Looking for Peace.....through the barrel of a loaded gun.

BANG- BANG- BANG---no it’s not a song on the radio but it is the sound of poverty that many people blame on violence.  Where does this violence come from?  Is it from a foreign country?  Is it extraterrestrial?  It is a form of expression that is human in nature but something has to draw it out.  Here’s an example; you and I are walking down the street and one of us gets mugged what would you most likely do?  Well chances are the one that is not being mugged will take action to stop the attack.  The mugger might turn around and start to attack the other one defending and now it’s a fight.  The defender now sees that they need to not only defend their friend but themselves as well.  The defender will take whatever action they feel is right to stop the attack.  In moments like these you have no time to think you just react and you will see how quickly one can become violent.  So how does that relate to gang violence?  Glad you asked…

Gang violence is NOT the first choice of a “gang member” or of the overall gang structure itself.  It is the end result of an accumulation of anger and frustration within that community.  Anger and frustration of what you ask…another great question thanks!

POVERTY and government MISMANAGEMENT of funds and responsibility within these communities!

Yesterday on the South Side of Chicago the congregation of a church sang "I Am on the Battlefield for My Lord" (according to a Chicago Tribune article today) and that church members may be putting themselves in harm’s way…really?  How long have we been marching down our city streets to “stop the violence?”  A very long time and nothing has changed because the root cause hasn’t changed which is poverty.  You CANNOT expect that a march will actually stop violence because the Brothers and Sisters out there are out there because they are lacking some basics in their lives.  We can’t magically think ourselves out of poverty there needs to be real action from people that are in positions that are obligatory to help people in need.  How many more pastors do we need to see on TV, while wearing their best suit, talk about ending violence?  It has become a joke at this point because it’ll be in the news one day and the next everyone is too busy to take real action.  What is real action?  You are just full of great questions today!  Thanks for asking!

Real action consists of several avenues though the list is not a full list it’s at least a start:

Education- not only making sure that every public school in your community is fully funded but also educating yourself and others about the root reason and cause to the violence.  It is about drugs but go deeper and realize that Heroin is NOT grown on the West Side but brought in from other countries, what do you do there?

Being active- this is tough in poor communities because people are working odd hour jobs and usually more than one job.  But with technology today being active can be done many ways anywhere from signing a petition for better city services to keeping a community center open.

Be a community- back in the 1990’s there was an enormous push for Block clubs because people started to use “it takes a village…” slogan and those of us that worked in the hood quickly saw how these same adults that cursed the gang members became a gang of their own with their Block clubs.  Community is about caring for everyone that is in it and comes through it no matter who they are.  Find how that can work in your community.

Being responsible- this is mostly for people with those titles that commit them to helping those in need.  I find it hard to understand how it is that I have to try and convince a pastor to helping the community.  It’s amazing how people will say “we just need to pray about it and let God do what God does” have you ever thought that just maybe God empowered you to become a preacher so that YOU can answer the action in that prayer!?  DUH!!!!!  AS for the others as in politicians, teachers, etc…you are in these positions to help people and if you took it and get bothered by having to do a little more than expected then you didn’t understand your position.  Public service, human services, education, health services should NEVER be a job it should be a position within the community to be a resource.

Martin Luther King Jr. was on the battle field but it was to demand the human right of acknowledgement from not only this government but from this society.  The battle field for these church members should not be against their own people in their own hood it needs to be in front of every government office and demand human equality to provide as they have promised.  No one is begging for free anything but when you have been denied for so long your demands become stronger and louder.

BANG-BANG-BANG to me is the sound of a Brother screaming for education and a future, not hope, but an actual future where they will become successful.  I had someone say that the opportunities are out there and you just have to grab them and I do agree that they are out there.  My issue is this, if the government was willing to spend, since the Nixon administration, $1 trillion dollars on anti-drug “programs”   why is it NOT willing to equally fund public education across the board?  So the opportunity of going to a top rated public school is out there but if my child goes to a public school that is underfunded and has an array of other issues then how does one obtain that opportunity?  You say they just have to work harder…really?  But why don’t we as adults work harder to make sure these schools have everything they need?  Why are we putting the burden on the children?  I’m not saying we need to hand people things on a silver platter but we do need to remain responsible to what we as a society have promised ourselves and our future.

How would things change if 16 and 17 year old youth would have the right to VOTE?

Let’s find out…..

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo

Looking for Peace.....I AM KING.

