Meet the Twin Latter-day Saints - Africa to America

When people enter into a new setting, they like to see things that remind them of themselves. The same thing occurs in church, particularly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When African Americans join the church, they find in many areas that no one in their congregations actually provide them with a visual reflection that matches their own. Seeing so few people that reflect can cause social trouble and loneliness.

Ghana Temple

Source: Travelers Palm - Bewildered Greeny

Members of Twin Latter-day Saints & Friends and Family

Abba Nigeria Temple

Source: www.ksl.com

Members of Twin Latter-day Saints Friends and Family

The Need

Dale Wight saw a need in the Latter-day Saint community for something to help this minority in its US LDS community, Black Latter-day Saints. He calls it Twin Latter-day Saints.

The term Twin Latter-day Saints refers to the people on the other side of the world that look like African Americans who are joining the church and become examples of faith and strength.

What happens when you look in a mirror? You see your reflection! Your reflection looks like you and moves with you, but it is different in that it does the same thing on the opposite side. It will not disturb you because you know that it is a reflection of what you are doing.

In Africa, there exists a great many Latter-day Saints who look like their twin brothers and sisters in America, African Americans.

This group of twins to the African Americans purpose is to be lodestars of faith of people that look like them and are also Latter-day Saints!

The church is slowly growing among African Americans--too slowly in the view of many. Yet it is flourishing in Africa.

In the feature film Meet the Mormons the bishop as shown below is one of thousands of faith Latter-day Saints who identifies as African American

It is believed that African Americans ostracized in the LDS church after joining because many give up traditional cultural ties to music and worship to associate with the predominately White congregations in America.

With so few Black Latter-day Saints to associate with, these new members may find it tempting to leave despite the burning witness that the teachings of the church are true.

The cultural ties among African Americans as in any ethnic group can be very powerful being that African Americans had to depend on themselves as a group mostly through their Black churches over the decades after slavery and through the Civil Rights Movement.

Cultural connections pale in comparison to the blessing of the gospel, but they do exist. Dale Wight’s idea of providing a way for these members in America to see people that look like them participating in traditional Latter-day Saint practices is an unofficial step to move toward alleviating that issue. Dale said,

Part of the inspiration for this group came from an encounter my wife and I had with Elder Sitati in 2009. He spoke at the Los Angeles Stake's conference shortly after joining the [First Quorum of the Seventy]. My wife [Barbara] asked how we could get more missionaries from Africa to work in the black communities in the US like [the one] she came from.

Though the answer Barbara Wight sought did not come directly because of Elder Sitati, it came in the form of her husband. On the Twin Latter-day Saints Facebook page it reads:

This group is for Black Latter Day Saints and their friends and families. It also is for those who may be interested in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

The purpose of this group is to share testimonies, uplifting messages, scriptural quotes, references, questions and answers, upcoming events and activities, poetry, good clean comedy, and FamilyHome Evening Ideas.

Twins are two people who look alike but have had different experiences. "Twin Latter-day Saints" refers to the Black Latter-day Saints in Africa and in America; they look alike but have had very different experiences. The Church is strong and growing rapidly in Africa. Already, there are more than twenty stakes in Nigeria alone. So far, there only have been two black stake presidents in the US.

One purpose of Twin Latter-day Saints will be to become a forum to leverage the Church's strength in Africa to provide missionary and fellowshipping support in the U.S. This may be simple things like posting videos and photos of stakes and wards in Africa so our [church] members and others in the US can see and hear parts of the Church [in Africa] in which they would be like all the other [areas of the church].

Johannesburg South Africa Temple

Source: www.mormontemplepics.com

Not yet under construction. This picture is of a Meeting House call a Ward Building in Durban, RSA

Source: Durban South Africa Temple (Announce 2011)

Blackness Explored

The Obama Effect

Source

On The African American Experience

Aside from the hurt and bitter feelings of some die-hard Mitt Romney supporters and the white-hot anger of the Anti-Obama people, electing President Obama for a second term created history again for the American people.

During Black History Month from 2008 forward, it can be said that a man of African heritage ruled the most powerful nation in the world for eight years! He ruled a nation where less than 200 years previously his African heritage would have pegged him a slave. Just 40 years shy of the Civil Rights Movement did a minority take office!

