On Don Imus And Racial Reconciliation!

by Angel Casiano - April 13th, 2007 - Open letter

Hello Friends:

I am a black puerto-rican. Born in New York, but did my growing up in Puerto Rico; from Elementary School to College. I finally moved to this country for good on July 8, 1991. I struggle and continue to struggle with the English language, so I apologize for any misspelled words or any grammatical mistakes, but I am getting better every year.

I am not writing to you this day to give you my biography; I want to tell you about some impressions I had today from the Lord as I was taking a little walk this morning. You be the judge if this is a Word from the Lord or not.

I want to talk about the need for Racial Reconciliation and possible ways to at least start the process of getting there. I have to confess that I didn't have a clue of who Don Imus was, but I have a better idea now! After all the controversy surrounding this radio personality, this is what I heard:

"White America must not only recognize that racism existed as a shameful history fact of our past, but it is alive and well today."

"Racism" is a spirit. It was the second biggest issue in the primitive church's history (Read the Book of Acts and find out why the Apostle Paul confronted the great Apostle Peter face to face!) Racism is a spirit that is all around the world; it is a spirit that basically is saying: "My race is better than yours and because of that I am going to treat you like you are nothing and I am going to do whatever I can to make sure that you always be nothing."

The Webster New World Dictionary defines the word: "Racism" as follow: "The practice of racial discrimination, segregation, etc." The difference between the past and the present in the practice of racism is that today it is politically incorrect to be a racist and in the past it was acceptable. White America must understand, repent and take responsibility for the sins of their fathers (Just as Nehemiah did!). Racism gave us what is happening in some sectors of our society today. The consequences of racism are devastating. White America must understand, recognize and publicly acknowledge that all men are created equal; you are not better than anybody! Your key word, White America, is that you must humble yourself and ask for forgiveness in order to start the healing process.

Black America: You can't fix the problem by being racist against white people yourself; that is called "Reverse racism". Evil cannot defeat evil. Racism is evil! Satan's kingdom is well united and organized. Reverse Racism does not fix the problem. It allows the spirit of racism to reign. Black America, it is our Godly duty to forgive and to keep the hope that, God will turn and is already turning all this around for good. (Read the story of Joseph, son of Jacob).

Black America must understand that the words that they are speaking to each other are carrying more power than the words that the white man is speaking to you. You can't be getting upset when a white man says something stupid like Mr. Imus did, but you, on the other hand, are calling each other with the "N" word every five seconds. You can't be getting upset when a white man says something stupid, but your pop culture is allowing, promoting and buying the disrespect of your women.

That is called "Hypocrisy". My father in law told me when I first came to this country: "You have a double curse: You are black and on top of that you are puerto-rican." Those words hurt me more than all the stupid things the white people had said about me, because those words came from a loved one.

Your key word, Black America, is that you must forgive in order to allow reconciliation (The return to God's favor) to take place.

In all, God is watching and Dr. Martin Luther King's dream is still alive today! As my good brother and friend, Elder Ted Lemmon has been teaching our church: "We can't expect justice from God, without at least trying to be righteous (Do the right thing and what is acceptable before the Lord!)". We can't expect for God to do any justice if we are seeking justice on our own strength. Our righteousness is nothing but filthy rags before God, that I know. However, are we in the beautiful journey of asking ourselves what would Jesus do? Or are we doing what we feel is right in our own opinions. Jesus forgave from the cross and even in his total sinless and innocent life he found the love to say: "Father forgive them because they know not what they are doing."

The so called Reverends that are positioning themselves as saviors and leaders in the black community are not carrying the message of Christ. They are false Prophets and they must be stopped from the deeper damage that they are doing. We can do all things through Christ and no spirit of racism can stop us. Jesus is the answer for these issues that are polarizing our society. Let the politicians fight their "Rights" and "Lefts" arguments. Let the radio and TV personalities attack each other's views. They are accomplishing nothing because they are not pointing at Jesus. Their god is themselves and their worthless ideologies.

We, the people of God are citizens from Heaven, a generation of Kings and Queens and no weapon formed against us will prosper. Let us exalt Jesus together and let us hold, with the help of the Holy Spirit, His teachings in our hearts; only then can we begin to see each other the way we are seen by God and not by the flesh or by the standards of this age.

I love you all!
Pastor Angel Casiano

Angel Casiano is the pastor of Iglesia El Taller Del Carpintero, the Spanish Carpenter's Shop Church in Winton and he is a truly good man.

I do not agree with Angel that it is okay to hold white people responsible for the sins of their fathers. In truth that argument really is saying that whites alive today are responsible for the actions of their great-great-grandparents. That is inconsistent with our national heritage and the whole idea of treating each individual equally. To hold someone responsible for things others did is just not fair.

However I truly hope that Angel's message of the need to end the racism by both white and black in the Inner Banks will reach many more hearts. We must end the constant bashing of other Christians. It is not God's will.