Haiti Cheri Part II

 Over a year ago, I wrote about the state of Haiti and the biggest effort I believe that, if executed completely, would create dramatic change, which is free, high quality, nurturing elementary school education for 100% of the Haitian population. I am happy to say that although there are currently high rates of kidnappings in Port-au-Prince and some political chaos, things have drastically improved from 2019-2020 where the violence and disruption of life was so drastic that schools could not operate. I am also happy to say that the coronavirus has not had a noticeable effect on Haiti and they opened schools early this year to make up for lost time. Schools in Haiti opened on August 4th. 

We have been able to send some financial support to Maroquee Community School in Maroquee, Haiti, which is outside of Cap Haitian. This school is run by the family of one of our grassroots' school's founders. We have sent students to this school to take a national 

sixth grade exam and I personally have visited twice. The director sends me messages and pictures at least weekly. We also have dozens of families involved in one of our schools here in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic that come from this area of Haiti. My husband's family is from the next town over. So although I am not physically in the same location, I feel like I have a fair amount of insight while being far away. 

It warms my heart to be able to provide funds to this school as it is extremely impressive how they are able to get their students through the national 6th grade exam each year, while functioning with so very little. School takes place in the church building. Students do not sit in individual desks or have access to many materials at all. In Haitian culture, clean uniforms, neat hair (short for boys), and proper shoes are of high importance. You can see in pictures that the students look beautiful in that aspect, but that it would be extremely difficult to run school in that setting. 

Now, when I say that these educators get their students through the national sixth grade exam, I don't mean all of their students, or at least not on their first try. The statistics that were shared with me a few years back (can't find an online resource right now) was that nationally, there is a 40% pass rate for this exam. We sent seven students over the course of two years in 2012 and 2013 I believe, and three passed. This was quite a big deal for these students as we got them passports and paid for their transportation, where they had to stay overnight. The test is also in French, which our students have less exposure to. 

After having observed different educational projects that we have funded, I feel certain that the best thing to do is to support already functioning schools who have a proven track record, but have financial need, such as the Maroquee Community School. The administration already knows how to make a goud go as far as it possibly can. They have already proven their dedication to education.    

In my first Haiti Cheri post, I shared an article that explained how other countries, including the U.S., refused to recognize Haiti after gaining independence, and made

progress very difficult for them. I am now reading a book about Papa Doc, whose real name is Francois Duvalier, who was a Haitian dictator from 1957 to 1971. I am reading the book in Haitian Creole with a student who I teach online, but also with the motivation of including chapters and questions in our 7th and 8th grade textbooks. The book is written by a man from New Zealand who sailed to Haiti in 1949 and ended up staying there. It also gives accounts of the U.S., France, Germany, the UK, and Italy showing up and abusing Haiti for money. However, the book also gives numerous accounts of successful aid that came from the U.S. 

The article also mentioned the reparations that France made Haiti pay after Haiti gained independence. Ironically, France threatened to attack if Haiti did not agree to pay 150 million francs, which is ten times what the United States paid for Louisiana. Of course logically, France should have paid Haiti for the slave labor and abuse, but they apparently had a very warped sense of justice. This article explains the history of the reparations in detail and puts the amount into perspective, saying that that amount of money was several times France's annual budget, let alone Haiti's. The author also wisely states that, "Haiti should be at the center of the global movement for reparations". 

First of all, let me say that I feel strongly that an international effort should be made to push for justice to be served here and for payback from France to go directly into providing what I have previously stated: free, high quality, nurturing elementary school for 100% of the Haitian population. Yes, high school, college, trade school, and much more is important. Please read my first post for why I feel like elementary school is THE MOST important, if a top priority must be chosen. 

