Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Susan Wright on the Right

Home
Politics and Religion
Pastor’s Eulogy at Funeral Service of Aretha Franklin Takes Aim at BLM, Family Revolts

Pastor’s Eulogy at Funeral Service of Aretha Franklin Takes Aim at BLM, Family Revolts

Last updated on: September 4, 2018 at 11:38 am by Susan Wright

Pastor’s Eulogy at Funeral Service of Aretha Franklin Takes Aim at BLM, Family Revolts 2018-09-04T11:38:35-04:00 Susan Wright

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

He was not wrong.

In all the ceremony and commotion over the funeral of Republican Senator John McCain, of Arizona, some of us may have missed the ceremony surrounding the send off of legendary singer, Aretha Franklin.

The aptly designated “Queen of Soul” passed away on August 16, 2018, after a battle with pancreatic cancer, leaving behind a legacy of blues-infused, pure vocal wonder.

She was one of a kind, truly, and there are few who could hope to fill her shoes.

At a service that featured guests and performers, such as Ariana Grande, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, former President Bill Clinton, and the wretched hate-monger, Louis Farrakhan, some controversy has emerged, after one of the pastors slipped up and spoke some truth in his eulogy.

Reverend Jasper Williams Jr., known to the family from his past involvement in family memorials, including that of Franklin’s father, C.L. Franklin, a minister and civil rights activist.

That was 34 years ago, which means Reverend Williams is old school. They had to have some notion that he was going to drop some truth along the path.

He did, and they’re freaking out about it.

On Monday, the family spoke, with Vaughn Franklin, a nephew of the late vocalist, expressing their discontent with the message delivered.

“He spoke for 50 minutes and at no time did he properly eulogize her,” Vaughn Franklin said, in a statement delivered for the family.

His eulogy “caught the entire family off guard,” he added. “It has been very, very distasteful.”

No family should be left feeling that the pastor, or anybody else speaking during a service for their departed loved one is being disrespectful.

So what horrible, ghastly things did Reverend Williams say?

Well, apparently, he wanted to talk about the lie of the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as the decimation of the black family.

Williams heard resistance from one of the event’s many celebrity guests. Singer Stevie Wonder yelled out “black lives matter” after the pastor said, “No, black lives do not matter” during his eulogy.

Oh, my!

Did the reverend, who is black, actually say black lives do not matter?

I can see how that might be offensive, but did he have a point?

The eulogist described children being in a home without a father as “abortion after birth” and said black lives do not matter unless blacks stop killing each other.

He also said “there are not fathers in the home no more” and said that a black woman cannot raise a black boy to be a man. Some people suggested that was disrespectful of Aretha Franklin, a single mother of four boys.

WOW.

So he had a point, and it appears he wanted to use this venue to get out a message to the black community that he feels is not being heard.

I’ll say this: Single moms can most certainly raise honorable, strong men. I was a single mom to a son. It was not by choice, but it happens, and I was blessed with a loving, compassionate child, who has grown into the kind of man any mother could be proud of.

I’ll also say, it was a struggle. Sons need fathers to be an example, to give guidance, just as daughters need a strong male figure in their formative years, to love and build up their self-esteem, lest they stray and find that attention and sense of worth in all the wrong places.

Single motherhood is the greatest indicator of poverty in the nation, as well.

In the black community, the out-of-wedlock birthrate is over 70 percent. Imagine that: For every ten black children you encounter as you walk the streets of your community, the chances are very good that at least seven of those ten will be without fathers in the home.

Another tragedy is the abortion rate in black communities. Planned Parenthood targets minority communities for the elimination of black children in the womb.

There was a bit of a stir over a recent Planned Parenthood billboard that said abortion was taking care of black families. That kind of horrific whitewashing (no pun intended) of what amounts to a holocaust of black babies is unfathomable.

As for his comments about Black Lives Matter, Reverend Williams also had no qualms about calling out the hypocrisy of a movement that only seems to march and show out when a white police officer shoots a black citizen. The streets of battlegrounds like Chicago remain curiously BLM-free.

Williams has not backed down from anything he said at the funeral, and said he respects the family’s opinion. “I understand it,” he said. “I regret it. But I’m sorry they feel that way.”

Williams had minimized the Black Lives Matter movement because of black-on-black crime. “Black lives must not matter until black people start respecting black lives and stop killing ourselves.”

The push back against Williams, as well as anyone who dares suggest all lives matter is unfortunate, indeed. It’s a result of a community that has been conditioned to believe that self-reflection is betrayal.

The BLM crowd would rather turn a blind eye to the problem of black-on-black crime than be responsible for policing their own communities and demanding more respect for each other. They look for the “white boogeyman” to blame everything on, making big shows of the disturbing, but much less prevalent white-on-black killings, while black bodies killed in black-on-black attacks pile up behind them.

They systematically, loyally support politicians that do nothing to lift up their communities and continue to fund Planned Parenthood’s daily slaughter of their future leaders, teachers, speakers, activists, and pastors.

To be fair, Republicans have failed in cutting the cash flow to that entity, as well.

There are issues to be addressed within the black community that require a voice among their own to speak with no fear. That’s what Reverend Williams was trying to do.

Was a funeral service the right place?

Normally, I would say “no,” but they allowed Louis Farrakhan to take a place of honor on the stage at the ceremony. He is a cancerous icon of hate. What Reverend Williams did pales in comparison to just having Farrakhan there. In fact, it was balance, and sometimes, truth is a hard pill.

Uncategorized

Aretha Franklin

Black Lives Matter

Previous Post

September 4, 2018

After Another Trump Attack on Jeff Sessions, Senator Ben Sasse Hits a Mic Drop Moment

Next Post

September 4, 2018 New Bob Woodward Book Tells a Tale of an Insulting, Unstable, Unschooled White House

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2021 November 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz