From My Perspective - - -

There has been considerable referencing of “profiling” in the news and political discourse. Of late, “profiling” has had a narrower focus in two areas: (1) illegal immigration and (2) racial/ethnic considerations. There was a time when “profiling” had a positive emphasis. Former Senator (later President) John F. Kennedy, in his Pulitzer Prize Winning book – Profiles In Courage, wrote of the special courage of eight United States Senators. He noted: “…the three types of pressure faced by senators as pressure to be liked, pressure to be re-elected, and pressure of the constituency and interest groups…(he) explains that the book is about his admiration of the courage shown by elected leaders in the face of adverse factions like their electorates, popular opinion and political action committees that pull these elected men in different directions…(it) is a book about that most admirable of human virtues – courage. Grace under pressure…”  

One of the men of courage cited by Kennedy was: “Daniel Webster was a Massachusetts Senator (Whig) and one of the most distinguished members in Senate history. His trial by fire began in 1850 when he agreed to help Henry Clay of Kentucky push through a compromise bill that would keep the Union together. Webster’s famous “Seventh of March” speech in favor of Clay’s compromise bill asserted that slaveholders were entitled to property rights, that fugitive slave laws should be strengthened, and that the issue of slavery should be put aside in order to keep the Union together at all costs.” This is interesting because our nation seems to be far removed from this act of courage so many years ago. The Union appears to be anything but United. We are floundering and becoming more polarized as the days go by.

Consider some News Headlines and reporting so far this week: (1) Former Black Panther Pulled From House Floor - Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., lost his right to speak on the House floor after he violated rules by putting on a hoodie and sunglasses in honor of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen shot last month; (2) Trayvon Protesters Ransack Store- North Miami Beach police said surveillance video shows dozens of high school students demonstrating in the Trayvon Martin case Friday ransacking a Walgreens store.The incident occurred during a walkout from North Miami Beach Senior High School in support of Martin, 17, who was fatally shot in Sanford; (3) So Where The DOJ, DHS On The Terrorists Group New Black Panthers Illegal Bounty For Zimmerman? - Members of the New Black Panther Party are offering a $10,000 reward for the “capture” of George Zimmerman, the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who shot Trayvon Martin. New Black Panther leader Mikhail Muhammad announced the reward during a protest in Sanford Saturday. And when asked whether he was inciting violence, Muhammad replied defiantly: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” The bounty announcement came moments after members of the group called for the mobilization of 10,000 black men to capture Zimmerman, who shot Trayvon in a gated Sanford community on February 26; and (4) Registered Dem Killed Trayvon - The individual at the center of the controversial Trayvon Martin shooting is a registered Democrat. George Michael Zimmerman, born Oct. 5, 1983, registered as a Democrat in Seminole County, Fla., in August 2002, according to state voter registration documents. It is unclear whether he voted for President Barack Obama in 2008. Some in the media have sought to blame Republican politicians and conservative activists for Martin’s death.

It seems as though this nation is bent on division rather than unity and the secular rather than the spiritual. We need to return to the concepts of Acts 17:23-28, “For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.” Consider these things with me!