It does not matter that President Obama is a Democrat or that he is bi-racial. Because there is a shred of African in him, he is considered African American according to American racial tradition. He was born in America, no matter what the people say opposite about that. He lived his life mostly as an African American and will be listed in the annals of time as an African American President! During the first election, however, it was not so.

What the president did for Americans is to introduce the notion that race should not matter.

Black By Default

Over the course of the years President Obama served the country, the attitudes of many African Americans changed towards him.

Apparently, the fact that his father is not American and actually from an African nation means that Barack Obama, the president, has no African American stock in his genes.

He is the first generation, and his ancestors did not share in the humiliation of the African American historical struggle OUTSIDE of the Civil Rights Movement.

No matter how the dial is twisted, the president is of African descent and can call himself African American or Black, but he cannot claim the struggle that generational groups of African Americans claim.

The president knows his ancestral roots and has a connection to his heritage if he so desires. He has a brother residing overseas to connect to his father’s homeland. President Obama’s connection to true African American culture is through his wife Michelle who is actually a generational American of African descent.

What the president did for Americans is to introduce the notion that race should not matter. It seems that African Americans are so psychologically distressed culturally as a group that they will African-Americanize any and every person with African bloodlines—whether from slavery ancestrally or Africa itself!

Tiger Woods

Source

• Asked to Declare His Race, Obama Checks ‘Black’
  A White House spokesman confirmed that Mr. Obama, the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, checked African-American on the 2010 census questionnaire.

It is no surprise that so many shades of African Americans exist with so many hair textures. Bi-racial and multi-racial people who have African ancestry are not allowed to express their unique heritage without ridicule. Even if, say, Tiger Woods says he is not African American, that group will claim him by default.

In 1997, Tiger woods attempted to except himself from the African-American community at large and defined himself. Silly man!

People are not allowed to define themselves in American society! Regardless of what he decided to call his ethnic and racial disposition, most of the world labels him Black.

President Obama slyly avoided racial remarks about his origin--the thing that Tiger Woods should have done on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1997.

When asked by Oprah did having the label of "African American" thrown at him bother him he admitted, “It does...I'm just who I am, whoever you see in front of you.”

"I'm just who I am, whoever you see in front of you."

The issue with Tiger Woods statement is that he did not leave it at that. He proceeds to describe what he IS when what people SEE in front of them is a light-complexioned Black man.

President Obama did what Mr. Woods should have done. He let people describe what they saw and did not pander to any direction. People saw, eventually, an African American president; no, an American president with African-American ethnicity and racial social classification.

Black People Claim Everybody

Source

Source

Why all this grabby behavior by this Group of Americans?

The simple answer is the past is not a proud one for this group. Millions of people were purchased by Europeans and taken to the American continent against their wills.

In The Truth about Being Black in America can be found a perspective on the psychological implication of this past of servitude. In it is a term coined for the article called Collective Social Regard or CSR. CSR can be applied to any group but fits specifically well with African Americans because of their unique, singular and peculiar history.

Since the past is such a negative matter for this group of Americans, it claims as much of the present and future that it can to fill the void of cultural heritage.

In America, some of these citizens go so far as to try to create alternate cultural heritages to differ extremely from the majority, Caucasians. The irony about diverging in such a way is that the new cultures are based on European values, and not those of the mysterious Africans forced to emigrate in ships.

African Americans are a uniquely American group through and through. This group has a heritage that even the Native Americans can not equal because their ancestors migrated here by land and sea—by choice!

No other group was forced as an entire race of thousands of ethnicities to relocate, as were African Americans with the additional suppression of their culture and language. Few other groups or races. if any other. in American history survived cultural genocide committed against them, as the African American.

The election of President Obama for two terms proves that racial barriers can be overcome by minorities grounded in his or her history and comfortable with his or her heritage as is President Obama. Culturally, he and his family are similar enough to the majority to appeal to their humanity.

In addition, as a bi-racial man in a European culture, President Obama had to bear his burden of ridicule from both Black people and White people. He had to decide with which group he identified most and hopefully be accepted into that group. He struggled with identity issues and found that he identified with African Americans. His struggle was real and personal though his heritage was not of slave stock.

