the same but different

I had a best friend in elementary school, Robert.  Linden School at the time was a K-8th grade school and my best friend was a boy I met in Kindergarten. He was, for the nine years we were friends, a pudgy kid, wore glasses at a very early age, always the last to be picked for a team, and when we played a game called Guess Who in Mrs. Nauhaus’s class (in which you lowered your head to the desk and 5 people were to find 5 other people to tab on the head and you had to guess who had tabbed you), my friend Robert never once was tabbed.Ever!

But Robert was a fun friend and a loyal buddy, and whether or not I won or lost cool points for being his friend did not matter. (Even though I had a lot to risk being friendly with him cause on a 1-10 popular meter, while in Linden School I teetered on the 4 maybe 5 level). 

He was a wealthy kid and his summers were spent away either in Europe, the Atlantic or Pacific Coast, so once the final bell of the season rang I would not see Robert until after Labor Day. (Those were the dark ancient days of no Internet or Cell Phones).

It was fun to meet up with Robert when the Fall semester of school started both of us sharing details of all the summer escapades and adventures. And this particular summer we were starting as Freshmen at Taylor Allderdice High School. Luck had it that Robert and I were to be in the same homeroom class. His name started with a B as did mime so most likely the very uncreative homeroom teacher would have us either sitting next to one another or pretty close. When Robert returned from his summer trip he called and asked if I could come to school a little bit early as he had something he wanted to show me. It was a secret so he would not spill and of the details.

All of this excitement the first day in high school, new friends to meet and Robert had something to show me. I got to school early and stood at the place Robert suggested we meet, but no Robert, or so I thought. Standing next to me was a guy who looked like Robert, but this kid was MUCH thinner, and actually looked like an athlete. I stared thinking I knew him and this good looking kid stared back. Finally after a few minutes I heard, “its me Gerry, Robert.” 

Robert went on to tell me his family sent him to a Fat Camp located in the Rocky Mountains for 6 weeks. He woke up at 6 went to bed at 8 exercised all day long, did chores and ate only healthy foods. Then when he lost weight his parents got him contact lens. He was a new Robert, (he preferred the name Rob now), in time for high school. It was nice seeing this new Robert and hard to believe he had never looked like this before.

And as the school year advanced Rob became popular and soon became one of the boys who took enjoyment in picking on boys who used to look and act like the old Robert. I had a few classes with Rob and watched as he and his buds took great pleasure in scapegoating and bullying other kids. Somehow the freedom and popularity Rob now enjoyed erased memory of any and all torment he experienced from Kindergarten to eighth grade.

In the 60’s prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, white Christian ministers and preachers found chapter and verse in the New Testament to decry the intention to make Blacks equal to the White majority.  They found phony scientists to explain that Blacks are not really as human as whites due to such things as the size of their head, and that their brain was much too small to permit intelligent thought.

And then if the science was not enough these same men who said they were God’s disciples said that God loves the Blacks but if they were given equal access the Blacks would want to marry Whites and that would disrupt God’s master plan to keep the races separate. 

And when that wasn’t enough the preachers all full of fire and brimstone said it was a philosophical issue, Blacks are not just like Whites and since they were brought to this nation as slaves should remain that way.

Thank goodness the Constitution stood in the way of of those who trash God’s grace and Blacks, at least by law began to be equal not separate but equal.

President Obama stated he felt that that same sex-marriage should be accepted and that HE has evolved in his understanding of equal rights for the LGBT community. And the minute he made that statement, Christian preachers and ministers have come forward as crusaders to warn the US that the apocalypse was approaching because the president found the Constitution more important then the Bible. 

And with the President’s announcement, a slew of Black ministers and preachers have become vocal against same-sex marriage. They have given sermons to their parishioners, provided interviews on television. They are infuriated that the LGBT steal the term civil rights when in fact being Gay is a choice and being Black is inherited. They insist that the Bible restricts same-sex marriage. The Black preachers used the same poison demonstrated by the White preachers in the South during the 60’s Civil Rights Movement against Black Americans to decry, destroy and diminish the civil rights of the LGBT American.

My friend Rob gained his place in high school and once he was accepted as the norm, he instantly needed someone as his scapegoat to maintain his own position as popular. The Black community finally gained equal rights, once denied by the White population. But for the Black Ministers and Preachers somehow their own history does not matter. Using the same baloney and bull shit the White Christians used against them, the Black clergy and act as bigots toward the LGBT community. They are not like us!

Somehow the struggle for fair and equal is never the same once those down trodden gain it. Somehow what is good for the goose remains forbidden for the gander. Somehow, Rob was cool as long as others were not as cool as he. Somehow the Blacks are cool as long as others are not. And somehow in the name of God hypocrisy reigns supreme.