An important question is, if such an international law suit were to be successful, is the trustworthy infrastructure in place to carry out what should be carried out with the funds? This is always an extreme concern among Haitians regarding their leadership, unfortunately. This issue is brought up in the Papa Doc book as well. With the high amount of NGO presence in Haiti, perhaps what would be ideal would be a team composed of government officials, local representatives and educators, and NGO leaders in the area of education, with a strong system of accountability and a game plan. I would think this would be extremely powering to the Haitian people. Rather than being given aid, or charity, being given what is rightfully theirs and invested into their children, their future. 

Second of all, I have often observed what I find to be a very strange practice among Haitians, or should I say Haitian criminals, which is demanding and pressuring for money from someone who absolutely does not have the means. Haitian friends have commented on the same phenomenon. They do not seem to care whether or not the person they are pressuring has the means to the money, but they demand that the money appear. This is what happens with kidnappings. An outrageous amount of money is demanded as ransom, and it always seems to be in USD. 

Perhaps this practice somehow trickled in through the huge act of extortion France imposed on Haiti, as it was not paid all at once, but there was a consistent practice of France demanding and pressuring for their outrageous pay. Again, there are also accounts of other countries who did the same, though to a lesser extent, of course. If you think about it, that is exactly what France did. They did a mass kidnapping and then extorted unrealistic amounts of money in exchange for giving people their lives back. 

Let me finish this post by saying that when I wrote the first post and said I would post again with ideas, it was the idea of a serious movement to hold France accountable, requesting that reparations be repaid and that money be invested directly in education. However, for some reason, a year has gone by and I never wrote that follow-up post. I suppose it's because I was finishing up with my M.Ed., of which I obtained in May 2020. After that, the race issues came to the forefront of my newsfeed, along with American politics in general, and I just didn't feel ready to write about this yet. 

But something else happened in November 2019 when I wrote that last post. A woman from Canada volunteered with us for a few days. She taught art and physical education in our school in Padre Granero, accompanied by a translator. We have well over one hundred volunteers come each year, except for 2020, and a small percentage turn into student sponsors. However, this woman contacted me shortly after and decided to sponsor 14 of our students at level 3, which is our highest committment at $50 per month. She became our most generous monthly sponsor ever, by far. 

Once everything began to shut down in March 2020 due to the coronavirus, she started sending extra funds to help with food distributions. In June 2020, we started fundraising to pay a downpayment on a building to serve as the permanent location for Colegio Costambar

where we send our top students to high school. This woman was responsible for almost half of the $38,000 raised, plus she chipped in to help redo the rotted roof in the school in Padre Granero! 

A few months later we caught up over the phone. She was wanting to do more!! I mentioned that we should not invest too much in the structure of the Padre Granero building as we still owe a mortgage on it. She asked how much we owe. I said $40,000 US. She asked what I thought if she would pay that off!!! By the year's end, she sent that amount and even more to help pay off our debt for our other school in Muñoz!! 

Here is part of what I wrote in a letter that went out with our 2020 giving reports: 

"42% of our 2020 income came from a series of donations from one person who first got involved with Project Esperanza volunteering in late 2019!! She is a Canadian woman who wishes to remain anonymous. She gave at this level without even the absolute security of a tax deduction, as we are still in the process of registering as a charity in Canada. Although she wishes that her name remain anonymous, she does want one name to be celebrated and receive the honor for this wonderful news. That name is Jesus Christ."

Lastly, our wonder donor's husband is from Paris, France. Thanks for reading. 

Candace Owens' Strength & Denial: an Analysis of her Stance on Racism

 Candace Owens is a political commentator. It seems as though many learned her name when a video she made went viral after George Floyd's death, which is the first time I ever heard of her. In her video, she criticized the African American community, basically, for bringing glory to George Floyd, as he had a criminal record. She read his criminal record that she had researched in what seemed to be an attempt to influence people to stop celebrating/mourning/bringing attention to him. The video was well received and circulated by many members of the white community who perhaps felt accused by the whole situation. Her voice basically said that change was not necessary, racism was not at play, and everyone should stop making a hype out of it. 

