An Important History Lesson

James Byrd

Racism is one of the many components that comprise our fallen earthly nature. Although it's inherent in all of us, not everyone succumbs to its evil influence.

Racism is also found in the Bible. During the time the ancient Jews were wandering in the Sinai for 40 years after they left Egypt, Aaron and his sister Miriam, who were the brother and sister of Moses, found fault with their brother because he had married a Cushite woman. (Numbers 12)

Who were the Cushites? They were a dark-skinned people from a region located in Northeast Africa that is now known as the Sudan.

When the Lord discovered that Aaron and Miriam had criticized Moses for choosing a Cushite woman as his wife, he pronounced judgment against them. The Lord also struck Miriam with leprosy as punishment for her bigotry.

It goes without saying that the Lord despises racism in all of its shapes and forms. And opposing racism and bigotry is the responsibility of every Christian, from lay persons to church leaders.

Unfortunately, racism is a lucrative business for some people who promote themselves as Christian ministers. They exploit liberal white guilt and ignorance to attract attention to themselves and rake in the big coin.

Such as the Rev. Michael Pfleger, the fire-breathing Roman Catholic priest from Chicago's South Side. Pfleger, who pastors St. Sabina, a church that has a predominantly African-American constituency, recently suggested that blacks are treated unfairly by America's justice system.

He made that claim after George Zimmerman was exonerated of murder charges by a Florida jury. Prosecutors had charged Zimmerman with profiling, stalking and subsequently murdering Trayvon Martin because Martin was black.

Pfleger, like many other blowhard pseudo-Christian ministers, claims that the Zimmerman verdict provided further proof of an unfair justice system that favors whites while persecuting blacks.

Do you really believe that Rev. Pfleger? Then I'll give you a history lesson. Remember a man named Lawrence Russell Brewer? He was a white supremacist who, along with two accomplices, kidnapped an African-American man named James Byrd on June 7, 1998.

Brewer and his friends chained Byrd to the rear bumper of Brewer's pickup truck and dragged Byrd around the town of Jaspar, Texas until Byrd was dead. It was a hideous crime. Byrd's head was ultimately severed while he was dragged behind the truck.

The crime was so hideous that Jaspar County District Attorney Guy James Gray, who opposed capital punishment, sought the death penalty for Brewer. And when Brewer was finally convicted of Byrd's murder in 1999, Gray got his wish and Brewer was sentenced to death.

Although it took nearly 13 years, Brewer was finally executed by the state of Texas on Sept. 21, 2011. And when Brewer's death was announced, few people shed any tears.

Although Byrd was murdered by three white supremacists in a state where white supremacists are known to exist, his death didn't go unpunished. Besides Brewer, accomplice John William King was also sentenced to death (currently on appeal) and fellow accomplice Shawn Berry was sentenced to life in prison.

And so, Rev. Pfleger, the justice system certainly didn't favor Brewer, King and Berry. Brewer got what he deserved; King will get what he deserves and Berry will rot in prison until he dies.

Rev. Pfleger, you might want to think about that before you make the dubious claim that America's justice system ignores white on black crime.

Once upon a time it did. But now it doesn't when the evidence is clear. Even in a state such as Texas.