told me one story—a Mom was traveling to Port-au-Prince with four kids under 10 years. The kids sat quietly, boarded orderly, took their seats and obeyed their Mom.

I don’t think the Mom of these Haitian kids will ever get a call saying her daughters have been charged with spitting into the mouth of 80 year old Alzheimer’s patient and recording the experiences for posterity on a new 2.0 mega pixel cell phone camera. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

 

 

Stalking Desire: Politics, Religion and Sex

Nothing like an election to bring out the best and worst in people. I was shocked when Senator Obama was elected President of the United States. I never thought it possible that just 150 years after a declaration that people who looked like me were only ‘three-fifths’ of a human being, a person of color would become  President. It seems, well, unreal.

I’m almost as shocked at what happened in California. A ballot initiative—Proposition 8—was placed before the voters with the purpose of overturning Proposition 22 (which recognized same-gender unions.) California voters, en masse, voted to declare that marriage is only ‘between a man and a woman.’

Pastors—of which many were African-American—told parishioners it was their moral responsibility to overturn Proposition 22. The question, of course, is why?

 Divorce is still legal; remarriage is prohibited: Yikes, is that a new ballot proposal!

Can one make a solid New Testament Biblical argument that those of the same gender shouldn’t be allowed to marry? Regardless of one’s leanings, a strict interpretation of New Testament teaching doesn’t support a Biblically-based argument to deny this.  I’ve found no record of Jesus alluding to ‘same-gender’ unions. Conversely, Jesus’ teaching on marriage is also limited—one could make an argument that there is more teaching against divorce (actually, remarriage) than against’ ‘same-gender’ unions. Jesus, actually, condemns all divorce except in a narrow swath of circumstances. I wonder how the same African-American church leaders would view a proposition banning remarriage?

But the N.T. is more than the gospels…we have, of course, the letters from Paul, Peter and rest of Jesus’ posse. Paul writes about homosexual behavior as part of a list of 21 (or 23, depending on which version of the Book of Romans) conditions describing mankind without God (none are given more or less weight than others). The remaining references, as I uncover them, have to do with sexual practices (heterosexual/homosexual) relating to prostitution and temple worship of the goddess Diana (at Ephesus and Corinth).

A Biblical Injunction Against Outsourcing of Jobs… and Lynching?

So, why are so many African-American evangelical leaders fighting against this? What about a ballot initiative that declaring it illegal to 'outsource' jobs to India.  One can easily connect Biblical scriptures and create a framework to support this argument.  Would African-American evangelical leaders support such a ban?

When lynching was prevalent in our country—let’s call it 19th century acts of domestic terrorism— the only non-Black church group to take a public stance against lynching were the Quakers. And, finally, after  bloody race riots in Tulsa, East St. Louis, Springfield, Dennison and other places, the Nazarene Church (in 1922) issued a statement condemning the practice. They were the first denomination in the 20th century to stand with blacks and publically decry these amoral acts against humanity.

 Why didn’t predominantly white denominations take a stand in support of African-Americans churches and the men and woman who were lynched – often by members of those same white churches?  The Biblical evidence against lynching--abrogation of the rule of law-- is stronger than the teaching against same-gender unions.

 Why isn’t Pastor ‘so-and-so’ returning my phone call? I’ve left several messages?

African-American evangelicals are quick to lend their pulpits in support of social conservatives on matters of abortion and same-sex unions. I wonder how quickly others evangelicals would open their pulpits in support of legislation that authoizing midnight basketball leagues 'to keep African-American kids off the street,’ ‘free breakfast and headstart programs for rural and inner city kids and ‘reading programs' for black males in junior high who were behind the national average.

The same African-American evangelical pastors who carried the torch in support of Proposition 8 wouldn’t be able to find a single congregation to stand with them in support of federal/state legislation on any of the above ballot propositions.

 So, who has a right to judge?

Politics, by nature, is divisive. Christianity, by nature, is inclusive. I know many who believe that one can’t be a gay and have a relationship with God. Are you kidding me?  What gives anyone the right to judge another’s lifestyle and make a value assessment on his or her potential for a relationship with God?  One could advance a Biblical argument that the person ‘judging’ is in greater danger of losing an opportunity for salvation than the person whom they are ‘judging.’

