God of the Addicted Quotes

“Yet, at bottom it is all illusion—a charade. For expensive accouterments and conspicuous consumption are merely the epiphenomena of power…they are not insurance policies against oppression by other peoples, or against insidious diseases and self-destructive impulses. Unsupported by power—ownership of land, resources, production and distribution facilities, a brain trust, an army—a nation of individual consumers is doomed to continued subordination, exploitation and ultimate annihilation.”
― Joseph Gibson, God of the Addicted: A Psychohistorical Analysis of the Origins, Objectives, and Consequences of the Suspicious Association Between Power, Profit, and the Black Preacher in America

“In the Bible, Ham finds Noah drunk and naked in Noah's tent. He tells his brothers, Shem and Japheth, who proceed to cover their father without gazing at him. When Noah finds out what happened, he curses Ham's son Canaan, saying he shall be “a servant of servants.” Yet, in the earlier biblical account, Noah and his family are not described in racial terms. Before the 16th or 17th century, the racial interpretation of Ham is absent or contradictory. But as the story echoed through the centuries and around the world, variously interpreted by Islamic, Christian and Jewish scholars, Ham came to be widely portrayed as black; blackness, servitude, and the idea of racial hierarchy became inextricably linked. The racist interpretation of scripture was never adopted by the African Coptic Churches, and in Europe, some of the earlier representations of Jesus Christ, Mary, etc. depicted them as being dark-skinned. By the early nineteenth century, many supposed scholars in America supported the belief that African-Americans were descendants of Ham, who were cursed and consequently blackened by their sins, was a primary justification for their enslavement.”
― Joseph Gibson, God of the Addicted: A Psychohistorical Analysis of the Origins, Objectives, and Consequences of the Suspicious Association Between Power, Profit, and the Black Preacher in America

“These notoriously destructive White-on-Black race riots started en masse just one year after the end of the Civil War and continued until the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement. Some historians have claimed that there were anywhere from 250-300 race riots over this period, most of which have been conveniently forgotten about by the American academia and press. Over 25 race riots broke out between April and October 1919 alone, a six-month period poet James Weldon Johnson labeled the "Red Summer." Among the most deadly outbreaks were those in East St. Louis, Illinois (1917); Chester, Pennsylvania (1917); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1917); Houston, Texas (1917); Washington, D.C. (1919); Chicago, Illinois (1919); Omaha, Nebraska (1919); Charleston, South Carolina (1919), Longview, Texas (1919); Knoxville, Tennessee (1919); Elaine, Arkansas (1919); and Tulsa, Oklahoma (1921). Ward noted,   Although urban race riots in the United States between 1866-1951 were unique episodes rooted in the particular historic situation of each place, they shared certain characteristics. To begin with, the whites always prevailed, and the overwhelming majority of those who died and were wounded in all of these incidents were blacks. They also tended to break out in clusters during times of significant socio-economic, political, and demographic upheaval when racial demographics were altered and existing racial mores and boundaries challenged. Perhaps most importantly, the riots usually provoked defensive stances by members of the black communities who defended themselves and their families under attack. Seldom did the violence spill over into white neighborhoods.”
― Joseph Gibson, God of the Addicted: A Psychohistorical Analysis of the Origins, Objectives, and Consequences of the Suspicious Association Between Power, Profit, and the Black Preacher in America

“Many slave owners saw the benefit in introducing their slaves to Christianity because of its tenants of unquestioned obedience and the immeasurable rewards in the afterlife. These masters saw the Christian religion as a tool that could make their job easier in controlling their bondsmen. They realized the potential for even greater psychological control in those ideals of faithfulness, obedience, and total submission to ‘ordained authority’ that Christianity required of its believers. Therefore the slave masters used the religion as a stupendously powerful psychological tool for handling the slave.”
― Joseph Gibson, God of the Addicted: A Psychohistorical Analysis of the Origins, Objectives, and Consequences of the Suspicious Association Between Power, Profit, and the Black Preacher in America

“In a racist capitalist society, the power elite necessarily determine what the lessons of theology will be, and therefore its objectives. The objectives will certainly not be opposed to the power interests of White supremacy and/or capitalism. To again consult Freire, “it would be supremely naïve to imagine that the elite would in any way promote or accept an education that stimulated the oppressed to discover the raison d’etre of the social structure.” Freire also noted,”
― Joseph Gibson, God of the Addicted: A Psychohistorical Analysis of the Origins, Objectives, and Consequences of the Suspicious Association Between Power, Profit, and the Black Preacher in America