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DEL.ICIO.USLet’s put the Obama/Wright flap in context
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Let’s talk about Barack Obama. He’s been in the news a lot lately, concerning comments made by his minister, Jeremiah Wright.
A few caveats. I am not an Obama apologist. Nor is my intention here to make Obama your candidate, or to say why he shouldn’t be your candidate.
That said, I’m wondering why Wright’s comments are having such a big impact on Obama’s campaign.
Fact: for 87 years, African-Americans weren’t even considered to be citizens of the United States.
Fact: for the next 100 years, African-Americans were considered to be citizens, but without the rights of citizenship. It took massive civil rights legislation to make sure that all men were created equal.
Fact: in the ensuing 40 plus years, all US citizens have been adjusting to this “new” relationship. Granted, one that should never have been “new.” You can do some research on it if you want to know why.
Soundbites from You Tube about Reverend Wright’s comments has been the center of media attention lately. What’s lost in the comments is the context under which they were made. Talk show hosts won’t talk about that. It cuts into their “moneymaking” time. They are, after all, entertainers. Much in the same way that professional wrestlers are entertainers.
In wrestling, a little physical activity and a lot of manipulating the audience’s emotions make for a successful multimillion dollar enterprise.
Same with talk shows. A little political fact, and a lot of manipulating the audience’s emotions make for a multibillion-dollar enterprise.
My point is that if you’re going to base your opinion about the viability of the candidate because you accept as gospel, what a reasonably intelligent entertainer says, be he a talk show host or a charismatic preacher, then shame on you.
Friends and neighbors, you have a mind. Use it. If you do your own research and you come up with your own conclusions, pro or con, then you have done your job as a citizen. If you premise your argument by saying, “Hannity says this,” or, “Boortz says that,” or, “Reverend Wright said this,” then you are doing your country a disservice by not actively participating in the election process. Instead, premise your argument by saying, “this is what I found.”
I have questions for Obama that are far more in depth than his minister’s preaching. I say the same thing for Hillary, and for McCain. In the meantime, I’m going to do something different.
I’m going to turn off the TV and the radio, and I’m going to do some reading.
What do you think?
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Comments
By Lily Toad
March 24, 2008 4:16 PM | Link to this
Reading is always good — especially looking at a candidate’s website. Most of them have detailed policy positions that are not entertaining enough to include in rallies. I want to know what the candidates intend to do about the sagging economy, dropping value of the dollar, health care, discrimination against gays and transgendered persons, woman’s right to choose, the death penalty, and foreign relations with Hamas, Iran, China, and Korea.
By Gandalf, the Grey
March 24, 2008 4:19 PM | Link to this
If my preacher started speaking that hate filled stuff, I would stand up and confront him in church, but then I am a man of principle and have moral courage. Too bad that other guy isn’t.
By Roger
March 24, 2008 4:36 PM | Link to this
Senator Obama’s membership in this church is just not acceptable for a President of the United States. Now he does not have to leave the United Church of Christ faith, just choose another place of worship in that same faith. I here this argument that people don’t agree with everything there priest says but you don’t stop being a catholic. That may be true but you should choose another Catholic church if your church and priest is saying anti American beliefs and statements, If it supports Hamas and is anti Semitic. If racism is promoted and preached. If your priest is a pedophile would you not at least change churches but not faiths? So should Senator Obama and his refusal for years speaks volumes about his judgment. Looks like he has more in common with Bush then just admiring Chaney.
By Stella
March 24, 2008 4:36 PM | Link to this
Sorry, but “God damn America” means “damn America” no matter the context!!!
By Frank
March 24, 2008 4:36 PM | Link to this
So Gandalf, you neither read this article nor did you listen to Obama’s speech. You just want to carry on your merry ignorant way. Very well. In the meantime, I’ll use my brain.
By Shiloh
March 24, 2008 4:38 PM | Link to this
I was feeling very proud of the candidate and very proud that our country had finally transcended race and looked only to the quality of the candidate.
Now I am scared to death. I have awful misgivings of who might be spending the night in the Lincoln bedroom; who might be Obama’s advisors and what their motives might be. It occurs to me that the motive could be the annihilation of the white race. Very scary.
By Shiloh
March 24, 2008 4:39 PM | Link to this
I was feeling very proud of the candidate and very proud that our country had finally transcended race and looked only to the quality of the candidate.
Now I am scared to death. I have awful misgivings of who might be spending the night in the Lincoln bedroom; who might be Obama’s advisors and what their motives might be. It occurs to me that the motive could be the annihilation of the white race. Very scary.
By Jason
March 24, 2008 4:47 PM | Link to this
Obama is getting such a free ride in this campaign. I’m sick of hearing of how he can unite this nation when it is so clear that he will only more deeply divide it. Let me ask you this. If the preacher was white, the sermons were about minorities and crime, and the preacher said aids was a plague sent from god to punish them, would we not be up in arms about the personal beliefs of the white candidate? Obama gets a pass. I don’t think so. I’ll vote for McCain (the first time I’ll have ever voted for a Republican) before I put my country in Obama’s untrustworthy and unexperienced hands.
By Frank
March 24, 2008 4:47 PM | Link to this
You folks are kidding, right?
I’m going to remind everybody that Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have made similarly ridiculously comments as to the cause of 9/11, Religious Right founder Francis Schaeffer often called for the violent overthrow of the US government, and McCain-supporter John Hagee thinks Catholicism is a cult.
Perhaps we should dismiss everyone who listens to these Christian “leaders”. Or, we can simply acknowledge that people have independent thoughts.
Obama asked if we were going to keep focusing on this non-issue, or say “Not This Time” and move on. It’s clear that many people have already made the wrong choice.
By Brain-User
March 24, 2008 4:56 PM | Link to this
I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU MADE GOOGLE NEWS! Insulting your “friends and neighbors” for not having a brain ISN’T NEWS. You’re detached objective stance ISN’T NEWS.
All-Knowing Bill: Why don’t you try telling us “scarecrows” what you discovered in your “readings.” That might be news; but you didn’t write about that because it’s probably no different that what is already on the news.
By Tom
March 24, 2008 4:58 PM | Link to this
Ronald Reagan declared his support for “states’ rights” in Philadelphia, MS in 1980 - everyone knows that’s code for segregation. Jesse Helms was a race-baiter for decades and not just at blacks. In 1988, he declared that reparations to imprisoned Japanese-Americans in World War II shouldn’t be compensated until Japan paid for Pearl Harbor. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson said gays deserved AIDS, America deserved 9/11 because of abortion, and Katrina was God’s punishment. Should John McCain be held accountable for not denouncing Helms, Falwell, and Robertson? Should Reagan be lionized without noting his embrace of racists?
The fact is that Obama has never uttered a word that one could construe as racist - unlike Jesse Jackson, Cynthia McKinney, and the aforementioned Republicans. If he was somebody to fear, don’t you think that would have slipped out?
By Hans
March 24, 2008 5:00 PM | Link to this
Guilt by association. Obama’s views are clear in his books and record. He will not lose any votes that he was going to get. He may be the best thing that happened to this country for a long time! VOTE OBAMA, be part of history!
By joseph pierre
March 24, 2008 5:05 PM | Link to this
I wonder if some of you’d worry much about the annihilation of the black race when Jim Crow laws were in full force,which your fathers and grandfathers have benefited from.It’s also interesting to note that when white ring preachers damn America about homosexuality and abortion, no one seems to call it America-hating. No one calls for the candidates they support to disown those preachers. How hypocritical!
By Salt
March 24, 2008 5:08 PM | Link to this
There are the souls of 4,000 fallen young Americans looking down on us right now, no doubt shocked that THIS - whether a man who attended Rev. Wright’s services can be president - is the issue that will determine who decides the fate of the remaining 140,000 young Americans serving their country. Can we please get back to the real issues please and leave the lunatic fringe to debate Rev. Wright and whether the candidates like broccoli or not?
By TJ Weldy
March 24, 2008 5:14 PM | Link to this
Hillary’s membership in “The Fellowship” an ostensibly religious, extremely elitist, absolutely totalitarian organization of ‘cells’ is completely passed up by the media. These people make Rev. Wright look like a boy scout saying the pledge of allegiance by comparison. Clinton supporters complaining of bias are as wrong as they could possibly be.
By Jeff
March 24, 2008 5:14 PM | Link to this
Shiloh, YOU scare me. I’ve lived in a country where annihilation of the “white race” was an option on the table. But that was South Africa, not the USA. I’m a middle aged white male who continues to donate to the Obama campaign.
By Lolis
March 24, 2008 5:22 PM | Link to this
Yes, Obama did something very brave. He spoke words in his speech that he knew would not pacify the white people who want to pretend that everything is equal in the US and who igmore the legacy of segregation.
Even Mike Huckabee said that he would probably be angrier than most Blacks are today because of the past.
As a white woman, I see the legacy of racism in this country. Wright said some wacky things, but a lot of the things he said were based in historical facts.
It is probably true that most of these people obsessed with this already held animosity toward Obama for some reason, but I find it scary when a person is not judged by her own actions and deeds, but is instead blamed for anothers.
We are all Americans and we all have the right to criticize our country with the hope that it will keep getting better.
By Mark
March 24, 2008 5:24 PM | Link to this
Jeff and anyone else who votes for Obama is a mindless fool. Blacks are voting for him simply because jhe’s half black. He’s also a Muslim, people. What idiots to let him get this far.
By vk
March 24, 2008 5:29 PM | Link to this
Hurrah for you! I am soooo SICK of the “big” radio and TV people having nothing better to talk about….that’s what we get for “slow news” time. All these white commentators are giving no history, content or justice to the black church. I am white but know enough to not compare my own church experience to the typical emotional, joyous and frequently political norm of black churches in America. Were not these church’s the source behind the activism of the Civil Rights Movement? Have any of these “commentators” listened to a complete sermon…God forbid all of us are judged in are own “sound bites” at the Pearly Gates! This entire media frenzy has “Clinton Hands” written all over it. I wish these same media folk would visit some of the Spanish speaking church’s along the Mexican border…Christianity complete with mariachi’s, a language other than English and at times, activism from the pulpit. Welcome to America where we do not do all things the same way….and that’s what Obama”s candidacy is celebrating.
By Cal
March 24, 2008 5:36 PM | Link to this
Wright’s comments are shocking and should not be apologized for as the understandable product of a groups’ history. Apart from the hate speech, what sane person believes that our government developed AIDs, or that the U.S. knew about Pearl Harbor in advance? We know a person by the company they keep, by their choice of friends (not grandmothers).
By Cal
March 24, 2008 5:38 PM | Link to this
Wright’s comments are shocking and should not be apologized for as the understandable product of a groups’ history. Apart from the hate speech, what sane person believes that our government developed AIDs, or that the U.S. knew about Pearl Harbor in advance? We know a person by the company they keep, by their choice of friends (not grandmothers).
By clikka
March 24, 2008 5:38 PM | Link to this
I don’t think it matters what the pastor preaches….. the next President of America might be a guy that sat on the pews of his ‘Mentors’ Church for 20 years yet did not know his views.
By V Racer
March 24, 2008 5:47 PM | Link to this
So, we now know that blacks are mad as hell. Well so are the rest of us. But the difference is that they meet in their churches of God and damn us and our country and support and make excuses for those who do because “whitey did it to us”. We turnout to volunteer to build them houses, we pay taxes to feed their irresponsible mothers of untold numbers of babies who are deserted by the irresponsible fathers, we suffer the crime, the degradation of our schools and neighborhoods, the filling of our streets with drug dealers and gangs. Yet, they hate us so we should vote for a black president or we are racist? Remember, it was black people who sold them into slavery in the first place and it was white people who fought to free them. Thanks to Obama and his church, their dirty little secret is out.
By Rc
March 24, 2008 5:49 PM | Link to this
Thank you for your post!
I too was amazed at the comments people make without doing research.
People ate up a 15 second clip(taken very much at of context I have found out). With stupid comments like,”how could he listen to such hateful comments for 20yrs. Are you people that stupid? If it was 20yrs of hateful sermons, the media would have bombarded you with clips!!! But NO, the same clips over & over.
I thought this interesting and did my homework. What an eye opener! In the 9/11 sermon, Rev. Wright is quoting Ambassador Edward Peck. That’s the clip about the “chickens coming home to roost”. He even says it in the sermon that he’s quoting Peck.
I think there is a story about on the Huffingtonpost.com “Meet the White Man in Rev. Wright’s Sermon”.
Take a look maybe you can learn something.
By Mark B
March 24, 2008 5:52 PM | Link to this
Why are Repubs pastors allowed to say crazy stuff and nobody holds them accountable for it?
Jerry Falwell~”.I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say you helped 9/11 happen.”
Pat Robertson~We have a Court that has essentially stuck its finger in Gods eye and said were going to legislate you out of the schools. Were going to take your commandments from off the courthouse steps in various states. Were not going to let little children read the commandments of God. Were not going to let the Bible be read, no prayer in our schools. We have insulted God at the highest levels of our government. And, then we way, Why does this happen? Well, why its happening is that God Almighty is lifting his protection from us.” (regarding 9/11)
John Hagee (Who’s endorsement John McCain accepted)~”All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment. And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.”
Keep in mind that GWB has private meetings with Pat Robertson to this day.
By Richard T. Nolan
March 24, 2008 5:53 PM | Link to this
Speaking in the biblical prophetic tradition of calling government to align itself with the will of God, Wright used a poor choice of words. He could have made his point with something like “God mend thine every flaw” from “America The Beautiful.”
By Richard T. Nolan
March 24, 2008 5:53 PM | Link to this
Speaking in the biblical prophetic tradition of calling government to align itself with the will of God, Wright used a poor choice of words. He could have made his point with something like “God mend thine every flaw” from “America The Beautiful.”
By Titus
March 24, 2008 5:56 PM | Link to this
Rev Wright said that god damned america on 9/11 because of its treatment of poor and brown people, while republican backers Falwell and Robertson blamed witches for god’s damning of america 9/11.
Shouldn’t this be a referendum on Religion!!!
By E. Duvert
March 24, 2008 5:59 PM | Link to this
Another thing one can do: listen to each speech, each sermon, in its entirety. They are all available online either at candidates’ web sites or on YouTube. To do so, requires a commitment of time; then thoughtfulness; then recognition of the depth and pertinence of what is being said. When thoughtful people speak, they are respecting their audience’s ability to respond in kind. The candidates are not entertainers. Listen to their words, their thoughts and ideas. Forget the pundits. Let’s respect ourselves and inform ourselves.
By john
March 24, 2008 6:03 PM | Link to this
The good book says, “its not what goes into your mouth that comdemns you, but what comes out of it, and that minister condemned himself by his words. It seems that its okay for a black minister to say racist comments and God Damn American from the pulpit, but when that radio commentator said, “nappy headed ho’s” The black community went ballistic.
By Rose
March 24, 2008 6:04 PM | Link to this
Why is it just discounted that Obama said he never heard his minister make those remarks? Or that Wright is retired, so there’s no reason for Obama to leave the church. Some GOP or Clinton supporter went through hundreds of hours of Wright tapes to find the few where he made inflammatory comments, and Obama is supposed to be responsible for that? All you bloggers spewing hatred, check your own history and ask yourselves if you’ve ever said anything intemperate in anger. Have you atoned? I take the measure of the man, Obama, and I judge him to be a person of integrity, a great leader, an inspiration, a person who will change the mindset in Washington, and that’s who I want in the White House. If you have a different, informed and well-thought out opinion, I respect that. But please leave all the anger, hatred, divisiveness and bigotry behind. It can only be regarded for what it is.
By John Ragsdale
March 24, 2008 6:06 PM | Link to this
Amen
If I were black, I would be furious about our Ameircan history. In context with Rev. Wright how many conservative commentators mentiioned the Poll Tax. Most Americans wouldn’t know what it was. And white only drinking fountains, restrooms, train waiting rooms, even train coaches, etc..
Let’s face it many of us are still arrogant and self righteous. Many throughtout the world see this. Many of us do not.
We’ve still a way to go in democracy before we try to ram it down another country’s throat with a gun.
John Ragsdale
By Steve Salo
March 24, 2008 6:08 PM | Link to this
Exellent article.
Some of the people posting comments sure don’t seem to have a problem ranting.
Some of them sound as scary as Rev. Wright to me.
None of their associates will ever be elected president.
By Matthew Whitcomb
March 24, 2008 6:09 PM | Link to this
It is NOT about race - it’s about Patriotism and JUDGMENT. Why is everyone allowing Obama to skate on race, when race is NOT the issue. Belonging to a church that for 20 years officially and quite obviously preached an unpatriotic and un-American message is poor judgment pure and simple.
By Ceasar
March 24, 2008 6:15 PM | Link to this
My brother and sisters ..white, black, red, or yellow…here is my question to you: Has Obama made any decisions in Congress or made any political impact during his political term to give you an impression that he has carry out beliefs of hatred, anti-american, prejudice, etc…. In any church, a minister may say something that you make not always agree with but that doesn’t mean the words of your minister should represent who you are or be apart of your beliefs.. Besides, I think it’s important that we go back and listen to the entire speech of Rev Jermiah Wright because I heard the whole speech and being a spiritual person, I understand his message and it makes a whole alot of sense.
By Mark
March 24, 2008 6:17 PM | Link to this
Rev. Wright has a long history of making deflamatory, rascism comments. His objectionable sermons are not limited to the few instances that have popped up on the Internet.
Obama was aware of his Rev Wright problem a year ago when he removed the reverend from the ceremony to annouce his candidacy in Springfield.
Rev. Wright’s race baiting is standard fare in the world of Chicago politics. It does not play well to a national audience.
We have seen before where Obama refuses to turn his back on a controversial supporter. He refused to remove a homophobic supporter from his South Carolina campaign tour.
Since Obama has so little history on a national platform we have to judge him in part by the company he keeps.
By Keith
March 24, 2008 6:19 PM | Link to this
I hear the same hateful rhetoric that Reverand Wright said on Move-on ,Daily Kos and The Huffington Post. All are Obama supporters.20 years at this church with this pastor tells me that Obama is comfortable with those views. That is indefensable.
By Matthew of Marietta
March 24, 2008 6:20 PM | Link to this
I am glad that Obama is getting nailed because of his pastor. Because of all of this, it’s helping the McCain Cause. I don’t understand why would anyone would vote for an anti-american. I will tell you why, the word “CHANGE”. Many people White and Black alike voted for him. Whites voted for Obama because they either were Liberal or doing what everyone else is doing. Blacks voted for Obama because he is half Black. That is the main reason. I say we all need to read about the candidates before voting. I voted for Romney. My motive, he was going to fix the economy, do something about immigration, and keep taxes lower. I will vote for McCain in November. I also have a feeling that McCain will beat any Democrat this year.
By JWE
March 24, 2008 6:27 PM | Link to this
There are many times I say “Damn America”, especially since the Iraq invasion. 4000 Americans dead and still counting. Some people believe it’s our god given right to kill who ever we want, whenever we want, however we want. Just nuke em, right McCain? “Bomb, bomb, bomb, Bomb Iran” Hagee calls Catholics “w*******” but he’s a white minister. Makes all the difference in the world. McCain agrees to disagree just as long as he can keep the money from him. I disagree. Obama is my candidate.
52 y/o/white male
By DavyJ
March 24, 2008 6:31 PM | Link to this
So far my vote resides not with Clinton, Obama, or McCain, but with the ITP (INCONVENIENT TRUTH PARTY) and its fearlessly honest spokesperson Jeremiah Wright.
By Ellison
March 24, 2008 6:35 PM | Link to this
As a bi-racial, Black/White, person, I’m so happy to see this topic come out into the open. Everyday, both Blacks and Whites are doing remarkable things to improve life in this country, this includes Rev. Wright.