Will the son (or daughter) of a slave ever be president of these United States? Will a person who has ancestral stories of sharecropping after the Emancipating Proclamation was put forth by the Great and Honorable President Abraham Lincoln gain such lofty heights? Does it matter if that ever happens because a minority won the race? The answer to those questions depends on the perspective from which the reader views these words.

Source

When Americans voted, they voted for a president of the United States of America.

Americans did not vote for a Black president. Barack Obama did not run as a Black candidate. In meetings of some African Americans around the nation, certain expressions can be heard that are acridly describing the president calling him the head N**ger in charge.

Statements by comedians who say, “You know how WE do,” implying that there is some difference in the methods of enjoyment, style, life or integrity of Blacks as opposed to other races and ethnicities.

There well may be many cultural differences. Those differences are not a conviction that the “WE” are honorable and praiseworthy people.

President Obama means so much to African-Americans because he represents something good and positive like unto Martin Luther King, Jr.

Source

Conclusion

The former president will always be to African-Americans the face of freedom in America. Maybe one day, some minority woman of Mexican ancestry will rise to popularity and represent the Latinos. Will the Latinos accept this person if he or she is born in the US Puerto Rico, with one parent from Spain and the other parent with Mexican heritage? For now, the spotlight is on President Trump, which to many seems like a step backward in "post-racist" America.

Street Contacting On Umtata's (Mthatha) Town Square. Missionary Stories.

One of the hottest days that I could remember is in February,  the middle of summer in South Africa! Being a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was one of the dreams of my life I fulfilled as I went about with Elders Thompson, Streadbeck, and Danisa doing community service at the medicine dispensary counting pills and putting them in bottles.

The city, Umtata (now Mthatha), was always alive with pedestrian activity in the center of town near the government buildings. We four headed there to do some street contacting to tell any interested passerby that we had a life-changing message to share.

Any and everybody who is anybody passed through that town center in front of the courthouse on business—at least once a week. So of course, it was the best place to open our mouths to the public.

As usual, we four prayed and separated to do our work. We always made sure we remained within earshot of each other, but on this particular day, earshot rules proved challenging to keep. Missionaries follow rules that protect them from things, kidnappings, and scandals in the local area that would cause the locals not to listen or trust them and the Church. The rules also help to keep the Church out of the news in the wrong ways due to the misbehavior of its representatives.

Street contacting was not one of the things I enjoyed doing because of the rejection that usually followed and how public and embarrassing those rejections could become. Being a new missionary at the time, I really did not want to be out there. Cold-calling with faces is what I called it--my face to another person's face who might spit in mine!

Remembering that I was there to share the truths that I had come to know because I loved God, I pressed forward. "Excuse me, sir," I said to a smartly dressed man walking in the courtyard in front of the Courthouse. "I am a missionary from the Church of--"

"I no English," was his brisk reply as he moved on dismissively.

"Excuse me, Sir," I said to the next man near me. "I have a message from the Lord!"

"You are so young to teach me emfana (young man)," the other man laughingly retorted before moving passed me with an incredulous smirk on his face. I hate rejection. 

Rejection was not so bad in Umtata (Mthatha). It came so infrequently because of the pleasant nature of the Xhosa people that I learned to look past it. Those who did accept my invitation were not precisely the ones I targeted. Black Americans did not frequent Umtata. I was a novelty. That little bit of celebrity would get attention as the people strained at my message only to get a chance to speak to a Black American.

I recorded their names and weeded them out by inviting them to Church. If they pitched up at Church, we would teach them the message we promised would bring them joy in life. The ones whom we targeted, capable men, I hesitated to pitch on occasion. We were discriminant of whom we tried to actively teach. Such discrimination was not due to any belief that boys, women, or girls would not add value to the Church. We proceeded that way so that we could find men with wives and children who could, as a family unit, explore the Gospel together. That was our goal, families. We targeted men because women tend to be more willing to seek out the missionaries on their own. The best way to get to whole families was through the husband, we determined. 

In this mode of discrimination, I found myself when I jolted at a sight. There I stood in a suit in the sweltering hot sun of South Africa when my estranged girlfriend walked up! At least that is who she reminded me of the moment I saw her. I spoke to her.

"Hello," She said. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm sharing a message about Jesus Christ,” I returned overcoming my amazement. I saw two gentlemen pass by who looked as if they would speak to me, but saw I was engaged with this young woman of marital age and moved on. Frustration began to well up inside of me because this woman made it hard for me to think clearly.

"That is good,' she continued."I too am going about speaking of God and His word."

Deciding to make the best of this I said, "So what church do you belong to?"

"Jehovah’s Witness, I go to the Kingdom Hall"

Yes! I shouted within myself. If I tell her I'm a "Mormon," (though we prefer to be called members of the Church we belong to) she will run away in fear. "Really, I have an older brother in that church? I am a Mormon." She did not move.

“I attend The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons.” Still, she did not move.

“What church is that?” she returned interrogatively. 

She had a smile on her face and she kept the sweat from her eyes with a white kerchief. I thought profoundly of my estranged love and how much I missed her; but also on my mind were the dozens of potential priesthood holders passing me by as I explained things to this woman, who looked like the woman I loved!

Also, Jehovah's Witnesses tended to not appreciate "Mormon" Missionaries in the United States. Apparently, that was not the case in the good old Republic of South Africa, RSA!

For some reason, my companion had not rescued me from this lengthy conversation with the girlfriend look-alike. The rule is if the conversation went too long, the other missionary would come and join the conversation or save the other from mobs, which Elder Thompson had to do several times for me. But he was engaged with someone too!

The purpose of this young woman was to convert me to her beliefs. I could tell after a few minutes. She and others of her faith were in the square competing for proselytes,, and I was the enemy. Her whole purpose was to keep me occupied as the others sought out candidates after she discovered I was in direct competition with her beliefs. 

“Elder Johnson," called Elder Thompson finally coming to my aid after the woman left.  "How come you did not end the conversation and move on?" I had moved out of his eyesight during my interview with the South African girlfriend doppelganger.

I shrugged it off, and he never let me too far from his sight again. I think I may have mentioned to him later how much that lady looked like my "waiting for me unofficially" girlfriend. I learned that day that polite conversation is good, unless you are a missionary, and the person you speak to is a replica of the woman whom you left in the States missing severely!

Shooting of Black Men

The fatalities of Black men paraded around the news and within the causes of minority groups to satisfy popular media instead of correcting the problem of how to change the antecedent stimulus only precipitates a problem that will lead to cultural wars and more rioting.

February 26, 2012, marks the tragic end of the life of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin at the hands of a neighborhood watch member, George Zimmerman.

What a travesty of a great program to protect our neighborhoods--marred by such a situation, reminding us that no system of protection exists without the flaws of humanity twisting their ways into the works. What a tragedy in the loss of life; one to the grave and the other to social derision.

As unfortunate as the death of this Florida teen is and ever will be, opponents of the “Stand Your Ground” policies that permit citizens to use force, deadly force to protect themselves in the event of threats use the Martin family tragedy to advance rhetoric to remove it.

Further, this tragedy is complicated by racially charged groups jockeying for a voice in the matter to claim Zimmerman executed the youth due to racial motives rather than shooting while defending himself. Zimmerman was on trial a year later.

A year later and after blatant tarnishing of Trayvon Martin’s memory extended to the august chambers of the United States legislators as one congressperson, Bobby Rush, donned apparel similar to the youth in protest to racial profiling—though the rules of Congress prohibit such demonstrations has faded into history other stories of violence paint the American collective mind with sorrow and anxiousness.

The fatalities of Black men paraded around the news and within the causes of minority groups to satisfy popular media instead of correcting the problem of how to change the antecedent stimulus only precipitates a problem that will lead to cultural wars and more rioting.

Gov. Deval Patrick, A continued plague of social warfare?

Race may have been a factor in the slaying of the men by police officers. The societal evidence that a large percentage of criminals in the justice system are minorities, with an overwhelming percentage disproportionately African Americans when compared to the 12 to 15 percent Blacks comprise of the US population supports the misconception that Blacks are inherently criminal. Michael Brown and Ferguson... Nothing has changed.

