of the black church as an institution. the black church's history is uniquely different from any other because our situation in america is unique.

discrimination and the after effects of slavery (<-- colorblind niggas is eyerolling right now but you can never get away from that as prologue to discussions of black american issues) created a situation in which there were very few avenues for black people to be in positions of leadership, or where education was valued.

in segregated economies, the educated black class ended up as, largely, teachers or preachers (in addition to the other professions which were located in the communities). i'd assume, due to segregation, that there wasn't too much white folks up in black churches seeing what was going on and what was being said. so this was a safe space where people could have dignity and community and heal as well as air grievance.

folks who may have been suited to be politicians or business leaders, in a world where those options were largely closed to them, became vocational preachers. i don't know the percentages, but in addition to folks who were 'called' to ministry, preaching was also a significant outlet for folks with a certain set of talents that they could not necessarily exercise on the daily as janitors and porters in the white man's world.

all of the above created a self-reinforcing environment which concentrated black leadership, politics, oration, economics, etc., in the black church. which, in turn, shaped the way that leadership, politics and economics was (and is, but to a lesser degree) done in the black community.

so black people didn't necessary choose this form of organization and leadership. partially we did, because spirituality and community are a big part of our shared culture. but it was also largely due to container theory -- this was the shape of the society in which we were confined so we grew and evolved to take this shape.

contrast this with, say, jews. THEY faced discrimination and barriers -- nowhere near the same level of dehumanization and cultural abnegation as black people in *this* country. but assimilation after a generation or two was still on the table for them, as it was with other white ethnic groups. they could get cultural and communal support and encouragement through their faith community prior to eventual economic advancement in ways that we could not. our best and brightest were steered toward being teachers and preachers. and we know what desegregation did to the black teacher class.

for a good 40 years, at least, i've seen critiques of the black church, etc, which don't take these things into account. but this is where the 'top down', authoritative, patriarchal structural relationship of the preacher class to the parishioners comes from.

so when someone runs for office, they get the local preacher(s) to put 'em on for a sunday and address the congregation from the pulpit. i don't think they understand why, but they are doing this because this is how it has historically been done.






peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad