Category Archives: Barack Obama

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Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate Films Political Ad in Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church During Martin Luther King Ecumenical Service…

Hello World,

You can always tell when it’s election season at my small church in southwest Atlanta…When random men or women start showing up and standing up boldly during the introduction of visitors portion of the service, you know that candidates are making their rounds throughout Atlanta’s black churches, ground zero of where to garner the black vote. Because our church is small, we know who is visiting and or campaigning. But’s that okay because the doors of the church are open to everybody and all political candidates are welcome from all parties as most churches, as 501(c)(3) organizations, will not back any particular candidate for any post.

But what has never happened and will likely never happen due to our size is a political candidate having himself or himself filmed while worshiping with us and using that footage for a political ad. Last week, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Evans released a video on her Instagram account in which she was shown worshiping at Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church during the Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Ecumenical Service held on the national holiday. With a bluesy harmonica version of “Life Every Voice and Sing” the black American national anthem, as the soundtrack, Evans was shown walking in the sanctuary with the door being held for her, speaking with people in the pews, with her eyes closed and head bowed down in prayer, clapping, etc. Ebenezer’s pastor Dr. Warnock was shown in the pulpit area, the “Songbird of the South” Dottie Peoples sang in a shot. And then the crescendo of the ad is when her visage fades as Dr. King’s likeness comes into full focus…The words “Bringing Hope Back to Georgians” is the final message. Don’t believe me? See the political ad for yourself below…

Even with permission, this ad would have not been the move…Oh, so you comparing yourself to Dr. Martin the Luther the King Jr. in Atlanta? Oh, so you orchestrated a civil rights movement that is responsible for many if not most of black America’s civil rights? Oh, so you won a Nobel Peace Prize? Oh, so you are on a par with a martyr?

I mean that is the implication by the end of the ad even if that was not the intent. While we may have our first black princess across the pond in Meghan Markle  in a few months, as comedian Rickey Smiley recently said on The Wendy Williams Show, there are three families who have achieved royalty in the black American community – the Kings, the Jacksons and now the Obamas. You would do well to steer clear of any of them in black America if you’re trying to get black votes…

But the clincher of this spectacle is that the Evans campaign did not get permission of Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church for filming this ad. Where dey do dat at? Don’t believe me? See the official statement for yourself below….

The black church is the ultimate in sacred spaces in the black community and to parlay that experience for political capital is already a tricky thing…When political candidates show up at my church, we already know that they are not necessarily there to worship and may not even believe what we believe and we not even see them again until the election season, but we welcome them anyway because we do want to get a sense of who may be running the community in which our church is located. But this ad has gone too far. Turn to your right and turn to your left and say, “Neighbor, don’t use me in your political ad without permission.” Smh…And Ms. Evans may be a great governor but if she keeps on like this, she likely won’t get there…

Any thoughts?

 

 

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Gospel Artist Marvin Sapp Reveals Why He Almost Quit Singing On Next Episode of TV One’s UNSUNG Airing TONIGHT!

Hello World,

I was first introduced to Gospel artist Marvin Sapp about 20 years ago by a dear friend who has since sadly passed away from leukemia. I figured if my friend thought he was an awesome artist, I needed to check him out…

But it would be years from then when I became a true fan of Sapp’s music for myself. When “Never Would Have Made It” came out in 2007, I couldn’t go anywhere without hearing that song and I understood why. I think we can all testify that there is nothing we could have achieved without God or the help of someone else. I believe that Sapp was testifying about God, but the lyrics can be applied to anyone who has been a significant support in our lives…Check out some of the lyrics below….

I never, never would have made it
No, I never, never could have made it without you
I would have lost my mind a long time ago
If it had not been for you…

I remember on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008 when I was in the sanctuary of Ebenezer Baptist Church, along with the whole and packed church, waiting for the results of that historical election. I heard “Never Would Have Made It” at least three times during the night at the church. Me and the hilarious man sitting next to me didn’t care if we heard that song again for at least a few days. But when it was announced that Barack Obama was elected president, that song fit perfectly. President Obama would have never been elected president of these United States without God! That’s for sure.