Historical and cultural norms have not progressed enough to assuage the long-held perceptions that people of color are inherently suspicious from the days of racial purity popularly held by the British influences of early America.

These deeply rooted cultural blots bleed into every aspect of American society and every cultural group—lending to the suspicion of minority groups that Caucasians secretly desire to oppress them.

Racism exists on both fronts. Minorities bastardize historical racism with comparisons to implied affronts, while Caucasians diminish or dismiss true instances of racism based on the rancorous claims of minorities that seem to surface so often.

Though morally unpopular, racism is not against the law. We are free to detest whom we will. When we attempt to uphold racist beliefs with action against any group to harm, then it is illegal. America is scarred with prejudice and change comes slowly, very much so.

“I’m sick of unarmed black men being shot by police. We have a great challenge in this country acknowledging the extraordinary progress we have made on race relations ... And at the same time, acknowledging how much remains to be done.” Boston Herald.

Racism?

Zimmerman may have acted on a preconceived belief about Black men in certain apparel when he followed the boy around the neighborhood in opposition to the 911 dispatcher’s advice before he reported defending himself; however, translating his crime into a race hate crime is at best suspect. 

Can the same be said about the officers who choked Eric Garner until he passed away? Was his resistance to the police because of cultural norms that led to his death? Did Officer Daniel Pantaleo act on latent racist triggers or was the psychological impact of American culture in play?

Certain elements must be present to justify that accusation. What motivated him internally cannot be proven unless Daniel Pantaleo specifically states that his motivations for using his arrest technique on Garner were because of his African American heritage, or other evidentiary items surface.

In the Zimmerman/Martin situation, no one reported that Zimmerman is multiracial making it a minority-on-minority hate crime proven beyond doubt in a court of law that Trayvon did attack George and not a White against Black hate crime. Though such distinction is judicially moot, social perceptions treat the same matter differently.

In many reports, the items found with the Martin youth are stated with an undercurrent of accusation that lethal force was aggressive. The lack of witnesses to the incident and the psycho-social implication of Zimmerman’s name without reference to his racial identity automatically implant the idea in the collective psyche of America to take a position to fill the gap of information—for or against Zimmerman. A year later, has any of that changed?

This incident did not become the chagrin to the nation further socially. Rational people recognized racial potential evident to the case and avoided it. America has other things to worry about. Trayvon's family is still grieving. Thousands of families grieve because of the tactics of the policing systems in the United States.

The problem the police face is whether to respond with deadly force or not. When a person resists arrest as did many of the fatalities and most arrest ending with brutality, what are the cops to do?

Should they allow themselves to be killed or wounded? Mark Collins was shot and wounded in the line of duty by a Black man, Sheldon Leftenant. Collins was shot in his neck and hip. Rushed by helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital, he lived.

Are Black men being hunted? Leftenant is gang affiliated.  Are police officers being hunted? Did Sheldon allegedly shoot the officer in fear?

Death is tragic by itself. If Zimmerman’s claim is true, which it is decided that it is by the courts, he should not suffer for protecting himself against an aggressor just because that aggressor happens to be Black, and neither should cops suffer. BUT... they should be investigated pervasively!

The “Stand Your Ground” policy should never be in question, but the motives of those who would employ it to veil criminal acts are still out there!

How does it compare to the killing of unarmed Black men by police officers--something that has not decreased over time and is receiving more news? Did those police officers feel threatened by the men because of what they wore? Were the hands up to surrender a sign of aggression. Either way, another minority is shot and killed.

Moroni Saw Me

Moroni Saw Me: Hope is the essence of faith in things that are true. Through the challenges of life, a young boy journeys for peace, acceptance, and joy. The story is about budding faith that grows into the thriving flowers of hope with the guided hand of the divine. Rodric, the boy, finds challenges that seem constant with the loss of a loved one or the challenge of standing alone. 

Longing for a paternal relationship he never gets, Rodric finds his Father in God as he turns to Him for support. He goes through humorous experiences, daring adventures and near-fatal rendezvous all with the same goal in mind, hope in something more, which he finds! 

