Black Liberation Theology: The Real Plight of Black Americans

James Cone is known as the founder of Black Liberation Theology. Many people may not have heard of this until the election of Barrack Obama and his involvement with Pastor Jeremiah Wright came into public view. Black Liberation Theology is a byproduct of the radical social justice movement of the 1960’s and is the forbearer of today’s “Critical Race Theory” that is driving what is known as White Privilege Education. It is the original thinking of black Marxists who believed that the “white system” blacks were forced to live in was nothing short of oppressive, and as long as blacks were integrated with whites their humanity would forever be ignored because whites were driven by nothing but a lust for power and wealth while routinely subjugating all people of color. One of the main principles of CRT is the idea that blacks cannot be racist because the institutional power within the United States was dominated and driven by whites; therefore, blacks did not have the institutional power to discriminate. This is derived from Cones writings, which suggested that blacks in America had been systematically denied any social or political power. Cone argues that it was the white man’s attempts to integrate the black man into white culture which has denied them their own cultural identity. He suggests that by assuming black people can live in the same type of society as white men we are systematically oppressing them and only by creating a system of racial preferences can you truly empower people of color.

James Cone has even gone as far as intertwining the Christian faith into this theory as the word “theology” so amply suggests. He claims that the faith of the white man is not a true theology; as the gospel of Jesus Christ as written in the Bible was a story of oppressed and oppressors. The Bible, James contends is a story of black liberation as Jesus was a poor black man oppressed by the rich whites.  In the early years of Obama’s presidency the roots of his belief in this type of radical thinking became apparent when he claimed that America was in need of a “collective salvation.” This is very indicative of two things, one a heavy influence of Marxist indoctrination as the word “collective” indicates and two, a deep rooted belief that the slave past of Americas history has so damaged the black race and was so inherently evil, that only by a willing commitment to its liberation from the crushing boot of white supremacy can America have any chance of being saved.  According to David Horowitz, author of the book “Hating Whitey and other Progressive Causes,” Cones was an advocate of a militant rise in black activism to fight the evils of white racism.

“Cone wanted to critically awaken and educate readers so that they would not only break through denial and acknowledge the evils of white supremacy, the grave injustices of racist domination, but be so moved that they would righteously and militantly engage in anti-racist struggle.” Horowitz, D. (1999.) Hating Whitey and other Progressive Causes. Dallas, TX. Spence Publishing Company

This is exactly what we are witnessing today as the ideology of White Privilege education continues to indoctrinate our children into the non-sense that is Black Liberation Theology.  The text books of our higher institutions of learning are full to the brim with theories describing the white man as oppressors of all who aren’t white or, even straight for that matter.  As a student in social work education this author even witnessed a lesson where a black woman was encouraged to hold on to her victimhood as it would alleviate her depression that arose from trying to succeed in a white man’s world. The textbook described a scenario where a black woman, who was in fact quite successful, went to see a therapist for depression. The therapist, drawing from the concepts of Black Liberation Theology suggested that the woman let go of her quest for financial success and return to her historic roots of oppression in order to alleviate the depressive symptoms.  The indoctrination is so entrenched in the soft heads of our nation’s students that people actually took offense to the notion that yours truly would challenge such an assertion.

Across the nation we are seeing a rapid, militant rise among black groups in our universities where they are attempting to silence any opinion that may offend their fragile sensibilities. The idea of white privilege is becoming more concerning as it is evolving far beyond the simple idea that white men have all of the institutional power. One of Cone’s beliefs was that white people cared nothing for the humanity of minorities and this is a belief that is taking hold among today’s young people to the point where whiteness is now being looked upon as a disease that must be eradicated. Students across the country believe that being white is a sickness that one may simply be unaware of having because they are automatic beneficiaries of the privilege associated with being white.  On the more ridiculous side of this is the idea that being able to get your hair cut where you want, walk into a grocery store and find your favorite foods and speak your native tongue without getting dirty looks are indicators that you may have white privilege.

Hillary Clinton, in an effort to pander to a shrinking demographic of black voters, has continually pushed the idea of white privilege as well. In a recent speech she went so far as to suggest that white people are insensitive to the challenges faced by blacks.

“White people need to do a much better job of listening when African-Americans talk about the seen and unseen barriers you face every day. We need to recognize our privilege and practice humility rather than assume our experiences are everyone else’s experiences. “

 This comment could not have been said better by Cones himself. Clinton is using the very premise of Black Liberation Theology insofar as describing a world where blacks are suffering due to the unseen, systematic racism inherent in American institutions. By saying white people need to recognize our privilege and practice humility she is alluding to Cones’ notion that white people simply do not care about the humanity of those who are not white. This is all utter non-sense. The only thing this backwards, Marxist thinking is doing is destroying the initiative of a race of people who have in many instances demonstrated great ability and talent in all walks of life. It isn’t the white man holding black people down, its academic absurdity that continues to insist these ridiculous theories be pushed in our universities. It’s the victimhood mentality being used by the real privileged, which hold real political power, building a power base from which they seek to gain more. The whole premise of racial identity politics, which is solely pushed by the left, is the idea that black people are not as good as white people and in order to survive and have an equal shot, they must let government tell them how to live. This is the real plight of the black man.