However Blacks and Whites, in general, have very different experiences in America based on their heritage and skin color. It’s time to invite each other into their respective camps with open minds and hearts, to explore and discover the true differences between the races. Maybe they will find they have many more things in common than they had known before.
It may well be that by September of this year, after the conventions, America will finally face the complex issues of race as never before. Rev. Wright has stepped down, but his words still resonate with truth as they have for many decades.
We have only to review the entire PBS series, “Eyes on the Prize” to realize the vast lack of understanding that still plagues and torments the soul of our country. Yes, there have been many strides in bridging the divides between Blacks and Whites. Yet we continue relentlessly forward, failing to address the deeper context that Blacks in America are still haunted by a legacy from their forefathers, who were forced to lay down their freedoms and their very lives to establish the foundation on which commerce could grow and democracy be defined. (I have relatives who still live under the thundercloud of slaverys reign, which exists even todayin little shack houses, with no electricity or plumbingstill living the terror-based custom of never making eye contact when addressing a White person for fear of harm, or even death.)
With a clarion call to unite, neighbor to neighbor, we face a new opportunity standing squarely before us, the American people—an opportunity ready to embrace us with arms of acceptance and forgiveness, knowing we will do better, that we will be better, together. “Yes we can!”
Ellison Horne
By Dhanna
March 24, 2008 6:41 PM | Link to this
I suspect the reason so many people (white) are so up in arms about what Rev. Wright says is because his statements challenge the status-quo.
Why is that the U.S. is free from accountability while the rest of the world is terrorized by us and our righteousness?
Read your history books boys and girls. Better still, read history books from other countries - get a broad view of just how much the U.S. has terrorized the world.
It is insane and ignorant to disregard context. Context, is afterall, where truth is found. Context is where compassion and dialog are created. With out context, we have nothing but sound bites.
I actually agree wholeheartedly with Rev. Wright. I am a white, 32 year old woman born and raised in an upper-middle class family with a multitude of opportunity. I am also not Christian and consider myself one who practices the wisdom of Buddhism. I beleive that the U.S. still activly practices racism and strives to keep black communities oppressed. I beleive the Bush Admin. is accountable for 9/11 and I beleive it was used (and planned) as a way to get into Iraq (not where Bin Laden is) to steal oil and colonize. I beleive that the government is corrupt and that the people who are “proud to be American” are part of the problem.
This soil was stolen by Europeans from the Natives. And finally… America is a contenent, NOT a country.
By Dhanna
March 24, 2008 6:51 PM | Link to this
Ellison Horne,
Your comments gave me chills. Elloquant, perfect and truthful.
This situation will turn out to be historic, I think. It has brought the conversation to light - a conversation that needs to be had so the country and its people can heal.
Bless you for your wisdom!
By JTS
March 24, 2008 6:58 PM | Link to this
Wright did not say “God damn America”. What he said is “God damn America for killing innocent people”.
Well what should God do, BLESS America for killing innocent people?
Or maybe you think your country is infallible and everyone who it has killed was not innocent. That would be heresy, as God alone is supposed to be perfect.
One can love one’s country and, in hopes of improvement, call out the mistakes it may have made or may be in the midst of making.
By Robert L. Bufkin
March 24, 2008 6:59 PM | Link to this
It is heart rending to know Obama had to grow up longing to know his dad, who, for whatever reason, was missing from his life. He is gifted in logic and speech. But for him to try to justify his pastor’s hate-America,hate-whites sermons by comparing that to his white grandmother’s remarks about being afraid of passing a black man while walking down a sidewalk..is inexcusable in the extreme. Obama engaged in the same (insane) racist logic used by his pastor (surrougate father) for 20 years. Obama is a racist. Now he should show us his white side. But he isn’t white in his mind and persona. He made that abundantly clear. He proved that he will not hesitate to sacrifice all the progress made in race relations in the USA for the past century in the service of his popularity and self-seeking ambitions. Obama puts the spotlight on the things that divide Americans. Then he steps into the middle of that fray and makes a speech castigating his own grandmother who raised him and paid for Harvard and Law School. Mr. Wright’s insane remark about Pearl Harber and Aids et al, are not snippets or soundbits.. THEY are the subject and the object and the whole purpose and context of his sermons. They are the ethos of the black world. Obama’s message is, elect me and we blacks together will put the whites in their place at last. I will take the money from the Iraq war and give it to my black brothers and sisters where it belongs. His outlandish impossible promises and “mis-statements” (lies) are.. 1. He didn’t know his pastor was saying those things. 2. His pastor and all blacks have been so mistreated that they deserve a pass to say such things and make such insane charges against white America. 3. His white grandmother’s remarks made in private to him..makes her no different that his pastor’s anti-American insane charges against whites. 4. He will stop the war immediately and use the money he saves to fund programs for the poor…and solve all the problems of the economy.
This man is dangerous in the extreme. He has no idea of what America is really all about or how to lead a nation like ours.
Never in history has one nation enslaved another nation, then set them free and lifted them from slavery right in that same nation and given them freedoms and financial help and free education. Never before in history.
But Obama via his pastor damned those people that set those slaves free. Obama cursed the blood of white American’s shed on American soil to set those slaves free. Every black soul in Africa wishes they could come to the USA. Just ask them. I have been to Kenya nine times. Everyone wants to come to the USA. I love my country. I risked my life in war for my country. I can’t stand those America haters talking like they do. Is that illegal now to love your country. Right or wrong, my country is light years ahead of every other country on this earth. If you don’t think so, you are free to live somewhere else. Just try it. You’ll be back asking for forgiveness.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt……..Barack Obama…OH! you have got to be kidding.
P.S. Just because a group calls themselves Christians, doesn’t make them Christians by any means. Jesus taught people to forgive their enemies or he would not forgive them their sins. Something to think about. Jesus went about doing good..not damning people.
By Robert L. Bufkin
March 24, 2008 7:00 PM | Link to this
It is heart rending to know Obama had to grow up longing to know his dad, who, for whatever reason, was missing from his life. He is gifted in logic and speech. But for him to try to justify his pastor’s hate-America,hate-whites sermons by comparing that to his white grandmother’s remarks about being afraid of passing a black man while walking down a sidewalk..is inexcusable in the extreme. Obama engaged in the same (insane) racist logic used by his pastor (surrougate father) for 20 years. Obama is a racist. Now he should show us his white side. But he isn’t white in his mind and persona. He made that abundantly clear. He proved that he will not hesitate to sacrifice all the progress made in race relations in the USA for the past century in the service of his popularity and self-seeking ambitions. Obama puts the spotlight on the things that divide Americans. Then he steps into the middle of that fray and makes a speech castigating his own grandmother who raised him and paid for Harvard and Law School. Mr. Wright’s insane remark about Pearl Harber and Aids et al, are not snippets or soundbits.. THEY are the subject and the object and the whole purpose and context of his sermons. They are the ethos of the black world. Obama’s message is, elect me and we blacks together will put the whites in their place at last. I will take the money from the Iraq war and give it to my black brothers and sisters where it belongs. His outlandish impossible promises and “mis-statements” (lies) are.. 1. He didn’t know his pastor was saying those things. 2. His pastor and all blacks have been so mistreated that they deserve a pass to say such things and make such insane charges against white America. 3. His white grandmother’s remarks made in private to him..makes her no different that his pastor’s anti-American insane charges against whites. 4. He will stop the war immediately and use the money he saves to fund programs for the poor…and solve all the problems of the economy.
This man is dangerous in the extreme. He has no idea of what America is really all about or how to lead a nation like ours.
Never in history has one nation enslaved another nation, then set them free and lifted them from slavery right in that same nation and given them freedoms and financial help and free education. Never before in history.
But Obama via his pastor damned those people that set those slaves free. Obama cursed the blood of white American’s shed on American soil to set those slaves free. Every black soul in Africa wishes they could come to the USA. Just ask them. I have been to Kenya nine times. Everyone wants to come to the USA. I love my country. I risked my life in war for my country. I can’t stand those America haters talking like they do. Is that illegal now to love your country. Right or wrong, my country is light years ahead of every other country on this earth. If you don’t think so, you are free to live somewhere else. Just try it. You’ll be back asking for forgiveness.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt……..Barack Obama…OH! you have got to be kidding.
P.S. Just because a group calls themselves Christians, doesn’t make them Christians by any means. Jesus taught people to forgive their enemies or he would not forgive them their sins. Something to think about. Jesus went about doing good..not damning people.
By Dhanna
March 24, 2008 7:27 PM | Link to this
Mr. Bufkin,
PLease post 1 original post.
Also… your post merely proves that you have not done any investigation and have simply been sucked in by the Fox vaccume. It is lazy, easily convinced people who are the problem with this country. People who take things at face value and battle for a cause that, at its core, is full of holes.
Turn off your TV and read. Watch FULL sermons and speeches.
I suppose you are a representative of the people in the country (and world) who think that peace is gained by force and that equality is gained by ignoring oppression.
Dialog is the only way PEACE will ever happen. Peace between races, sexes, countries… conversation - not violence.
Please read and stop watching FOX
By JTS
March 24, 2008 7:43 PM | Link to this
Mr. Lufkin, you are an idiot.
“elect me and we blacks together will put the whites in their place at last” — so Obama is goin to put half of himself, and half of his family “in their place”?
“Obama is a racist” — So what race does he hate? White? then he hates half of himself, his mother, his grandparents, his colleagues, teachers, and friends. Black? Well, he hates his wife and half of himself.
“insane charges against whites” — what are you talking about? His statement that America is run by rich white people? That’s 100% truth, f***. According to you, truth is insane.
You obviously have an agenda that is independent of reason, but your extremism undermines your intent. America knows the likes of you, and we’ll stomp you down wherever you dare show yourself in public.
By Tim
March 24, 2008 8:45 PM | Link to this
JTS,
You are a dumbass. Funny, but still a total dumbass. When will you learn that making threats while hiding in the safety of the web just makes you more of a coward. Notice that no one is getting “stomped down” anywhere. You are a Clown.
By Keith
March 24, 2008 9:31 PM | Link to this
Gandalf, Roger, Stella, Shiloh, Jason, Mark, Cal, Clikka, V Race, Titus,John, Matthew Whitcomb and Keith:
Your rants above expose you as shallow, uninformed, lazy and unamerican. You have no business voting when you don’t take the time to know the truth…I am not going to waste time in showing you the links as obviously you don’t care. If you are for Clinton or McCain then say so and state your case, I can respect that but what each of you have written is hateful an dmakes you out to be what you are calling Rev. Wright and Obama.
By Elizabeth
March 24, 2008 10:00 PM | Link to this
Obama’s church and personal affiliation with Reverend Wright, in conjunction with Louis Farrakhan, is beyond concerning.
By Mark
March 24, 2008 10:04 PM | Link to this
I wonder how Obama supporters would have reacted if Hillary only gave a speech on why Whites hate/distrust Blacks instead of denouncing and distancing herself from racist and un-Ameican comments from her preacher and/or close friend(s)? It should never be acceptable to be a racist and un-American if you are black, white, red, yellow or purple!
By Vince
March 24, 2008 10:09 PM | Link to this
To all those who are upset or frightened by Reverend Wright’s association with Obama, you should read the recent article by Bloomberg’s political correspondent, Albert Hunt. Here is an excerpt:
‘The perverse irony here is that whatever the Reverend Wright’s failings, there is nothing — nothing — in Obama’s adult life to even remotely link him to racially divisive sentiments. Quite the contrary.
Talk to conservatives who attended Harvard Law School with him, like former Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman or current Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin; or Republicans in the Illinois state legislature, or U.S. senators; or look at his campaign staff. There is not a more inclusive politician in America.”
This is informed comment by a person in a position to know — and who writes for a very establishment, financial website.
By treetracker
March 24, 2008 10:13 PM | Link to this
Yes, folks, use your brain. Below are links to two of the complete sermons of Rev. Wright. One is entitled Governments Are Not God http://essence.typepad.com/news/2008/03/listen-to-rev-1.html
and the other is “The Day Jerusalem Fell” http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/1036261.html
Before you condemn the Rev. Wright and Sen. Obama, listen, learn, think! The media has hyped this for their own ends. Do not depend on them for your facts.
By History Teacher
March 24, 2008 10:20 PM | Link to this
I am going to have trouble voting for any of the candidates and do not support any of them. I do worry about the infatuation of the Obama supporters based on almost nothing except his facile ability to talk his way out of trouble. Yes, he may indeed hate part of himself. The malice exhibited by his supporters is a poor representation of a politician whose principle claim is that he will bring us together.
By Mark
March 24, 2008 10:21 PM | Link to this
Vince posted an article by Bloombergs political correspondent, Albert Hunt:
“The perverse irony here is that whatever the Reverend Wrights failings, there is nothing nothing in Obamas adult life to even remotely link him to racially divisive sentiments. Quite the contrary”
The Link that Obama could or has “racially divisive sentiments” IS REV. WRIGHT. What other link(s) do you need?
I don’t know about others, but I do not associate with anyone that is a outright and proud racist and anti-American as the Rev. Wright and will never in the future, because I do not want to!
By History Teacher
March 24, 2008 10:21 PM | Link to this
I am going to have trouble voting for any of the candidates and do not support any of them. I do worry about the infatuation of the Obama supporters based on almost nothing except his facile ability to talk his way out of trouble. Yes, he may indeed hate part of himself. The malice exhibited by his supporters is a poor representation of a politician whose principle claim is that he will bring us together.
By History Teacher
March 24, 2008 10:23 PM | Link to this
I am going to have trouble voting for any of the candidates and do not support any of them. I do worry about the infatuation of the Obama supporters based on almost nothing except his facile ability to talk his way out of trouble. Yes, he may indeed hate part of himself. The malice exhibited by his supporters is a poor representation of a politician whose principle claim is that he will bring us together.
By Angela
March 24, 2008 10:28 PM | Link to this
I am amazed at some of the comments on this blog. It seems as if some of us are content to live 40 years ago. Let me make the following points:
1) What Rev.Wright said is suprising and offensive to many people. 2) There is indeed anger in the black community over our historical past and for some, present realities. 3) There is indeed guilt in the white community over our historical past and for some, present realities. 4) Race is one of the most troubling aspects of American history. 5) White people’s belief that racism is over doesn’t make it true. 6) White people’s surprise that the hurt of slavery and segregation has not disappeared in roughly 45 years isn’t new information! It is clear that we haven’t gotten over it! My mother went to a segregated school. This is still real in the black community.
The key to solving this issue is not continuing to fight about it. Acknowledge and discuss it openly. Do you see the progress made in South Africa with the Reconciliation Talks? Americans need to be honest about racism and stop telling black people to get over it!
By Mandelay
March 24, 2008 10:28 PM | Link to this
Let’s put Obama, the whole enchelada, in context. He’s an opportunist who will do anything, say anything to reach the White House. This is why he joined the Wright church in the first place … to give himself context as “a black man.” But who is Obama? What does he stand for? To see how Obamadama made his bones in Illinois, go to: http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-02-28/news/obama-and-me/ AND, for today’s update on his behavior, go to the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032301706.html
By njs
March 24, 2008 10:28 PM | Link to this
When Senator Obama’s preacher thundered about racism and injustice Obama suffered smear-by-association. But when my late father — Religious Right leader Francis Schaeffer — denounced America and even called for the violent overthrow of the US government, he was invited to lunch with presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush, Sr.
Every Sunday thousands of right wing white preachers (following in my father’s footsteps) rail against America’s sins from tens of thousands of pulpits. They tell us that America is complicit in the “murder of the unborn,” has become “Sodom” by coddling gays, and that our public schools are sinful places full of evolutionists and sex educators hell-bent on corrupting children. They say, as my dad often did, that we are, “under the judgment of God.” They call America evil and warn of immanent destruction. By comparison Obama’s minister’s shouted “controversial” comments were mild. All he said was that God should damn America for our racism and violence and that no one had ever used the N-word about Hillary Clinton.
Dad and I were amongst the founders of the Religious right. In the 1970s and 1980s, while Dad and I crisscrossed America denouncing our nation’s sins instead of getting in trouble we became darlings of the Republican Party. (This was while I was my father’s sidekick before I dropped out of the evangelical movement altogether.) We were rewarded for our “stand” by people such as Congressman Jack Kemp, the Fords, Reagan and the Bush family. The top Republican leadership depended on preachers and agitators like us to energize their rank and file. No one called us un-American.
Consider a few passages from my father’s immensely influential America-bashing book A Christian Manifesto. It sailed under the radar of the major media who, back when it was published in 1980, were not paying particular attention to best-selling religious books. Nevertheless it sold more than a million copies.
Here’s Dad writing in his chapter on civil disobedience:
If there is a legitimate reason for the use of force [against the US government]… then at a certain point force is justifiable.
And this:
In the United States the materialistic, humanistic world view is being taught exclusively in most state schools… There is an obvious parallel between this and the situation in Russia [the USSR]. And we really must not be blind to the fact that indeed in the public schools in the United States all religious influence is as forcibly forbidden as in the Soviet Union….
Then this:
There does come a time when force, even physical force, is appropriate… A true Christian in Hitler’s Germany and in the occupied countries should have defied the false and counterfeit state. This brings us to a current issue that is crucial for the future of the church in the United States, the issue of abortion… It is time we consciously realize that when any office commands what is contrary to God’s law it abrogates it’s authority. And our loyalty to the God who gave this law then requires that we make the appropriate response in that situation…
Was any conservative political leader associated with Dad running for cover? Far from it. Dad was a frequent guest of the Kemps, had lunch with the Fords, stayed in the White House as their guest, he met with Reagan, helped Dr. C. Everett Koop become Surgeon General. (I went on the 700 Club several times to generate support for Koop).
Dad became a hero to the evangelical community and a leading political instigator. When Dad died in 1984 everyone from Reagan to Kemp to Billy Graham lamented his passing publicly as the loss of a great American. Not one Republican leader was ever asked to denounce my dad or distanced himself from Dad’s statements.
Take Dad’s words and put them in the mouth of Obama’s preacher (or in the mouth of any black American preacher) and people would be accusing that preacher of treason. Yet when we of the white Religious Right denounced America white conservative Americans and top political leaders, called our words “godly” and “prophetic” and a “call to repentance.”
We Republican agitators of the mid 1970s to the late 1980s were genuinely anti-American in the same spirit that later Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson (both followers of my father) were anti-American when they said God had removed his blessing from America on 9/11, because America accepted gays. Falwell and Robertson recanted but we never did.
My dad’s books denouncing America and comparing the USA to Hitler are still best sellers in the “respectable” evangelical community and he’s still hailed as a prophet by many Republican leaders. When Mike Huckabee was recently asked by Katie Couric to name one book he’d take with him to a desert island, besides the Bible, he named Dad’s Whatever Happened to the Human Race? a book where Dad also compared America to Hitler’s Germany.
The hypocrisy of the right denouncing Obama, because of his minister’s words, is staggering. They are the same people who argue for the right to “bear arms” as “insurance” to limit government power. They are the same people that (in the early 1980s roared and cheered when I called down damnation on America as “fallen away from God” at their national meetings where I was keynote speaker, including the annual meeting of the ultraconservative Southern Baptist convention, and the religious broadcasters that I addressed.
Today we have a marriage of convenience between the right wing fundamentalists who hate Obama, and the “progressive” Clintons who are playing the race card through their own smear machine. As Jane Smiley writes in the Huffington Post “[The Clinton’s] are, indeed, now part of the ‘vast right wing conspiracy.’ (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-smiley/im-already-against-the-nb90628. html )
Both the far right Republicans and the stop-at-nothing Clintons are using the “scandal” of Obama’s preacher to undermine the first black American candidate with a serious shot at the presidency. Funny thing is, the racist Clinton/Far Right smear machine proves that Obama’s minister had a valid point. There is plenty to yell about these days.