The boy grows into a man dealing with more love and loss and the realities of racism even in the face of religion. Finding faith alone is not enough urges him onward to discipleship as he suffers greatly to refine himself more to become like his Master Jesus Christ. 

Experience the passion, the joy, the journey and the hope of one man under the prophetic eye of Moroni, an ancient American prophet who provided the guide that led Rodric to Christ. Hope is the driving force of the human condition to reach for greatness. Will it last? Yes! Reach with him!

I, Donald Trump

I wasn't going to be public about this, but I changed my mind. When I went to the polls to vote for president, I received a strong impression to vote for Donald Trump. I did not do it. 

I do not think that I disliked any presidential candidate more than him. I did not like him as a person before he even considered running for president. He, and I must say it honestly, is a Jerk to me. HE IS A JERK!

There is no BUT in this. He is a jerk. I have no idea why I received a prompting to vote for him except I prayed that God would put the right person in the presidential office for the job. I agree with his moral stances on marriage and family--issues like abortion. I just don't like HIM!

I could not listen to that prompting. It might have been God trying to tell me not to judge the man for his past. It didn’t occur to me until I read on Facebook under one of my favorite authors views a responder who experienced the same thing I did. She was prompted to vote for Trump. I think she was able to follow through with it.  I am so prejudiced against him because of his behavior. When he is sworn into office, I will do my best to speak honorably of him, but I had to get it out that I hate his behavior. I am ashamed that he will represent me--especially if he does not shelve his bad behavior.

Why I did not Like Trump

I did not like Trump because I think he is rude, that's it. I do not dislike Bill Clinton, who is also a womanizer. Bill is not rude, though. I say all this because I am going to repent and pray that God helps me to not harbor so much contempt for this man.

I care that he might be racist. I care. I have lived, worked and worshiped with racist people my entire life. I expect people to be that way now. I have behaved that way on occasion. I think I dislike Trump so much because inside I am just like him and not man enough to admit it, even though I might have just done that. We often hate in others the weaknesses that are evident in ourselves.

It is really myself I Hate?

I do not celebrate such thoughts. If I am a racist, I Know I am working to change through the atonement of Jesus Christ, who will help me. Because I am a Black person, I can get away with writing this or saying it. I know I can because I have in the past. I want to say I DO NOT speak of any race in derision in public or private. I do, though. I joked about being Black in Church on Sunday! In church! I did the same thing about White people—knowing that my categorical statements were just jokes. But there is some truth behind every joke, whether it is my truth or a societal truth. So, I reflect on whether I genuinely harbor racist feelings toward Whites and others or even other Blacks—it is possible.  

I could not vote for Trump because I am like him, or what I assume him to be—a racist, misogynistic, jerk. If I am really that, then maybe I should cleanse my inner vessel more so that I can see Trump clear enough. I don’t want to dislike myself, so I project on a scapegoat other than THE SCAPEGOAT, Jesus.

Charity of the Believer

Now, I have to give Trump the same love as I give myself. Sometimes it is hard to want to live my life as a Christian. I do not abuse myself for fleeting thoughts or misplaced statements. Why should I insult Trump for misplaced words? I do my best to keep my opinions hidden from others so they will not dislike me. I don’t tell people who are ugly, stupid, nasty and such that they are those things because I care about how it makes them feel, even it I think it is true. Wrong.

I do say my thoughts sometimes. I put my foot in my mouth more than I care to admit. That is why I find myself smiling and making jokes so much. I am trying not to be taken seriously so that people will dismiss my words if I slip up.

My heart is still heavy because of what I did almost 20 years ago as a missionary in South Africa to another missionary who showed me a picture of his sister. I told him she was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. It was not right, and there is more to the story, but does that not sound like Donald Trump?

I have repented and begged that person’s forgiveness, but I have still not forgiven myself completely. That is why I cannot stand Donald Trump. He is just like me. Well, maybe not just like.

I am trying to change. Maybe Donald is too.

Media Produce Fear of Police

My oldest son was outside with all of his friends as I pulled to a stop in our driveway. One of his friends had parked in my usual spot, so I parked behind the car that they all worked on that night.

