How to not get caught slippin' by the enemy...

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. (Genesis 4:7)

God told Cain that “sin was crouching at your door” and admonished him to “master it.” How can you/I avoid falling prey to sin?

A quick clarification on terms: a “door” is a way in and out of a place. “Your door” implies it’s to a place you own (or rent) such as a home. By definition, sin is “missing the target”-in other words being off of God’s will; disobedience.

Fundamentally the ability to be separate from God’s will traces back to the “Fall” and the enemy’s trickery. It is important to note that often we sin without the enemy’s direct involvement because we are already conditioned to do so. He plays a passive role in all sin but not necessarily an active one. At the same time he is active in seeking our distance from the will of the Father.

The enemy is there, always, waiting to catch you unaware no matter which way you are headed. The enemy is at the door between you and the world. As I look around and process my surroundings, the enemy is there. As I retreat within to my own thoughts, memories, feelings, etc. the enemy is there. He is crouching, trying to remain unseen and hiding behind many “normal” things. A thief does not place a fake bush in the middle of a walkway to find cover before surprising passerby’s. He uses the natural and normal surroundings to mask his presence. Our spiritual enemy does the same. Sin is in essence the spirit of the enemy. As God is Love, the enemy is Sin.

As humans we cannot “master” the enemy himself-Christ did that for us in the resurrection. The Bible says we do not fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and darkness (Ephesians. 6:12) God says “if you don’t do what is right, sin is at your door”. This gives us the key to mastering it. The Lord, not society, tradition, rules, etc, purely and ultimately defines what is “right”. It is having one’s heart in line with Gods. God judges the heart (1 Samuel. 16:7) and that is the wellspring from which all else comes (Proverbs. 4:23). That is the “door” that disobedience lurks around. We must guard our hearts!

Practically that is done by being watchful over the senses, which are the gateway to our heart; what we see, hear, touch, taste and think. We must submit all things to the written Word and our prayerful conversations with the Father. That is the key to mastering ourselves, and thus living in the reality that He has mastered the enemy. God has mastered the enemy-we must master sin through our obedience. It is to this reality that Christ called us when He said we must deny ourselves and pick up our cross daily to follow Him (Luke 9:23)

History of Bloods and Crips in America

To understand the history of Crips and Bloods one needs some foundational knowledge of Black history in Los Angeles, CA. This is not the history of all Bloods and Crips, just the beginnings of the original ones.

In the 1940’s, Blacks were migrating from the South to Los Angeles in hopes of economic opportunity and less discrimination. The mid to late 40’s saw Jazz in full swing and the birth of R&B along Central Avenue amidst a vibrant cultural scene. Simultaneously, Blacks were challenging the restrictive covenant housing laws that kept them segregated and overcrowded in the Central Ave/Watts area.

The White community pushed back against Black expansion in various forms. The “Spook Hunters” was probably the most notable White gang, which pre dated Black ones, and would violently harass the Black community. William H. Parker also became Chief of Police in 1950 and is largely credited with creating and fostering the racial tension between minorities and the LAPD evident to this day. He recruited young veterans from the South to join the LAPD, many of whom had openly racist worldviews.

Gangs like the Slauson’s , Businessmen, Gladiators, etc. formed among Black youth to defend themselves against the violent White youth gangs. The 1950’s ushered in “white flight” from South and West Los Angeles neighborhoods that had seen an increase in Black population. The result was that by the late 50’s-early 60’s the Black gangs had turned towards fighting each other as their common enemy had left.

The 1965 Watts Riots, while incredibly destructive, united the Black gangs once again, this time against the LAPD and systemic injustices. It is around this time that the Black Panther Party was taking root in poor Black communities across CA and the “Black Power” movement was in full swing.

“Bunchy” Carter, a Slauson leader, became founder and leader of the BPP LA chapter. This essentially made all of Slauson Panther’s overnight. Other gangs, who still had animosity against the dominant Slauson’s even though the violence had been reduced, joined up with Ron Karenga’s Black nationalist group known as the US Organization.

According to Book 3 of the US Senate “Church Committee” report of April 23, 1976,

“By July 1969, the Black Panthers had become the primary focus of the program, and was ultimately the target of 233 of the total authorized "Black Nationalist" COINTELPRO actions. 4

Although the claimed purpose of the Bureau's COINTELPRO tactics was to prevent violence, some of the FBI's tactics against the BPP were clearly intended to foster violence, and many others could reasonably have been expected to cause violence.”

