‘Amazing Grace’
March 6, 2013
Page 1A
Southeast Alabama Gazette
is about Black Slavery
M
y
late
mother’s
favorite hymn was
“Amazing Grace.” Her
favorite version was sung by
the great Mahalia Jackson.
Oh, how I remember listening to her work around
the house saying those
sweet words. I wonder if she
knew the roots of this great
song. The author John
Newton was a minister during the 1700s from England.
According to Wikipedia,
“Amazing Grace is one of
the most recognizable
songs in the English-speaking world. Author Gilbert
Chase writes that it is
‘without a doubt the most
famous of all the folk
hymns,’ and Jonathan
Aitken, a Newton biographer, estimates that it is performed about 10 million
times annually.
It has had particular
influence in folk music, and
has become an emblematic
African American spiritual.
Its universal message has
been a significant factor in
its crossover into secular
music. ‘Amazing Grace’
saw a resurgence in popuServing these Paid
Subscriber Cities
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By Harry C. Alford
larity in the U.S. during the
1960s and has been recorded thousands of times during and since the 20thcentury, occasionally appearing
on popular music charts.”
Who was this John
Newton? In the song he
writes “Amazing Grace!
(How sweet the sound); that
saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now
am found; was blind, but
now I see.” Please take this
literally.
John Newton was indeed
a vile wretch. He started out
as a British naval officer
but then turned his sea talents to the evil slave trade
from Africa to England and
North America.
He became a slave trader
extraordinaire. One day
while observing his crew
whip the slave cargo into
submission as they sailed
the Atlantic Ocean, he
noticed a young girl about
the age of 12.
She was resisting the
rapes and fought with a
continual vengeance.
When she got the chance
she raced and jumped over-
board knowing that the
shackle around her neck
would hang her instantly.
She chose that outcome
versus slavery. It immediately struck him and
shocked him into reality of
how cruel and evil the business he was in. He went to
his cabin and wrote his
wife, Polly, the words of
“Amazing Grace.”
They just seemed to
flow naturally. As soon as
his shipped returned to
England, he joined the clergy and became one of the
strongest slave abolitionists
in the world.
We must wonder just
how close the church (clergy) and the evil slave industry were to each other.
The answer is very
close. In retrospect, the
song speaks of forgiveness
and redemption being possible regardless of sins
committed and that the soul
can be delivered.
But in the beginning, it
was the church that said
slavery was all right with
the Lord. In the early
1500s, Cardinal Avery
Dulles publicly stated that
“Jesus, though he repeatedly denounced sin as a kind
of moral slavery, said not a
word against slavery as a
social institution.”
He also claimed that the
disciples “Peter and Paul
exhort slaves to be obedient
in their masters.”
Seventeenth century religious scholars also point out
that Jesus Christ makes no
negative mentions of slavery in the New Testament.
Please keep in mind that
Europeans rewrote the New
Testament and something
slick could have happened
(more than likely).
The first slave ship from
England to America was
named “Jesus.”
They just didn’t get it.
But wait, it gets worse. In
1441, Portugal sent a ship
full of slaves to Pope
Martin V for his consideration and blessings.
In 1442, the Pope
declared it holy and
instructed Portugal to get
with Spain and fully develop the slave trade to the
new world (per J. Henrick
Clarke). Previous to this the
same Pope authorized a
“Crusade” on Africa by
European slave traders.
By the mid-1500s, millions of Africans were now
in bondage in the Caribbean
and South America with the
English beginning to ramp
up their activity in North
America.
Thus, the world’s greatest Holocaust was begun
with the blessings and oversight of European religion.
This holocaust exceeds
the Biblical proportions of
the Pharaohs. It is truly a
blessing from God all
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mighty that we thrive today
after that living hell our
forefathers went through.
The rapes (race mixing),
despair, hatred and excoriating pain for hundreds of
years did not completely
destroy us.
As the great Maya
Angelou put into words,
“Still we rise!”
There are many more
religious songs that have
evolved from bondage and
pain.
Let us use them for our
current times and give them
the respect they deserve as
they helped get us through
the worst times the earth
has known.
It gives me pride that I
stand tall as a product of
that system that was supposed to have destroyed us
once our “purpose” was
done. God is great!