On the other hand, she was criticized by many in the African American community and beyond for supporting and encouraging racism deniers, and was assumed by some to be monetarily motivated or seeking attention. I know when I first saw the video, I was angry and did not watch it in its entirety. However, I think there is powerful insight in this analysis that may help bridge the gap between those who deny that racism is a problem that should be addressed, and those who know that it must be addressed until it is no longer a problem. Let's put aside the idea that Candace was simply paid off for a minute in order to consider some other points. 

Among other things, Candace misused the word martyr in this video. She said she would not hold Floyd up as a martyr. I saw another video critiquing her video, which read the definition of a martyr, as someone who voluntarily gives their life for a cause. The man corrected her in saying that George Floyd was a catalyst, but in no way a martyr, as he did not voluntarily give his life. She also, although I don't think it was her main intention, encouraged the mentality that police brutality is excusable if the victim was "a bad person", which misses the fact that the police officer often doesn't know the victim's criminal record and these things also happen to people with no record at all. It is overreach and it is dangerous. Candace has apparently also criticized or blamed victims of police brutality who did not have criminal records. 

I later came across another video where Candace Owens adamantly opposed the mention of white supremacy in some sort of political conversation where she represented the Republican party. She did not see it as a pressing issue at all and felt as though bringing it up was an attempt to create division. Many also shared a video where Morgan Freeman stated that the way to stop racism was to stop talking about it. (While that video was shared a lot after George Floyd's death, here's one that shows that despite what he said in that video, Morgan Freeman does feel the need to talk about racism. Took about two seconds to find as I was actually looking for the one where he said that people should stop talking about it). 

I have to say, I understand the point being made. I understand why some people of all races are annoyed at the topic and may not want to discuss it. Sometimes we humans can overanalyze things. Sometimes we make too much hype over things and the hype can create problems of its own. I also understand wanting to empower groups who have been victimized and that having a "pick yourself up and keep going" attitude rather than a defeated one may be more productive. (At the same time, there's much more to say about that, as I strongly believe that thorough healing is the only way for an individual or group to really pick up and reach full potential). People also tend to have a habit of forgetting progress that has been made (in all things, not just this topic), and can lose perspective, not realizing their own privileges, especially from a global perspective. All of these are points to keep in mind. 

However, I agree with what I heard Phil Vischer say in one of his podcasts. If something is indeed present and is problematic, since when was not talking about it a solution? Is it productive to simply not talk about a drug problem? Is it wise to not talk about a water shortage? Just as "not talking about it" wouldn't be real solutions to those problems, it isn't fully with this one either. 

My real motivation for this post is that I watched a very interesting TED talk that Candace Owens did in 2016 before Donald Trump became president and before she even supported him, I believe. I recently saw a Facebook post where someone refused to celebrate Kamala Harris as the first female V.P., criticized her, (which I touched on in my last blog post), and mentioned that Candace Owens was a better role model. My initial thought was that those two people are not comparable because Candace Owens is simply a political commentator, whereas Kamala Harris served as the attorney general of California and on the Senate before becoming V.P. But anywho, in investigating Candace Owens a little more, I came across this TED talk. 

This TED talk is about how technology and media has allowed for the rapid spread of information, and how that can lead to a false/oversimplified and trendy sort of activism. It also touches on how people say certain things they wouldn't normally say when they are not speaking to someone face to face. Candace shares a story about when she was in high school, she received a series of voice mails from four different male voices threatening to torture and kill her and her family, calling her mean names, and also mentioning heroes from the African American community like Rosa Parks and Dr. King, saying that they are dead. Her school called the police and it turns out that one of the voices was the governor of Connecticut's son. Her face was all over newspapers around the state, and it was quite traumatizing for her. Arrests were eventually made. Afterwards, she struggled through five years of anorexia which she says was directly caused by the events during her senior year in high school. 

