By Rev. John Jackson
As January 20, 2025, fastly approaches, it seems that America faces a choice. Many believe that America has already made its choice in a so-called mandate, but that cannot be true when the majority of Americans choose not to vote. There were more people who did not vote than people in America who voted. As in most elections Presidential or otherwise far more people choose to not participate in the election process than actually do, therefore we only get a small percentage of people in any election and that cannot truly represent a mandate.
Thus, America stands at the crossroads of a choice.
Will a small segment of society who are trying to carry on a tradition of subjugation and neutering the rights of people they disagree with from receiving adequate resources, opportunities and the right to live in dignity define America?
Will rapacious corporations and greedy CEOs have carte blanche to raid the public treasury and buy up all the water for their personal use?
Please see Engineering News on how Elon Musk is preparing to build a lithium refinery that will require eight million gallons of water daily. Meanwhile, the community of Corpus Christi, TX, is rationing water because it is basically dry.
Will these billionaires be able to continue unimpeded to destroy the ecosystem that keeps all of us alive because of their greed as they also create a new slavery class in the Congo on the continent of Africa, forcing people to mine necessary minerals to power our obsession with cell phones, computers, and tech gadgets?
Will certain people in America continue the lie that America is a Christian nation against the precepts of the very constitution they claim to honor as they try to bully and force everybody to believe as they believe, which is NOT a part of the biblical narrative nor was it a directive from the Lord of the church Jesus the Christ?
On the other hand, will America live up to its creed that all people are created equal and endowed by the creator with inalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
Will America honestly choose to become a “United States,” or will it continue to fracture as individuals who have manipulated themselves into power through lies, deceit and demagoguery continue to split and splinter groups of people in this country by their verbal vomit?
Will America, after January 20th, choose to see all lives as made in the “Imago Dei,” the image of God, and make an effort to design equitable policies that do not privilege the wealthy over the poor and that will no longer place profit over people?
America has a choice to make, just as the successor to Moses gave the newly freed Israelites in the book of Joshua.
Joshua challenged the people with these words: “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
And as we look to honor the “Drum Major for Peace,” we also must remember the un-sanitized King who also challenged America to change its haughty and oppressive ways when he said, “America faces the triple evils of racism, materialism and militarism.”
King profoundly addressed inequity in America with these words: “Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.”
America has a choice; no, you have an option to make. Do you believe that America can follow in the failed footsteps of the Roman Empire or the British Empire and compel people in this country and in this world into a Forced peace like the Pax Romana that Rome experienced, where it was the most hated regime of its time, or do you believe that King’s hope in a Beloved Community like we see in the Acts of the Apostles in chapter 2 and 4 where everybody is valued and has enough of whatever they need is the direction we should be guided in.
King’s words may help to put some steel in your back, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Joshua’s words also challenge you to “choose this day who you will serve…”
Be well, Be authentic, and Stay Woke! Uhuru Sassa!
Rev. Dr. John E. Jackson, Sr. is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ-Gary, 1276 W. 20th Ave. in Gary. “We are not just another church but we are a culturally conscious, Christ-centered church, committed to the community; we are unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian.” Contact the church by email at [email protected] or by phone at 219-944-0500.