Frank Schaeffer is a writer and author of “CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back.
By Mark
March 24, 2008 10:34 PM | Link to this
Do we really want a possible racist and anti-American as the President of the United States?
By John
March 24, 2008 10:36 PM | Link to this
Does anyone know the figures on black-on-white murder? Black-on-white rape? Is murder of a white person by a black something for whites to be mad about? Is rape and murder of whites by blacks is this very year - somehow equal to the possibility that a black may have had a slave ancestor 150 years ago?
By Not This Time
March 24, 2008 10:54 PM | Link to this
Many of you poster were right to point out how John Hagee says crazy hateful anti-American things all the time—just as many on the religious right. Three additional points: 1) Unlike Rev. Wright who has been demonized, far-right religious conservative, like Hagee, have been rewarded and praised for their lunacy. They get invited to the White House, influence Supreme Court nominations, influence foreign policy and preach to arenas. 2) John McCain did not just accepted John Hagee’s nomination. Hagee recently reported that McCain actively sought him out.
3) Does anyone actually believe that Obama holds Wright’s more fringe views? It is clear from his record he doesn’t. I don’t think McCain holds Hagees more extreme views, but, unlike Obama, he has gotten almost no grief. Furthermore, Bush does likely hold some extreme views like Hagee.
So, why the double standard? The truth is the Republican party has counted on these far religious right to bring them votes ever since Regan. This IS the republicans base and they actually influence policy . Rev. Wright’s more extreme ideas will have (and can have) no effect on Obamas governance. Obama openly rejects these ideas—unlike Bush who embraces the ideas of the Falwells and Hagees and McCain who will be beholden to them.
By David
March 24, 2008 10:58 PM | Link to this
I want to know what a candidate thinks. Not what their preacher or schoolteacher or second cousin, great uncle, next-door-neighbor or sorority sister thinks. I know a frenzy when I see it, and I’m not going to let it decide my vote.
By KeShawn
March 24, 2008 11:14 PM | Link to this
I agreed with Wright’s racial critique. I did not agree with his saying “God Damn America” and that doesn’t belong in any American church and it certainly doesn’t need to come out of the mouth of a Pastor. As for Republicans, Democrats aren’t supposed to be like them. As for the nonsense Falwell and Robertson spouted, the WHITE HOUSE denounced it immediately. That’s what Obama didn’t and hasn’t done. He talked about race and blah blah. I am African-American and I do cringe a little about some comments above but I share their anger that a Pastor damned America from the pulpit. I think the AJC is intentionally missing the issue and talking about race. It’s not a race issue for me but with what I assume are many White posters, I share their anger over the damning of my country. That is offensive, that is outrageous. And no one should be president that can’t call it out. Tuesday was his time to do so. He didn’t. I voted for Obama in the primary. If he gets the nomination, I WILL NOT vote for him. I do not support damning the United States.
By Garth
March 24, 2008 11:15 PM | Link to this
I know postings such as this are politcal ploys you don’t know who is using this to put out their own agenda.
That said how can people view an experienced, educated, candidate as a ploy, how can people think one man can bring down our democracy, how can people continue to allow themselves to be used and manipulated by people who are laughing all the way to the bank and then caring more about their pockets than our constitution. I see why other Nations have caught us and are awaiting our fall for our hubris and our shortsightedness. We fail to see our strengths because of our racism on all sides and it for this reason more than any other that we will elect the same as we have done before and we will get what we have gotten before (insanity)
By lexicon
March 24, 2008 11:24 PM | Link to this
I am replying to give my great thanks to njs for their post. I am an educated middle aged black woman who initially supported John Edwards, but could not make up my mind after he dropped out, since I was voting on issues, not race or gender. After “The Speech” I am now an Obama supporter. Those of you still reading should be applauded for your open mind. I do not go to church to get political advice, and if I got some, I would still make up my own mind because I am a human being first. As a human being, Obama should be allowed to make up his own mind, unless of course, people are looking for him to adhere to the Program. Blacks have to all feel the same about everything, follow “african-american” leaders wherever they go, and never, ever, say anything bad about anyone of color. Yes, there is a dialogue going on in the black community. V-racer (and others) mentioned the terrible condition of that community , (crime, unwed mothers, etc.). I wonder, if Black people are human beings, why they would do such things on purpose? Could it be a legacy from their ancestors and how they were treated even after slavery? Or are black people just “naturally” bad? The answer is not clear, but I wonder if the answer is just to get mad that blacks seem to want some kind of “special” treatment and go on with my life dismissing an entire race, or should I try at a minimum to understand their issues at face value and seek a peaceful resolution. Thank you for listening.
By mark
March 24, 2008 11:34 PM | Link to this
the problem with Americans is that they are so in love with themselves that they can’t stand to hear anyone, even one of their own, offer criticism about where they stand as a nation.
It’s harsh language from Rev. Wright, but taken in context, it’s also a much needed conversation.
By Mark
March 24, 2008 11:38 PM | Link to this
the problem with many Americans is that they are so in love with themselves that they can’t stand to hear anyone, even one of their own, offer criticism about where they stand as a nation.
It’s harsh language from Rev. Wright, but taken in context, it’s also a much needed conversation.
By Wilford
March 24, 2008 11:45 PM | Link to this
Sensible people realize there is blood on the hands of America. Everything Reverend Wright said was true. Do any of you people know how AIDS started? I don’t, so I think anything is possible. The made up scandal of Reverend Wright does NOT hurt Obama. The folks who won’t vote for Obama were NEVER going to vote for Obama. Reading these posts remind me of the old, uneducated voters that support McBush and Hilldog. “Obama’s scary. I don’t think he’s ready to be President. TRANSLATION: Obama is black. I’m a white person, so I have to vote for a white President.” I hope I die before I get old. You idiots just want an excuse to NOT vote for Obama.
By Fred Moolten
March 24, 2008 11:45 PM | Link to this
It is too early to estimate how history will ultimately judge Barack Obama, but his growth from merely a skillful politician with good ideas to a potential leader of enormous stature, insight, and vision has been extraordinary, and may perhaps some day merit the term “great”. One hundred years from now, his speech on race is likely to stand with Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural address as among the greatest in the history of the American union. With that speech inviting all of us to share fairly in the benefits of our democracy, he now towers over the rest of the political landscape, much as the Statue Of Liberty towers over the NY harbor in welcoming newcomers to share in that democracy.
There are other parallels with Lincoln. Despite our current esteem, Lincoln in his day was derided and ridiculed by opponents as a dishonest manipulator, an “ape”, and an ignoramus, and was elected by only a minority of those voting. In addition, his religious affiliations, like Obama’s, were problematic. On several occasions, Lincoln stated that he was not a Christian, and this assertion caused no end of embarassment to some supporters. A number of clergy claimed that they had secretly converted him, but Lincoln never acknowledged any conversion, and his friends and family disavowed the claims.
Ultimately, history has forgotten the ridicule, and the condemnation Lincoln experienced as an “infidel”, and judged him on the basis of the greatness within rather than the externals that occupied public attention at the time.
I expect that the Wright controversy may perhaps prove to be a transforming moment in American history. Forced to face an issue he preferred to avoid, Barack Obama brought to it such candor, courage, understanding, and wisdom, that the accusations that preceded the speech will someday be forgotten, and the special moment in American history stand on its own. Whether that happens by November 2008 will depend on the wisdom of the American electorate, but I have some confidence that their wisdom will be up to the challenge.
By Tracy
March 25, 2008 12:02 AM | Link to this
I don’t understand why everyone is squealing about “why didn’t Obama leave his church”? Why should he when he knew his pastor was retiring anyway? The guy introduced him to the church, to his faith, and led him to a lot of people to share his ideals with helping in the community. He already said he doesn’t agree with some of these more controversial statements of the pastor, why can’t people believe him? The ability for Obama to understand different viewpoints is a strength that this country could definitly benefit from.
By America's Soapbox
March 25, 2008 12:07 AM | Link to this
Of National Lies and Racial Amnesia: Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama, and the Audacity of Truth
By Tim Wise
March 18, 2008
For most white folks, indignation just doesn’t wear well. Once affected or conjured up, it reminds one of a pudgy man, wearing a tie that may well have fit him when he was fifty pounds lighter, but which now cuts off somewhere above his navel and makes him look like an idiot.
Indignation doesn’t work for most whites, because having remained sanguine about, silent during, indeed often supportive of so much injustice over the years in this country—the theft of native land and genocide of indigenous persons, and the enslavement of Africans being only two of the best examples—we are just a bit late to get into the game of moral rectitude. And once we enter it, our efforts at righteousness tend to fail the test of sincerity.
But here we are, in 2008, fuming at the words of Pastor Jeremiah Wright, of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago—occasionally Barack Obama’s pastor, and the man whom Obama credits with having brought him to Christianity—for merely reminding us of those evils about which we have remained so quiet, so dismissive, so unconcerned. It is not the crime that bothers us, but the remembrance of it, the unwillingness to let it go—these last words being the first ones uttered by most whites it seems whenever anyone, least of all an “angry black man” like Jeremiah Wright, foists upon us the bill of particulars for several centuries of white supremacy.
But our collective indignation, no matter how loudly we announce it, cannot drown out the truth. And as much as white America may not be able to hear it (and as much as politics may require Obama to condemn it) let us be clear, Jeremiah Wright fundamentally told the truth.
Oh I know that for some such a comment will seem shocking. After all, didn’t he say that America “got what it deserved” on 9/11? And didn’t he say that black people should be singing “God Damn America” because of its treatment of the African American community throughout the years?
Well actually, no he didn’t.
Wright said not that the attacks of September 11th were justified, but that they were, in effect, predictable. Deploying the imagery of chickens coming home to roost is not to give thanks for the return of the poultry or to endorse such feathered homecoming as a positive good; rather, it is merely to note two things: first, that what goes around, indeed, comes around—a notion with longstanding theological grounding—and secondly, that the U.S. has indeed engaged in more than enough violence against innocent people to make it just a tad bit hypocritical for us to then evince shock and outrage about an attack on ourselves, as if the latter were unprecedented.
He noted that we killed far more people, far more innocent civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki than were killed on 9/11 and “never batted an eye.” That this statement is true is inarguable, at least amongst sane people. He is correct on the math, he is correct on the innocence of the dead (neither city was a military target), and he is most definitely correct on the lack of remorse or even self-doubt about the act: sixty-plus years later most Americans still believe those attacks were justified, that they were needed to end the war and “save American lives.”
But not only does such a calculus suggest that American lives are inherently worth more than the lives of Japanese civilians (or, one supposes, Vietnamese, Iraqi or Afghan civilians too), but it also ignores the long-declassified documents, and President Truman’s own war diaries, all of which indicate clearly that Japan had already signaled its desire to end the war, and that we knew they were going to surrender, even without the dropping of atomic weapons. The conclusion to which these truths then attest is simple, both in its basic veracity and it monstrousness: namely, that in those places we committed premeditated and deliberate mass murder, with no justification whatsoever; and yet for saying that I will receive more hate mail, more hostility, more dismissive and contemptuous responses than will those who suggest that no body count is too high when we’re the ones doing the killing. Jeremiah Wright becomes a pariah, because, you see, we much prefer the logic of George Bush the First, who once said that as President he would “never apologize for the United States of America. I don’t care what the facts are.”
And Wright didn’t say blacks should be singing “God Damn America.” He was suggesting that blacks owe little moral allegiance to a nation that has treated so many of them for so long as animals, as persons undeserving of dignity and respect, and which even now locks up hundreds of thousands of non-violent offenders (especially for drug possession), even while whites who do the same crimes (and according to the data, when it comes to drugs, more often in fact), are walking around free. His reference to God in that sermon was more about what God will do to such a nation, than it was about what should or shouldn’t happen. It was a comment derived from, and fully in keeping with, the black prophetic tradition, and although one can surely disagree with the theology (I do, actually, and don’t believe that any God either blesses or condemns nation states for their actions), the statement itself was no call for blacks to turn on America. If anything, it was a demand that America earn the respect of black people, something the evidence and history suggests it has yet to do.
Click here to read the rest of Tim’s column.
By America's Soapbox
March 25, 2008 12:09 AM | Link to this
Of National Lies and Racial Amnesia: Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama, and the Audacity of Truth
By Tim Wise
March 18, 2008
For most white folks, indignation just doesn’t wear well. Once affected or conjured up, it reminds one of a pudgy man, wearing a tie that may well have fit him when he was fifty pounds lighter, but which now cuts off somewhere above his navel and makes him look like an idiot.
Indignation doesn’t work for most whites, because having remained sanguine about, silent during, indeed often supportive of so much injustice over the years in this country—the theft of native land and genocide of indigenous persons, and the enslavement of Africans being only two of the best examples—we are just a bit late to get into the game of moral rectitude. And once we enter it, our efforts at righteousness tend to fail the test of sincerity.
But here we are, in 2008, fuming at the words of Pastor Jeremiah Wright, of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago—occasionally Barack Obama’s pastor, and the man whom Obama credits with having brought him to Christianity—for merely reminding us of those evils about which we have remained so quiet, so dismissive, so unconcerned. It is not the crime that bothers us, but the remembrance of it, the unwillingness to let it go—these last words being the first ones uttered by most whites it seems whenever anyone, least of all an “angry black man” like Jeremiah Wright, foists upon us the bill of particulars for several centuries of white supremacy.
But our collective indignation, no matter how loudly we announce it, cannot drown out the truth. And as much as white America may not be able to hear it (and as much as politics may require Obama to condemn it) let us be clear, Jeremiah Wright fundamentally told the truth.
Oh I know that for some such a comment will seem shocking. After all, didn’t he say that America “got what it deserved” on 9/11? And didn’t he say that black people should be singing “God Damn America” because of its treatment of the African American community throughout the years?
Well actually, no he didn’t.
Wright said not that the attacks of September 11th were justified, but that they were, in effect, predictable. Deploying the imagery of chickens coming home to roost is not to give thanks for the return of the poultry or to endorse such feathered homecoming as a positive good; rather, it is merely to note two things: first, that what goes around, indeed, comes around—a notion with longstanding theological grounding—and secondly, that the U.S. has indeed engaged in more than enough violence against innocent people to make it just a tad bit hypocritical for us to then evince shock and outrage about an attack on ourselves, as if the latter were unprecedented.
He noted that we killed far more people, far more innocent civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki than were killed on 9/11 and “never batted an eye.” That this statement is true is inarguable, at least amongst sane people. He is correct on the math, he is correct on the innocence of the dead (neither city was a military target), and he is most definitely correct on the lack of remorse or even self-doubt about the act: sixty-plus years later most Americans still believe those attacks were justified, that they were needed to end the war and “save American lives.”
But not only does such a calculus suggest that American lives are inherently worth more than the lives of Japanese civilians (or, one supposes, Vietnamese, Iraqi or Afghan civilians too), but it also ignores the long-declassified documents, and President Truman’s own war diaries, all of which indicate clearly that Japan had already signaled its desire to end the war, and that we knew they were going to surrender, even without the dropping of atomic weapons. The conclusion to which these truths then attest is simple, both in its basic veracity and it monstrousness: namely, that in those places we committed premeditated and deliberate mass murder, with no justification whatsoever; and yet for saying that I will receive more hate mail, more hostility, more dismissive and contemptuous responses than will those who suggest that no body count is too high when we’re the ones doing the killing. Jeremiah Wright becomes a pariah, because, you see, we much prefer the logic of George Bush the First, who once said that as President he would “never apologize for the United States of America. I don’t care what the facts are.”
And Wright didn’t say blacks should be singing “God Damn America.” He was suggesting that blacks owe little moral allegiance to a nation that has treated so many of them for so long as animals, as persons undeserving of dignity and respect, and which even now locks up hundreds of thousands of non-violent offenders (especially for drug possession), even while whites who do the same crimes (and according to the data, when it comes to drugs, more often in fact), are walking around free. His reference to God in that sermon was more about what God will do to such a nation, than it was about what should or shouldn’t happen. It was a comment derived from, and fully in keeping with, the black prophetic tradition, and although one can surely disagree with the theology (I do, actually, and don’t believe that any God either blesses or condemns nation states for their actions), the statement itself was no call for blacks to turn on America. If anything, it was a demand that America earn the respect of black people, something the evidence and history suggests it has yet to do.
Click here to read the rest of Tim’s column.
By Charles Walch
March 25, 2008 12:10 AM | Link to this
If you change Black to White, you would see the issue. What about buying racial reconciliation on the cheap, or typical white people, or my grandmother the insensitive white person, who while loving a black nephew as dearly as she loves life is somehow equal to a black preacher making racial hatred a full time occupation. We are supposed to be a melting pot, not a White America, Black America, and Brown America. Those who just dont get it and feel that America somehow owes them for some past injustice perpetrated by dead folks on dead folks long gone, needs to get over it and stop blaming people here and now. Blacks are a protected class. They do get programs to help them rise, and rise they have and rise they continue to do based on talent, hard work, and the acceptance of other Americans.
A melting pot, not a venue for reparations to punish the innocent in favor of those not harmed. Racial reconciliation needs to start with love and understanding, not hate and misplaced recrimination.
A vast majority of Americans work hard for what they have. They love their kids and want the best for them. They want the best for everyone. Now comes some political leaders of privileged. Well educated, well spoken, and well off, but spewing hate and false envy. They lie to provide those who are struggling with an alibi, an excuse, a group to hate and blame for all that they lack or pain they may suffer. We understand the lies, the misrepresentations. White folks are not devils. Jesus was a Jew. And those who preach hatred weather white, black or blue deserve exposure and excommunication from any role of leadership they may have enjoyed.
He is an ingrate. No American Flag Pin in his lapel, no hand over the hart during the pledge of allegiance, and no disassociation from a racist hate monger.
God Damn all who curse America especially after they have accepting all the blessings this Nation has to offer, wealth, power and respect.
Ok, then why ask for my vote? Or should I just act against my best interest and vote for someone who will pursue an agenda that has nothing to do with me. I have no outstanding racial reconciliation issues. I was not there when folks were abused as slaves. I owe all folks respect and I deliver on that up to the point when I find I am not receiving respect in return. Wright and his ilk are jerks of the highest order. They trade on name calling, alibi and lies spouting hate mongering. And those who subscribe or support those hate mongers are not worth of public office.
Now what exactly did I miss, a*****?
By RaShaun
March 25, 2008 12:16 AM | Link to this
This is hilarious. Anyone notice all the hateful, spiteful, ignorant comments aren’t Obama supporters? Before those offended attack this comment ever wonder why the majority of exit polls consistently show Obama fairs far better with educated whites than any other candidate. I don’t know. Maybe its because they know (like most sane people) that of course part of the reason to feel compelled to vote for Obama IS because he is half black and will remain a factor until this country actually can (reason number two educated whites resonate with Obama) move past letting race get in the way. I could point to the fact that the article was simply trying to show a glance into the anger black American still hold for crimes of the past. Its hard not to when McCain can slide with Robertson and Falwell in his figurative support coffer. Clinton gets to point the finger on every transgression but the irony is it happens after she commit said foul first…anyone wondering where her tax documents are? Resko has a shady background but Whitewater was on the up and up. There is no fair and balance in this country. Its getting better but its not there. Keep trying to figure out how to turn this into support for anti-patriotism. Not sure how that works but I guess its easier than convincing yourself that the support for Obama in the military is a result of brainwashing or something. You guys are better at making s** up.