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Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Restore Voting Rights Act
Founded May 11, 2006
L
egislation that would
retool and restore the
Voting Rights Act was
introduced in Congress on
June 24. Sens. Patrick
Leahy (D-Vt.), Dick Durbin
(D-Ill.), and Chris Coons
(D-Del.) introduced the
“Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015” in the
Senate. Reps. John Lewis
(D-Ga.) and Terri Sewell
(D-Ala.) of the Congressional Black Caucus; Congresswoman Linda Sánchez
(D-Calif.), chairwoman of
the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus; and Congresswoman Judy Chu (DCalif.), chairwoman of the
Congressional Asian Pacific
By Zenitha Prince
American Caucus, also
introduced an identical
measure in the House.
The bills were introduced on the eve of the twoyear anniversary of the
Supreme Court’s decision in
Shelby v. Holder, which
gutted essential voter protections in the VRA.
The right to vote is “precious” and “almost sacred”
and the “most powerful non-violent tool” of a
democracy, Lewis said in a
statement.
“I think it is clear today
that we have come a great
distance in this country
toward healing the divisions
and problems among us, but
we are not there yet. This legislation acknowledges that we still have
much more work to do,” he
said, adding, “I support this
legislation and hope that
this Congress will do what
is right by the people of this
nation and pass the voting
rights legislation that
restores justice, dignity, and
equal access to the ballot
box in America.” Lewis is
an iconic civil rights leader,
who was among the
activists who took part in
and was beaten during the
seminal march across the
Edmund Pettus Bridge in
Selma, Ala., a campaign
that led to the passage of the
Vol. 9 No. 239
VRA. During the 50-year
anniversary of the march
earlier this year, President
Obama noted the half-century birthday of the VRA in
August and the continuing
challenges to voting rights
in the modern era.
“Right now, in 2015, 50
years after Selma, there are
laws across this country
designed to make it harder
for people to vote [and] as
we speak, more of such laws
are being proposed,” he
said. “Meanwhile, the
Voting Rights Act, the culmination of so much blood,
so much sweat and tears, the
product of so much sacrifice
in the face of wanton violence, the Voting Rights Act
stands weakened, its future
JULY 8, 2015
In this Dec. 22, 2014 image taken from video, U.S. Rep.
John Lewis, D-Ga., discusses the historical drama “Selma”
and civil rights in the United States during an interview
in Atlanta. He is one of the legislators who introduced
the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015.
subject to political rancor.”
This week, the president
praised lawmakers for taking up his charge to restore
the voting law.
“The
Administration
applauds today’s efforts by
Members of both the House
and Senate to take up this
charge to restore the promise of the Voting Rights Act
(Continued on page 2A)
New NNPA Officers Elected
DENISE ROLARK BARNES
D
(From left to right): Karen Carter Richards, Shannon Williams,
Francis Page, Jr., Denise Rolark Barnes and Janis Ware.
Elected Chair
ETROIT – Denise
Rolark Barnes, publisher of the Washington
Informer, has been elected
chair of the National
Newspaper Publishers Association, a federation of more
than 200 African American
newspapers.
Rolark Barnes succeeds
Cloves C. Campbell, Jr.,
publisher of the Arizona
Informant, who served two,
2-year terms.
After graduating from
Howard University with a
degree in communications,
Rolark Barnes enrolled in
the Howard University
School of Law.
She served as editor
of The Barrister, the law
university’s student newspa-
per, before graduating
in1979.
She is a second-generation publisher, following in
the footsteps of her late
father, Dr. Calvin W. Rolark.
“I am honored and proud to
represent the NNPA as chairman of this historic and
impactful
organization,”
Rolark Barnes said.
“Since 1827, the Black
Press has listened to and
spoken for the African
American community.
The future looks bright
for the team of publishers
elected
during
our
75th anniversary convention
in Detroit, Michigan; three
of the new officers happen
to be second-generation
newspaper publishers. We are committed to fulfill the promises we made to
our nearly 200 fellow publishers and we will work
hard to propel the Black
Press into dynamic 21st century media companies.”
Also elected were: First
Vice Chair: Karen Carter
Richards, publisher of
the Houston Forward Times
Second Vice Chair: Francis
Page,
Jr.,
publisher
of Houston Style Treasurer:
Janis
Ware,
publis her, Atlanta Voice Secretary:
Shannon Williams, publisher, Indianapolis Recorder
Directors-at-large: Bernal
Smith, publisher of the TriState Defender, and Larry
Smith, publisher of The
Community Times.