‘Same Kind Of Different As Me’ Rises Above Protests, Slogans on Racism
/The closest I’ve come to experiencing the pain of racism is when I was called “commie” by several of my fellow junior high classmates during the Cold War period of relations between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. (Russia).However, that somewhat public ridicule and humiliation was mostly the result of youthful immaturity and social ignorance. Some of that may have even been passed down by the taunters’ ignorant parents.The emotional pain, if only lasting for a short time, experienced by this Los Angeles-born child to Eastern European parents who escaped communism, not embraced it, is faintly related to the sin of racism, but nowhere near the black experience in America.While most of the buzz about the movie Same Kind Of Different As Me by Paramount Pictures and Pure Flix releasing on Friday revolves around issues of homelessness, there is also an aspect of this true story that can’t be missed — racism.It is not only the way the film so vividly captures Denver Moore’s (played by Djimon Hounsou) deep pain as the result of living through racism manifested in all ways, including physical, that makes the movie a must-see, but it is the way a solution to the problem is presented that goes way beyond slogans and protests.
Below are parts of the obit published by the Dallas News after Moore’s death on March 31. 2012.
Denver Moore was a feared warrior, hardened during his 22 years living on the streets of Fort Worth. He was the baseball bat-packing alpha male of the homeless when Ron Hall, a Dallas art dealer, started trying to befriend him in 1998......Mr. Moore was an unlikely candidate for 20th-century prophet.Born in rural Louisiana, he grew up with an aunt and uncle on what amounted to a plantation in Red River Parish. He never attended school and labored for credit he used to buy necessities at the company store.He was roped and dragged by the Ku Klux Klan when he was a teenager for helping a white woman change a flat tire on the plantation, Mr. Hall said. He vowed he would never speak to another white woman or trust a white person.In 1960, Mr. Moore hopped a freight train to Fort Worth, where he lived for a few months before moving on to Los Angeles.Several years later, he returned to Louisiana, where he was convicted of armed robbery in 1966.Hungry and living in a hobo camp, Mr. Moore attempted to rob a bus driver, using a rusted revolver that had no cylinder. He threatened to kill the driver but left when the man said he could not get the change out of the bus till.Mr. Moore was arrested, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, known as the Alcatraz of the South. He was released in 1976 and returned to Fort Worth.In 1998, he met Mr. and Mrs. Hall, who had been volunteering for a couple of weeks at the Union Gospel Mission, looking to find the man in Mrs. Hall’s vision. One evening, as they were preparing to serve a meal, a fight broke out as the homeless men left a chapel service.
So, as the story is beautifully told in the movie, we are witness to the the most powerful weapon against hatred, ignorance, despair, evil, and social injustice. That weapon is love, and not the love of the world, but the love of a relationship with God through Jesus. We see love blast through real-life racism.[ictt-tweet-blockquote hashtags="" via=""]In 'Same Kind of Different As Me' we are witness to the most powerful weapon against racism.[/ictt-tweet-blockquote]Practically speaking, the hope and solution demonstrated in this movie come from a relationship with God and relationships with others.
This is not a “bible-thumping” movie, however, it is a movie that clearly re-emphasizes what the Bible already says:You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. — Luke 10:27Put away your pre-conceptions of “Christian” movies. Put away the distractions of a world gone mad and go see Same Kind of Different as Me.One more thing. Please realize that you can be part of the solution by simply going to see this movie with a friend.Need more of a nudge? Read this: What If We All Made the Same Kind of Difference?
4 Pastors Get Real About the City – Together LA Pop-Up
It may have seemed like a daunting task to figure out what’s broken in Los Angeles then offer a simple solution.But that’s not what four Christian leaders from various parts of L.A. set out to do during a panel discussion at Philosopher’s Cafe in Santa Monica on a recent June evening. Co-hosted by Together LA, the panel — Broken City – Is there hope for Los Angeles? — began with moderator Steve Snook of Metro Church giving a heads up to the direction the discussion will go.
MICHAEL MATA
Together LA- Michael Mata on Koreatown, Los Angeles from One Ten Pictures on Vimeo.
Dr. Clarke and I joined many in our extended networks in immediately denouncing on social media the violent racism on display last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia. I am aware that, for many in Fuller's extended network, Facebook is not a primary form of communication, and I wanted to extend to you as well a distillation of our shared perspectives on this critically important issue.The evil of racism so vividly unveiled in Charlottesville last weekend is tragically intertwined with American church history. But it needs to be said that nothing about white nationalism flows from the heart of God. May white—and all—followers of Jesus say and live a resounding NO to any form of white nationalism. As urgent as it is and must be for all Christians to condemn white nationalism, it is also urgent and necessary for white Christians like me to grasp, to repent of, and to turn from the long history by which our Christian faith has been used to accrue to us personal and systemic power and privilege simply because we are white.Events of last weekend in Charlottesville cry out for the need of white Christians to look at this pervasive and insidious evil that subverts the Jesus we claim and profess. By our racial sin, the name of Jesus is scandalized. We recently welcomed Clifton Clarke to Fuller to partner with us in leadership of the Pannell Center for African American Church Studies, and I personally am committed to standing together with Dr. Clarke in this, our shared mission.Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.Mark LabbertonPresident___We need to unequivocally speak in plain terms stating that white supremacist neo-fascist Nazi groups are an evil scourge in this country. White nationalism, white supremacy, white privilege, white silence, and racial fragility all drink from the same pot—the maintenance of white privilege.Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” What we saw in Charlottesville on August 11 and 12 was the hate that hate produces. In the hours immediately after the Charlottesville riots, I called for white evangelical leaders to swiftly respond and for white people of conscience to speak out about white privilege. I thank my brother Mark for his leadership and courage in having already joined me in denouncing the extreme, white supremacist, male-dominated groups in America who are heirs of those hate groups emboldened by the rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.The chilling images of hate-filled protesters in 2017 America carrying torches, chanting slogans steeped in the history of bigotry, racism, and anti-Semitism is an affront to our faith in Jesus Christ and the biblical teachings we hold dear. We, the Fuller community, reaffirm our unshakable commitment to diversity, equality, and the value of all people created in the image of God.This partnership is why I came to Fuller, and I am committed to standing together with Dr. Labberton in this, our shared mission.Committed to the love that love produces,Clifton ClarkeAssociate Dean of the William Pannell Center for African American Church Studies and Associate Professor of Black Church Studies and World Christianity
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