In January of 1969 Bunchy and another BPP member, John Huggins were killed at UCLA during a Black Student Union Meeting. An Us Org. member was the killer however, according to the same Senate report;

In November 1968, the FBI took initial steps in its program to disrupt the Black Panther Party in San Diego, California by aggravating the existing hostility between the Panthers and US. A memorandum from FBI Director Hoover to 14 field offices noted a state of "gang warfare" existed, with "attendant threats of murder and reprisals." between the BPP and US in southern California and added:

In order to fully capitalize upon BPP and US differences as well as to exploit all avenues of creating further dissention in the ranks of the BPP, recipient offices are instructed to submit imaginative and hard-hitting counterintelligence measures aimed at crippling the BPP. 13

By the 1970’s the BPP and Us Org. had been effectively neutralized. The culture, evident by movies such as “Superfly”, had shifted away from a unified Black community to a celebration of selfishness at all costs. Pimping and hustling became celebrated and common stereotypes were exaggerated. As stated in, “Bastards of The Party”, the motto “Power To The People” seemingly became ‘Power To Self”

The 1970’s also brought us the Crips and Bloods. There is an enormous amount of folklore around these two groups and their formation. The issue of canes, leather jackets etc. has little if anything to do with their start or impact. What we do know is that teenager Raymond Washington and others had this notion of a “cradle to the grave” organization that would harness the power of and serve the community (hence the name Crib that soon evolved into Crip). There was not a well-formed mission and there was still the popular element of thug activity associated with the group. As the media heard of Crips they began associating any and all Black crime w/ the gang and unknowingly served as their greatest recruitment arm. In 1972 the Crip Constitution was written in an effort to curb Crip-on-Crip violence as well as legitimize/rebrand the gang. The Constitution was patterned after the BPP Constitution because it was the only reference point the young men had and the initials were said to stand for Community Revolution Inter Party Service. When the mayor’s office expressed dislike at the word “Revolution” the “R” was changed to mean “Reform”. It is important to note that this change came 2-3 years after the Crips started. The Crips spread as they traveled to non-Crip neighborhoods to recruit their tough and influential people. The result was either the power from within led to the whole neighborhood affiliating with Crip or they became a target of the Crips. The Crips soon became judge and jury of the streets in the Black community of LA.

Some of the older, established Black neighborhoods had youth who were proud and had no interest in joining the Crips. Most notable of these today is Piru (who, contrary to many “expert” websites, were never Crips or Crip affiliates). No individual group could challenge the Crips thus they formed a loose union against their common enemy. Based on the lingo of the day they called each other “young blood” etc. and this eventually evolved into them being known as Bloods.

A couple converging factors led to the Crips and Bloods gaining strong enough roots to withstand 40+ years and spread conceptually around the globe. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s unskilled labor jobs left the LA area in droves. This did not lead to the forming of any gangs but they did hinder people growing out of the lifestyle.

Previously, when most people hit their early 20’s they had children or got too worn out and entered the plentiful workforce. Now they had no legitimate safety net so they stayed in the streets longer. It is my belief that this also led to children witnessing much more negative examples by their parents for a longer period of time, thereby fast-tracking the rate of involvement. Preceding generations have never recovered.

Crack cocaine was the other primary factor. Black males who were angry, disenfranchised, relatively organized, violent and poor made perfect mules and manufacturers for South American cartels looking to fund political wars at home. Suddenly gangs had limitless amounts of money and an incentive beyond historical conflicts to protect and seize territory. It became a battle of who had the biggest and most well armed army, skyrocketing the murder rates and alarming the public. The response was the greatest expansion of incarceration and prison building CA has ever seen. While there was legitimate violence to be prosecuted it soon seemed every Black person in poor neighborhoods were criminals. Operation Hammer is one example, making sweeping arrests of hundreds while only filing charges on less than 40. In LA especially this was consistent with their policies dating back to 1950.

The 1992 Rodney King riots had a similar effect as the Watts riots. The community unified, albeit in a destructive way once again, against the LAPD. There was a very public call for a truce by Bloods and Crips and a plea to address the social ills plaguing their community. The “X” in Malcolm X became a logo and conscious rappers such as the East Coast’s Public Enemy and San Francisco’s Paris became staples in everyone’s tape deck. The LAPD insisted this was a ploy by two criminal enterprises to expand their control and even suggested it was fostered by the Nation of Islam to take down police departments. The Crips and Bloods again had no structure to nurture the truce and it soon fell apart. Certain rivals were able to make peace but too many people had too many personal vendettas to agree to lay down their guns against everyone.

The level of violence has had peaks and valleys in LA over the last 20 years. Incarceration, migration to other areas to escape the violence and occasional opportunities to sell for a profit have made room for Latino’s (mostly Mexicans) to dominate virtually every historically Black neighborhood in Southern CA. This has changed some allegiances and made for a new, violent and racist war in the streets. Through it all the Crips and Bloods have endured, becoming the most famous and therefore far reaching street gangs, by name, that the United States has created.

