I stand by my opinion that funerals are not the place to make political or social statements. Rev Jasper Williams Jr. is getting criticism for his statements yesterday at Franklin's funeral. Funerals should honor the life and legacy of someone, not be a venue for people's personal statements. This was also said yesterday at Aretha's funeral
Aretha Franklin's eulogist draws criticism for remarks on black America Detroit Free Press
" A Georgia pastor's eulogy of Aretha Franklin has sparked criticism from some people who accused him of being homophobic, sexist and demeaning to other black people.
The Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. of the Salem Bible Church in Atlanta touched on Franklin's life and career but also criticized black-on-black crime and said single mothers are incapable of raising sons by themselves. He said black America has lost its soul and that it's "now time for black America to come back home."
"There was a time when we as a race had a thriving economy," Williams said. "I remember we had our own little grocery stores. We had our own little hotels. They weren't big and fancy, but they were ours. …
"As bad as the days as Jim Crow and segregation were ... it forced us to each other instead of forcing us on each other. We quickly come to realize that as a people, all we really have is one another."
"Where is your soul, black man?" he asked. "As I look in your house, there are no fathers in the home no more. Where is your soul?"
"Seventy percent of our households are led by our precious, proud, fine black women. But as proud, beautiful and fine as our black women are, one thing a black woman cannot do. A black woman cannot raise a black boy to be a man. She can’t do that. She can’t do that."
Then, Williams touched on the Black Lives Matter movement and called for an end to black-on-black violence.
“It amazes me how it is that when the police kills one of us, we're ready to protest march, destroy innocent property," he said. "We’re ready to loot, steal whatever we want. ... But when we kill 100 of us, nobody says anything. Nobody does anything.”
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2018/08/31/aretha-franklin-eulogist-reverend-jasper-williams/1163498002/
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