My thoughts were, how could someone who went through that say that racism is not a problem? What happened to her is a prime example of the existence and harms of racism. It's interesting if you pay attention. She refers to her attackers, who were eventually arrested, as children, and basically says that the problem was not racism, but that so many others made such a big deal out of it. I found that very interesting, and similar to her attitude toward Donald Trump. She's forgiving of his meanness, but unforgiving of the reaction to it. So with that being said, I think she's missing the mark, although I still appreciate some of what I think is behind her evaluation of these people and situations. 

Again, putting accusations of alterior motives aside, I think behind her denial of racism are thoughts such as, "This is not how things should be. I should not be seen by some as different or less valuable. I am just as smart and beautiful and worthy of a human being as anyone else. I will not even entertain these ideas and don't want anyone else to either. They are merely words."  

Just as this insight into a pre-Trump supporting Candace shows that she was a victim of undeniable and harmful racism, it also shows that she has some sort of a denial or illogical interpretation of it all. How could she have struggled with anorexia for five years as a result of the attack, but not see that the primary culprits are the attackers and their hateful mindset? That is faulty logic. Or perhaps she had not finished processing the whole thing when she did this talk, or even now. I think she could have a powerful voice for the black community, rather than the white community, or could even help to bridge the gap of misunderstanding there, if she at least addressed the realities of racism, rather than trying to deny them completely or brush them under the rug. 

I have seen her address the black community as "emotional" and again, while I appreciate the notion of "toughen up" as a means of rising above, I simultaneously don't believe that the hardening of hearts to compromise with hardened hearts is the ideal direction we should go in. She has also been accused of taking advantage of the NAACP who this article claims backed her in reaching a settlement in the situation she explains in her TED talk. Along with her refusal to face racism for what it is, she has been found to display an insensitive thought pattern, with unthoughtful comments about Hitler, also shown in the linked article.  

In reference to the idea of not giving racism much attention as a strategy, I would say that I've observed a somewhat similar attitude from my husband, being a Haitian immigrant living in the Dominican Republic where racism and nationalism have also been issues. He does not deny racism, but he has never dwelled on the issue or given it much weight at all. I have seen other acquaintances of color in the U.S. say or post things in response to the events of 2020 such as, "I haven't ever experienced racism. I have chosen not to see it." With this, they don't negate that it exists, but admit that they have ignored it. 

I respect this and think it shows a confidence and strength. However, I don't think it's realistic or productive to negate the existence of something like this completely, especially when not everyone has as much mental strength and confidence as others, (or perhaps privilege). I know I for one enjoy a physical challenge, but turn into butter under emotional attack! It is also impossible to ignore when the effects of the problem are built into systems such as the criminal justice system. Reform demands attention. 

Details are important. History is important. Treating others as we want to be treated is important. Realizing our privileges is important. Using our privileges to serve and share blessings is important. I have come to enjoy the work of Jemar Tisby, an African American author who is also president of an organization called The Witness: A Black Christian Collective that aims to train and raise up the next generation of Black Christian leaders. They have a two year fellowship available for five individuals, providing $50,000 anually. He has written a New York best-seller called The Color of Compromise and just published a new book called How to Fight Racism. 

And of course, even quicker than ordering and reading a whole book, I really like this Phil Vischer video that goes deeper into his first video about Race in America. It answers questions about statistics regarding the black family, the welfare system, mentions communal sin and repentance, ("but I didn't personally do anything"), and gives an example of how his mom used her privilege to help another family out. "Not a savior, but an ally". 

Blackout book reviews

Candace Owens has also published a book which talks about the black family and the welfare system. Again, I think she is missing the mark a bit, and lacks some necessary sensitivity, but perhaps her point of view shouldn't be thrown out completely. You can tell that just as her George Floyd video had drastically different reactions, largely correlated to the viewers' skin color, her book reviews show the same, drastic split. While this bar graph doesn't report the demographics of the reviewers and political party probably comes into play as the book clearly favors one party, the majority of the 571 people who wrote Amazon reviews gave it either 5 stars or 1 star.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. If you appreciate Candace Owens and what she has to say, I hope you will consider her apparent denial of an overt act of racism that caused her years of serious struggle, as she herself shared. Thanks for reading and please share thoughts in the comments! 