If an African-American pastor doesn’t support same-gender unions as a personal choice, then so be it. Let’s just not make it a tenet of the Christian faith. If two people are of the same gender and they both love God, then who are we to say that the Bible prevents church acknowledgement.

The Cards Help Me Make Sense of the World

Everyone votes with their wallet.

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" or "Apocalypse Now"

Can anyone explain how the storms always find poor people?

Sand, Fog and Funerals

Since 5 July I have attended five funerals—that brings me to eight for the year. Is there a common thread amongst these deaths? I ponder this. No answer has bubbled to the surface. Not yet.

Craig Hedrick and I were the same age. We loaded airplanes together at LAX. He died on New Year’s Eve, 1982 on La Cienega Blvd. He was leaving work—in his silver Triumph TR-6. A guy from Panama struck his car—although I guess his country of origin is inconsequential. The guy walked away from the accident. Craig had a closed casket funeral. Since 1982, I have never gone out on New Year’s Eve. Like Christmas, it’s another holiday that lives among the glass shards of broken memories. Last year, my friend Chris— we were the same age—told me about a pain he had in his back. As the promoter of holistic health, I demanded he see a Chiropractor. The pain in his back was pancreatic cancer so it wasn’t much the Chiropractor could do. Chris and I talked expectantly about turning 50. He’d just returned from the Czech Republic and was, shall we say, extolling the virtues of a joint trip in ’08. We discussed all the cool things we’d do after 50. Chris, however, is in Denton, Texas— in a very beautiful cemetery. I don’t think dying was part of his plan.

But dying is never really a part of the plan is it? Last week I attended Mr. Williams’ funeral. I was struck that the men cried—not a frayed, clandestine attempt to wipe away tears from the corner of an eye, but huge, wailing sadness. The kind of sadness that emanates from a great loss. Mr. Williams was loved— his male friends, to a person, acknowledging him as being the ‘best’ friend they could ever have.

Eight funerals in ’08…but just how many caskets have I watched being lower into the damp, waiting earth. The number I’ve come up with is 35. My father, step-father, brother, all four grandparents, my great-grandmother, seven uncles, one cousin who drowned in Castaic Lake, my baby sister and more friends, co-workers and former students that I care to remember. A couple of days ago, my Uncle Harry counseled me to stop going to funerals—he said he's noticed a change in me after each service.

At each funeral—whether Pentecostal, Roman Catholic or s simple service because the guy never went to church—someone stands and talks about how we must ‘live life each day,’ or ‘stop and smell the roses,’ or ‘remind your significant other how much you love them,’ or another trite, abstract empty phrase.

No one learns from funerals. By the next sunrise, we’ve fallen into life’s numbing grind that quietly misdirects us to ‘major in the minors.’ We’re returned to taking kids to piano lessons, toiling for thankless organizations and forgetting that at the end of life, no one says, “I should’ve worked more weekends.’ No, we fall back into the lives routine because it’s too difficult to break free. And, it requires acts of courage, which from my observations, is woefully lacking in our culture. We prefer the comfortable to the unknown.

I hope that I gave my children the gift of courageousness—the willingness to make a full frontal assault on fear.

The lessons to be learned from funerals are lost on us. Funerals should create more courage and less fear. Out of the grief should come a renewed strength to live more meaningful lives, knowing that sand is ‘racing through the hourglass’ and we are rapidly approaching the end of our days.

That, alone, should offer expectancy and hope.

That's one of the coolest things about Christianity: It’s focused on eternity…it promises something more…. an hourglass where the supply of sand is ever replenished…it never runs out. The people who framed Christianity postulated that physical death is the beginning point of the next journey.’ A ship, as it were, leaving the harbor.

At every funeral there should be a big hourglass perched on top of the casket for everyone to see—a visual reminder that the journey is passing by —sadly, most of us don’t recognize it because we exist in a fog. We've gotta drop those kids at soccer practice and get to work on time. The sand keeps running, the fog becomes more dense and the damp earth awaits.

Shaquille O'Neal, Willie Nelson and Farm-Aid for Forgotten Black Farmers

It’s taken me awhile to get over the Lakers losing to Boston. I should have expected it. History, after all, is quite instructive.

