Hidden Attitudes
TimeWatch Editorial
April 26, 2017
Change is often subtle, especially when it is behavior that is shifting. The inner self is usually the part of the character that begins the process. It is also sometimes true that the person is completely unaware of the fact that their personality is being impacted by external circumstances. We absorb our surroundings in a way that makes us believe that the choices we make are our own. Sometimes we continue to think we are who we use to be, while we have actually changed completely. A nation changes in quite the same way. Quite often, legislation tends to restrain personal behavior and attitudes. If a law restricts behavior, those who think the behavior is fine, will holds themselves in restraint because they do not want to break the law, but they will continue to embrace their own opinion, anyway. As the years have rolled by, the United States has passed laws that have changed social attitudes dramatically. The eradication of the slave trade, the laws regarding citizenship for former slaves, the right to vote, and many other issues that have previously separated our society. But even though these laws have appeared to change our country, certain attitudes have remained the same. These attitudes, once hidden, as time progresses, become more open, revealing who we really are and have been all along.
Every now and then we are confronted by a change in national attitude that surprises, but we should understand that even though we comply with laws, too often, our personal attitudes hardly change. Take for instance an article found on the Think Progress website. The title of that article is “Despite his racist past, Jeff Sessions confirmed as attorney general.” The article was written by Thinkprogress.org "Carimah Townes, a Criminal justice reporter at ThinkProgress. Here is how that article begins:
“Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) was confirmed as the next Attorney General of the United States on Wednesday, following a final Senate vote. That means a man with white supremacist ties, a racist and homophobic legislative record, and a history of opposing voting rights is now the top law enforcement officer in the country. The final vote was 52 senators in favor of confirming Sessions and 47 against, largely along party lines. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) was the only Democrat to vote yes.” Thinkprogress.org "Carimah Townes, “Despite his racist past, Jeff Sessions confirmed as attorney general.” Think Progress website, Feb 8, 2017.
The article continues to describe an obvious change in attitude with regard to those making the decision to appoint the Attorney General. The article continues,
“When Sessions was up for a federal judgeship in 1986, Coretta Scott King — the late widow of Martin Luther King, Jr. — begged the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote against his appointment. Senators on both sides of the aisle ultimately considered him too racist for the job , based on his disparaging comments about African Americans. He reportedly said the NAACP and ACLU were “Communist-inspired” and “un-American,” called one of his black staff members “boy,” and joked that the worst thing about the KKK was its marijuana-smoking members. In 2007, he argued that immigrants “create culture problems,” steal jobs from Americans, and that their “numbers cannot be too great.” Thinkprogress.org " Carimah Townes, “Despite his racist past, Jeff Sessions confirmed as attorney general.” Think Progress website, Feb 8, 2017
Our Editorial today is not intended to defend or attack the Attorney General, but rather to demonstrate the fact that often, what appears to be a change in attitude quite often is not an change in attitude at all, but rather the revealing of attitudes that have always been. Those who now apparently embrace Mr. Sessions, more than likely have always embraced him. What is incredibly amazing is that the desire to rid the nation of non-white individuals, fails to recognize the fact that Native Americans are the true first Americans. It is truly disconcerting when you realize that those who now claim possession of this land began their arrival on a boat named The Mayflower, in the year 1620. What is even more revealing is that they were the first refugees to arrive. They were having a rough time in their home country. Persecuted by their own race, they were tortured and abused. They came to America and claimed to “Discover” it, as if it was not here until they arrived, and the people they found here now spend their lives in camps.
The people, who were brought here from West Africa, to do the work that has built the economic giant that this nation has become, are now considered less than viable. Those who have crossed the border and entered into the states those used to belong to Mexico, and to this day continue to work on the farms for far less than minimum wage now are now considered deportees.
These attitudes are not new; the fact is they are no longer hidden. They have always been there. Unfortunately, there will be a price to be paid for these attitudes, and there will be no escaping that price. The cost is recorded in James chapter 5, verses 1 through 6.
James 5:1 - Go to now, [ye] rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon [you].
James 5:2 - Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
James 5:3 - Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
James 5:4 - Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
James 5:5 - Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
James 5:6 - Ye have condemned [and] killed the just; [and] he doth not resist you.
It will not be long before the price is applied. To those who have, and continue to suffer these indignities,
James 5:7 - Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
James 5:8 - Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
Cameron A. Bowen
