Go See The Rock's New Flick Faster

Dwayne Johnson's new film, "Faster" begins like just about any action film.  The first ten three minutes bring you lots of gratuitous blood shed and gun play.  But somewhere down the road, it veers to the right.  Themes like redemption and forgiveness are drawn into the plot line.  No, "Faster" is not "Casablanca" by any stretch but none the less its an important film.  You see, it delivers an important message to an audience who is likely to accept the vehicle.  It shows that viewer that people can change and that non-violence and cowardice are not synonyms.  I loved the role of the preacher in this film.  Bravo, Johnson and cast.

Murder At Allen Temple Baptist Church

Thug life is not new to the hood.  If you doubt me, you have but to go to your book store and pick up a copy of Pimp: The Story of My Life by Iceberg Slim.  Slim was a pimp and a hustler in the days of swing jazz.  The criminal subculture developed as the underside of the community after the abolition of slavery.

Years ago, people in the "life" did what they did to survive.  They didn't celebrate crime.  They didn't make songs about how much fun it was to be a thug.  They respected so-called square people.  They had reverence for the church.  That day is gone.  Last week a 46-year old man was blasted to pieces at the foot of a giant cross that sits outside of Allen Temple Baptist Church in East Oakland.

Some people say that it is a sign.  If we do not do more to make the people who live around our great cathedrals feel that the church belongs to them as well, there will be problems.  If don't leave the comfort of our churches to reach out to the people in the hood, we can expect that trouble will come to us.  Our inner city churches are surrounded by people who have never been inside.  May we be made to feel highly uncomfortable until our churches truly look like the communities where they exist.