Under the heading of instructive history, I watched a documentary about the dearth of black-owned family farms in the United States. In the 1920s there were 280,000 black-owned family farms. Blacks owned 15M acres of farmland. Today, there are between 18,000 and 20,000 black-owned farms and black land ownership of farmland is down to 2.1 million acres. Is this a by-product of the explosive growth in Corporate-owned farms or the systematic destruction of black farmers by unseen sources? How many coincidences are required to make a fact? The black farmers in this documentary presented a common story: There parents farmed the land. The land was passed down to them. They applied for loans through Farmer Home Administration and the funds, if allocated, arrived after the planning season was over—and, the amount was always less than requested and less than the amount needed to operate the business. These stories are chilling.

Black-owned farms are projected to be a ‘museum artifact by 2015—an historical anecdote. They will, quite simply, cease to exist. The seeds of the destruction of black-owned farms is present in this AP story:

After midnight on Oct. 4, 1908, 50 hooded white men surrounded the home of a black farmer in Hickman, Ky., and ordered him to come out for a whipping. When David Walker refused and shot at them instead, the mob set fire to his house, according to contemporary newspaper accounts. Walker ran out, followed by four screaming children and his wife, carrying a baby in her arms. The mob shot them all, wounding three children and killing the others. Walker's oldest son never escaped the burning house. No one was ever charged with the killings. Land records show that Walker's 2-1 2-acre farm was simply folded into the property of a white neighbor. The neighbor soon sold it to another man, whose daughter owns the undeveloped land today.

We ‘dis what is familiar, but embrace what is afar.

In a world where Ms. Oprah Winfrey can establish schools in South African townships, former NBA players can rack up $500K in gambling markers and other prominent African-American athletes are millionaires fifty times over, I wonder if the plight of the Black farmer is on the radar screen. Many black-owned farms could be saved with ridiculously small amounts of money—some for as little as $80K.

In the years that I coached varsity basketball at Christian schools, I was shocked at the willingness of congregations to authorize thousands of dollars to support missionary endeavors in Honduras or the Ukraine (there’s nothing wrong with this), but balk at authorizing a $100.00 per month partial scholarship to help a Latino or Black family pay for their kid to attend the school. Within a five mile radius of our school there were kids who might as well have been in Soweto—except it was called Dalworthington Gardens.

Why are we in love with helping those afar off—but needs that are close by, somehow, draw less attention. Madonna gains global PR for her work to adopt a boy from Lilongwe, Malawi. Her presence sheds light on the family crisis in sub-Saharan African brought on by AIDS. But damn, are there not kids in Detroit who need help? (Madonna, if I recall, is a Michigander and the Detroit public schools are in the worst shape of any major school district in the Nation with 1700 layoffs—including 800 teachers—planned for the upcoming school year.)

Could Black athletes become part of a creative short term solution?

I return to the discussion on Black-owned farms. Since blacks are the majority of players in the NBA/NFL, and both leagues have reasonably energetic player unions, why not create not create a working group that established “Micro-Loan’ program for Black-owned farms. According the U.S.D.A. reports, the average amount of financial support to white-owned farms is $9,300—for black-owned farms the number around $3500.00. There are enough combined resources amongst the top tier black athletes to fund this scheme— remember, it’s not a gift, but a loan. This idea, though popularized in Bangladesh, has its conceptual roots firmly planted in the United States.

It the Farm Housing Association can’t/won’t loan black farmers enough to move them past the ‘we’ll give you loan enough money to get in trouble’ paradigm then the top-earning black athletes should step in and create an ‘athlete-funded short-term loan scheme’ that will-- at the very least-- get them through the planting season. This program isn’t intended to abrogate the responsibility or the U.S.D.A. or the F.H.A. but provide a bridge to support the black-owned farms through the lean times.

If Shaquille O’Neal wishes to pursue a rap career, then I shall present him an opportunity to create a benefit concert for Black-owned farms. Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp have successfully arranged 20 ‘Farm-Aid’ concerts and raised $10M. One would think that the wealthiest and most musical post player in the Association could find time to lend his talent to support and re-energize the finances of small black-owned farms.

Read about an NGO supporting Black-owned family farms.

Would an Economic Argument Against Slavery Ended it Sooner? A History Lesson with 2008 Application.