*While I include informational links, my “sources” for this paper come predominantly from current and former adult members of LA Crip & Blood gangs and a basic understanding of CA history. I am open to discussion on anything contained herein.

Spare The Rod, Spoil The Child..Is it Bible?

Recently, Anderson Cooper did a series called “UnGodly Discipline: Spare The Rod Spoil the Child” on two parents from CA who beat their adopted child to death. (see news article here). The parents professed to be devout Christians who simply disciplined all of their kids in accordance with Scripture. The AC360 crew spoke with Michael and Debi Pearl, authors of a best selling book, “To Train Up A Child”, that was found in the home (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). According to their website NoGreaterJoy.org the name of the book comes from the KJV version of Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is older he will not depart from it”. This is not the first child to die at the hands of parents who embraced this book yet the authors take no responsibility for parents “losing control”.

The pastor/author explained that the Bible calls parents to use a “rod” in the corporal punishment of a child and that the spankings should cause sharp pain. It should be obvious to any rational person, whether Christian or not, that the murderers and the authors are extreme examples which in no way reflect Biblical principles. However, in keeping with the title of the series, there is a generic belief in “Spare the rod, spoil the child” common among Christians in particular. Where does this notion of spanking come from and what does Scripture really say?

 In 1960 a tomb was discovered in central Italy that is from roughly the 5^th century BC. It was named “Tomba della Fustigazione” (Tomb of Flogging) because of the depictions of spanking painted on the walls inside. The fact is that spanking began as an erotic act and/or a fertility aid. The Medieval Era saw the use of spanking expanded to include punishment for crimes/sin (corporal punishment) used by the church and governments alike. This practice didn’t start winding down until the 18^th century, when reform as opposed to strictly punishment was introduced. 

Now, back to “Spare the rod, spoil the child.” First off, nowhere does the Bible say that. The first record of that phrase comes from a 17^th century poetic satire on the English Civil War by Samuel Butler titled “Hudibras” and has nothing to do with child rearing. The specific stanza related to spanking actually had an erotic connotation! It is possible this saying became associated with the church, perhaps, through the delusional “Bayside Prophesies” of Veronica Lueken. She had many visions, during one of which in 1973 she claimed to see St. Joachim (the father of Jesus’ mother Mary according to some traditions but a name not found in Scripture) say, “Humanism in your world has been created by satan. You will bring back the adages of old: Spare the rod and you will spoil the child. Discipline must be returned to the home.” (see the rest of the conversation here). The Catholic church denounced her visions in 1986 for a variety of reasons, though I believe thinking that the Lord is using political satire with erotic undertones to make a point about wholesome child raising is valid grounds to question ones sanity.

In Scripture we do read about “rod” and “discipline”. For example (all NIV but clink on link at end of each Scripture to choose another translation):

“Folly is bound up in the heart of a child but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him” Proverbs 22:15

“Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him” Proverbs 13:24

“Do not withhold discipline from a child, if you punish him with the rod he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death” Proverbs 23:13-14

Does this mean the “spirit” of the saying is validated and God does in fact command spanking, with a switch no less? Absolutely not. Reread the above Proverbs but replace “rod” with “authority” and “discipline” with “teach”. This will give a much more accurate picture of what the people in Solomon’s time were reading.

The word “rod” comes from the Hebrew word “shebet.” Of the 190 occasions this word is used in the KJV it is translated “tribe” 140 times, “rod” 34, “scepter” 10, “staff” 2, etc. Basically, this word is more often looked at as a sign of authority than it is a club. Nowhere is it merely a switch from a tree in the backyard or a wooden spoon.

The word “discipline” comes from the Hebrew “muwcar”. Of the 50 occasions this word is used in the KJV it is translated “instruction” 30 times, “correction” 8, “chasten/chastise” 7 and “discipline”.  Basically, this word means to teach as opposed to punish. It is no coincidence that it is similar to the word “disciple”.

In closing, let me acknowledge that as the parent of two children (and one on the way), my kids have been spanked. I, nor my wife, have ever used an “instrument”-it’s been a swat on the bottom for the most egregious behavior. I don’t know when I will stop spanking them or if I will ever do it again. There is an interesting scientific debate around the effectiveness of spanking, which I have mixed feelings about, but we trust in the presence of God in our lives and the heart/mind He has given us to aid in the raising of our children. I am not trying to encourage parents to spank, or not spank, their children. I believe children are different and it is every parent responsibility to take whatever steps it find effective in raising them. What I do take issue with is the idea that God commands it. I hope I have made the case He doesn’t even suggest it.

Being faithful to who we are meant to be..