Im not going to ask you to do your homework. The writer of this article showed that was a failed endeavor. Ill ignore that some of you anti-Obama, pro-ignorance individuals probably didn’t even make it past my first line and are assuredly pounding away at the keyboard to produce a rebuttal that would make any Cro-Magnon proud. But if you just agree more with Clinton…ask why? Be better to yourself than just resting in her counter-message speeches. Its not a shock that the pro-vote for Iraq and pro-NAFTA (a votes is stronger than an aid reassurance, believe me) is in her history. That fine with you than I congratulate for finding the right candidate. If McCain is your guy, fine, but does it worry you that he has changed his stance on Iraq multiple times. Don’t worry, he means it now. But most of you condemn a man that won’t stand up mid-sermon and denounce their religious leader so no since in asking why its ok for Falwell and Robertson to blame 9/11 on Gays and Abortionist. Define a man by the company he keeps right? Maybe youre a gay basher. Wow, that was easy. Is this why some of you believe Obama is a Muslim?
Btw - ironically this is exactly how the country kept the masses divide and against one another in the years following the end of slavery. Keep the masses dumb and away from the issues that affect us all.
By Jason
March 25, 2008 12:18 AM | Link to this
Bottom line :-
Clintons care about themselves. Don’t give a damned about anyone else be it party or women [r u kidding ?] or supporters. Everyone is a means to power and expendable.
McCain - honorable man [as far as politicians go] but will get us into one more war.
Left is Obama :- the guy has heart in right place and will make a great statement about what we as Americans are to whole world and so. But might not survive Clinton / Right wingers who will appeal to be basest of human emotions.
Maybe time to consider Nader, again. At least the guy is consistent - saved our lives more than once [seat belt - remember ?]
By Jason
March 25, 2008 12:47 AM | Link to this
Its a bit sad to notice just how many people equate patriotism to wearing a flag pin and saying God bless America.
Does not matter if you dodged draft - shrunk from responsibility to nation in time of nations need [take a pick of this administration President / VP or Bill Clinton] or served in Marines and earned the right to comment about nation [Wright].
Same goes for religion.
Does not matter what bible says or what Christ died for; As long as we hate gays and scream about abortion. We are all Christian - gates of heaven are open in welcome to us.
We are the most religious nation in the western world with the least educated people on religion.
Most patriotic of people without ever learning the history or context.
But we not all bad. Those are our weak points. We are all just too damned busy and swamped and its in our DNA as Americans to do things more by gut feel than by thought process - more often than we like to admit;
The collective goodness and empathy of American people is unparalleled in human history and is what the whole human race holds in awe.
Its however, hard to appeal, awaken and evoke that emotion at times.
What Obama is doing is unparalleled, self sacrificing and very patriotic.
He is appealing to that better in us. He is not perfect but neither is any one of us.
I hope I get a chance to do my part in supporting him and express that better nature in myself.
By Jason
March 25, 2008 1:22 AM | Link to this
In this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black … you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.
Or we can make an effort to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that bitterness with an effort to understand with compassion and love.
— Bobby Kennedy [After hearing of death of Martin Luther King in Indianapolis]
Two decades later a young black American with a funny name is making the same call from the other side of color.
How will you respond ?
By Katie
March 25, 2008 2:09 AM | Link to this
I urge people to open their mind and open their heart a bit.
If you would take a few minutes to watch the longer clips of the sermon IN CONTEXT, any intellectually honest person can see that Wright is preaching exactly the OPPOSITE of hatred and that he is a kind and compassionate person.
You will see that Wright’s message is simply that violence is morally wrong and only leads to more violence.
If you’re not willing to watch the whole unedited clip before making up your mind and spouting off, then you should STFU. That goes double and triple for the TV pundits!
If you watch the unedited version and still have a problem with it, then and only then are you qualified to judge.
Here is the original sermon, unedited.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QOdlnzkeoyQ
By Mark
March 25, 2008 2:48 AM | Link to this
You’re going to turn off the TV and radio and do some reading? Trading one form of media for another suddenly means your information is more reliable or feels more like your own idea to you? This entire article is pointless. What a waste of time. I generally avoid AJC.com because of its silly login requirements, but for some absurd reason Google News linked to this ilk so I clicked. Mistake!
By trainrobber
March 25, 2008 2:55 AM | Link to this
I will never vote for Obama. His association with Rev. Wright is to much. I know many of my fellow Americans feel the same way. G*^ Dam American will never go away.
By Debbie
March 25, 2008 2:56 AM | Link to this
I thought Churches were supposed to be places of forgiveness and love. That’s what my Church is like. “Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead” Phillipians 3:13 Constantly complaining about the past and bringing it up will bring you down. Rev. Wright should know this. If my Pastor said things like he said I would never step foot in that Church again.
By Raul PEDRAZA
March 25, 2008 3:30 AM | Link to this
Reading is fundamental remember. Readers will find that the hated excerpts of Rev Wrights speech were actually comments from someone else he witnessed on of course Fox news the night before he gave the sermon. I for one find it refreshing that Barack Obama showed the courage to stand by God forbid a man who like the rest of us has stepped on his a few times. Tell me who your friends are when you are down and I will tell you who you are. I am the father of a recently returned Iraq war veteran and Obama’s courageous stance here when 4000 plus are buried, 25,000 maimed,and a trillion of our dollars have gone down the rat hole is what matters.
VOTE FOR THE CANDIDATE WITH INTEGRITY AND HONOR VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA AMERICA.
By Obamamania
March 25, 2008 6:56 AM | Link to this
Obama is our Savior and Messiah! Obama and Reverend Wright are RIGHT, God D* america. Your “typical white person” is, as Barak says, a racist who will vote for clinton in these so called “elections”. Now is the time to rally around Barak and Michelle and make them proud by appointing him President now. Democracy is really an euro centric tradition, let us recognize the value inheirent in the African Tribal system and institute Obama as our permanent leader! He can immediately apologize to our Muslim brothers for an arrogant, slave mentality thinking america. The chickens have come home to roost evil america. News Flash america - Obama is correct - all you “typical white people” are racists!
By mtb
March 25, 2008 7:05 AM | Link to this
Bill,….you sure are goofy!!! I’m glad the majority of the American public isn’t as ignorant as you are. Anybody but Obama for President!!!
By Tshadow
March 25, 2008 7:15 AM | Link to this
Sad I think that there are three conversations taking place here. One regarding Wright’s comments, for which Obama is being asked to pay, and not Wright himself. Why is that? Second, the media: what a disappointment. News is a thing of the past. Everything out here is a blog or a tabloid. No one does research and even what we read comes from syndicated sellouts - shells of the free press. I mean, even the NY Times is producing sub-par work: live blogging from a speech. Isn’t it worth it to wait until its over, think it through and write something correct and insightful?? Thirdly, its religion: not too long ago, this country was flared up with rage at conservative Christians, now everyone’s concerned that Obama’s the wrong kind of Christian- a bit too liberal?? As black, female and a Christian, I can plainly say, all the cards are on the table. How this turns out will reveal a lot about the nation.
By Bill Daviau
March 25, 2008 7:25 AM | Link to this
I think that any church that is “patriotic” serves the politicians instead of serving God. Countries often do things that contravene Gods laws….countries including the United States.
Slavery, lynchings, imprisoning Japanese Americans, Genocide against the native Americans, wars to grab land from Mexico, bombing innocent people with atomic weapons….invading Iraq for a lie…the church must oppose wrong wherever it is found. Christ would not approve of all that America does.
By Richard Tatlow
March 25, 2008 7:32 AM | Link to this
I refuse to feel guilty about slavery since neither I nor any member of my family or ancestors were around at the time. Neither was Pastor Wright. I do wonder if Obama is truly a Christian since his only experiences in that religion consists of hatred and anger - and that is not what Christianity is all about. It’s truly a shame he choose a crackpot pastor and a crackpot church.
By lopi
March 25, 2008 7:39 AM | Link to this
OBAMA IS UNELECTABLE IN GENERAL ELECTION Easy to see already see Republican attack ads against Obama. First open with videos of racist wife, Michelle, saying she was proud of America “for the first time” because of her husband’s presidential candidacy, next Obama explaining that he doesn’t wear an American flag lapel pin or hold his hands to his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance because it is a “substitute for true patriotism.” Then flash a clip of Obama explaining that his Caucasian grandmother was a “typical white person” because she uttered racial epithets and was afraid of black people. Finally, the coup de grace, pictures of Obama’s angry, arm-waving preacher blaming the United States for 9/11 and shouting “God Damn America” to the rafters of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ and preaching the U.S. government formulated the HIV AIDS virus to commit genocide against blacks. Even though Obama supposedly condemning Wright’s shocking verbal assaults against the U.S and White Americans, even last year; Obama was the first to public ally demand Don Imus ouster for making a racially insensitive remark, and Obama continues to support Wrights racism and remains at the church for more than 20 years, he and Michelle obviously feels its a good environment to expose his young daughters too. His opinions and issues change with the weather, he is too UNSTABLE and proven he cannot make a decision or stay with one. If thats not enough, then you start showing his terrible senate voting record, Obama when faced with tough choices always gave in to pressure from the Bush administration or corporate lobbyists, Obama dealings with one of his largest contributors, Exelon, a big nuclear power company and the deals he cut behind closed doors to protect them from full disclosure in the nuclear industry. Obamas record shows he infact did support the war when he got to the senate, voted twice against bringing America’s troops back home. He voted for war appropriations giving our money to Halliburton and Blackwater where Texas woman, was gang-raped by her co-workers at a Halliburton/KBR camp in Baghdad, His latest bit of posturing S 433 allows the Bush Administration to suspend any troop withdrawal, if not suspended, keeps the troops in Iraq for a long time to come, but in his camp stumps touts he wants to bring troops home, but as we have witnessed his recent lies to voters like Canada he cannot be trusted on his word and lastly ALL the corrupt indicted financial backers, like RezkoGet out of the race Obama you are destroying the democratic party!
MYTH: Barack Obama is running a positive campaign that will unite Americans. FACT: Barack Obama and his advisers have conducted a divisive “full assault” on Hillary’s character. While talking a lot about the politics of hope, change and unity, Sen. Obama and his campaign have been conducting a relentless and singularly personal assault on Hillary’s character. They have blanketed big states with false negative mailers and radio ads and have described Hillary and her campaign as “disingenuous,” “divisive,” “untruthful,” “dishonest,” “polarizing,” “calculating,” “saying whatever it takes to win,” “attempting to deceive the American people,” “one of the most secretive in America,” deliberately misleading, literally willing to do anything to win, and playing politics with war.” This “full assault” on Hillary’s integrity and character has reached a new peak since Hillary’s victories on March 4th. One of Sen. Obama’s top surrogates equated President Clinton with Joe McCarthy; another called Hillary a “monster;” and his campaign manager held an angry conference call claiming that Hillary is “deeply flawed” and has “character issues.” That’s neither unifying nor hopeful. If Sen. Obama really is the prohibitive favorite some say he is, these negative attacks make absolutely no sense. Why would a frontrunner seek to attack and divide? If Sen. Obama can’t unify Democrats in a primary, how can he unify Americans in a general election?
By Wade Bell
March 25, 2008 7:50 AM | Link to this
Longer clips of the reverend’s speeches can be found on youtube. Reading is good, so is going to the source and listening to all of what Write had to say.
It is the duty of a patriot to speak out against injustice at home and abroad. The current trend of “my country right or wrong” patriotism is an affront to real American values. We should have the strength to look in the mirror and ask ourselves if the anger expressed by Wright is somewhat justified, and if there’s something we can do to address the underlaying social injustices that foster it.
By Susan
March 25, 2008 7:51 AM | Link to this
Which of your pastors and churches could withstand an attack like this? An attack where someone sifts among 20 years of sermons looking for a couple minutes of unrestrained anger, and then through video magic tapes those moments together and replays them in an instant loop on national TV. Do you agree with everything your pastor says? Our troops fight and die every day protecting our freedom of speech. Get a grip, guys! You’re voting for the man, not his pastor.
By Edward Nobel Bisamunyu
March 25, 2008 8:43 AM | Link to this
Sheer brilliance!
By Bill Allen
March 25, 2008 8:56 AM | Link to this
A couple of points here.
1). Let me restate: “I am not an Obama apologist. Nor is my intention here to make Obama your candidate, or to say why he shouldnt be your candidate.” I said this at the onset.
2). The color of a man’s skin should have no bearing on him. A brown egg is no different than a white egg. Whites and yolks are the same, regardless of their container. Blood is the same, regardless of their color. And yet, in our perceptions, there is a difference. Why is that?
3). I purposely did not ask my readers to draw any conclusions based on anything I wrote. Rather, I asked you to do your own reading, and to draw your own conclusions. My purpose was to inform, yes. To inform you that there are other venues, other means to learn simply turning up the volume, or grabbing a headline and simply using that as a talking point.
Whatever conclusions you draw from your own readings will be your own. We can agree to disagree. That’s fine. That’s what America is all about, what makes this country great. We don’t all have the same opinions. All I’m suggesting is that you look beyond the headlines, that you turn down the volume, that you talk to each other - as you are in these comments - and then you will be doing your job as citizens.
Great feedback, friends and neighbors. Thanks!
By ronski
March 25, 2008 8:59 AM | Link to this
If John McCain were discovered to have a similar relationship with, say, David Duke, would that not bother you? It would certainly bother me. An old saying, true as dirt - “You’re known by the company you keep”.
By globo
March 25, 2008 9:46 AM | Link to this
Slavery was for blacks a bad thing. However, some forget there were black slave owners and well as white. When some such as joseph pieree post that “your fathers and grandfathers have benefited from” slavery … he fails to look at the facts … blacks have benefited too. It began after the Civil War …blacks were given land if they chose. Would they be in American had it not been for slavery, would they have laws today that give them that equal rights (but in actuality more rights than whites). They have black colleges, affirmative action has given them a edge over whites with regards to jobs, education, etc. They not only enjoy participating in white social events, i.e., Miss America contest, but are able to have their own Miss Black America. Same goes for awards shows … My question is … where does it end. I keep hearing hearing blacks say … yes, we’ve come a long way, but there is yet more work to be done. What is their goal … in addition to silencing the whites… what else? Don’t they realize that remarks made by folks like Rev. Wright only serve to further divide the races. When will whites no longer be beatened down about what their ancestors did when they had slaves. I will not and do not take responsibility for what was a way of life years ago. Today is a new day. I respect other races, but it is a two way street.
By Gandalf, the Grey
March 25, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this
Frank,
if you had a brain to use, I would be impressed. What about my statement makes you think: a: I didn’t read the speech b: I didn’t read the article Please Frank, STFU!
By not a hannity drone
March 25, 2008 10:16 AM | Link to this
In the sermon, entitled “Confusing God and Government” aka “God Dman America” Wright asserts that the US government was oppressive, but got better. He calls Bill Clinton (a white man) black america’s “intelligent friend”. He calls W a step backward, a “dumb Dixiecrat”. So obviously some whites are good, some not.
He says America is Damned (in the Biblical sense) because she has be come imperialist, and imperialism leads to a fall from grace. He specifically invoked non-white imperialists as well, and had his entire flock repeat that oppressors come in all colours.
Of course, that doesn’t rile up racial tension, so in the Fox version, they cut out all that stuff (there is a lot more).
His opinion, with reference to the Bible (scriptural focus was Luke 19:37-44 (reading from the New Revised Standard Version)) is that God does not approve of the slaughter of innocents, that collateral damage is damning of a nation, that racism is a sin that also damns the nation, that imperialism is a sin that also damns the nation, in the eyes of the Lord.
The basic thrust is that while governments may lie, change (for better or worse), or sometimes fail, and a nation which blindly follows the government risks being led down the path to damnation, but the Lord never lies, never changes, and never fails, and will always lead to the path of rightousness.
So put your faith in the lord for moral guidance, not the government.
He also instructs is parishioners to ask forgiveness for the Damn, although it’s in the bible.
Nope, not racist.
Full sermon here
http://odeo.com/audio/17890793/view
You guys have been trolled by Fox
By Mark
March 25, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this
Anyone who believes in a magical man in the sky is defective, and should not be allowed to run for any public office. Blacks are voting for obama for the mere fact that he’s half black. There will always be racism as long as blacks continue to steal, rob, and kill. Simple as that.
BTW, Did James Earl Ray have a brother?
By ed Clark
March 25, 2008 11:34 AM | Link to this
Bill, you fail to acknowledges Obama’s hypocracy in his his position. Obama condemned Don Imus for spewing hate speech and vowed never to appear on his show again. Yet this same indignation about his pastors hate speech fails to materialize. This exposes Obama’s hypocracy. Shame on him.
By Eric M.
March 25, 2008 11:34 AM | Link to this
Like most people there are things about myself that I would change if I could. Two things that I would definitely not change are my skin color, or the era that I now live in. I am not a celebrity or some young politician in the making. I am a soon to be 25 year old African American male from Detroit, Michigan, currently residing in suburban Atlanta, Georgia. I have seen my hometown crumble before my eyes under the strain of flawed free trade policies, and corporate greed. Both of which have crippled the ability of American workers to earn decent employment opportunities. I have also seen billions of dollars wasted by an administration that cares less about people, and more about oil profits and the opportunity to rule the world with its iron fist of democracy. This is my America and I am proud to be American, but not proud of the way America conducts itself. It is foolish if we believe that the rest of the world loves us as much as we love ourselves. In my opinion, Jeremiah Wright is not racist at all, or just another old man bitter at the United States for its past indiscretions. He simply told the truth about how this country really operates. To the black community, this is no secret even to a young man such as myself. Barack Obama did what he had to do in this tough situation. If he bowed to conservatives and disrespected Rev. Wright, he risked alienating his black base. On the other side, if he agreed with the controversial statements, he risked losing the support of many whites in this country that have supported him up until this point. He played it of well by condemning the statements by Wright and at the same time not condemning the individual. In the same manner as the Louis Farrakhan situation last month, Barack took a solid hit on the chin from both his critics and the media. Most blacks in America understand that he has rules to follow in order to be able to play ball. I hope that both ministers Farrakhan and Wright understand that it is nothing personal against them, just the cost of doing business when running for President. I for one just hope he keeps his focus on the prize ahead and slides home safely with victories in August and more importantly November 2008.
By Mj
March 25, 2008 11:35 AM | Link to this
If any one cares to look they will find that Obama has been spewing racist garbage for the last 25 years. He was militant at Columbia U and even before. Only one year ago he tols Wright that he agreed with him but to get elected he would ‘temporarily’ have to distance himself from him. The evidence of his militant racism has been there for all to see. It’s funny how Americans disregarded Bush’s failures and now chooses to disregard Obama’s do nothingness except organize anti white groups.
By GloBo
March 25, 2008 11:44 AM | Link to this
Eric M, … blah, blah, blah!!!! Same old song!!! Excuses, excuses!!!!
By Michael H. Smith
March 25, 2008 11:44 AM | Link to this
I applaud your courage for brining up this subject, Mr. Allen. It is a good thing to do the research and yes, even turning off the radio and TV to read from other sources a different prospective. All that said, Mr. Walch, has pretty much expressed what voters across this nation will put in the ballot box on Election Day.
God Damn all who curse America!
You can make of this, whatever you will. Two things above all others will rule the minds and hearts of nearly every U.S. Citizen in judgment of this affair: Guilt by association and you are known by the company you keep. All the spin, logic, understanding, forgiveness, or even compromise will not overcome the two things Ive just mentioned, I think Mr. Obama knows that, you too probably do as well Mr. Allen. You may not be able to choose your family but you do choose your church, your friends and your associates.
God Damn all who curse America!