I've been finishing work on my latest film so I haven't written much lately. It's a film about diversity and inclusion. So, suffice to say I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about race, ethnicity and respect. And, given the political climate, race is on everyone's lips. Kudos to Senator Obama for placing these matters front and center. We live in America and sooner or later, all politics becomes about race or fear-- or some permutation thereof. Race and fear have cast a unavoidable inescapable shadows across our history. But can we say we ever learn from this history?

We ignore these matters because it's inconvenient to discuss then openly and honestly.

I've lived on both sides of the discussion, having attended schools primarily populated by whites; and worked in environments where the leadership was dominated by whites-- yet, the reality of being a 'kid' from South Central L.A. with family roots in segregated Mississippi keeps me on balance when it comes to race. I still assume every cop is going to pull me from my car and apply the stick to my head. That's my L.A. experience, my Dad's Mississippi experience, and the many years observing what happens to people of color.

One of my friends is a native Texan-- born and reared in a place called Hurst. His aching fear is that his eight year old daughter, upon reaching her teenage years, with fall eagerly and hopelessly in love with a black boy. One of his church buddies--with a 16-year old daughter-- is currently facing a similar situation. The two, I assume, commiserate.

This, in my view, isn't racism-- but fear. It is a fear based on losing what's comfortable and familiar. Oh how my heart goes out to those who live for the "if only things could be as they were before." The book of Exodus records God Himself chiding the Hebrews for being so much in love with their past life in Egypt, they couldn't see the possibilities of the future. Living life, longing for what's past, must be a paralyzing paradigm.

But Orwell told us that 'what is past is prologue,' so we'd be wise to understand and grasp its lessons.

Slavery - Past and Present

There is no value is blaming today's descendant of slave owners for benefitting from the fruits and profits of slavery. There is, I think, value in placing the economics of slavery in historical context.

My next film will be about what's referred to in the business community as "Continuous Improvement." Or, to borrow the Japanese term, 'KAIZEN.' Simply stated, this is a philosophy of operating a business that zeroes in on two seminal constructs:

1. Respect for people and their ideas are first and foremost.
2. Relentlessly look for ways to simplify processes, eliminate waste and improve the quality of the good and services presented.

Our Japanese brothers and sisters took this 'to the next level' (particularly, Toyota Motors), the roots of the idea was constructed by a brilliant American writer and thinker, Dr. W. Edwards Deming. The 'Toyota Way,' which is globally accepted as the penultimate manufacturing philosophy, grew from the "Deming Way."

If only Mr. Deming had been born in 1800 instead of 1900.

If race is at the core of the divisiveness that permeates our Country, then slavery (and, by extension, the slave trade) is the opening point of the dialogue. And, one cannot properly discuss slavery without discussing the despot known as "KIng Cotton."

Cotton represented the engine that turned the economy of the Southern States. And, the lives of blacks and white were both entwined in its turbulent embrace.

Alexis de Tocqueville, the French writer and thinker, wrote in the 1820's the fates of the "American born white and American born Negro were forever and inexorably linked- but, neither will accept that truth." A prescient comment from a guy writing 180 years ago!

Were the Southern slave owners evil men or simply ignorant? I would like to advance this argument: "The real problem with the old South is that they should have made the Negro a partner in the "Cotton Kingdom.'

Deming would have looked around and said: "Let's upgrade the living conditions in the slave quarters, give them better food and water and allow them a seat at the the table in determing the best way to improve the process of improving the flow of cotton from seed to marketplace.

The white slave owners, for cultural and religious reasons, viewed the Negro as a subservient class to be relegated to the whip and lash. What would have happened if they had acted 'as if' the slaves were equal and offered them a fair percentage of sales and a portion of the land that could work and keep up to 80% of the cotton profits...for themselves!

What would this have fostered in the slaves? How would their approach to every aspect of their life been altered by such a choice?

The slave owners chose to view human beings as 'chattel,' rather than as partners. Could the Civil War have been avoided had the slave owners engaged the slave population as partners as early as the development of the cotton gin.

This fundamental misstep-- the misstep of not treating people with respect brought about the destruction and implosion of the "Cotton Kingdom' and set the cause of race relations back in the United States.

I don't know whether the Southern slave owners were more interested in having a perpetual 'leisure class,' or suffered from a paternalist, xenophobic bent in their character that effecively blinded them to slavery ills. I have a hard time believing it only about greed.