The evolution in one’s life sometimes takes on a previous role and makes it better and adds on what you have learned since the last time.  Over the weekend I was honored to have been ordained as a Deacon in the Universal Anglican Church by the Presiding Bishop The Most Rev. Craig Bergland.  I come into this position as many others before me that are “like” me that have had a life in the streets and “found” Jesus and left that life for the church.  I haven’t found Jesus because I never lost sight of Him, always by my side whether I was doing good or bad.  Never have I heard Him reject someone for who they are instead He showed me how to LOVE ALL.  I also have not rejected or eliminated my “life” from the street because I do not find it necessary to do so.  At the risk of offending everyone I believe that for me to be a strong man of God I have to be a King so a King I am!

What does it mean to be a King?  Well there are a lot of different types of Kings throughout history and currently there are 34 countries or places on Earth that have the potential of having a King.  There are only 6 that carry Absolute power over their domain and one of them is HH Pope Benedict XVI.  Yup the Pope is a King in his own way but nonetheless he is one. 

Being a King is not an easy thing because there are a lot of different expectations from a lot of different people both negative and positive.  Most expectations of my Kingship are negative and the people within my Nation have created that expectation but not out of desire but out of despair.  Some of them are to blame but most have just followed blindly into an arena of disaster and one of my duties is to help them out of that arena both as a Deacon and as a King.  

I may not seem to be a King in your eyes and even if I wore my emblem on my chest you might still disregard me and I accept that because it is not for you to see…

The road I have traveled to be a King started when I was 10 years old and at 37 I hold my head up high because I know clearly what it means to be this sort of King.  I am not embarrassed by it and I make no excuses because no one else makes excuses for being an American when America screws up so why should I?  My Nation is one born out of despair, pain, courage, persistence, and faith so when my CROWN is held it is not only my hands holding it but the hands of those before me.

I am a KING of Peace.

I am a KING of Love.

I am a KING of honesty.

I am a KING obedient to his people’s needs.

I am a KING willing to sacrifice.

I am a KING righteous to the word of the Almighty God.

I am a man given a CROWN to be a KING within my LORDS house.

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo

Looking for Peace.....with my eyes closed.

Be silent and close your eyes.....can you feel that?  It is you feeling alive and well. Heart beating giving you life to function and that is more than Trayvon and many other victims of violence can never feel again. 

What are you going to do about it?


Peace/AMOR

Gerardo

Looking for Peace.....in waiting for you to take action.

So why did I ever think taking a cross country trip to talk about Peace would be of any value?

Mostly because I can see that our society is unaware of what Peace means and I say that with 100% assurance.  There are plenty of examples of this and I guess I will keep on talking about Trayvon because it is still somewhat fresh in our minds.  Today the media reports that both video and sound from the day that Trayvon was murdered is being enhanced to basically see who was right in all of this.  Could you imagine if we had this technology back when Jesus was crucified?  Let alone when He resurrected because I’m sure they would be enhancing the video images from the security cameras to see if it really happened.  It would be a tough sell for Christians today if there was video back then!

We are not being honest with ourselves and this will lead into a phase in this society that many of you may not welcome.  Back in the 1980’s the biggest cultural fear was music videos because now the music had images to it and people were making the connections quicker about the meaning of a song.  One of the biggest was Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” video the church flipped out on this one and I remember hearing older people in my church talk about it in whispers as if God couldn’t hear what they were saying.  Today Face Book and Twitter are the new evils and in the next 10 years it will be something else but the side effect to all of this is a complete disconnection of society and reality.   I believe that is why it has become so easy for someone like Rick Santorum to still be around.  Our society is completely disconnected from one another and in each corner everyone thinks they are an American. 

I can see this a bit more clearly these past couple of years because the Nation I belong to also has fallen into this hole.  I can firmly say that I was part of the ruling class within my Nation and didn’t see the “ugly” side of that Nation very often.  When I would speak with the greater population of this Nation I would hear stories that made me wonder if we belonged to the same Nation.  As I would reach out and investigate I would find some confirmation of the stories and I would ask ‘why are we allowing this to happen?’  I never got a good answer other than ‘it is what it is’ which would drive me up the wall.  I began to see that across that Nation everyone swore they were the best example of that Nation and would try to prove it.  All in all back in the Nation’s capital only one or two would say that they were the ONLY example of a true member of that Nation I would then say “it’s not much of a Nation if you the only real one in it!”  It wasn’t to diminish the Nation but to poke a hole in that persons bubble because the true members are the ones out there trying their hardest to do what is right regardless of where they are at. 

