{"id":708,"date":"2022-01-21T10:07:31","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T15:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/?p=708"},"modified":"2022-01-21T10:07:31","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T15:07:31","slug":"the-salvation-army-lets-pretend-to-talk-about-racism-2nd-article","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/?p=708","title":{"rendered":"The Salvation Army: Let\u2019s Pretend To Talk About Racism (2nd article)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sometimes there is little diversity among diversity-equity-inclusion activists<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Note: The previous posting discussed the Salvation Army jumping on the \u201cwoke\u201d train, so to speak. I sent the link to the heads of the Salvation Army administrative office closest to us, that being in Scranton, PA. I quickly received a friendly and brief reply (below at bottom) from Major Bob Schmig (they use military ranks in the Salvation Army hierarchy. Maj. Schmig offered no comment regarding the topic at hand, and I composed and sent him a follow-up e-mail\/letter, which is the main text of this posting. Note that the term Pharisees is used, which defies simple definition but were basically a group of learned Jews around the time of Jesus that formed somewhat of a social\/political class and emphasized adherence to the Laws of Moses and oral tradition. They tended to be privileged and numbered perhaps in the 1,000s. They received the animosity of Jesus because he perceived then as hypocrites in the \u201cdo as I say, not as I do\u201d realm. In today\u2019s terms, they might be referred in the political world as the Establishment, or more invectively, \u201cthe Swamp.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greetings Major Schmig:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for your prompt reply to my e-mail from several days ago, and I appreciate your taking the time to read my article, \u201cThe Salvation Army: Let\u2019s Talk About Elitism.\u201d You might have noted I mentioned a time as a volunteer medical director at a remote clinic in Kenya- this was in the early 2000\u2019s and at the peak of the African AIDS crisis. It was a rare day in which a tragedy did not present itself, and I want to describe one so that you might better understand my perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One horrible day we received word that 3 or 4 children were ill because they had eaten rotten fish that had been laced with insecticide and laid about in hopes of poisoning rabid dogs. I dispatched a vehicle but by the time it arrived all but one of the children had died. The one girl that returned, perhaps 7-years-old, was terrified, having witnessed truly miserable deaths of her younger siblings, and we couldn\u2019t determine if she too had consumed the poisoned rotten fish. Nevertheless, though there was no protocol on how to treat such a thing, I empirically induced vomiting (if I recall) and had her drink slurry of charcoal through her tears and sobbing. Ultimately I assumed she hadn\u2019t consumed the insecticide because I don\u2019t think she would have survived regardless of treatment, and thankfully she was okay. Maybe you\u2019ve witnessed and experienced similar events, but having seen so many children die during my time there, I developed a particular revulsion to children dying, perhaps especially black kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Though I am not a believer, I can appreciate there is great wisdom to be found in the Bible, which includes the instruction from Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun. Technology is invented, cultures evolve, thrive, and disappear, and language changes, but beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors we may think as new and unprecedented- sometimes arrogantly- have pretty much existed throughout time. This certainly includes a sense of righteousness, that we or I are special and above others, and that validation of who we are can be obtained by others saying, \u201cHe is wonderful.\u201d At the moment there is a pejorative term, \u201cvirtue signaling,\u201d that encapsulates these characteristics of elitism and a sense of superiority, but the same idea can be found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 23, of which I am sure you are familiar. In talking about the Pharisees, Jesus said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201c\u2026For they preach, but do not practice.  They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people\u2019s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.  They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others,\u201d and  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWoe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people\u2019s bones and all uncleanness.  So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the killing of George Floyd about 20 months ago, many of the wealthiest, most privileged, and elite of people acted as if they suddenly discovered the idea of racism (in others, that is), and had to share this inspired knowledge with the ignorant and racist masses and exhort them to change their sinful ways, outwardly appearing righteous to others and becoming the Pharisees of our day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virtue signaling may be simply vainglorious, not necessarily<\/em> malevolent, but something unexpected and even paradoxical happened this time around: there were consequences. Looking at plain statistics, it has become undeniable that the explosion of violence following the killing of George Floyd can be attributed in a large part to \u201csocial justice\u201d activism, \u201cdiversity, equity, and inclusion\u201d rhetoric, demands to\u201cdefund the police, trivializing violence, and the like, emanating especially from the elite and privileged. And, as Jesus said, \u201cThey tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people\u2019s shoulders.\u201d The reality is the burdens of \u201csocial justice\u201d are mostly borne by black people, with the murders of black people increasing by the thousands. It is extremely rare for a white person to be killer of a black person, with the overwhelming number of the perpetrators being black themselves, especially younger black males. Needless to say, many innocent black children are killed in the crossfire, approaching 300 in 2020, a significant increase- perhaps 50%- from 2019. I invite you to read another article I wrote dealing with this topic at https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/?p=688<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are cultural and political bullies whose fame and fortune depend on the existence of racism, real, or more often, imagined, and their mission is to exploit and perpetuate it where it might exist and resuscitate it where it has faded away. It is accurate to say that many, if not most, of the non-Scriptural references used in your \u201cLet\u2019s Talk About Racism\u201d guide were in fact from the same elitist people, who will never suffer the consequences of their demands. I\u2019ve been around the US and the world a bit, and in fact have witnessed true racism, where the worth of someone\u2019s life is based primarily upon skin color, and it\u2019s a very ugly business. Thank goodness, even in my short lifetime of 63 years, I\u2019ve seen this fade away, so that \u201cwhite supremacists\u201d are viewed as buffoons and completely marginalized by society. Ironically, however, those that do exist can sit back, do nothing, and watch the doctrines and policies espoused by \u201csocial justice activists,\u201d now sadly including the Salvation Army, sow misery and violence, in especially black communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m fairly certain the expression \u201cout of sight, out of mind\u201d is not based on Scripture, yet this is all too common in social and political life on the internet. An activist turned politician, for example, posts extremist positions on Facebook or whatever, then when caught simply deletes them and says \u201cnothing to see here.\u201d Unfortunately, this is at least a moderately successful strategy, and unfortunately this is what your organization did with its \u201cLet\u2019s Talk About Racism\u201d guide. I have no idea what the organization or power structure of the Salvation Army may be, or if the Scranton Citadel Corps is a significant player, but I think your mission would better be served by truly<\/em> talking about racism, as compared to predictable pontificating, that so many other elite persons and organizations have done. Note that I suffer from being long-winded, and for the sake of literary economy will post this e-mail as an article, prefacing it with a brief discussion of what Pharisees were and a mention that this was a letter\/e-mail sent to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kind Regards,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reid Fitzsimons<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hi Reid,

Thanks so much for your note of concern. I really don't have anything more to share than the official responses in the link you shared in your blog. I can assure you that our focus here in Scranton is helping others without discrimination and to share the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Hundreds of families are fed every year and lives touched. If you like maybe we could go for a cup of coffee sometime.

Let me know if there's anything we can pray for you about.

Blessings,
Major Bob Schmig
The Salvation Army Scranton Citadel Corps<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note: The previous posting discussed the Salvation Army jumping on the \u201cwoke\u201d train, so to speak. I sent the link to the heads of the Salvation Army administrative office closest to us, that being in Scranton, PA. I quickly received a friendly and brief reply (below at bottom) from Major Bob Schmig (they use military ...continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[7,10,5,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ynMC-bq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=708"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":711,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions\/711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}