Dr. Deming could have advanced an argument to both sides that said: "You don't have to LIKE each other...you simply have to realize that you have a common bond: sustaining and growing the 'cotton kingdom. And together, it is possible." He would have further argued: "It will be easier to end slavery by advancing an economic argument rather than a moral one."

Lynching and beatings would have come to a stop. (What value is there to lynching a partner who is helping you be successful?")

The rub in this equation is the non-land owning poorer whites. (Who suffered nearly as bad as the blacks.) What would happen to them as the black plantation workers (formerly known as slaves) began to prosper? Well, there is place at the table for them. The non-slave owning whites would be encouraged to join the merchant and artisan class benefitting from the greater profits created by this joint approach to work.

Child labor, of course, was a significant problem. Deming's examination of the inherent wastes in cotton production would have potentially increased productivity to a point where no person under the age of fourteen years would be needed or allowed to work in the fields. Thus, an opportunity for education.

A greater focus on education means advancement in production and the explosive growth of ideas. With this comes changes in water usage, conservation and community planning. And, of course, full enfranchisement and a 'seat a the table' on matters of civic and governmental endeavors.

The hindrance, of course, is the underlying truth in de Tocqueville's words.

The black former slave said: "It's the white man's fault. They take the fruit of my labors, overcharge me for goods and services, deny me and my off-spring the privilege of education, destroy my family structure and restrict my ability to travel."

The whites former slave owners said: "Why can't you just be satisfied as a day laborer or worker. Why do you want to be educated? Why do you want to be something other that what you are? Can you just be happy, dumb and faithful?"

This fundamental mistrust --aching and tragic-- is rooted what most white slave owners and their sons believed: "You can't keep the Negro working without slavery, sharecropping and the lash." This means that one has NO respect for another as a human being--just because of insignificant differences relating to pigmentation and environment.

Deming could have brought ideas of careful training, foresight and thoughtfulness that expressed a partnership with the Negro and moving the entire culture away from the very notion of enslavement.
Even had the war still occurred, Deming's ideas could have provided a bridge across the slippery straits of "Reconstruction" that would have allowed blacks, whites and the South to emerge on a solid economic foundation. The South had far more natural resources than the entire country of Japan.

What could have become a model a brave, new society based on cooperation and humanity became an embittered, segrated petri dish where distrust prevailed. The result: the establishment of a permanent black underclass.

It is no wonder that Lincoln would opine: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

So Why Aren't Samsung Flat Screen TVs Made in Detroit?

I lusciously stare at my Samsung Hi-Definition television because it's a work of art--and, it works so well.

Why aren't Samsung Hi-Definition televisions made in Michigan? The good citizens of Detroit and other Michiganders are embroiled in a discussion about the conduct of Mayor Kilpatrick and democratic party machinations relating to delegates.

I think a more valuable discussion is what is the good Mayor will do do about bringing industry and and jobs to the city of Detroit. How about a trip to Korea? How about finding ways to re-engineer idle manufacturing plants to build Hi-Definition televisions in Detroit?

Samsung, according to its' vision statement, sees itself as a responsible player in ares of global Corporate Citizenship. So, why not pitch to them that Detroit is a great place to invest? Deming laid out the philosophy-- why not teach the KAIZEN principle in junior colleges and give learners practical skills in preparation to work in a different kind of factory? Are we not going this because no one has thought of it? Clearly, that can't be the case. We don't this for the same reasons the Southern Slave owners maintained the infrastructure of slavery and sharecropping until they crumbled: No one wants to change until the pain of 'not changing becomes personal.'

Here lies a realistic viewer to interpret history:
1.) Take an event that was really detrimental to a lot of people.
2.) Study the event its context.
3.) Look for a parallel circumstance in this present age.
4.) Don't let history repeat

Uneducated and unlearned 'slave owners,' only seeking to protect the status quo, contributed to a national disgrace in the pursuit of profits over people. Replace the words 'slave owners' in the previous sentence with 'out of touch management' or 'disinterested poiliticians' and presto: Here is another opportunity to learn from history rather than repeating it again and again.

Change in 2008

2008 is an excellent year, full or promise and hopefulness. The world is a crazy place and there are many topics I am compelled to write about. Thus, I've decided to move all my basketball writing to the new site: The Game Matters. Please check it out HERE

I'll keep "LG" to focus on everything else--religion, politics, philosophy and my odd view of the world.

Thanks for reading.