By JanetP
March 25, 2008 12:17 PM | Link to this
Who would be in an Obama cabinet? Is there a place in his administration for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton? What will be the role of Michelle Obama? He has refused to distance himself from Rev. Jeremiah Wright; will he continue to consider Wright his mentor and seek his advice as he did when he considered running for president?
This scares me. Apparently Obama has such strong emotional ties to this racist hate-mongering preacher that he is unable, or unwilling, to acknowledge that Wright’s influence is inappropriate and indeed harmful.
If the American Citizens elect Obama despite the knowledge of Wright’s influence over him, then it will be an acceptance and a tacit blessing of the union.
By Ben
March 25, 2008 12:53 PM | Link to this
Those who say Rev. Wright is anti-american must just ignore the fact that he served this country as a marine and has earned the right to speak his mind. This did not blindly damn all of america. He pointed out that if america keeps acting in inappropriate was, then god damn america. And he is write about that. If america keeps believing that it is all knowing and has a right to kill innocent people and be judge and jury of all, then america will be damned.
By Mark
March 25, 2008 1:02 PM | Link to this
Eric M.
You term yourself an “African American”. If I may ask, what part of Africa are you from?
By Olandug
March 25, 2008 1:04 PM | Link to this
We should judge a person by their actions and not their words.
The fact that Obama choose Mr. Wright as his spiritual teacher for 20 years and included Mr. Wright in his election staff speaks well for Mr. Obamas thinking and actions. Words are easy to manipulate and it is UNLIKELY that Obama’s recent race speech was written by Mr. Obama himself, but of course written by his spin machine.
And regardless that he is fashionably black and that many of you have some desire to prove to yourself or to others that you are not prejudice and that you like black people with an attitude of See, I like black people, Im voting for a black person, such an attitude of voting for a person because of their race is the definition of prejudice.
But it seems to me if Mr. Obama had a lighter skin tone, there is no way he would be tolerated in as much he is aligned with a violent religious group, and never says anything substantial. And not only that, consider yesterdays announcement that the chief of the firm involved in the State Departments passport breach is Obamas adviser. And that Obama has been caught lying about Rezko, regarding the amount of money Rezko gave him, and that Obama still hasnt come clean about his Rezko land deal.
If Obama were to become president, what would stop Mr. Obama from appointing Mr. Wright to his cabinet? And to be sure, if anyone complained about Mr. Wrights appointment, they would be called racist.
We should have as our countrys leader someone with wisdom and knowledge regardless of race, not someone hungry for power for the sake of power.
Out of all the 300 million people in America, is this really who you want for president blindly popular with young people, power hungry, deceptive, vague, and coldly self-centered - is there a better definition of a potential Anti-Christ?
By Johnny
March 25, 2008 1:11 PM | Link to this
A short listen to some of what comes out of that pulpit will make it very clear that this is a church of politics and affirmative action and not a church where Christ’s love and God’s forgiveness is preached. That’s unfortunate.
By Mark
March 25, 2008 1:23 PM | Link to this
Can anyone here who terms themselves “African American” tell me what part of Africa you’re from?
By Peter
March 25, 2008 1:48 PM | Link to this
The Audacity of Hate; Barack Obamas Trinity United Church of Christs with Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A Wrong and his Racist Sermons & his Racist Supporters.
We have come too far to accept any type of racism. I feel bad for those who continually ignore the facts and blindly follow Obama. It reminds me of what happened in 1940 when Germany followed Hitler into genocide acts. Rev. Wright is preaching HATE.
Obama supporters stop with the excuses and victimization - hate breeds hate. How many children are sitting in Rev. Wright’s church listening to his racial remarks?
Recently, Obama had the New Black Panther endorsement on his website. While Obama may not control who endorses him, he does CONTROL who he puts on the Official Presidential website. From the Black Panther Website: We will protect ourselves from the force and violence of the racist police and the racist military, by any means necessary.
Imagine if Hillary Clintons church proclaimed on its website that it is unashamedly white. The media would pounce, and Clintons presidential candidacy would be over. Yet that is exactly what Barack Obamas church says on its web site except in reverse.
“Wright on Israel: “The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for over 40 years now. Divestment has now hit the table again as a strategy to wake the business community and wake up Americans concerning the injustice and the racism under which the Palestinians have lived because of Zionism.
For the same reason why I would not vote for any candidate that attended The David Duke Church of Christ is the same reason why I cannot vote for anyone who sat for twenty (20) years in the Trinity united Church of Christ.
By VinceinATL
March 25, 2008 2:40 PM | Link to this
By JTS
March 24, 2008 6:58 PM | Link to this
Wright did not say God damn America. What he said is God damn America for killing innocent people.
Well what should God do, BLESS America for killing innocent people?
Or maybe you think your country is infallible and everyone who it has killed was not innocent. That would be heresy, as God alone is supposed to be perfect.
One can love ones country and, in hopes of improvement, call out the mistakes it may have made or may be in the midst of making.
For many whites they can not separate America from their own sense of what it says about their white culture; for them America is a symbol of their ‘whiteness.’ Wright is but a vehicle for the expression of their ‘fear’ which has been embedded within their emotional and psychological souls, for sure, for some us the killing of innocence people whether they are Japanese, Iraqis, native Americans, blacks or Mexicans does resonate as examples of our nation’s failure to live up to the standard it says it represents.
We, then must simply also be willing to understand that those who do not understand or seek understand, are doing so not because they can’t turn off of the TV or radio, and pick up a book a find the truth. They DO NOT want any truth which does not match their inner feelings about themselves, their whiteness and their thoughts of a white America.
Obama’s words and message can and never will resonate with them; they simply reject at the center that any non-white can be in charge of America, period. In a way, it is a form of mental illness, and it is clearly illustrated by one Pat Buchanan who comes on MSNBC and disavows anything associated with Obama as naturally being unclean and dirty. For they feel so deeply in that to embrace Obama[and subsequently] his blackness is to reject their own whiteness. This same theme is the common link among white separatists who see race as a totally zero sum game: it is either us v. them, our way of viewing the world or their way of seeing the world. There is no exacting language, no nuance, no special words or phrases, no facts or figures, no ‘warm’ feelings that will make them embrace non-whites’ or ever appreciate the world—-from outside of the mental barrier which enfuses their deep seated sense of ‘whiteness.’
We, would do well to recognize that when George Bush did echo that he wasn’t going to apologize for America or what it had done, he fully understood the existence of this base of folks in America. And, while many may accuse George Bush of being a village idiot, he clearly has been able to tap into the core of America that this author says has not come to grips with its own history or the impact of its history.
We would do well to also understand them, as well as understanding that their adherence to their own separate view of reality will not be penetrated by facts or knowledge. Our central thrust then must be to mobile our coalition to offset the numbers in their ranks—-so that the reflection of America is one of inclusion, not exclusion.
But, we shouldn’t waste even one minute believing we can reach them; they are who they wish to be; our approach must be to ensure that we work to build a nation that reflect our values of a united nation, spending one minute trying to convert them is one minuted wasted.
By Nelle
March 25, 2008 2:53 PM | Link to this
I think many of you have got it wrong. Barack Obama is the candidate who says that “words matter”. You can’t say “words matter” when they are helping your campaign but then ask everyone to dismiss the ones that make you look bad.
By Channing
March 25, 2008 3:22 PM | Link to this
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!
We as voting Americans owe it to our country and ourselves to be intelligent, vigilant, and mature voters. Too many of us tend to be too easily swayed and we get swept into this obvious whirlwind of BS that the media starts time and time again. Once we get caught up into the “media storm” it gets difficult to hold on to our own reason, and our own maturity. The MEDIA wants us to be against Rev. Wright and Sen. Obama and base the hate upon incomplete excerpts of Rev. Wright’s sermons. How mature is it for us to allow that to happen to our own thought processes? (he didn’t speak anything that was untrue anyway… he’s just brutally and unapologetically honest) We ALL know that a person’s character CANNOT be based on the views of any other person, but the “media storm” makes us believe otherwise. Let’s get a hold of our maturity again, and vote based on what we see and know… not on what the media feeds us. DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE!!! It will continue to ruin us!
By jman
March 25, 2008 4:03 PM | Link to this
Here, Here! Americans are far too sensitive first of all. They hear something that strikes a cord with their pride and are instantly insulted by it. They believe the opinions of idiots like Sean Hannity and are sold hook, line, and sinker. Americans seriously need to get over themselves not just domestically but in terms of their world view. FYI America - most countries do not like you right now! FYI America, your rhetoric does not always match your domestic policies and it hardly ever matches your international ones. Please, for the sake of yourselves and the world, take a deep breath, get over your thin-skinned hyper sensitive selves and do a tad bit of research before judging people on 30 second soundbites and making “guilt by association” conclusions about others. I find this disheartening particularly given the fact that when it comes to things that matter in this election—policies—John McCain jokes about bombing Iran and then says that if people cannot understand that they should “get a life.” Now that is SCARY! There is nothing funny about people’s limbs being blown apart, families, cultures, and countries destroyed. How this is not seen as appalling, particularly in an era where the US frequently relies on its military instead of diplomacy and the fact that McCain hangs around people like Hagge that believe in the Apocalypse and the Rapture is beyond me.
By Ellison
March 25, 2008 4:11 PM | Link to this
Thank you, Channing. Well stated.
Ellison Horne
By Mark
March 25, 2008 4:48 PM | Link to this
“Can anyone here who terms themselves African American tell me what part of Africa youre from?”
Just as I thought…..
By Sidmore
March 25, 2008 5:21 PM | Link to this
We all know the numbers say Obama will be the Democratic nominee. That’s that. Now for all of you who will vote across party lines for McCain; so be it. This is something that all true soldiers will understand: you fight the fight because it is the right thing to do NOT because you think you can WIN it. There are alot of people out there who will fight for a President Obama because it is the right thing to do after the stranglehold white people have had on the power structures in the country. SO there will be some who will justify voting against him because his pastor is TOO angry (or you want to morph his Pastor into hate whitey and hate America) or he is not qualified (as if in recent history Washington DC EVER prepared ANYONE to be a great president) when the REAL reason you are voting against him is he is “the other.” The “other” that is different from me, who thinks different, who looks different, etc; you tell yourself you would vote for a black man but it is not true what you are willing to vote for is a “white man” with brown skin. The challenge this great nation faces with Obama is to embrace diversity in its truest form because Obama is a man with a black man’s world view not a white man’s worldview (this is the difference that you see when you look at his pastor- you see a man shaped by a black man’s worldview) and that has been startling for some whites. Especially the whites who must have everyone LOOK and SOUND like them. There are whites who will fight to the END for a President Obama and those are the ones who can accept that though his church may sound different from mine, or he may look different from me, or his patriotism my be expressed different from me or his culture may be different than mine- I can recognize a core decency in a human being that is markedly different from me and I know that his or her decency makes them a capable leader as well. These are the values our country has stepped away from and they are the values that our Democratic warriors will be fighting for in the fall. So if you must cross party lines in the fall, I say do what you have to do, because I know if this country is willing there will be Republicans and Independents who will place Obama in the White House.
By KissMYGrits
March 25, 2008 5:28 PM | Link to this
“Can anyone here who terms themselves African American tell me what part of Africa youre from?
Just as I thought..”
You may think that s** you wrote is funny or clever but it is not. Our African language and culture was stolen from African Americans in slavery. It is something that our ancestors were not able to pass on so it is NOT FUNNY. So just STFUB!
By Ron Wilson
March 25, 2008 5:44 PM | Link to this
The media is not reporting the heart of the problem with Reverend Wright being the pastor and spiritual leader of Senator Obama and his family. As followers of Jesus Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit, true Christians say and pray: “God Bless America,” and many are now saying and praying “God Please Help the US.”
However, the Holy Spirit of God would never inspire a true follower of Jesus Christ to say or pray “God Damn American” in any context, much less as part of a taped public sermon.
Holy Scriptures say to test the spirits (1 John 4:1). Reverend Wrightobviously has a fiery spirit that is condemning at times, particuarly when he preached “God Damn America” and “Your Pigeons are Comming Home to Roost,” and the like. It has a demonic flare, but is certaintly not Christ-like or Holy Spirit inspired.
Sentor Obama apparently does not say or pray “God Damn America,” but most of his life he has trusted and tollerated a fiery-spirited, condemning pastor. Although Reverend Wright is retiring, he will remain as Senior Pastor, and his replacement essentially agrees with him in spirit and truth.
There is reason to not trust the spirit in which Reverend Wright said such things, and so there is reason to question the spirit(s) leading the youthfull Senator Obama as a professed Christian and prospective president of our nation. May God’s Holy Spirit be our guide. Amen
Sincerely,
Ron Wilson http://itsallaboutjesusnotme.blogspot.com
By Ellison
March 25, 2008 5:56 PM | Link to this
Mark,
With 53 countries on the continent of Africa some countries have 10 or more different ethnic groups living within its boundaries.
The forefathers of most African-Americans were brought from West Africa, which was comprised of many “kingdoms”. Many American slaves were gathered to the Gold Coast, traded and brought across the Atlantic.
Ironically, it is now widely believed that every human on earth is a descendent of people from the continent of Africa.
Ellison Horne
By Sidmore
March 25, 2008 6:00 PM | Link to this
“However, the Holy Spirit of God would never inspire a true follower of Jesus Christ to say or pray God Damn American in any context, much less as part of a taped public sermon. “
GOD or Christ DAMNED some things- I’m sure that’s where we get the expression from. In the sermon it seems to me he is using it as an expression not as asking GOD to DAMN America- either way you really should listen to his message which was to say that America has done bad things to his blacks citizens. He was very specific in his critique of America. Was there anything in his critique we should be celebrating as black citizens (and even white ones too) because there were serious societal ills we are facing and he names them.
By Tim
March 25, 2008 6:15 PM | Link to this
Since America is so bad for Black people, and their “real” names and identities were stolen long ago, why not just go back home? Since they have all the answers they could could go back to Africa and build a true powerhouse continent and take over the world. I have to wonder, how long do you blame others for your situation? I have never heard a MLK speech where he blamed white people for his problems. Only passion for a fair chance. He didn’t want everything handed to him for free. That is what we do when we feed our pets. Plenty of black people are out there making it on their own, and the other 80% needs to get on it. Here’s a wake up call. Your problems in America are not caused by white people. If so, your people wouldn’t be killing each other by the millions in Africa. If you want to see where your problems lie, look in the mirror. Part of the problem is that when a black person is successful, they are demonized for “acting white”. As if 3 kids and a Welfare check is the real Black Dream. MLK dreamed of a world where all of us would be judged by the content of our character. WOW. How many Black people read that to mean that Whitey has to provide 100% of the upkeep until that happens. Life sucks for all of us. Get off your butt and get on it.
By debbie
March 25, 2008 9:33 PM | Link to this
Everyone has a reason to dislike or even hate certain groups of people. I was mugged by 4 black guys, koreans in LA were looted by crazed black riotors, a jewish guy was stabbed in some preceived vengence killing by a black guy in crown heights new york. The Irish, Native Americans, Italians, Poles, Women, Gays all have reason to hate. Look at Elie Weisel no one has more reason to be hatefilled than he but HE ISN’T. So quit making excuses for Obama sitting in his racist church and for all of his admiration for his racist preacher.
By hitwriter
March 25, 2008 9:33 PM | Link to this
The history lesson doesn’t give black leadership the right to keep throwing it up as if it still a country without legislation overcoming regrettable days. They bring it up to inflame the poor and uneducated to keep themselves in power and their own pockets lined.
But we have not evolved into a truly equal society. If we had Obama would have already been railroaded out the Democratic Party for his involvement in a racist church.
His minister’s comments were as vile and hateful as anything I have ever heard. There is no excuse in 2008 for that kind of talk… and Obama’s speech was pitiful in excusing it.
Twenty years of that rant in his ears. That says it all.
By Bruce Wilcox
March 25, 2008 11:49 PM | Link to this
Jim Crow wins again in Gwinnett.
By Michael H. Smith
March 26, 2008 2:18 AM | Link to this
From the AP
Clinton Would Have Left Obama’s Pastor
By CHARLES BABINGTON
GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday she would have parted company with a minister who talked about America the way Barack Obama’s pastor has.
….”We don’t have a choice when it comes to our relatives,” she said. “We have a choice when it comes to our pastors and the churches we attend. Everyone will have to decide these matters for themselves. They are obviously very personal matters.”
By JohnnyT
March 26, 2008 4:15 AM | Link to this
Yeah, Bill. Let’s just let Wright slide on this because he’s justified in his racism. Let’s let the fact that if you swapped the word White for Jew in any of his speeches and youre right back in Nazi Germany c. 1935.
Let’s just forget the fact that Obama spent 20 years in this Reichstag of a church and even calls this black David Duke of a preacher his mentor.
And puh-LEEZ, I’m so sick of this “Black Experience” crap. I grew up in a mean housing project and went through the same sh*t. And how many blacks today bear the scars of chains, the limp of hobbling, or even the bruising and bite marks of dogs and firehoses? I can at least tell you how many whites can attend minority jobs fairs sponsored by major corporations. Zero. Nil. None. No Whites Need Apply. Is THAT what MLK had in mind in his “I Have A Dream” speech?
Also, Scottsboro was 80 years ago. Duke was LAST YEAR! Same sht, different color. And all the racial flamethrowers who got that fire raging walked away scot-free to hunt fresh Honkey game. That’s JUSTICE??? So WHO has a right to be angry about all this sht today, EXACTLY?
Doesn’t matter. Obama is sinking and Wright is his albatross. He can NEVER be elected now. It’s Wright’s words we’ll hear echoing in our minds Election Night. Game over.
By JohnnyT
March 26, 2008 4:32 AM | Link to this
All I hear from Obama supporters is how white preachers are worse. So you think we all give them a pass, too, because we’re white? They’re stupid ignoramuses too! Doesn’t make Wright any less of one.
And I’m so sick of CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT! Put his remarks into context! How much context did you ask for with Imus’ nappy-headed hos comment, or Michael Richard’s racist rant in LA, or Trent Lott’s praise of Strom Thurmond, or even Geraldine Ferraro’s comments? You asked for NONE, NADA, ZILCH! You didn’t NEED to hear the context, right? Why is that?
Okay. You want context? Here it is!
“The Jews spread disease to destoy us.” - Hitler
“The (white) government invented AIDS to inject into the black community.” - Wright
“Rich powerful Jews hold us down and strip us of our dignity.” - Hitler
“This country is run by rich white people who hold the black man down.” - Wright
“The Jews will bring their own annihilation down on their heads.” - Hitler
“America’s chickens coming home to roost.” - Wright
Context enough for you? BTW notice that the last two statements essentially condone the senseless mass murder of innocents? Obama is SO toast in November!
By Bill Allen
March 26, 2008 8:21 AM | Link to this
Interesting comments from all. Great discussion!
I was just reading over JohnnyT’s comments. Very thoughtful. One thing I not in the comparison between Hitler and Wright is that Hitler manipulated the majority masses to uproot the minority “infiltration.” Wright is urging the minority to “fight” for the same rights and privileges that the majority enjoys. I think that if we’re talking about “context,” then we’d be remiss in not acknowledging that.
Again, let me state that I am not an Obama apologist. I am, however, taking advantage of this opportunity to have a discussion on a topic that Americans need to have - if for no other reason than to acknowledge the elephant in the room.
Some people feel that they are entitled to their welfare check, that the government owes them food stamps and comfort, and that if they want a Cadillac far better than their housing well, they pay taxes. The government owes them. I’m talking, of course, about poor white people in Appalachain mountains. Entitlement doesn’t discriminate either.