**Originally written 6/26/05 from Pelican Bay State Prison SHU, updated today.

In the book of Ezekiel and elsewhere, mostly in the Old Testament, the Lord speaks of turning Israel over to her “lovers” which will see her “nakedness” and thus assault her.  Those particular words are weighty and interesting.

God, for His own reasons, elected the people later known as Israelites as His chosen ones whom He loved and made covenant with.  God is love so it’s clear that God’s love was able to fully sustain and satisfy Israel but they elected to join as lovers with other nations and “gods” in blatant idolatry. God’s response to this idolatry was to give them over to their lovers (meaning back up and allow them to be with who they wanted) and the inevitable outcome was Israel got burned.

Israel tried to join in a relationship of love/unity when neither they nor their partners had the capacity to fulfill the idea. It is a tragic irony that Israel showed the opposite of love, to the Source of love, in order to try to love others. What they got in return was the opposite of love! This is the 100%guaranteed result anytime anyone, even today, turns from God to try and receive something somewhere else.

The pagans were most concerned with Power, Domination & Control. Israel looked like a great partner but it was because of God’s favor, and only for that reason, they were blessed on all fronts.  They exploited their status, be it spiritual, material etc., to attract lovers yet without the Lord their blessings dissolved. When the “covering” and favor of God was lifted their lovers saw them for what they were-regular folks without the control, authority etc they had appeared to have. This inspired the lovers wrath because they felt short changed and played. Imagine you marry a woman only to find out she is a he! I imagine that’s how the pagans felt.

Truth is, we are ALL like Israel sometimes. We try and be who we think we need to in order to get what we want. This is the case in the ‘hood and the suburbs, with toddlers and seniors. All the while God is watching and saying “I know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11). No one else can say that to us with such ability to back it up.

Ever head someone say, “I am really humble.” We love to take credit for who we are or how we are perceived. This can have dangerous consequences. Let the Lord raise you up, and in the process never forget where He brought you from. As Pastor Rick Warren said at the very beginning of The Purpose Driven Life, “it’s not about you”. God wants to bless us because of who He is, not who we are-which takes away the pressure of having to front. Remember, without Him we are ALL just dirt! 

What is a Homie?

Since I’ve chosen to name this blog Helping Others Move In Excellence for Truth (H.O.M.I.E.4Truth) I guess the first order of business is to address why I chose “homie” for the acronym.

Society has a tendency to over simplify what it doesn’t care to understand. This is why you have Merriam Webster defining “homie” as: “a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang” while Urban Dictionary says it means “close friend”.  The word “homeboy”, for which “homie” is short, has been in use in the US since the 1940’s. Originally it referred to someone from your hometown but by the 1970’s it was synonymous with “friend” in urban America.  As hip-hop became a major influence on popular culture around the turn of the century the word “homie” became part of everyday language for young adults Nationwide. We have all seen the “Jesus is my Homeboy” shirts and most remember when 11 year old reporter Damon Weaver declared Obama his homeboy after a 2009 interview. 

With all that said, I do have an issue with how the word is used in certain circles. In the most violent of our communities you are either a homie or an enemy, both of which often have dramatic consequences. A homie is expected to go along with whatever the rest of the homies have going on. A homie is greater than a “friend” in the sense that you can always count on a homie to be by your side and have your back. This doesn’t mean they are gangbanging, though they may be. I know a young man, an honor role student and non violent, who is now facing LIFE in prison because he gave his “homie” a ride and never stepped back as gunshots went off.

The use of “homie” as peer pressure is no different than the age-old manipulation of, “If you were really my friend you would..(insert craziness).” The problem is there are a lot of voices public and private to tell us that that person is not being a real friend because a real friend will only support you in good things etc. They do not question that you should have friends, they just question what a friend is. When it comes to homies we have music and movies that mirror and/or give credit to the unhealthy peer pressure of low income communities or we have people who state “homies are bad”.  Rarely is there common sense middle ground. Young people are receptive to challenging what a real homie is but they get understandably defensive when they hear “homies (friends) are bad”. 

My friend Dr. Joe Marshall (Omega Boys Club/Street Soldiers founder) defined a friend as one who “never leads you to danger”. I am pushing for us to embrace that as the definition of a homie as well. Better yet, a homie is one who “Helps Others Move In Excellence! If your "enemies” want to see you hurt or in jail, but riding with your homie is going to bring the same results, its time to redefine what a homie is-if for no other reason then the preservation of our youth. If we don’t, it becomes increasingly difficult to argue with ol’ Webster.  

*Thanks for taking an interest in my blog. I am open to suggestions, feedback and further conversation. If you enjoyed this please help a homie out by spreading the word!