All of that to say TV One’s longest-running and award-winning series Unsung, now in its 11th season, will air its latest episode featuring Marvin Sapp TONIGHT at 10 p.m. ET! Check out the promo below!

With one of the most unique voices in gospel music, Marvin Sapp has been spreading the Gospel through song for over three decades. His powerful mix of old-school sensibilities and new school swagger led him to dominate the gospel charts in the 2000s with seven Top 10 hits including the #1 songs, “Never Would’ve Made It,” “The Best in Me” and “My Testimony.”  The Midwestern pastor’s music resonated beyond the pulpit, often being played on mainstream radio and even landing on the Billboard R&B and Hot 100 charts.

But Sapp’s faith would be tested on several occasions – from illness, to personal attacks, to the tragic death of his wife, MaLinda, to colon cancer.

And he almost stopped singing….Check out a clip below about why he almost gospel music behind….

Sapp recently created headlines when he compared the popularity of Jay-Z’s latest album 4:44, in which the rapper reveals his infidelities in marriage, with how the public receives the music of gospel artists…Check out his commentary, which he posted on his Facebook page below…

Do you agree or disagree? Should we look past the imperfect lives of gospel artists and support their music? I think we should in general because not one of us is without sin. But on the other hand, there should be a demonstrable difference between the lives of those of us who have surrendered our lives to God and those of us who haven’t.

Speaking of other gospel artists, also on the Unsung episode, insights from family and friends are provided by Kirk Franklin, Byron Cage, Donald Lawrence, Dorinda Clark Cole, Myron Butler, Aundrae Russell, Marvin Winans Sr., Tyrone DuBose, Karl Reid, and Fred Hammond.

I’ll be watching Unsung with Marvin Sapp tonight! What about you?

Any thoughts?

 

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Remembering the Life of My Friend & Soror Sherry “Elle” Richardson…

Hello World,

If you hadn’t noticed, I took a brief hiatus from blogging. About three weeks ago, just before Memorial Day, my husband and I took a quick road trip to Tampa, Florida for his birthday so all of my extraneous energy was directed to that impromptu endeavor. And then the day after we returned, Memorial Day, I learned that a dear friend suddenly passed away. So it’s been difficult to collect my thoughts, much less write them or anything else down.

But here I am, back at a blank page, ready to reveal the ruminations I’ve had since my friend and soror Sherry “Elle” Richardson passed away, two weeks ago today, on her birthday.

This is how I looked when we first met. Yes, I was a geek at first 🙂

I met Sherry in 1992. I was a freshman at the University of Georgia in Athens, and she was a transfer student and sophomore. I met her along with another girl whom she had befriended before they met me. The three of us were fast friends, initially bonding over our desire to not be there at all. LOL! The three of us didn’t want to attend a white school, plain and simple. All devotees of “A Different World,” we were hungry to experience a historically black college or university, an HBCU, for ourselves. We wanted the funky marching band, the opportunity to meet our own Dwayne Wayne, Shazza Zulu or Julian Day (dependent on your taste in men), the endearing yet tough tutelage of black professors and the adventures that unfolded in dormitories teeming with people who looked like you but were from everywhere. Instead we were the minority, one of a few black faces at a school where we expected to learn but we couldn’t guarantee much else. But over time, we grew to love our historically white university and all that went with being a Georgia Bulldog in Athens at that time.

If college was a trip and it was, then Sherry was my travel agent. We had so many adventures together! A sheltered preacher’s daughter, I longed to party a la Ariel in “Footloose,” and Sherry was the perfect partner in partying. We practiced dancing in the mirror before we could “shake what your mama gave ya” in parties at Memorial Hall, where most on-campus parties were held! And if we felt like it, we ventured to Atlanta and partied in clubs all over town too. Our belief was it we weren’t dripping sweat when we left a party then we hadn’t partied.

