PODCAST: T. D. Jakes discusses trauma of coronavirus in his community (BCNN1 06.03.21)

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According to The Atlantic, Bishop T.D. Jakes spoke about the ongoing trauma of COVID-19 in his community, and whether white evangelicals have lost sight of Jesus’s teachings in an interview with editor Emma Green. When asked, “In the past year, how many members of your congregation have either gotten sick with or died from COVID-19?”, Jakes responded: “I can’t even answer the question, because the number would be so high. It’s hard to even tabulate, because a lot of people in our church, when they pass away, they go back home to be buried. But I can tell you that there were weeks that I was inundated with phone calls literally every day about somebody who either was sick or had passed away. What was numbers to everybody else—and the numbers were horrific enough—was people to me. …When New York was bad—the numbers were so inordinately high—one day, I literally just lost it. I’ve done a lot of book signings on Fifth Avenue at Barnes & Noble. I’ve spoken in New York since I was a very young man. And I just wondered how many of those people who were at my services or at my book signings were in those bags. And I just started weeping. To all people, being close to your loved ones when they pass is important. But to Black people, being able to have a funeral and eulogy is sometimes the only time day workers and frontline workers get to be important. It’s the only day other than a wedding day that everything is about you. To be denied that celebration of life—we call them homegoings, rather than funerals—I knew we would be devastated for years to come. The numbers have dropped, but the trauma has not.”

According to USA Today, Oregon lawmakers voted unanimously Tuesday to recognize Juneteenth, a day recognizing the Emancipation Proclamation, as a state holiday every June 19, starting in 2022. The holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, the day enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, were told President Abraham Lincoln had freed people held in bondage in rebel states two years earlier. The passage of the bill, introduced by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown earlier this year, falls on the same day as the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, when hundreds of Black residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma were attacked or killed by a white mob. “With House Bill 2168, we can learn from another time,” said Sen. Lew Frederick in a statement released by Oregon Senate Democrats. “We can change the future now, in real time. We can work towards equality – even without a declaration or official holiday. We must. Celebrating Juneteenth will help each of us remember all that we can and must do to ensure a more just future.” After House Bill 2168 passed the Senate Tuesday, the bill went back to the House for consideration of Senate amendments. Gov. Kate Brown is expected to sign it into law. “I know this is a small, yet important step. I encourage all Oregonians to join me in observing Juneteenth by getting educated on systemic racism in this country and getting involved in the fight for racial justice,” Brown said in a news release last year about the introduction of the bill to make the day a holiday.

According to NewJersey.com, A rabbi was on the front line with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and former Rep. John Lewis on the historic march from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights. Another rabbi spoke before King took the stage during the 1963 March on Washington. Two young Jewish civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi trying to register Blacks to vote. Decades later, when Barack Obama became the nation’s first Black president, his support among Jewish voters was higher than from any other religious or ethnic group other than African Americans, according to exit polls. Now, in the wake of a surge in anti-Semitic attacks U.S. Sen. Cory Booker is looking toward that long-term alliance as he takes on a major role in establishing a Black-Jewish coalition in the Senate. The move has precedence. “There’s been a long history of Black people and Jewish sisters and brothers working together on a whole range of concerns,” said U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock. “We’ve been coming together,” Booker said. He said U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the chamber, has joined as well. So has U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal. “We will be fighting both racism and anti-Semitism,” Blumenthal said. “If you look back at the civil rights movement, it really was one of the high points in race relations. It marked a real alliance along religious and racial lines in fighting for civil rights. I think we’re in the midst of a racial justice moment and a reckoning now that could draw us together.”

According to CNN, Wilberforce University will cancel student debt for 2020 and 2021 graduates, according to a news release. The president of the historically Black university made the announcement during 2021 commencement exercises Saturday, noting the total amount of cleared debt will be more than $375,000. “As these graduates begin their lives as responsible adults, we are honored to be able to give them a fresh start by relieving their student debt to the university,” President Elfred Anthony Pinkard said. Students were seen cheering and dancing after Pinkard made the announcement. This initiative does not cover federal loans, bank loans or any other kind of personal loans taken by the student. It includes fines and fees owed to the university and tuition balances that were being paid directly to the university by students or their parents. The debt will be covered by various scholarships, such as the United Negro College Fund, Inc., Jack and Jill, Inc., as well as other funding, according to the release.

According to WGNTV, Family is mourning the loss of a 15-year-old Bolingbrook girl who died from COVID-19 just two days after testing positive. Last week, Dykota Morgan was a perfectly healthy 15-year-old freshman at Bolingbrook High School who excelled in school and athletics. But shortly after she turned 15, Morgan started feeling sick. “Sunday, we were out early and she called us and said she woke up feeling dizzy and weak and she was coughing on the phone,” said mother Krystal Morgan. Morgan’s mother said Dykota had been complaining of headaches for the past two weeks, but did not have any pre-existing conditions. Over the weekend, her parents noticed a change. “She just wasn’t doing good, she was too tired and the cough and the fever, so by about 5 o’clock I said I’m going to get you a COVID test because I’m kind of worried you might have COVID,” Krystal Morgan said. On Sunday, Dykota tested positive for COVID-19 and by Monday she was in Central DuPage Hospital. Her parents had to say goodbye at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning. “She was perfectly healthy, … she was perfectly healthy and she got COVID and it took her,” father Rashad Bingham said. Dykota’s parents just want people to know that the virus is not gone and that children are not immune. They’re hopeful the vaccine can soon help prevent this from happening to other families.

According to Daily Mail, An 18-year-old student was shot dead outside a Jackson gas station just hours after graduating and two months after her boyfriend was gunned down near a convenience store. Kennedy Hobbs, 18, died at the scene after she was shot multiple times in Jackson, Mississippi on Tuesday evening. Hobbs had graduated from Murrah High School on Tuesday morning. Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Errick Greene said in a statement: ‘A loss of a younger person, especially just after she’s graduated, it’s really tough.’ Hobbs’ family say the teenager’s boyfriend, Jaquan Williams, 21, was killed in a shooting in April on Rose Street at Robinson Street. It is unclear if the two shootings are related.

According to the Daily Mail, A video of a black father slamming critical race theory with his young daughter is going viral after he warned it is just teaching children to judge each other based on their skin color. Kory Yeshua, who lives in Riverside County, California, posted the video on TikTok last month in which he discusses the controversial teachings with his six-year-old daughter Royalty. The father, who is staunchly conservative, said he is refusing to allow his children to be impacted by critical race theory. Yeshua, whose social media feeds are filled with videos of himself slamming Democrats, said he is choosing instead to teach his children that they can be anything they want to be if they work hard. In an interview with DailyMail.com, Yeshua said he is pushing back against the theory because children are being taught an agenda that black and white children are ‘separate’ because of their skin color. ‘It’s just always the same thing, trying to teach black and white kids that they are separate,’ he said. ‘We have got enough to worry about in America, we do not need to be teaching kids that they are oppressors or oppressed based on the melanin content of their skin.’ His video has gone viral since it was posted on May 19 and has been viewed more than 60,000 times across TikTok and Instagram.

You can read these stories and more at BlackChristianNews.com .

In closing, remember, God loves you. He always has and He always will. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you don’t know Jesus as your Saviour, today is a good day to get to know Him. Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose from the dead for you. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart and He will. Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Thanks so much for listening and may God bless your day!