Comedian Ryan Davis responded to Candace's infamous George Floyd video. 

"Talk to your brothers and sisters in this country and ask them what they've been through, and if what they go through makes you uncomfortable, then stand with them to change that. Don't deny their experiences just because you don't know what it's like to go through that. You're not helping anybody by finding every reason not to help people."

 

In the above video from 2019, Candace and Black Lives Matter NY chairman Hawk Newsome debate/discuss their views of what challenges the black community faces and what the best solutions are. I found this extremely insightful and interesting. I really appreciate Hawk Newsome, and Candace sure is well spoken, though she continues to negate the experiences of many. It seems as though she didn't really respect what Hawk had to say and what he stood for as she went onto make the George Floyd video and also publish insensitive comments after Ahmaud Arbery's death. 

Candace: If your issue is police brutality, why not make it a movement about the things that go wrong in the police? 

Hawk: Here's the thing, when black people get their rights, everybody gets rights. You know history. When we got the right to vote, everybody got the right to vote. When we got the right to sit at the front of the bus, everybody got it. When we got to go to college, everybody got to go. We are the trailblazers. Not only do we set trends in culture, in music, in fashion, but also in law. Like, this is what we do, so let us kick this door in.

Groupthink Overload

 A few blog posts ago, I said that some comments I was hearing in response to George Floyd's death, seeming to justify it in some way or lessen the implications of it, seemed like groupthink to me, which is dangerous. If you disagree, then the point that needs to be made is that police officers are not judges or executionists and you wouldn't want them to be if you or your loved one were in that position. 

When I first learned about groupthink, I suppose it was in psychology class, as it is a psychology term that refers to the phenomenon when people feel as though an idea is a good idea, although it may not be, simply because the majority of their group believes it is a good idea. The example given in the class where I first learned the term was the Bay of Pigs Invasion where the U.S. funded and supported Cuban exiles to attack Cuba in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. It is viewed as a failure in U.S. foreign policy, but it seemed like a good idea to decision makers at the time. Poor decisions were made as a result of groupthink.  

In my blog post, I mentioned groupthink in reference to a society that produces juries that convict people of crimes they are innocent of and condemn them to death or decades in prison, largely influenced by the color of their skin. Just Mercy is a movie about the Equal Justice Initiative and its first cases. Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is an organization that combats such injustices through providing legal representatives for victims of marginalization in the criminal justice system. If you want to learn more, I highly suggest watching Just Mercy and checking out EJI. 

Over the past few weeks leading up to the inauguration of Joe Biden, and surrounding the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol that was incited by President Trump's refusal to accept his loss at the election, I have been seeing groupthink overload. It was surely already there, but I think it is exposing itself even more now. Before I get into what I am seeing largely among a group I suppose can be called Christian nationalists, who seem to be primarily white folk, let me share quickly a story of how I was a victim of groupthink a few years ago. 

Project Esperanza receives several volunteer groups each year (with the exception of 2020, of course). Many of these groups are college students traveling together during spring, summer, or winter break. The groups are usually accompanied by a professor, T.A., or sometimes student leaders. Volunteer groups are normally about 80% female and 20% male. The exception to that last stat is that we have a partnership with Morehouse Bonner Scholars from Morehouse College, led by the amazing Dr. Whitney. They are an all male group, and Morehouse is a historically black college (HBCU). They have come and served with us every year since 2015 (again, 2020 excluded, but they came twice in 2016). 

A few years ago, we had a group come for our English summer camp registration which was held on a Sunday evening, then the first three days of summer camp. The group had already served in the capital for a week, faced some challenges, and by the time they got to us, they were not so fresh anymore. This group was also majorly composed of females of color, which is important to note as I share the perspective that was present. 