Mr. Smith, always a thoughtful contributor, shows us an article from Pa. with a quote from Hilary saying that Obama has the right to change pastors, and that she would do so under similar circumstances. She is absolutely right to make that point. My initial reaction would be that Obama also the right to stay.
Look, I don’t think that Rev. Wright’s sermon (in context) offers a panacaea to blacks who suffer in abject poverty. Or to anyone, for that matter. I also think that words can be uttered to the extreme to make a point. Out of curiosity, has anyone asked Rev. Wright to explain or clarify? I haven’t heard if he has, which is not to say that the question hasn’t been asked. It is to say, in my opinion (and opinions do vary - this is America, after all)that his response would be equally as relevant as the words exhibited on You Tube.
When I think about all of this, I don’t look at the question of whether one race is better or more deserving than another. I look at the question of whether there is any validity to the words, knowing that America is not going to disintegrate into bloody rebellion. That said, I remember that there are other issues to be considered when casting my vote for who will be elected to hold the most powerful position in the world. I can view this position as that of a rabblr rouser or that of one that seeks to establish equality for all participants in a society. Though I may not agree with the methods, I ask myself the question of whether or not there is a need to ask the question, and whether or not others are asking different questions (i.e., Bill Cosby). Finally, I ask myself why African-Americans are asking the questions, and caucasians aren’t.
Great feedback, y’all. Thanks!
By Mark
March 26, 2008 9:56 AM | Link to this
* Ellison*
Let me get this straight. You don’t have to actually be from Africa to be considered “African American”? That makes no sense. My ancestors are from Italy, yet I don’t refer to myself as an “Italian American” because I was born in this country. If you were born in America, then you are an American, no matter where your ancestors are from. The term “African American is a racist term used by blacks to somehow showcase slavery, therefore trying to blame whites like me who had nothing to do with slavery. You are either an American, or an African. No blacks that I know have ever been to Africa, and I bet a high percentage of them couldn’t even find it on a map.
By Rick
March 26, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this
This all makes me laugh. What you deluded, poor negroes have to understand is, IF YOU WANT A BLACK LEADER go back to africa. This is america, and we are run by whites. always have been, always will be. You think the power structure of this country would allow a black president?
Bill allen-all those strokes you had have frazzled your brain. You should have seen a doctor sooner- he would have told you to get your head checked at a shrink.
I got a new flash for you folks: The american government is not in charge of barely ANYTHING. No, they have about a 2% play in ANYTHING that happens, they are a figurehead to catch your attention and draw it away from the REAL rulers of this country: oil companies, big money and special interest.
You think the president makes the decisions? The oil shieks call his people up and TELL him what descisions to make. And any smart predisent agrees without question. To think some of you folks actually beleive all this media crap is just proof they will always have enough dumb people to fool. IN europe they have no qualms explaining this to the citizens.
Get with it, america. Obama is an al-queda operative that has been groomed for this since he was young. The terrorists think they will somehow take over using this negro, but are just as stupid. All they would have to do is appeal to the oil shieks and give them something they want. We as americans would be smarter if we just did this.
No, obama isn’t going to be the next president of anything but the loser’s club alongside al gore. He would have a better chance if he just tried to hijack the election and played the sympathy vote.
This has historically been a country that is ‘led’ by old, white men. Mark my words- it will take more than every black in america to change this. There are things at work your genetically-dumb asses will never understand, like corruption and inside power. Don’t even bother wasting your vote, the ‘electoral college’ will surely sway any support for your candidate directly to another- likely mcain, who IS willing to work for the oil companies. The bribery runs deeper than your pro-african sediment. Obama should have been told this.
It doesn’t matter who you vote for, because mcain is the winner. I have read this story, i know how it ends. Bookmark, copy this message and save it, because you will be staring at it with hate when you see I am right.
Don’t like it? GO ahead and get training your militias, because the only way you are going to change ANYTHING in this country is a military coup, which most blacks are too cowardly and too unwilling to throw. Oh, and good luck finding whites to fight alongside you over your argument- most aren’t going to have anything to do with a coup over a black president. We want a black president about as much as a gunshot wound.
By Michael H. Smith
March 26, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this
Mr. Allen, is very correct this is America where rights apply to everyone, there is no dispute on that point, the very fact my comments emphasis was placed on choice and choosing attest to that very fact.
The Rev. Wright could have used many other words to have made his message clear without God Damn America, but he didnt.
Rev. Wright could have said God Help America! and heal the sickness of this land, the wickedness that is in the hearts of so many, the HATE that consumes them, the HATE that is made manifest brother against brother, the HATE white against black, the HATE black against white, the HATE against the very image of God that demands Gods wrath befall America! But he didnt.
Mr. Obama certainly has every right to keep any company he so chooses, so do we all.
For me the choice is very clear, if you are part of an organization and the leader says things that go against your convictions, your beliefs, the person whom you really are inside where it counts, then, you cut off all ties with that group. You sever any association with that leader as well.
When your feet do the talking, then people know who you are, what is in your heart, in your soul and that explanation removes all doubt. For people will always identify you, as the company you keep.
God Help America!
By Bruce Wilcox
March 26, 2008 2:20 PM | Link to this
Let’s face it, a Democrat wouldn’t carry this backward state if he was the Bishop of the Baptists and the Republican was the Devil.
Just free time and a forum for the local racist to voice the same tried opinions.
Free Speech never did catch on in the land of Dixie did it, or free thinking for that matter.
Bunch of WASP lemmings.
By Sayme
March 26, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this
Some of the writings of many of you sounds like you are some dumb farts. You all pass judgements,attacking blacks and saying how fortunate they are to be here and entering in pagents and getting good schooling. You have christians in the name of God talking about the preacher is a racist because he uses the saying “God damn America”. What about you yourselves? how do you all sleep at nights, knowing what you have said and written without trying to educating yourselves in reading and doing researches. Blacks are not fortunate to be here, they were taken here without their free will. You set of dumb white people get on with it, and know what your people did to humans and still are doing. The preacher is right.. and the truth hurts.Blacks still suffer through hardships and I am in agreement “GOD DAMN AMERICA” You are nothing but a bunch of today’s pharasees.
By Jon Woo-wiss
March 26, 2008 4:37 PM | Link to this
Hussein obamer is a jug-eared haf-blak closeted mu-slime who gets blackie votes for 1 simple racy reason.
By silly
March 26, 2008 4:50 PM | Link to this
Jon Woo-wiss is a O-son-of-a-b***
By Gerald
March 26, 2008 7:50 PM | Link to this
10 MILLION DOLLARS?
If this website is to be believed http://www.webofdeception.com/#tenmillion then Pastor Wright bought a parcel of land that was appraised at less than $5000.00 and sold it to the trinity Church for over $10 million dollars. That website also quotes what it said was a TAX lein placed against that parcel of land. I’m not saying it is the truth, but it makes for very interesting reading. Lets see you purchase a parcel of land and make a HUGE profit on it at the expense of a poor church on the south side of Chicago. You sell the poor church the parcel of land for a mortgage on the property that gets over 8% interest on $10 million, lets see, that amounts to $800,000 per year in interest payments alone. Now if this is true, then it looks like White People weren’t the only people taking advantage of poor blacks on the south side. I would like to know more about this and to find out if it is true or not. If it is true, then where was the leadership of that church when the deal was discussed? Where does the money go? Who pays for it? Do the poor blacks that attend the church know about this alleged land deal?
By LT5000
March 26, 2008 8:26 PM | Link to this
Well another AJC hack puts their foot in their mouth. Like Badie, he breaks out the Obama kneepads. Too bad his timing sucks.
Just today it has been released an article where he calls Italians “Garlic Noses”.
Will Mr. Allen or Brucie Wilcox respond to this racism? Maybe this doesn’t count because it is directed at white people.
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/03/obamas-pastor-wright-italians-look-down.html
LT500
By Just saying
March 27, 2008 6:54 AM | Link to this
Sayme, this is a free country—you can leave any time you’d like. Also, just because a person is white, does not mean that their ancestors were part of the ‘slavery’ issue. Talk about being judgemental. Hey Pot, this is Kettle—YOU’RE BLACK!!!
Just saying.
By Gandalf, the Grey
March 27, 2008 9:13 AM | Link to this
Once again “Whitey” trying to hold down the brother. Wake up and smell the hater. Obama is going to destroy this country if you fools elect him. I hate to say it, but I will in 4 years be the one saying I told you so, if the first amendment isn’t squashed by then.
By Bill Allen
March 27, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this
Rick -
I only had one stroke. That was enough. And they surgically inserted a device in my brain while I was in the hospital that continually plays the movie Conspiracy Theory in my brain. Shhhh. You’ll let out the secret of the Oil Barons Against Motivating Apathies. Hmmm. OBAMA?! -
Mr. Smith -
You are, of course, absolutely right to say you can let your feet do the talking. Some would be wise to take advantage of that axiom. I guess part of what I want to determine is the difference between anger and hate. How’s that for an ambitious goal? Maybe it’s not the answer that I should be looking for, but rather, the question.
LT (aka Blog Sniper) -
You do keep things fresh. :-) How on earth did you find that one? Garlic Noses. I talked to a coworker (Italian American) about that one. He got a good chuckle out of that one. You raise an interesting question, though: what do you consider white? He doesn’t consider himself Caucasian, but rather, Medterranean.
By Rick
March 27, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this
and another thing- Obama is about as black as punky brewster. Wake up folks, even if obama wins we will still be run by white men.
By Michael H. Smith
March 28, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this
Not sure if it is ambitious or ambiguous, Mr. Allen, though the quest is surely yours to pursue. Perhaps I enjoy the luxury of a simple discernment? For I am at times very angry with the entities I love, though not one them do I damn. For the love that cherishes them will not allow it, but hate would.
A love that hates, hates to love, and only intends destruction.
By Fulton
March 28, 2008 2:49 PM | Link to this
Note to Gandalf, the Grey; Too late, this country has already been destroyed and you can’t blame THAT on Mr. Obama. Now, before anyone gets all ballistic on me, nowhere am I saying he has all the answers but to date, he sure as hell ain’t been part of the problem!!!
By Jais AAA duluth
March 29, 2008 11:15 AM | Link to this
hEY i GOT ONE FOR YOU FOLKS-
If you elect obama, the country will still be run by rich white men.
I
am blacker than obama. You ever heard that guy talk? Yeah, he’s interested in african americans…he sounds just like an uncle of mine from minnesota.
seriously if you guys are going to elect a leader based on his color, elect somebody who is BLACK and not some cheeto mixed wannabee who postures like he cares. That guy gives about as big a damn for you as I do.
By Mark
March 29, 2008 1:41 PM | Link to this
blacks have no business being in politics. They are simply dumb chimps.
By open your eyes
March 29, 2008 5:20 PM | Link to this
I will never vote for a candidate who embraces “God damn America”. I will never vote for a candidate whose spouse is, in middle-age, FINALLY proud to be an American. I will never vote for a candidate who wants to disenfranchise millions of voters but not allowing their voices to be heard.
By Just-in-case
March 29, 2008 6:57 PM | Link to this
There is no such thing as an African-American. BTW, that is a nationality . . not a race. American is a nationality. African is a nationality. Canadian is a nationality. Mexican is a nationality. Who ever coined the term African-American anyhow!! And, everyone who is African isn’t black. There are caucasions (BTW, that is a race)who are Africans. And, if there were a room full of blacks …how would one know who is an African-American or a Black Canadian, a Black Columbian or what? So when the news media says . . the bank was robbed by two African-Americans . . how do they know???
By MTS
March 29, 2008 8:32 PM | Link to this
It’s pretty simple at this point: he did not mention this guy (Wright)up front and try to get the issue out in the open so that he could clarify his views. He’s doing damage control, and it appears by his attending the church in question that he’s allowing himself to be associated with views less than friendly towards people like myself.
Yes, I voted for Hillary in the primaries (though Edwards would have been better), and I was going to vote for anything up to and including a trained dolphin for president that the Dems put in. That has changed. If Obama gets the nod I’ll be voting for McCain. Thank goodness the Republicans put a moderate in instead of somebody like Thompson or Huckabee.
By Mark
March 30, 2008 12:40 PM | Link to this
just in case
I asked that with no response. My guess is that someone coined the term, and the nogs just followed the leader. They don’t have an answer, because they are too illiterate to know. It just makes them different, that’s all. Nogs whine that they want to be equal to the superior white race, yet keep themselves different with idiotic names, rap, ebonics (pig english), etc. They will always be a minority because they choose to be.
By Michael
March 30, 2008 9:33 PM | Link to this
He went to this “church” for 18 years. Obama either believe close to what Wright believes or his ears are dirty.
By Jais AAA
March 31, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this
I am with that guy above. ALL of our choices suck this year. We got a: a malignant murderer called hillary, who just wants the position for notoriety. (Check me for ‘suicide’ wounds after this post) b: some mixed non-factor who thinks because his daddy was black he’s one, too. Too much posturing on the part of this career politician
c: Mcain, who I fear may just have a damn stroke in office. He better pick a young vice president haha he ain;t got much shelf life left.
I’m with the guy above. We could use a moderate instead of these other losers, so I guess it will be mccain.
By Mark
March 31, 2008 4:22 PM | Link to this
Did James Earl Ray have any brothers?
By Tman
March 31, 2008 4:24 PM | Link to this
Obama is white/black, who better to take on a nation divided by race. Some of us can learn fom our post that we do not see a person as a person. We look at color. For those blacks who support him because he appears to be black, remember he has white ancestors. Whites who oppose him because he is considered black remember he is White with a darker skin complection. In america laws of man make him black (in america 1/16 of african american blood makes you a black person) the laws of god makes him human.
By asand211
April 1, 2008 11:03 AM | Link to this
Bill, are you serious? Wright is urging his people to fight for rights that the majority has? Give me a break and stop making excuses for this hate speech. As with most of the left wing media, you are in the tank for Obama and you ARE an apologist. Regardless of the so called context of the speech it was pure hate in every instance. That would not be stood for had the minister been of any other race and the same standards should be applied here. The scary part is that Obama refuses to move away from Wright which tells me that he is still his spiritual advisor and I do not want someone in the White House who’s advisor hates this country and white people. It is no different than if David Duke were John McCain’s advisor. Of course, the reply will be the standard and I’ll be labeled a racist because I do not condone Wright’s hate speech.
By WILL
April 1, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this
I ask everyone to listen to the entire speech. I ask everyone to understand the man doesnt care about race as he is both white and Black. How many of you get that kind of seat. Understand he saw racism from both sides. So leave race out. People do your home work and stop posting uneducated comments. How many whites feel the pain of blacks. How many Blacks feel the pain of whites. People its just a color. Were all the same where it counts and thats the inside. So get a life be a melting pot. Lets become one and focus on what Obama says is common sense. Lets move forward.
By James
April 1, 2008 11:35 AM | Link to this
How can you be so foolish? If he’s going to be the candidate who transcends race then why do you wallow in the racial sins of the past? Wright is not an entertainer. According to Obama, Wright is his mentor, etc. Wright espoused views of hatred about this country. Obama has been listening for 20 years. Doesn’t that prompt a reasonable question as to what his views are regarding what his mentor said about the country? Or - Are you just an idiot? I think you’re just an idiot.
By Jais
April 1, 2008 1:14 PM | Link to this
Coon, w******* or coot? What’s it gonna be people.
I’ll vote coot.
By will
April 1, 2008 2:36 PM | Link to this
We should keep this in perspective. Wright plays to the audience, this kind of talk is what they want to hear. He might not be a lousy bigot, but he know’s where is bread is buttered. If he decided to talk on one Sunday about folks goin’ home and straightening out their nasty gangsta children and grandchildren, what do you suppose would be in them plates when they came back up front? Same with this talk of G-D America. Him and Farrakhan and the rest all got something to say about Jews and Asians and White people, but there are many places to live where there are few of the above. Why stay?, because “them” or “they” are these guys meal ticket. In the absence of white people who is too blame? Ain’t nobody gettin’ paid to talk about that mess.
By Bill Allen
April 1, 2008 3:26 PM | Link to this
Left wing? Never been called that before. Thanks for the chuckle.
As for comparing Wright to Duke: apples and oranges. I never said I agreed with Wright. Asand. YOU said I agreed with him. I said that I would do some deeper digging and decide for myself whether or not I agreed with him.
Buttons are easy to push, Asand. I kind of think you just made my point.
By mike
April 2, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this
the only racism I see in these ‘rants’ is BLACK racism
personally, I won’t vote for obama because of his few, very few, stands on issues.
but what really scares me is obama’s wife….SHE’S THE RACIST!!!
By Mark
April 2, 2008 11:19 AM | Link to this
All blacks are racists. Or maybe the word should be “jealous”.
By Mark
April 2, 2008 11:25 AM | Link to this
<<>>
Time for a new blog subject, Bill.
By FarLeftLoons
April 2, 2008 3:58 PM | Link to this
Bill Allen, you’re an idiot, and a perfect example of the corrupt media. It’s not Wright’s comments that matter. It’s Obama’s excuses for them. It’s his refusal to disconnect from that racist altogether. The rest of us would, and we’re not even Presidential candidates. I don’t want a President who’s ok with, and associates with, racists who hate the country, hate white people and spread lies about 9/11 and black with AIDS. It will set race relations back 2 decades.
By FarLeftLoons
April 2, 2008 4:03 PM | Link to this
Frank, you’re a racist. White people shunned the comments of Falwell and Robertson. None of the white people who “liked” Robertson and Falwell were running for President. Not that their comments were ANYWHERE NEAR as offensive as Wright’s. In the case of Wright, a Presidential candidate is EXCUSING Wright’s comments. Get it?
By Don
April 2, 2008 4:08 PM | Link to this
Rev. Wright said the same things Dr. King said 40years ago. Now look how esteemed Dr. King is now by that same American public. Speaking history, regardless of the setting, is not racism. Further, if you talk to any Bible scholars, they will tell you that America is considered the last Babylon, and it will fall. So to say God damns America, is a prophetic and Biblical prophecy. Like Bill said, read and study, prior to jumping to conclusions. Study the history of the Black race and how America has treated her citizens. Another point, white America, can not stand to hear something bad or derogatory about themselves. The irony is white America loves to speak bad, negative, and derogatory toward others. Black Americans are accustomed to hearing “bad” things being spoken about them; that’s one of the reasons Blacks had such a hard time getting white America to understand about the negative stereotypical images they had Black Americans portraying in television and movies. It’s not hate or racism, if it’s clothed in Truth.
By Obama's Girl
April 2, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this
Every time I turn around people are looking for a reason as to why Obama should not be elected.
Let it go. God has always had the last word and He will have it in this matter.
We are already living in our last days and maybe and African American Presidential Candidate is what we will last remember.
By ThisIsWhatIFound
April 2, 2008 5:18 PM | Link to this
Obama isn’t ready, he doesn’t have what it takes.
By Marcellus
April 2, 2008 9:43 PM | Link to this
You know, I find that whites(some) seem to have developed a huge passion for calling Mr.(Rev)Wright Racist, or his words Racist, or spewing RACISM. But most educated people (and definitely people of color raised in this country) know is:
1) Prejudices come with the human condition.
2) Fear and Ignorance serve corrupted POWER.
3) (and most importantly) Only Prejudice + POWER + divisive ACTION = RACISM The only power Mr. Wright seems to have over white people is to make a percentage of them post nutty comments on websites.
