This is Blog Number Six and begins our series for Black History Month. The overall topic of the series has to do with Racial Reconciliation in America.

AMERICA – Sharing The Resource Bundle!

“And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.” (Book of Acts 4:32, King James Version). Following the Resurrection of Jesus it is this Scripture that frames the founding principle of the Body of Christ the Church. This comity proclaims the witness of love of thy neighbor as thyself.

The quality of life in America, is mostly if not completely determined: good or bad by a person’s degree of access to ten things that we call The Resource Bundle, which consist of: A) freedom, B) capital C), employment, D) food and water, E) housing, F) healthcare, G) education, H) transportation, I) information, and J) influence. Our divisions in America have to do with, the degree to which, the individual or a whole class of individuals, are able to access each of The Resource Bundle’s ten elements.

As a matter of history, access to The Resource Bundle has been dominated in America by White Americans. Black Americans and generally people of color have often seen their access subordinated and in some cases completely eliminated.

Historically, it is the control of The Resource Bundle that has affected our national unity; created racial hatreds and divisions and indeed led this nation into a Civil War. Indeed a war in which some are yet engaged. Where the Black-American is concerned, it can safely be stated that access to The Resource Bundle, has been problematic. Indeed from the beginning to now there has been a struggle for Black access; at times exclusion to some elements has occurred through the implementation of an economic system completely driven by efforts to control The Resource Bundle.

Our economic system of Capitalism has historically been challenged with the pollution of racial biases that have been embedded within the system. Capitalism in America is said to be based on the self-reliance of the individual. Competition within the framework of our Capitalistic system is rooted in what individual or group of individuals has the greater control of The Resource  Bundle.

An institutionally segregated social order that focused on constraining The Resource Bundle in order to oppress the Black-Americans prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1965 cannot be overlooked as we consider our divisions in today’s America. The quality of life of Black-Americans of today is a direct result of the oppressive control of The Resource Bundle in America prior to 1965.

Based in race, as it relates to the distribution of The Resource Bundle we remain a much divided society indeed; with a dramatic variance in who has what. In an egalitarian society it is social division that is subordinated, not the access to resources.

An egalitarian society – a free and democratic republic, is best that provides for equality of competition through the governance of an economic system. A more perfect union actually means a union where there is equal access to The Resource Bundle though there may yet be competitive activity to have more than one’s neighbor. In America, directing the availability and cost of The Resource Bundle is affected, indeed determined, by Capitalism and by governance.

The profound success of Capitalism is seen in the ability of the individual to perceive a goal, like the American dream; if they are free to perform their God given gifts, talents and strengths their dream can be achieved. This by an individual though there be assistance along the way! In this an individual represents some value to Capitalism. In America, it is the individual who holds sway, doing so: by the power of their personality, hard work, or their passage into birth within the resource controlling class.

Achieving the American dream, whatever it may be, hangs on the reality of freedom; whether it exists, is dominated, subordinated and or excluded. We would agree with those who believe that freedom to achieve their vision in life is the true American dream! Diminishing of freedoms to any collective within society is a resource matter.

Resources availability, to a large degree, is affected by poverty, class and race. When the problem of poverty is resolved, the divisions within America will greatly diminish. This is a bottom to top matter; for, when those at the bottom of the poverty scale fare better, it pushes everyone else up, as relating to their material condition. To ensure the common good of the masses it is our political class that must be held accountable at the ballot box. As an example, when the minimum wage is raised, it moves upward other wages.

The common goodwill in America is negatively affected when The Resource Bundle is allowed to be dominated by an individual or a smaller group of individuals. For this the governance mandate of the political class must be evaluated and held to account. The common goodwill can be affected by the actions of an individual or small class collective of individuals. Mainly, it is the wealth class, which dominates the control over resources in America, and indeed the world.

Yet it is an individual citizen at a ballot box who must act on behalf of the common good. When dominance happens to a truly negative extent, division with calamity can become the result. As Americans our division is what we must all guard against. As our divisions today are aggressively getting out of hand, with just one significant event, the possibility exists for extreme social unrest that can damage the psyche of the entire nation.

So we as a people must do better. Un-constrained resource dominance, offers a potential for extreme social chaos, social unrest and even anarchy. To degrade the potential for mayhem in America we must endeavor to unite in racial concord and reconciliation in this nation. In this regard we have no time to waste!

Our divisions must be recognized with the purpose of minimizing or eliminating them. It is toward this purpose that we journey forward to create a national movement unto racial reconciliation in the United States. We are persuaded that before reconciliation can be had revelation must first come. As revelation is brought let it be done for edification with good purpose clarity and love at the core. America has been revealing herself unto herself over the past six years. Perhaps the appointed hour for change is now upon us.

We are persuaded that race relations are the worst that they have been since the upheavals of the 1960’s. Therefore let us with hope in common cause and goodwill begin a movement in America for reconciling our divisions between the races; with this hope let us move toward the higher purpose of communion with one another.