The third verse of the classic song “Imagine” by the great, late John Lennon offers this wisdom:
“Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man.”

As an admirer of The Beatles in general – and John Lennon in particular – I can share with you that Lennon’s song “Imagine” is basically one man’s (one artist’s) desire/longing for peace on earth.

Peace on earth to and for African Americans. Imagine that. Think about the very concept just for a moment. What would our peace on earth even look like? What would it feel like? Could we even recognize it if it suddenly, magically, mystically arrived here upon this increasingly cold, dark, and lonely postmodern world of ours?

Peace on earth to us and for us is possible – and can be achieved through these bullet points: politically, educationally, financially, professionally, socially, spiritually, physically, and mentally.

Politically, peace on earth would mean waking up to a world in which politicians from both sides of the aisle and especially the middle could mutually respect ideas policies, and proposals that are at times vastly different from their own. Democrats choosing to break bread with Republicans. Republicans willfully sit at the table of brotherhood with Independents. Candidates and incumbents should steadfastly promise before, during, and after political campaigns to consistently avoid personal attacks and insults aimed at each other; while sticking to sharing their potential solutions to the issues and concerns of their constituents. Peace on earth politically would mean an immediate and permanent end to elected officials butchering biblical verses in ill-conceived attempts to achieve a false sense of gravitas while in pursuit of an effective soundbite. There would be no more competition between candidates to prove who is more patriotic, more popular, or more powerful. Peace on earth politically would also require an end of alliances between candidates and individuals, groups, organizations, and/or institutions that promote racism, sexism, ageism, or anything else that separates Americans from each other instead of uniting them with each other.

Educationally, peace on earth would be earth-shattering because it would demand a comprehensive retooling of our schools and institutions of higher learning. American history would be taught warts and all: the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. For the first time, American students would learn everything about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the rest of our founding fathers. For the first time, American students would be taught the beauties and the travesties of the United States Constitution. Teachers and administrators would teach the truths the adverbials (the who, what, when, where, and why) of how the American implementation of chattel slavery was engineered by wealthy White plantation owners to be uniquely cruel, uniquely savage towards enslaved African Americans – and uniquely profitable and uniquely embraced amongst themselves. Peace on earth educationally would lead to many in-depth conversations in classrooms about both the myths of blackness and the myths of whiteness. American students on all levels would be taught and shown limitless evidence that race was, is, and always will be an artificial social construct – based upon a falsehood of White superiority to somehow justify the subjugation of non-White people for the express purpose of securing free labor towards the establishment and maintenance of wealth for the White elite class. And since truth would be taught, educators would teach the whole history of the demonization, objectification, capture, and genocide of First Nation civilizations that settled in North America hundreds and hundreds of years before White Europeans accidentally sailed to these shores. I am more than willing to bet real money that if these histories were taught openly, deeply, and fully, American students wouldn’t hate America; they would love America more because they could see the importance of knowing this nation’s imperfections. America must be great for the first time before it can be great again.  Until this happens, America cannot and will not heal from its two deep, festering wounds – its twin original sins towards African Americans and Native Americans. No reparations are possible without peace on earth educationally. Further, no racial reconciliation is conceivable without that.

Financially, peace on earth would mean a reality where racial disparities are finally and meaningfully addressed by not only the American government and its many agencies, but also by the mainline faith traditions, banks, credit bureaus, etc. Reparations extended towards African Americans wouldn’t necessarily have to come in the form of a paper check or a direct deposit into the bank accounts of African Americans. Reparations to African Americans for the ravages of slavery could come in a variety of ways – most notably tax credits, tax exemptions, special credit score readjustments, exclusive loans to start small businesses and free or subsidized access to resources dedicated to mental health wellness to name a few. Financial peace on earth would call on the federal government to invest in historically Black colleges and universities like never before (perhaps in free tuition for Black Americans from ages 18 to 65 to attend HBCUs). If these policies were in place, African American students wouldn’t need quotas to get into predominantly White colleges and universities. Financial peace on earth would prohibit redlining. Black folks with the green could then live wherever they wanted to or needed to. NIMBY (a.k.a. not in my neighborhood) would soon perish from this earth.

Professionally, peace on earth would mean ushering in an era where African Americans felt safe in their perspective workplaces and workspaces. Systems, institutions, persons, groups, and the powers-that-be would be well-served to consider the prosperity and productivity that would very likely come about when African Americans legitimately feel wanted, needed, respected, trusted and loved in their places of employment. When one looks good, one feels good. When one feels good, one works harder. When one works harder, one gets smarter. When one gets smarter, everyone wins: the employee, the employer, the shareholders, the consumers; everyone.

Socially, peace on earth would call for a universal understanding and universal compliance with the bible verse do unto others as you would have them do unto you. After all, no one wants to be racially discriminated against. No one wants to feel targeted by certain members of law enforcement. No one wants to be blatantly followed up and down the aisles of a retail store no matter how elegant the store is. No one wants to be feared, criticized, or marginalized because of the color of their skin, the texture of their hair, or the smoothness of how they carry themselves. No one wants to be held hostage to long-debunked societal stereotypes based on alleged hypersexuality. Peace on earth socially would (at least as far as I’m concerned) suggest that love would begat love in others; tolerance would begat tolerance from others; kindness would begat kindness towards others. Everyone at their core wants community. Everyone needs acceptance. Everyone expects inclusivity at least to some extent. So why not lean hard into these feelings? Why not make these things the rule instead of merely the exception?

Spiritually, peace on earth would be and could be simply achieved. Think about how kind people in your community typically are between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. People naturally smile more. They seem far more patient. They are much more likely to greet you with “Good morning” or “How are you today” than the rest of the year. Maybe it’s me, but what if people were like that all the time; all day every day, year-round? Wouldn’t that be awesome? Living your life with an attitude of gratitude is a choice. When you stop to think about it, living with an attitude of gratitude is a lifestyle. Joy is contagious. It can spread from one person to another; from one group to another; from one institution to another. The ships – fellowship, stewardship, discipleship, friendship, and scholarship – are not solely the domain of our churches. These ships should be adhered to anywhere and everywhere we go. I am of the belief that many people who are not members of a faith tradition are spiritual in ways that are known and unknown; seen and unseen. Spiritual peace on earth will be fulfilled on that glorious day when Christians fully embrace Jews, and Jews fully embrace Muslims; and Muslims fully embrace Catholics; the saved fully embrace the unsaved; and so on and so forth. When that happens, God’s kingdom upon this earth will spread broad and wide.

Physically, peace on earth necessitates that we African Americans take great care of ourselves and each other. We need to see our doctors on a regular basis and use the very best practices to manage the adverse health challenges inherent to us; such as diabetes, sickle cell anemia, and hypertension. Brothers and sisters, that may mean for some of us drastically reducing or possibly even eliminating our consumption of favorite food items. While Black is indeed beautiful, our blackness comes at significant costs. Individually and collectively, we need to rest when that is required – and to say no when that is required. We need to do anything and everything within our own considerable power to minimize stress and avoid drama whenever possible. Of course, truth in general and physical truth in particular behooves the abolishment of Black on Black violence; Black on White violence, and violence against any of God’s people by our hands. Let’s stay real.

Mentally, peace on earth dictates that we African Americans take great care of ourselves and each other; but in one clearly specific way. There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeing a counselor, a psychologist, a psychotherapist, or a mental health specialist. Listen to me – someone who freely admits to having done so to my great personal benefit. Ignore social media posts or talking heads who will surely try to convince you otherwise. Our culture – our community – perpetuates a tragic miscalculation that for a Black woman child or man to consult a mental health specialist (for any reason) is an indicator of profound weakness. That belief is as wrong as four left feet. Please don’t fall down that rabbit hole. As I stated before, our blackness comes at significant cost. So do whatever you need to do to maintain your mental sharpness while nourishing your soul. If that’s reading, read on. If that’s dancing, dance on. If that’s traveling, then go travel. If that’s through painting, get your paint on.

As a Christian, an American, a proud Black man, a father, a husband, a son, a brother, a friend, an Alpha man, a Mason, a member of the Clergy, a journalist, a human being, a dreamer, and an optimist, I submit to you that I love our Heavenly Father. I love my family and friends. I love this country. I love myself. For all those things, and for blessings far too numerous to count and/or mention, I am truly grateful. My life is perfect, but it is good – really, really good. In fact, I consider it precious.

My journey as a BIPOC in the United States of America is filled with highs and lows; joys and sorrows; tragedies and triumphs. I am pretty certain that you can say the very same thing.

John Lennon’s “Imagine” ends this way:
“Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one.”

Amen, brother John.

Dreamer though I may be, America will not resolve its many problems within my lifetime. But somehow, someway, someday, America will get its act together. It will clean up its act; it will straighten out its curved roads; and will finally – finally – do right by African Americans. I truly, earnestly, believe that.

Honesty compels me to acknowledge that you, dear reader, may disagree with some of my suggestions. You may disagree with most of them or even all of them. And that’s ok. My retort to you would be, what do you suggest? What are your ideas? Your hopes and dreams and fears? Where do you propose that we go from here? My heart and my mind are both open. I’m all ears and all eyes.

I’ll conclude with the wisdom as shown in 2^nd Corinthians 4:13: “I believe, therefore I have spoken.”