Project Esperanza had a new volunteer coordinator working just during that summer. This was her first group. We also had a mother and teenage son volunteering, who are also from the U.S. Other than that, some of our local teachers were present at camp and our students. The volunteer coordinator, other volunteer, and I perceived negative feelings coming from this group after the first day of camp, which were out of the norm. This friction built over the next few days of camp, although many of the group members got into the groove of camp, connected with the campers, and executed planned activities. 

There wasn't time to address this friction as the group was not staying with us at our volunteer house, and was actually paired with us through an agency that took care of the logistics of their trip. So after saying good-bye on their third day of camp, we had no more contact with the group. However, the agency shared a blog post with me a few days later, written by one of the group members as a reflection assignment. 

Reading the words of this volunteer who had spent a few days in our school with us was shocking. The post displayed this student's extreme misconceptions and assumptions based on her life in the U.S. She was basically comparing our school run off of donations of foreign donors to U.S. institutions that are perhaps government funded. She basically claimed that our free education provided to them was a problem because it's imperfect. She unfortunately didn't see the education as a way to combat the alternative life for these kids in the streets, but looked at both with disdain. It was an angry, biased, and flat out untruthful account in many ways. I don't say untruthful to defend myself or the organization, but because she criticized the camp for things like not having drinking water, whereas there was literally a jug of water with cups in the hallway during the three days she was at camp, and the kids drank during break time. Upon learning that I personally read the post, it was removed from the internet, and dialogue and apologies followed from the group leader, who was not actually present during their time with us. 

Some of the perspective gained helped us to sharpen our volunteer orientation pre-trip package and to provide a better quick orientation for groups that came in throughout the summer, especially those who did not stay at our volunteer house. But in summary, it was a very offensive experience. It was also unfortunate, as I felt as though if there was more time to talk with these students and they could've felt comfortable raising questions, as well as were open minded to listen to answers, then their experience could've been completely different. And not all students felt the same way as this student, but the positive voices were apparently silenced by the negative ones, from what I was told.  

I share this in no way to complain about this group or to say that Project Esperanza and me personally are above any sort of criticism, but to examine the issue of groupthink. When I replied with my rebuttal to many of the claims made in this blog post, the writer likely realized that she was ignorant and should not have been so sure of her assumptions. But why was she so sure of her assumptions? She hadn't formed them alone. Surely they were grown and strengthened and encouraged by some of her group members who she dialogued with after camp, during the evenings, on the bus to and from, etc. Perhaps some of the world views she had formed in her home community or in her studies in the U.S. also inlcluded assumptions that hadn't been challenged yet by experiencing more outside of her bubble up until that point. But the point is that she felt confident enough about her comprehension of what she saw that she boldly posted a quite derragotory account on the internet. After more than a decade of leading volunteer groups, this was a first. 

I surely have been involved in groupthink myself. I can remember taking part in mischief, especially in 8th grade, that I highly regretted afterwards. I am reminded of some words from James 3. Here are verses 5-9.

"The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness." 

During my adulthood here in the Dominican Republic, I feel like I have been such an outsider most of the time that I have barely had the opportunity to participate in groupthink. I often oppose trends that I see in my kids' school or in our neighborhood and critique them with my kids, basically, teaching them to think a different way. For example, I will not become accustomed to the idea that on certain days, kids have to pay 10 pesos to enter school, a school where their parents pay monthly tuition, as a fundraiser for the senior class. I will not become accustomed to the idea that entire days of school will be dedicated to rehearsals for the Christmas dance that will be shown on TV. Had I grown up here, maybe I would, but it's too late for that. Okay, maybe those are not examples of groupthink but simply customs I don't like, but the influence goes down the same path.  