If Natalie Portman (one of my favorite actresses of any color) goes to Nigeria to film a picture, and upon arriving is denied rights of land, subjected to rash treatment and even denied entry to the country based on very little than the fact that her skin lacks pigmentationThen THAT is an example of a white person enduring/facing RACISM
This loose example should be a window for any sane person to see what truly whites endure WHATS LEFT of the truly racist ideals and need for a “manufactured” supremacy that was taught for GENERATIONS!! and that no matter what they feel about Mr.Wright or Obama, They may never in their Iife experience HAVING to ENDURE any ACTUAL RACISM. I see some whites get long-winded and and callus when they talk about those RIDICULOUS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION LAWS, as if we would even need such laws if it were’nt for all those RIDICULOUS LYNCHINGS, and segregated laws.
Saying that Blacks(of all creeds and backgrounds in the U.S.) should somehow just “Get Over It” (As if that would be an option for whites or jews in that reversed position) and “take responsibility” for their “race” when whites(some) seem to take great pleasure in taking little to no responsibility for the insidious present day “indifference” and “so what” attitude toward the “inter-generarational criminality” of their own. NO RACE can be superior to another (not in reality) due to the fact the race that governs all races in the HUMAN RACE (which is apparently flawed by nature and no more superior than a tree capacity for injustice) However, some whites seem to want to hold on their air of “supremacy” and others see no reason to.
By Mark
April 3, 2008 9:12 AM | Link to this
Obama’s Girl
Keep your voodoo to yourself. Only children and retards believe in fairy tales.
By Michael H. Smith
April 3, 2008 10:32 AM | Link to this
Race, meaning multiple races in whatever fashion depicted as it is created in the minds of individuals in this society is a social crutch, invented by a weakness that has the need for a manufactured supremacy to lean upon. No matter whom the fabricator might be that produces it, science categorically denies them any foundation of support to purvey their bigotry.
By Marcellus
April 3, 2008 12:47 PM | Link to this
I was rushing and late for a date trying to type that last entry, So please for any typos.
By David Thackery
April 4, 2008 7:35 AM | Link to this
Re: Frank’s comment that “McCain-supporter John Hagee thinks Catholicism is a cult”: There is no similarity to the Obama issue. McCain is not a member of Hagee’s church and did not sit in his congregation for 20 years and passively accept (and by implication agree with) the outrageous rantings of a racist preacher.
By Joyce
April 4, 2008 8:22 AM | Link to this
Well, well, after reading these comments, I can see if you are for Obama, you excuse Wright. If you are for McCain or Clinton, you are ready to fight because of Wright. Then there are those who think Obama can unite the country and, of all things, the world. Can any of you see that is not happening. Just because the audience at his rallies is a mixed crowd does not mean he can unite the country. Just listen or read the comments from all over and it’s obvious he is not GOD! He is scary. He is unknown. He is smug. He is arrogant. He thinks he has already won the presidency. He has a caustic wife who will make one of the worst 1st ladies of all. I have a lot of qualms about this guy and he will not now nor ever get my vote. I have the same creepy, eerie feeling about him that I had about Richard Nixon when he was running for president. Look at what happened with him. So stop with the racism, the gender and anything else you folks come up with and just VOTE FOR SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON!
By One
April 4, 2008 9:23 AM | Link to this
I DON’T GIVE A DAYUM WHAT THE MEDIA SAYS ABOUT OBAMA, I WILL VOTE FOR HIM!!!!!! THE REST OF THE TRASH RUNNING CAN RUN RIGHT ON BY……………….OBAMA IN 08!!!!!!! WE KNOW YOU ALL ARE JUST TRYING TO DISTRACT US FROM THE REAL ISSUES AND THE BEST CANDIDATE, BUT GUESS WHAT, IT WILL NOT WORK!!!!!! OBAMA WILL BE PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND TO BE MORE HONEST, AT THIS POINT THERE IS NOTHING HE COULD DO TO LOSE MY VOTE, BECAUSE BEFORE I WOULD VOTE FOR HILLIARY’S LYING AZZ, OR A RETHUGLICON, I WOULD CHOP OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OBAMA IN 08!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Get real folks
April 4, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this
Most of the American public has condemned what Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have said or just ignored them as the crack pots they are. Those who keep bringing them up as examples for the Obama cause are trying to compare apples to oranges. John McCain did not sit in the pews of either Roberson’s or Falwell’s churches for 20 years listening to racist, hatefilled speach. Obama and his family still belong to Rev. White’s church!! You do not stay in a church for 20 years if you do not agree with what the pastor is saying. You can not sit in the pews of a church for 20 years and be un-aware of what the paster preaches and what he belives. You do not choose someone for a mentor if you do not believe what he says, and accept what he believes as part of your belief system.
By George
April 4, 2008 9:53 AM | Link to this
Those you will Vote for Obama are going to do so no matter what his Pastor says only what his Wife wrote in her thesis about How she hate’s America. No matter what he said in his book about the fact that he has done crack & smoked joints. They will vote for him for one reason and one reson only he is a black man. As a balck man in this country I find it offensive that one of my own who be willing to use our race to get somewhere in life. If you can’t get it onw you merts then you don’t deserve it. Obama tell us what it is you plan on changing and stop saying you are for change. You are sounding more like the cracker white man speaking out of the corner of you mouth and saying nothing.
By Truth
April 4, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this
Well said Mr. Allen, it’s amazing how people will ignore the “REAL TRUTH(s)” (regardless how it is quoted, all people are guilty of this regardless of color) and focus on an unimportant topics, individuals or comments made by someone, in order to “justify” how He/She feels or what he/she was going to do regardless. Wake up people gather the whole truth and make honest decisions and stop accepting and embracing half a Lie. If Jesus himself said the same thing Jeremiah Wright said would we consider him “Anti-America”? Jeremiah comments were his own as an “individual”. So why don’t we as individuals make our own decision, not what our parents, friends, Media, (or any other influences) say or how we were “raised” or feel, but solely on the “Uncompromising” truth. You will be how much confusion and drama eliminated and how much understanding and respect we will have with each other as individuals and as a whole (Nation)……We can change….We can make a difference….but it starts in the mirror:)
By The Truth
April 4, 2008 12:56 PM | Link to this
Inexperienced voters voting for a half term inexperienced senator with a racist past! Heaven help this country! Ok he is a black man but that does not mean he is qualified to be the leader of the free world. Please people remove your veil of blackness and vote for someone based on qualification not race.
By moderator
April 4, 2008 1:18 PM | Link to this
Mark:
You are a sad, frustrated, little man and while half of me feels sorry for you, the other half thinks you are dangerous and ignorant.
By jacob
April 4, 2008 1:20 PM | Link to this
There was a big problem with Baracks mea culpa speech in Philadelphia, defending his racist pastor, Jeremiah White. He failed to mention that over 300,000 white Americans gave their lives to end slavery. He didnt mention that in 1854, abolitionists left the Democratic Party and founded the Republican Party specifically for the purpose of ending slavery and giving equal rights to all those who had been in bondage. And when he does mention the 3/5ths clause in the Constitution, he totally got it wrong, the way most Americans do. News flash … it was the abolitionists who insisted on it so that the slave holding states could not have their slaves counting as constituents so they could get more pro-slavery representation in congress. This is one of the most powerful battles fought by whites, to end slavery, which has been mischaracterized as being racist. He needs to read the history of this battle for equality and realize that the party he embraces today was the party that voted against the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, while the Republicans supported them unanimously. He needs to acknowledge that the two dozen civil rights bills that were passed by the Republicans were overturned by the Democrats when they regained control of the House, Senate and White House at the end of the 19th Century. It was at this time that the Democratic Party instituted Jim Crow laws. It was not whites that did this against blacks, it was bigoted, racist Democrats who would choose to divide a nation rather than give freedom to those they considered inferior. Had blacks been voting equally in both political parties, there never would have been literacy tests, poll taxes or other restrictions to voting. But because all blacks at this time identified with the party of Lincoln and were actually the ones starting Republican parties in southern states, and running and getting elected as Republicans, the Democrats knew that to kill a Black person was killing a Republican. If he watched the award-winning documentary, Emancipation Revelation Revolution (ERRVideo.com), he would learn that the first Black Democrat, Barbara Jordan, was elected in the south in 1972, 100 years after Black Republicans had been running and winning for years. And it took a federal law to force redistricting in Texas to get her elected. He would be reminded that almost all the southern governors fighting integration, standing in school house doors, firing water canons at innocent people were all Democrats. And if his parents really were a part of the civil rights movement, he would realize that without whites fighting side by side to overturn laws that had been put in place by his very own party, it may have been another generation before the civil rights movement could happen. It was not white versus black; it was racists, bigoted Democrats against blacks and whites who disagreed with them. If he saw our movie he would be reminded of three young white men who worked with CORE who were murdered, just for doing the right thing. He would see the incredible sacrifices that white men, such as Senator Charles Sumner endured for the cause of liberty for oppressed slaves. He was attacked on the Senate floor by pro-slavery Democratic congressman, Preston Brooks, who stormed the Senate side of the Capitol and tried to beat Sumner to death with his cane because he dared to introduce yet another piece of anti-slavery legislation. Brooks received hundreds of canes from adoring fans, while Senator Sumner struggled for three years to survive. When he did, the first thing he did when he returned to the Senate was to re-introduce a bill that would abolish slavery. This man was a white Republican. Preston Brooks was a white Democrat. Race had nothing to do with their individual passion to destroy or preserve slavery. It was a passion born of moral values and an understanding of good and evil. That is the discussion today that pastors are supposed to be having and preaching and encouraging their flock to understand. Rev. Wright did not get the memo and gets an F in Black history. For Obama and his pastor to preach the audacity of despair and racism is an affront to all the people who have given their lives through the years to see racism destroyed. But that death blow has always been deflected by the Democratic Party that has had a vested interest in class and race warfare to keep their power base motivated and returning to the polls. Barack says, I have asserted a firm conviction that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, yet he sits week after week listening to sermons that say just the opposite. But those days are gone as we rip off the tacky, thin veneer of elitism and bigotry that has propelled them to power. It is ironic that in his speech he challenges the listener by saying, We cant accept politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism, when he belongs to the very party that has always done that, to the point where the new liberal plantation has erected philosophical barriers around all blacks, condemning those who dare to challenge the liberal status quo and escape this manipulation and intimidation. They are called Aunt Jamima, like Condi Rice, or house Negroes like Colin Powell, or forced to endure high tech lynchings like Clarence Thomas. They have Oreo Cookies thrown at them like Michael Steele and are accused of acting white if they identify themselves as Republicans or conservatives. That is the racist spectacle we are not allowed to talk about. When Blacks have to whisper at polling booths that they are Republican, for fear of reprisal from their liberal neighbors, then Barack really doesnt get the real conflict that is alive and well in this country, and why should he? He belongs to the party of the overseer of the philosophical plantation that intimidates and marginalizes Blacks that dare support conservative values or Republican ideas. So, if Barack was honest about his desire to heal the nation, he needs to learn American Black history, and take his pastor aside and tell him about it and challenge him to be more Christ-like when he preaches. If he knew real American Black history, he would not belong to the party of segregationists and bigots and would not have allowed himself to be sucked into that dark undertow of racial politics that has already robbed our nation of too many amazing blessings.
By moderator
April 4, 2008 1:29 PM | Link to this
I am a 51-year-old, white, indigenous southerner with a Juris Doctorate and I trust, in my gut, Mr. Obama with my most precious democratic posession - my vote.
And for the record, niether Mr. Reagan nor King George the 43rd ever served a day in national office before becoming your president. How were they more prepared than Mr. Obama?
By The Truth
April 4, 2008 1:30 PM | Link to this
AMEN! Jacob!
By court_fanatic
April 4, 2008 1:31 PM | Link to this
Bravo, Bill. You wrote exactly what I’ve been thinking all along. And shame on the Clintonites and the likes of Hannity and Boortz for trying to make such a major issue of comments made by someone that Obama happens to be acquainted with in his life. I don’t hear anyone rehashing the fact that someone in Hillary’s circle lied to investigators, the Senate, the American people, and probably Hillary herself about his extracurricular activities. Come on, people, let’s focus on the really important issues in this election and quit splitting hairs.
By Michael H. Smith
April 4, 2008 1:37 PM | Link to this
Just curious Mr. Allen, have you researched “Black Liberation Theology”?
What is your take on it?
I think that Mr. Obama will have to do some more explaining before he can win over the all crucial majority vote, if he intends to win the Presidency.
By The Truth
April 4, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this
They were Govenors Moderator which means they had actually been in charge of of a state for 4 years not a puppet for one. I am suprised with your Juris Doctorate you had not figured that out.
By moderator
April 4, 2008 1:56 PM | Link to this
What I do know, Mr. Truth, is that a president serves us by:
Leading.
A well-appointed cabinet and a reponsible legislative branch serve us by:
Governing.
And a intelligent, pensive judiciary serve us with:
Review and Balance.
By Sad Woman In America
April 4, 2008 2:02 PM | Link to this
As a Black woman born in America I am truly sad. I want to believe in my heart that we are all equal, I want to believe in my heart that we have the intelligence to rightfully divide truth from illusion, I want to believe that we are finally at a place where we can think with without color but I guess everything the Dr. Martin Luther King stood for is simply a dream. YOUR WORDS AND ACTIONS ON THIS BOARD CLEARLY PROVE THAT. What makes it even worse is that it is not just a black or white prolem, it’s an american problem.
By Nycole
April 4, 2008 2:10 PM | Link to this
I am a 30 year old Black woman. When I was in the fourth grade, I heard my teacher asking her assistant how this dumb n*r was making the best grades in the class. Since I was the only one in the class, I guess she meant me. So, please, dont tell me racism is dead and that I need to move on.
White people keep saying that they should not have to pay or be held accountable for slavery, but what about the sins of your mother and father? Let us not forget that many of you were or have parents who were around during the Jim Crow era. Slavery was a long time ago, but the harsh reality of overt racism is real, even today. The Brown vs Board of Education decision was only 54 years ago. Let us not forget that many, many people disagreed with that decision and protested it. Grown people spat in the faces of the Little Rock Nine who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. This happened within the lifetime of some of these black people you keep calling on to get over it.
Today, we commemorate the 40th year since the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. His death was not in 1868, it was 1968. Those police officers unleashed dogs and sprayed women and children with water hoses in 1963, not 1863. This is the pain from which Black peoples anger comes. Secretary of State, Condaleeza Rice attended the church and knew the four little girls who were killed in a church bombing in Birmingham, AL in 1963. This is not ancient history; its yesterday.
Racism has lived on waaay past slavery. The fact that many of you keep referring back to slavery as if the atrocities against Blacks ended with the civil war, shows the degree of your ignorance and your inability to see the truth, even as it stares you in the face. Maybe instead of telling us to get over it, you should know what you are talking about.
I pray for our country and the ignorance which envelops it every day.
By Marcellus
April 4, 2008 7:25 PM | Link to this
Well put Nycole,
Tell me, what’s deal with some whites actually having the unintimidated GALL to say that they’re AFRAID of Barack Obama (who was actually raised by whites and named by his caucasian mother) being president or how HIS presidency will somehow harm the country due to is supossed “lack of experience”
But then, seem to display no angst, no harsh regard, escalating “suspicion”, no real concern about the “fully caucasian”-“DRAFT DODGING”, “BLACK-OUT DRINKING”, “COKE-BENGING”, “IN-ARTICULATE”, LYING-A*, ORGAN GRINDER MONKEY PRESIDENT That was “somehow” allowed to hi-jack this country and is STILL running it into the ground (as in screwing the U.S. without vaseline) with this “very profitable for the elite” WAR that has to date killed over 4000 young americans(White, Black, Latino, Asian & Bi-Racial)
I mean damn, Are we (The American People) supposed to be happy with a simpleton “puppet for corporation” president as long as his face is the color of every other president we’ve had.
Where was all the “concern” for “experience” in the case of George. W, especially when the records show that he ran every company his dad’s name got him into the ground the same way he is doing this country.
Since when did being “eloquent”, “transparent” and addressing americans as “adults” become something we DID’NT want in a MAYOR, let alone a President.(In this election thats when, and at no other time in history)
The truly funny thing is that some of these same people would’nt even be “comfortable” if Obama was VP, despite the fact that our current VP -when asked to respond to rating thats shows that 82% of americans believe this war is crippling the country, simply said “So?” (2weeks ago)
Certainly these same people would SAFER with Obama’s “eloquence” and ablities if they were draped on a person with flowing auburn hair and blue eyes.
For this “country” to still be in that “state” in this day and age is really disarming, and should REALLY be what SCARES us.
To all who are AFRAID of a Barack Obama Adminstation: Get a clue -“ROME IS ALREADY BURNIG” and that’s certainly NOT Obama’s OR Mr.Wright’s doing.
By Marcellus
April 4, 2008 7:33 PM | Link to this
“ROME IS ALREADY BURNING”
By Michael H. Smith
April 4, 2008 11:53 PM | Link to this
To the Sad Woman In America - We are all equal in terms of our humanity, defined as, the quality of being human. As human beings we certainly do possess the needed intelligence to rightfully divide truth from illusions. Unfortunately, as human beings, we also possess weaknesses that prevent us from accepting truth. One day we will, as a people, as Americans, reach that hallowed place, though, in all honesty I must confess that day will not be any day in my lifetime. For the truth that you speak of, which so many of us seek, is a heavy burden many cannot yet bear unassisted without a social crutch that is invented in their mind which allows them to mentally function in this life in lieu of a total personal collapse. To put it bluntly, Sad Woman In America, the majority of Americas citizenry cannot reason without applying the idea, if not the very words of, Race, Racism and the term Racial when interacting on a daily basis.
People cannot accept science fact. RACE, is a meaningless category. The differences between any one of us are so insignificant science dismisses them as having no appreciable merit to require a RACE or separate races.
RACISM is nothing more or less than ancestral hate. So why call, HATE, something else instead of what it truly is?
RACIAL is the manifestation of this ancestral hate in action.
As long as America, lives under these illusions, continues to depend upon the social crutch of RACE, RACISM and RACIAL, the nightmare will not end.
Many things were said today of Dr. King. Some tried to parallel his speeches and sermons to Rev. Wrights God Damn America but there is a great difference between calling for Gods wrath upon America to that of warning America of Gods impending wrath, regrettably how so many fail to understand that difference.
Dr. King had a dream for America, which didn’t include Armageddon.
By darlene
April 6, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this
“Where is the G-damn fking flag? I want the G-damn fking flag up every fking morning at fking sunrise.” (From the book “Inside The White House” by Ronald Kessler, p. 244 - Hillary to the staff at the Arkansas Governor’s mansion on Labor Day, 1991)
“You sold out, you mother f**ker! You sold out!” From the book “Inside” by Joseph Califano, p. 213 - Hillary yelling at Democrat lawyer.
“It’s been said, and I think it’s accurate, that my husband was obsessed by terrorism in general and al-Qaida in particular.” (Hillary telling a post-9/11 world what a ‘great’ commander in chief her husband was; Dateline, NBC 4/16/2004.)
“I have to admit that a good deal of what my husband and I have learned [about Islam] has come from our daughter.” (TruthInMedia.org 8/8/1999 - Hillary at a White House function, proudly tells some Muslim groups she is gaining a greater appreciation of Islam because Chelsea was then taking a class on the “religion of peace”)
F*k off! It’s enough that I have to see you s**-kickers every day, I’m not going to talk to you too!! Just do your Gdamn job and keep your mouth shut.” (From the book “American Evita” by Christopher Anderson, p. 90 - Hillary to her State Trooper bodyguards after one of them greeted her with “Good morning.”
“You f**king idiot.” (From the book “Crossfire” p. 84 - Hillary to a State Trooper who was driving her to an event.)
“If you want to remain on this detail, get your f**king a* over here and grab those bags!” (From the book “The First Partner” p. 259 - Hillary to a Secret Service Agent who was reluctant to carry her luggage because he wanted to keep his hands free in case of an incident.)