But Sherry wasn’t all about partying though. We both wanted to establish ourselves as leaders on that colossal campus. One of the ways that we concocted to do so was to pledge a sorority. We noticed that most of the black women who seemed to be leaders were members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, plus they won all of the step shows and looked good doing so. Since she was a year ahead of me, Sherry was ready to pledge, but as a freshman, I wasn’t quite ready or qualified. Sherry decided that one of the ways that she could get the attention of the Deltas was to take part in the Miss Black University of Georgia pageant, which was sponsored by the sorority. Not only did she take part, she won the competition! I’m sure you can guess what happened after that. And when I was ready to pledge the following year, 1995, she successfully advocated for me to become a member of our illustrious sorority.

Partying in Atlanta after we graduated from college…I got better with time fortunately…

After she graduated in 1995 and I graduated in 1996, we kept in touch. In fact, I introduced her to many of childhood friends who promptly loved her as much as I did. In fact, some of these friends hung out with her without me at times. One of our first adventures as brand new adults was a girls trip we took to Jamaica in 1997. It was such a heady experience to travel with your girls on your own dime! The four of us belted out our rendition of TLC’s “Creep” over and over and over again at a karaoke spot one night. I remember shutting down a “hole in the wall” club another night. One day, we watched a brave friend jump from the cliff at Rick’s Cafe in Negril. We called the trip the “Girl Dems Sugar,” a song by Beenie Man that we heard repeatedly wherever we went on the island. And since Sherry was a film producer by profession, she filmed our adventures in a beautiful video that I have to figure out a way to see now since no one has a VCR anymore.

On the Metro in D.C. on Inauguration Day (don’t ask me why I have on pink and green?!)

Speaking of a VCR, fast forward years later, in 2009, several of us caravanned from Atlanta to Washington, D.C. to see the inauguration of President Obama. It was amazing that Sherry, one of my first friends at an institution where I feared I would be lost as a minority, and I witnessed the inauguration of the first black president of this country together. We bought thermal underwear, hand warmers and more to brave the bone-chilling temperatures on the mall that memorable day and shed it all to stun at the Southern Ball that night.

At the Southern Ball, one of several balls that President Obama and First Lady Obama stopped by…

And then in September 2012, we were back in Jamaica again as one of our friends, a childhood friend who now claimed Sherry as one of her besties, was getting married on the island. We were roommates, and it was a wonderful opportunity to catch up in a way that is sometimes hard to do as adults with jobs and other responsibilities. As we were there for a wedding, we discussed what love and marriage meant for us and pondered what that would look like for us as women nearing 40 years old.

At my book release party in 2012…

That next year, 2013, I helped Sherry celebrate her 40th birthday at a Hawaiian luau-themed party she had a her home. A month later, she came to my Southern tea-themed bridal shower followed by my wedding in August of that same year. As college students who lived down the hall from another one another, we saw each other every day. Naturally, as single women staking our claim in our chosen professions following college graduation, we didn’t see each other every day anymore. But we saw each other pretty regularly when our extended group of girls got together to explore the city from brunches, Memorial Day picnics, sisterhood retreats (which she created) at various homes and destinations, the “Sex and the City” movie premiere and more.

But I must admit, when I got married, I cocooned myself in newlywed bonding and didn’t avail myself to random hanging as much as I once did. I noticed the same pattern among friends who had gotten married before I did so I realized it was normal although not always advisable for maintaining friendships. When I heard the news of Sherry’s passing, I realized it had been quite some time since I had seen my friend…I only hope that Sherry knew how much I treasured my friendship with her over the years although recent life events dictated my time.

At a friend’s bridal shower…

Although I am a committed Christian, I cannot pretend that I have an inkling as to why God chose to call my friend away from this earthly realm. Since her homegoing, as I’ve walked throughout my house or driven somewhere, found myself saying, “Imagine Sherry is no longer here?” As I’ve gotten older, I’ve experienced the passing of friends, family members and church family, but it doesn’t make it easier or predictable. These experiences only emphasize that life is truly a transitory state. We should savor all that this life, though temporal, has to offer, but most importantly, we have to be saved or become a Christian to go to Heaven, which lasts for eternity.

So that’s all I have except to say I will miss and love her forever. And I thank God I knew her…

Rest well Sherry…Save a seat for me in eternity…

Any thoughts?