Babylon’s Noise, God’s Silence, and the Southern Truth

SOUTHERN TRUTH EDITORIAL

By Gloria Zuurveen 

From Southern California — where political spectacle now masquerades as leadership — the chaos unfolding before us is not random, and it is not accidental. It is being cultivated, curated, and capitalized upon by those who sit in high places, speaking the language of liberality while governing with a spirit that traps Black people in old systems dressed up as new freedoms.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is now openly “considering” a 2028 presidential run. The timing is not lost on anyone paying attention. In the midst of national outrage over a racist image posted by President Trump — depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as chimpanzees — Newsom steps forward, polished and indignant, positioning himself as the moral alternative. But from where I stand, in the spirit of Southern Truth, this is not leadership. This is opportunity dressed in outrage.

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Newsom moves in the same rhythm as his Democratic colleague Rahm Emanuel, whose famous line — that one should “never let a serious crisis go to waste” — has become the unspoken gospel of today’s political class. Chaos is not a problem to them; it is a platform. Confusion is not an accident; it is a strategy. And Black America has been caught in the crossfire of that strategy far too long.

They speak of liberality. They speak of progress. They speak of embracing a kind of socialism that sounds compassionate on the surface — yet underneath, Black people are being herded back into systems that look eerily like sharecropping in new clothes. We are told we are free, yet priced out of our homes. We are told we are valued, yet pushed out of our neighborhoods. We are told we are protected, yet trapped in failing systems that recycle billions while our children are left behind.

I come from the thickets of Mississippi — literally. I come from a people who understood that work was dignity, that land was legacy, and that freedom was fought for with blood, sweat, and prayer. In the past half century, this so-called “socialist freedom” has not liberated us; in many ways, it has circled us back to dependence, dispossession, and a subtle form of bondage that wears a smile instead of a whip.

The dividing line is so clear now that, as I said before, if Ray Charles were alive he couldn’t miss it — and God bless Stevie Wonder, because I can only imagine what he wonders about as he watches two presidents trade insults while one dehumanizes the other as an ape and refuses to apologize. This is not politics; this is spiritual warfare playing out on the world stage.

What we are witnessing is not simply partisan division. It is a demonic spirit of confusion attempting to rise above the people, to keep us arguing, hurting, and hypnotized while those in power move in secrecy. They want us angry. They want us distracted. They want us emotionally exhausted so we cannot see the deeper games being played.

And this is where the Word of God must speak into this moment.

The prophet Malachi recorded the Lord’s own warning to those who abuse power:

“And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.
For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”

This is not a soft passage. God is not speaking here in comfort — He is speaking in judgment. He names those who exploit workers, who trample the vulnerable, who twist justice, who lie under oath, and who do not fear Him. In other words, He is speaking directly to systems of oppression that look very much like what we see today.

But right after He pronounces judgment, God says something that is just as powerful: “I am the Lord, I change not.”

He is not saying this casually. He is reminding us of three things at once.

First, He is saying that His standard of righteousness does not bend to political convenience. Presidents change. Governors change. Parties change. Movements rise and fall. But God’s definition of justice does not shift with the winds of Babylon. What was wrong in Malachi’s day is still wrong today.

Second, when He says “I change not,” He is affirming that His covenant with His people remains intact — even when the world is hostile. The reason “ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” is not because they were perfect, but because God is faithful. That is why Black America has survived slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, redlining, and every modern form of exclusion — not because this nation has been righteous, but because God has been faithful.

Third, and most important for this moment, God is declaring that no system built on injustice will stand forever. Empires fall. Politicians fade. Babylon collapses. But the Lord remains.

From Crispus Attucks, the Black man whose blood hit the ground first in the American Revolution, we have always been first in the crossfire of this nation’s birth and its betrayals. His body lay in the street not as a footnote, but as the opening sacrifice of America’s freedom — a freedom that would be preached loudly and practiced selectively. Black blood helped purchase this country’s independence, yet Black dignity has had to fight for recognition ever since.

Attucks’ death was not only a moment in history; it was a pattern. From Boston to Birmingham, from Mississippi backroads to California streets, Black people have repeatedly been the nation’s warning bell — the first to fall, the first to suffer, and the last to be made whole. The same America that remembers his name in textbooks too often forgets his descendants in policy.

So when we see Trump’s racist imagery and Newsom’s righteous tweets, we must remember Attucks — and we must remember Malachi. Black sacrifice has been America’s foundation, but God’s justice has always been America’s judge.

And I serve a God who does not sleep, does not waver, and does not change.

He said, “I am God, and I change not.”
He is the beginning and the end.
And He reminds us that the battle is not ours — it is the Lord’s.

So let the chaos manifest. Let the masks fall. Let the darkness reveal itself. Because what is done in secret will be brought to the light. That is not my opinion — that is divine law.

Babylon is shaking.
Babylon will fall.
And when the dust settles, God and His heirs will still be standing.

Black America does not need to be seduced by polished speeches or righteous tweets. We need to break free — spiritually, politically, and economically — from leaders who use our pain as currency and our votes as collateral.

This is the Southern Truth:
Power plays in the dark, but God brings judgment in the light.

And in the end, wisdom — not spectacle — will stand.