As I have taken steps back to see the bigger picture I can see the similarities between the two Nations and it’s almost identical at some levels.  Leaders in both Nations have and continue to go to prison, both Nations have had and/or continue to have their hands involved in illegal activities for their own profit, ego’s and unchecked testosterone levels exist in both Nations, and the women in both Nations are treated as servants and second class citizens.  The only difference between the both is the National song and the colors to the flag!

So with all of that why do I still think there is value in changing that?  Because the generation before have failed me and my generation and left us with a load that we are unprepared to carry but are trying the best we can.  I cannot do that to my children, my nephew, your children, and the future of this society I will not run away because someone was shot or because things got too hard.  I have lost many around me both in death and political maneuvers but I keep going because I got down on my knee one day and pledged that I would do as much as I can do create Peace.   Those around me know that I have a unique perspective on the “why” things happen and I by no means am an expert on everything but I got a good look at the “production” of this play we call America.

I’m not going to ask you for money nor will I ask you for your time simply I ask that if you are in any way serious about Peace or serious about being a person of Faith no matter what that means to you, then STEP UP! Sitting back and waiting for Peace to happen will NEVER happen, YOU have to take action!  For my Christian Brothers and Sisters, what would you be calling yourself today if no one traveled to other countries to spread the word of Jesus? 

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo

Looking for Peace.....in a march.

Yesterday was Palm Sunday for the Christian world and here in Chicago a local church decided to march through the Austin neighborhood in a protest to gun violence.  Here is a quote from the news article in the Chicago Tribune online: “On the first Palm Sunday, Jesus walked through the streets of Jerusalem. Why not emulate the founder of our church and walk through the streets of Chicago today?" said the Rev. Ira Acree of Greater St. John Bible Church on the city's West Side.” The problem with this is that the church people had a police escort with them and I seriously doubt that Jesus had any protection from the Roman Empire at that time…unless my Bible is different from theirs.  Not only was the police escorting them through a “tough” neighborhood but on the front line of the march was a group of politicians and one of them actively seeking office.  How would have Jesus looked if He would have rode into Jerusalem with a Roman Legion and riding next to him Pontius Pilate himself? Where would the Christian world be today? 

I don’t mean to bash the march that was held but I do mean to make a point that as a person of Faith I would never need a police escort through my own neighborhood especially if I was a minister in that same community.  They marched because they wanted to protest gun violence and the message quickly turned into gangs and drugs.  The shooter in Trayvon’s case, as far as we know, was not a gang member shooting Trayvon over drugs.  The miss of their message is that somehow the reason for the violence is the guns…are guns grown in some “illegal” way as is Marijuana?  Do gang members have a secret lab somewhere in their hide out where they are growing these guns and a byproduct of that are bullets?  They marched in the wrong neighborhood with the wrong people escorting them because if they would have shown up at a gun shop those same police would have escorting them the hell out of there!

The shooting of Trayvon has nothing to do with guns, bullets, gangs, or drugs but it has everything to do with how America sees itself.  We see ourselves as an entitled people that should have access to everything and whenever we want.  We see ourselves as the best of the best right or wrong we are who you should want to be.  With those ideals things like violence, greed, racism, and hate rule because you can’t think you’re the best and not hate someone that thinks you’re not.  The actions of the shooter in Trayvon’s case were one of an ignorant man that thought he was someone he isn’t and that’s the key.  If the shooter was an actual police officer we wouldn’t be talking this much about Trayvon.  Simply because the officer would have by now said that when he ordered Trayvon to turn around he saw something in his hand and shot him.  Trayvon wouldn’t be on our minds right now because we would have said ‘that’s another little brother gone for no reason…it’s tough out there’ then as the “pictures” came out people would have felt justified for not caring too much.  If you think I’m making this up then you haven’t been paying attention, with all due respect.

The church that marched should have talked about the unconditional love that Jesus expressed in His talks and how the need to be like Jesus would help the Christian world be a better place.  In the church they may not use guns on each other, as of right now, but when they condemn someone to hell because they love someone of the same sex they might as well have used not only a gun but a full vest with C-4 attached to it doused in gasoline while walking through a car-wash that had its tassels changed into razor blades and the water into more gasoline…did I make a point? When the church hates it really hates! So before we go marching through a street trying to get close to an image of a Holy man like Jesus, just know that His message of love was not bias and that’s why He didn’t need a police escort or a politician to make a point. 

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo