Within the context of 1 Corinthians 14:8, Dr. Sanders’ Blowing the Trumpet in Open Court presents a deteriorating landscape of Black people in America and Africa, argues the direct cause of the situation, and presents proposals to counter what he describes as over 40 years of decay. There is a clear call to action; a blast to awaken Blacks from their ambivalence and individualism and offer hope for a future consistent with traditional community-based African principles. Published in 2002, Dr. Sanders argues that “Africans on the [African] continent and in America are essentially a destroyed people socially, religiously, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, morally, educationally, and economically.” Numerous studies support this argument. Although Blacks account for 13% of the U.S. population, Black men in America are less educated, more unemployed, and disproportionately more incarcerated than all men in America. While acknowledging various symptoms of the deteriorating landscape, Dr. Sanders’ central thesis is that “the gaunt appearance of Africans in America today is rooted in a disease called …show more content…
Sanders presents a path to prophetic liberation in the final chapter. Unfortunately, in the 15 years since the book was published, the landscape worsened. Within Black America, I do not believe reversing integration is necessary but we do need a moral and spiritual awakening. Instead, we need to love God and demonstrate love for each other through actions. We need to embrace social justice and caring for the poor, as doing so is biblical and reflective of our ancestors. We need to reject selfishness and materialism because who we are is more important that what we have. We also need to embrace higher education and vocational training as well as support Black enterprises. However, these enterprises cannot try to exploit our