Had I stayed in my hometown in Virginia, maybe I would be more susceptible to being influenced by some of these conspiracy theories floating around because many others around me would be sharing them and repeating them. Or maybe I would be opposed to them and feel as though I was surrounded by them all the time, wanting to escape. Maybe I would've been susceptible to other kinds of groupthink. But I see great value in embracing diversity and considering all points of view. I see it as a Christian practice. I believe many may see bathing themselves in their tribe, referring to their community, comfort zone, family, and church, as a way of staying true to their faith and to God. However, I think it could potentially influence you to do just the opposite if you are not careful. 

As I have scrolled through Facebook, (which I prefer to Instagram as I like to read articles, not just look at pictures, and I don't use Twitter), I see church leaders posting prophetic dreams which portray things like Donald Trump speaking to a burning bush as Moses did, then climbing back down to find his people dancing around a pagan fire, as Moses also did. But the dream goes onto show that faces of people like Kamala Harris and George Soros appear in the fire!!! These sorts of things really pain me. 

George Soros, for example, is someone I learned about from following Foundation Database and looking for grants that could be applicable to Project Esperanza. I see his philanthropic work and the generosity he has displayed. He himself was a Jew who faced persecution growing up in Hungary, and went onto "change his stars" and use his position to make the world a better place. This is actually the type of thing we preach at our English camp, which is called Change My Stars. It's about using your education to change your position in life and serve your hometown and country. 

But because he has, in addition to financially supporting projects all over the world, financially supported the Democratic political party in the U.S., he apparently deserves to be portrayed as a Satanic figure. Shame on that. Unless someone has some hard facts of abusive activity coming from him, we must realize that we are the evil ones in sharing such slander. 

I have also been disappointed at posts made by Christians stating why they will not celebrate Kamala Harris as the first female VP in the U.S. and they mention that she "slept her way to the top". I could go on and on, but again, how could you possibly have reliable knowledge on that subject to feel confident in repeating it? And there is not time to even get into the hypocrisy of forgiving or ignoring dozens of such allegations against Donald Trump, yet repeating that one about Kamala Harris. Here is a fact check on that allegation.  

Do people even know the roots of the slander they receive? Someone recently brought a name to my attention, and that name is Alex Jones. Wikipedia shares sources naming him "America's leading conspiracy theorist". His words are responsible for horrific acts like the stalking of parents who lost their kindergartners in the Sandy Hook shooting. He also apparently spoke at the rally that incited the insurrection and comes up with and spreads a lot of these conspiracy theories that people share so effortlessly. Is this the type of "work" we want to be supporting? 

Let me share another verse to examine the notion that the Democratic party is aligned with evil and the Republican party is aligned with good. 

"Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." 

- 1 Corinthians 6:9

"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

- Galatians 5:19-21

You see the word homosexuality in there? Yes, we see that word. Okay, what else? Enmity, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, and what does revilers mean? A quick Google search says "to assail with scornful or abusive language".  Wow, that's a great word to describe Donald Trump, who is still being prophesized as an anointed leader by God. I don't see any levels in those verses. I don't see it said that God will have more grace for those who promote enmity, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, and are revilers more than he will for homosexuals. I do see there is quite a focus on division as all those words I just mentioned go hand in hand. God seems to extremely dislike division. It seems to have been quite the theme to brush off the "scornful and abusive language" of Donald Trump, as if it doesn't affect someone's spiritual status. I have felt convicted to speak out about it, not because I want to stir up conflict, but because I feel it is wrong. 

Brothers and sisters, those who call themselves Christians and those who don't yet personally know the son of God who sacrificed so deeply for us, let's get excited about Luke 10:2. 

"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. "

We don't have time to waste on all of this junk. We have work to do. And you know who has the biggest responsibility? 

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." 

-Luke 12:48

I'm talking to you America, land that I love. From the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam. God didn't give us all these blessings so that we could hoard them! And he didn't bless us so that we could go on and on about our rights and liberties, feeling as though they are always under attack. I hope and pray to see no more posts or comments comparing modern day Christians to Babylonians in captivity! I find it to be a delusion and a display of ungratefulness. Sorry, not sorry. 

¡Vamanos! ¡Manos a la obra! 

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