I come today to talk to you about the Black man from Africa. Yes, that man. The first man. The original man. The man whom God formed, molded and shaped with His own bare hands from the dust of the ground in the garden of Eden, which was in Africa.

God created this African man in His own image and after His likeness. Yes, literally in His own likeness. Even the hairs on His (God) head are like the Black African man’s hair and His feet are the color of the Black man’s feet. This Black African man is the father of all men. Scientists affirmed you cannot get black from white, but, white from black is not unusual. Black is said to be the sum of all colors. Every other race is the offspring of this Black African man that God created and placed in the Garden of Eden.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly. Satan, the devil himself who disguised himself as a serpent, was also in the Garden of Eden. He was cast down from heaven by God, because of his rebellion against God’s crown and dignity. Satan was angry at God and when he saw the Black man, whom God had created in God‘s image, after His likeness and had given this Black man dominion over the earth and everything therein, Satan became even more enraged at God. God made this African Black man to be everything Satan wanted to be, which caused Satan to be very envious of this Black man and wanted to destroy him.

When he saw the Black man and woman in the Garden of Eden, he saw an opportunity to get back at God by devising a scheme to destroy this Black man- God’s pride and joy. Satan then deceived Eve, Adams’s wife to get Adam, to eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” from which God told Adam if you eat from this tree, you will surely die.

Now, in our day, Satan is no longer using the woman or the wife to try to destroy this Black African man (black people, and people of color). Today, Satan is using the racist white supremacists, The far-right militant groups and the Trump MAGA crowd, which is a remnant of this Black African man’s offspring, to try to destroy him.

These groups are using disenfranchisement, fraud, intimidation, and violence. Voter suppression is one of their main tools because of their thirst for power and control of our governments. They want control of the governments to make laws that will keep Black people and people of color in their place.

Racism is in plain view now, since the rise of President Donald Trump. He told them with a bullhorn that it’s okay to come out of the closet and show their racism against Black people and people of color.

These groups place our democracy under attack. Hatred and racism in our country is on the rise because some white people have conveniently brainwashed themselves and others to believe that Black people and people of color are inferior, unintelligent, and lazy, to justify their feeling of superiority and mistreatment of Black people and people of color.

I conclude my speech by saying, if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived today, he would still dream, because his vision has not been realized: Black people and people of color are still being judged by the color of our skin and not by the content of our character. “Keep the dream alive.” pastorODozier@gmail.com