One of the kids greeted me with a hug, his normal custom, and told me to turn around. He had a stern look on his face, which for this kid was uncommon but I thought that he was fooling with me as this and most friends of my son did often. I think of them as my kids too when they are at my home and tell them as much.

“Dad (all my son's friends call me that),“ he finally prevailed upon me. "You should really turn around," he said. I did. 

To my astonishment, a police officer stood behind me trying to get my attention. A Police officer followed me home! This happened in February of 2016.  He followed me without my knowledge to my house. He did not turn on lights or try to gain my attention in any way other than when I exited the car. 

What I imagined is the picture to the right. 
The scene in my yard so distracted me—of the commotion of teens—that I did not notice the patrol car in my rearview mirror approaching. The officer said, “Sir, I just wanted to let you know your right headlight is out.”

“Okay,” I muttered stunned, and a bit surprised that someone was behind me. The man was one of those fit cop-types too. The one you know knew some type of fighting style that could catch a criminal who darted away on foot.  

“You have a good night sir,” he said leaving. I think he might even have smiled.

“You too,” I responded. After he left, I grabbed the teen who alerted me, and I hugged him tightly with nervous laughter as if he was my rescuer from sudden death!

“I am so glad that you are White,” came the words out of my mouth! “I do not know how this would have gone if you and all these other kids (who were also White) were not here.” He laughed, but I was serious.

I did not let on that I was serious about my involuntary reaction words following the departure of the officer to them. I made a big show of how dangerous it is for me since I am Black and that cops shoot people like us. I had them laughing as I left them to enter my home. The officer was also a White person.

The officer I got was actually like the picture to the left.

One time in my life has the police detained me for looking SUSPICIOUS occurred in Nashville, GA because it was raining outside at night and I was running away from Judge Knight’s house. I had gone there with my cousin to use the phone. We then ran a quarter of a mile or so to the store where a patrol car pulled up, and the officers told us to wait there for our parents. The officers were not mean. We were kids, and we did what they said.

A neighbor had called out of concern because she saw two people running from the judge’s house when she knew that the judge’s wife was at home alone and ill. That we were Black may have been an issue, but I could never know. This neighbor would have called had anyone been running from the judge’s home.

Fast-forward to February 2016. My first reaction was to thank God that there were White people in my yard! I have never been hurt or insulted by the police. I felt guilty. He could have pulled me over and given me a ticket, but he did not. He waited until I was safely in my yard. He did not even yell at me but tried to gain my attention apologetically, and I returned his behavior with fear and distrust.

All of this is because I hear in the media that police shoot Black men, unarmed Black men. I live in Arizona where most people seemed to be armed due to the state laws so I could say he was polite just in case I was carrying, legally carrying and he did not want to surprise me. I could say that he saw the White people in my yard and decided not to harm me due to their presence. I could say many things. He probably didn’t even know I was Black until I exited the vehicle!

I am ashamed, though. I am ashamed that I have started to distrust the police due to what I have seen on TV, heard on the radio, and viewed on YouTube. It is this type of fear that I felt that causes people to believe things that are not true about others.  It causes prejudice.  Little by little, I am allowing the influence of the media to take away my trust in the police. Heck, my wife has an uncle who is a detective! He was an officer of the law for years before that. I have acquaintances who are officers of the law!

I have never been arrested. I received tickets and knew that I deserved them. Thank God I have never met the cops who abuse their position. Even if I did, I would be compliant. Why was I afraid?

I feared because the media, in order to reach its goal to sell information, has fostered a culture of fear and prejudice. They, the media, have taken true events and lambasted them across the information web so much that it has created hysteria. The media is what caused the phenomenon that ended up being World War II! Hitler used it to help win the election in Germany and start another Reich. 

Media, stop supporting fear in my heart and inform me so that I can actually make a choice based on education and not emotion alone. You have betrayed me Media. Stop making me afraid of the police. Stop polarizing the people!

Thanks to you REAL patriots of the world (all nations) who inform us of the truth—real reporters, journalists, and history recorders. I love my USA REAL Patriots for giving the truth though you are small in number. Thanks for keeping me honest about what is going on in society and with me. Now I can guard against the apostasy of New Media.