“Get fked! Get the fk out of my way!!! Get out of my face!!!”(From the book “Hillary’s Scheme” p. 89 - Hillary’s various comments to her Secret Service detail agents.)
“Stay the fk back, stay the fk away from me! Don’t come within ten yards of me, or else! Just f**king do as I s ay, Okay!!!?” (From the book “Unlimited Access”, by Clinton FBI Agent in Charge, Gary Aldrige, p. 139 - Hillary screaming at her Secret Service detail.)
“Many of you are well enough off that [President Bush’s] tax cuts may have helped you. We’re saying that for America to get back on track, we’re probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We’re going to have to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.” (Hillary grandstanding at a fund raising speech in San Francisco; SFGate.com 6/28/2004.)
“Why do I have to keep proving to people that I am not a liar?!”(From the book “The Survivor,” by John Harris, p. 382 - Hillary in her 2000 Senate campaign)
“Where’s the miserable c*ck sucker?” (From the book “The Truth About Hillary” by Edward Klein, p. 5 - Hillary shouting at a Secret Service officer)
“No matter what you think about the Iraq war, there is one thing we can all agree on for the next days - we have to salute the courage and bravery of those who are risking their lives to vote and those brave Iraqi and American soldiers fighting to protect their right to vote.” (Was posted on Hillary Clinton’s senate.gov web site on 1/28/05)
“Put this on the ground! I left my sunglasses in the limo. I need those sunglasses. We need to go back!” (From the book “Dereliction of Duty” p. 71-72 - Hillary to Marine One helicopter pilot to turn back while en route to Air Force One.)
A right-wing network was after his presidency…including perverting the Constitution.” (To Barbara Walters about the Republicans who impeached her husband; 20/20, ABC 6/8/2003.)
“What are you doing inviting these people into my home? These people are our enemies! They are trying to destroy us!” (From the book “The Survivor” by John Harris, p. 99 - Hillary screaming to an aide, when she found out that some Republicans had been invited to the Clinton White House)
“I mean, you’ve got a conservative and right-wing press presence with really nothing on the other end of the political spectrum.” (C-Span, 1/19/1997 - Hillary complains about the mainstream media, which are all conservatives in her opinion)
“Come on Bill, put your dick up! You can’t f**k her here!!” (From the book “Inside The White House” by Ronald Kessler, p. 243 - Hillary to Gov. Clinton when she spots him talking with an attractive female at an Arkansas political rally)
“You know, I’m going to start thanking the woman who cleans the restroom in the building I work in. I’m going to start thinking of her as a human being” -Hillary Clinton (From the book “The Case Against Hillary Clinton” by Peggy Noonan, p. 55)
“You show people what you’re willing to fight for when you fight your friends.” (From the book “The Agenda” by Bob Woodward, ch. 14)
“We are at a stage in history in which remolding society is one of the great challenges facing all of us in the West.” (From the book “I’ve Always Been A Yankee Fan” by Thomas D. Kuiper, p 119 - During her 1993 commencement address at the University of Texas)
“The only way to make a difference is to acquire power” (From the book “I’ve Always Been A Yankee Fan” by Thomas D. Kuiper, p 68 - Hillary to a friend before starting law school.)
“We just can’t trust the American people to make those types of choices…. Government has to make those choices for people” (From the book “I’ve Always Been A Yankee Fan” by Thomas D. Kuiper, p 20 - Hillary to Rep. Dennis Hastert in 1993 discussing her expensive, disastrous taxpayer-funded health care plan)
“I am a fan of the social policies that you find in Europe” Hillary in 1996 From the book “I’ve Always Been A Yankee Fan” by Thomas D. Kuiper, p. 76 - Hillary in 1996)
This ill-tempered, violent, foul mouthed, hateful and abusive woman wants to be your president and have total control as commander-in-chief of a military that her party so openly and proudly admit they detest. ……………………………..
How can anyone vote for someone like this that speaks to employees, her husband, and just about everyone with words of hate.
If she is nominated I vote for McCain. And what a choice that is , another warmonger Bush loving politician.
By inou
April 6, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this
Hillary and Bill just want the power, and Obama is just about being Black. I’m concerned about McCains priority being the war, which is a reality we must deal with, but he is the only one of the three who seems to be truly concerned about our country. After Black America demanding an apology for slavery (which had nothing to do with any of us), it is disturbing that McCain got booed when he apologized. Obama does not appear to be the one to bring the peace among Americans. He is just about complexion color. He actually had me until his secret agenda surfaced. With 98% of Blacks voting for him, he has nothing to offer Whites, except lectures.
By Michael H. Smith
April 6, 2008 12:58 PM | Link to this
None of them of got me. America and Americans are truly in trouble.
By Jais AAA duluth
April 6, 2008 1:01 PM | Link to this
I am all for a trained sea lion. We can get a saltwater fixture in the oval office, right? I mean a little tile on the floors, some extra towels for the interns, a rubber ball…hey he’s got my vote.
By Michael H. Smith
April 6, 2008 1:24 PM | Link to this
Correction to the last comment:
None of them have got me.
By Yokon Shence
April 6, 2008 2:03 PM | Link to this
Of National Lies and Racial America
By TIM WISE
For most white folks, indignation just doesn’t wear well. Once affected or conjured up, it reminds one of a pudgy man, wearing a tie that may well have fit him when he was fifty pounds lighter, but which now cuts off somewhere above his navel and makes him look like an idiot.
Indignation doesn’t work for most whites, because having remained sanguine about, silent during, indeed often supportive of so much injustice over the years in this country—the theft of native land and genocide of indigenous persons, and the enslavement of Africans being only two of the best examples—we are just a bit late to get into the game of moral rectitude. And once we enter it, our efforts at righteousness tend to fail the test of sincerity.
But here we are, in 2008, fuming at the words of Pastor Jeremiah Wright, of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago—occasionally Barack Obama’s pastor, and the man whom Obama credits with having brought him to Christianity—for merely reminding us of those evils about which we have remained so quiet, so dismissive, so unconcerned. It is not the crime that bothers us, but the remembrance of it, the unwillingness to let it go—these last words being the first ones uttered by most whites it seems whenever anyone, least of all an ‘angry black man’ like Jeremiah Wright, foists upon us the bill of particulars for several centuries of white supremacy.
But our collective indignation, no matter how loudly we announce it, cannot drown out the truth. And as much as white America may not be able to hear it (and as much as politics may require Obama to condemn it) let us be clear, Jeremiah Wright fundamentally told the truth.
Oh I know that for some such a comment will seem shocking. After all, didn’t he say that America ‘got what it deserved’ on 9/11? And didn’t he say that black people should be singing ‘God Damn America’ because of its treatment of the African American community throughout the years?
Well actually, no he didn’t.
Wright said not that the attacks of September 11th were justified, but that they were, in effect, predictable. Deploying the imagery of chickens coming home to roost is not to give thanks for the return of the poultry or to endorse such feathered homecoming as a positive good; rather, it is merely to note two things: first, that what goes around, indeed, comes around—a notion with longstanding theological grounding—and secondly, that the U.S. has indeed engaged in more than enough violence against innocent people to make it just a tad bit hypocritical for us to then evince shock and outrage about an attack on ourselves, as if the latter were unprecedented.
He noted that we killed far more people, far more innocent civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki than were killed on 9/11 and ‘never batted an eye.’ That this statement is true is inarguable, at least amongst sane people. He is correct on the math, he is correct on the innocence of the dead (neither city was a military target), and he is most definitely correct on the lack of remorse or even self-doubt about the act: sixty-plus years later most Americans still believe those attacks were justified, that they were needed to end the war and ‘save American lives.’
But not only does such a calculus suggest that American lives are inherently worth more than the lives of Japanese civilians (or, one supposes, Vietnamese, Iraqi or Afghan civilians too), but it also ignores the long-declassified documents, and President Truman’s own war diaries, all of which indicate clearly that Japan had already signaled its desire to end the war, and that we knew they were going to surrender, even without the dropping of atomic weapons. The conclusion to which these truths then attest is simple, both in its basic veracity and it monstrousness: namely, that in those places we committed premeditated and deliberate mass murder, with no justification whatsoever; and yet for saying that I will receive more hate mail, more hostility, more dismissive and contemptuous responses than will those who suggest that no body coun t is too high when we’re the ones doing the killing. Jeremiah Wright becomes a pariah, because, you see, we much prefer the logic of George Bush the First, who once said that as President he would ‘never apologize for the United States of America. I don’t care what the facts are.’
And Wright didn’t say blacks should be singing ‘God Damn America.’ He was suggesting that blacks owe little moral allegiance to a nation that has treated so many of them for so long as animals, as persons undeserving of dignity and respect, and which even now locks up hundreds of thousands of non-violent offenders (especially for drug possession), even while whites who do the same crimes (and according to the data, when it comes to drugs, more often in fact), are walking around free. His reference to God in that sermon was more about what God will do to such a nation, than it was about what should or shouldn’t happen. It was a comment derived from, and fully in keeping with, the black prophetic tradition, and although one can surely disagree with the theology (I do, actually, and don’t believe that any God either blesses or condemns na tion states for their actions), the statement itself was no call for blacks to turn on America. If anything, it was a demand that America earn the respect of black people, something the evidence and history suggests it has yet to do.
Finally, although one can certainly disagree with Wright about his suggestion that the government created AIDS to get rid of black folks—and I do, for instance—it is worth pointing out that Wright isn’t the only one who has said this. In fact, none other than Bill Cosby (oh yes, that Bill Cosby, the one white folks love because of his recent moral crusade against the black poor) proffered his belief in the very same thing back in the early ’90s in an interview on CNN, when he said that AIDS may well have been created to get rid of people whom the government deemed ‘undesirable’ including gays and racial minorities.
So that’s the truth of the matter: Wright made one comment that is highly arguable, but which has also been voiced by white America’s favorite black man, another that was horribly misinterpreted and stripped of all context, and then another that was demonstrably accurate. And for this, he is pilloried and made into a virtual enemy of the state; for this, Barack Obama may lose the support of just enough white folks to cost him the Democratic nomination, and/or the Presidency; all of it, because Jeremiah Wright, unlike most preachers opted for truth. If he had been one of those ‘prosperity ministers’ who says Jesus wants nothing so much as for you to be rich, like Joel Osteen, that would have been fine. Had he been a retread bigot like Falwell was, or Pat Robertson is, he might have been criticized, but he would have remained in good sta nding and surely not have damaged a Presidential candidate in this way. But unlike Osteen, and Falwell, and Robertson , Jeremiah Wright refused to feed his parishioners lies.
What Jeremiah Wright knows, and told his flock—though make no mistake, they already knew it—is that 9/11 was neither the first, nor worst act of terrorism on American soil. The history of this nation for folks of color, was for generations, nothing less than an intergenerational hate crime, one in which 9/11s were woven into the fabric of everyday life: hundreds of thousands of the enslaved who died from the conditions of their bondage; thousands more who were lynched (as many as 10,000 in the first few years after the Civil War, according to testimony in the Congressional Record at the time); millions of indigenous persons wiped off the face of the Earth. No, to some, the horror of 9/11 was not new. To some it was not on that day that ‘everything changed.’ To some, everything changed four hundred years ago, when that first ship land ed at what would become Jamestown. To some, everything changed when their ancestors were forced into the hulls of slave ships at Goree Island and brought to a strange land as chattel. To some, everything changed when they were run out of Northern Mexico, only to watch it become the Southwest United States, thanks to a war of annihilation initiated by the U.S. government. To some, being on the receiving end of terrorism has been a way of life. Until recently it was absolutely normal in fact.
But white folks have a hard time hearing these simple truths. We find it almost impossible to listen to an alternative version of reality. Indeed, what seems to bother white people more than anything, whether in the recent episode, or at any other time, is being confronted with the recognition that black people do not, by and large, see the world like we do; that black people, by and large, do not view America as white people view it. We are, in fact, shocked that this should be so, having come to believe, apparently, that the falsehoods to which we cling like a kidney patient clings to a dialysis machine, are equally shared by our darker-skinned compatriots.
This is what James Baldwin was talking about in his classic 1972 work, No Name in the Street, wherein he noted:
‘White children, in the main, and whether they are rich or poor, grow up with a grasp of reality so feeble that they can very accurately be described as deluded—about themselves and the world they live in. White people have managed to get through their entire lifetimes in this euphoric state, but black people have not been so lucky: a black man who sees the world the way John Wayne, for example, sees it would not be an eccentric patriot, but a raving maniac.’
And so we were shocked in 1987, when Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall declined to celebrate the bicentennial of the Constitution, because, as he noted, most of that history had been one of overt racism and injustice, and to his way of thinking, the only history worth celebrating had been that of the past three or four decades.
We were shocked to learn that black people actually believed that a white cop who was a documented racist might frame a black man; and we’re shocked to learn that lots of black folks still perceive the U.S. as a racist nation—we’re literally stunned that people who say they experience discrimination regularly (and who have the social science research to back them up) actually think that those experiences and that data might actually say something about the nation in which they reside. Imagine.
Whites are easily shocked by what we see and hear from Pastor Wright and Trinity Church, because what we see and hear so thoroughly challenges our understanding of who we are as a nation. But black people have never, for the most part, believed in the imagery of the ‘shining city on a hill,’ for they have never had the option of looking at their nation and ignoring the mountain-sized warts still dotting its face when it comes to race. Black people do not, in the main, get misty eyed at the sight of the flag the way white people do—and this is true even for millions of black veterans—for they understand that the nation for whom that flag waves is still not fully committed to their own equality. They have a harder time singing those tunes that white people seem so eager to belt out, like ‘God Bless America,’ for they know that whites s ang those words loudly and proudly even as they were enforcing Jim Crow segregation, rioting against blacks who dared move into previously white neighborhoods, throwing rocks at Dr. King and then cheering, as so many did, when they heard the news that he had been assassinated.
Whites refuse to remember (or perhaps have never learned) that which black folks cannot afford to forget. I’ve seen white people stunned to the point of paralysis when they learn the truth about lynchings in this country—when they discover that such events were not just a couple of good old boys with a truck and a rope hauling some black guy out to the tree, hanging him, and letting him swing there. They were never told the truth: that lynchings were often community events, advertised in papers as ‘Negro Barbecues,’ involving hundreds or even thousands of whites, who would join in the fun, eat chicken salad and drink sweet tea, all while the black victims of their depravity were being hung, then shot, then burned, and then having their body parts cut off, to be handed out to onlookers. They are stunned to learn that postcards of the e vents were traded as souvenirs, and that very few whites, including members of their own families did or said anything to stop it.
Rather than knowing about and confronting the ugliness of our past, whites take steps to excise the less flattering aspects of our history so that we need not be bothered with them. So, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for example, site of an orgy of violence against the black community in 1921, city officials literally went into the town library and removed all reference to the mass killings in the Greenwood district from the papers with a razor blade—an excising of truth and an assault on memory that would remain unchanged for over seventy years.
Most white people desire, or perhaps even require the propagation of lies when it comes to our history. Surely we prefer the lies to anything resembling, even remotely, the truth. Our version of history, of our national past, simply cannot allow for the intrusion of fact into a worldview so thoroughly identified with fiction. But that white version of America is not only extraordinarily incomplete, in that it so favors the white experience to the exclusion of others; it is more than that; it is actually a slap in the face to people of color, a re-injury, a reminder that they are essentially irrelevant, their concerns trivial, their lives unworthy of being taken seriously. In that sense, and what few if any white Americans appear capable of grasping at present, is that ‘Leave it Beaver’ and ‘Father Knows Best,’ portray an America so div orced from the reality of the times in which they were produced, as to raise serious questions about the sanity of those who found them so moving, so accurate, so real. These iconographic representations of life in the U.S. are worse than selective, worse than false, they are assaults to the humanity and memory of black people, who were being savagely oppressed even as June Cleaver did housework in heels and laughed about the hilarious hijinks of Beaver and Larry Mondello.
These portraits of America are certifiable evidence of how disconnected white folks were—and to the extent we still love them and view them as representations of the ‘good old days’ to which we wish we could return, still are—from those men and women of color with whom we have long shared a nation. Just two months before ‘Leave it to Beaver’ debuted, proposed civil rights legislation was killed thanks to Strom Thurmond’s 24-hour filibuster speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate. One month prior, Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus called out the National Guard to block black students from entering Little Rock Central High; and nine days before America was introduced to the Cleavers, and the comforting image of national life they represented, those black students were finally allowed to enter, amid the screams of enraged, unhinged, vicio usly bigoted white people, who saw nothing wrong with calling children n**** in front of cameras. That was America of the 1950s: not the sanitized version into which so many escape thanks to the miracle of syndication, which merely allows white people to relive a lie, year after year after year.
No, it is not the pastor who distorts history; Nick at Nite and your teenager’s textbooks do that. It is not he who casts aspersions upon ‘this great country’ as Barack Obama put it in his public denunciations of him; it is the historic leadership of the nation that has cast aspersions upon it; it is they who have cheapened it, who have made gaudy and vile the promise of American democracy by defiling it with lies. They engage in a patriotism that is pathological in its implications, that asks of those who adhere to it not merely a love of country but the turning of one’s nation into an idol to be worshipped, it not literally, then at least in terms of consequence.
It is they—the flag-lapel-pin wearing leaders of this land—who bring shame to the country with their nonsensical suggestions that we are always noble in warfare, always well-intended, and although we occasionally make mistakes, we are never the ones to blame for anything. Nothing that happens to us has anything to do with us at all. It is always about them. They are evil, crazy, fanatical, hate our freedoms, and are jealous of our prosperity. When individuals prattle on in this manner we diagnose them as narcissistic, as deluded. When nations do it—when our nation does—we celebrate it as though it were the very model of rational and informed citizenship.
So what can we say about a nation that values lies more than it loves truth? A place where adherence to sincerely believed and internalized fictions allows one to rise to the highest offices in the land, and to earn the respect of millions, while a willingness to challenge those fictions and offer a more accurate counter-narrative earns one nothing but contempt, derision, indeed outright hatred? What we can say is that such a place is signing its own death warrant. What we can say is that such a place is missing the only and last opportunity it may ever have to make things right, to live up to its professed ideals. What we can say is that such a place can never move forward, because we have yet to fully address and come to terms with that which lay behind.
What can we say about a nation where white preachers can lie every week from their pulpits without so much as having to worry that their lies might be noticed by the shiny white faces in their pews, while black preachers who tell one after another essential truth are demonized, not only for the stridency of their tone—which needless to say scares white folks, who have long preferred a style of praise and worship resembling nothing so much as a coma—but for merely calling b****** on those whose lies are swallowed whole?
And oh yes, I said it: white preachers lie. In fact, they lie with a skill, fluidity, and precision unparalleled in the history of either preaching or lying, both of which histories stretch back a ways and have often overlapped. They lie every Sunday, as they talk about a Savior they have chosen to represent dishonestly as a white man, in every picture to be found of him in their tabernacles, every children’s story book in their Sunday Schools, every Christmas card they’ll send to relatives and friends this December. But to lie about Jesus, about the one they consider God—to bear false witness as to who this man was and what he looked like—is no cause for concern.
Nor is it a problem for these preachers to teach and preach that those who don’t believe as they believe are going to hell. Despite the fact that such a belief casts aspersions upon God that are so profound as to defy belief—after all, they imply that God is so fundamentally evil that he would burn non-believers in a lake of eternal fire—many of the white folks who now condemn Jeremiah Wright welcome that theology of hate. Indeed, back when President Bush was the Governor of Texas, he endorsed this kind of thinking, responding to a question about whether Jews were going to go to hell, by saying that unless one accepted Jesus as one’s personal savior, the Bible made it pretty clear that indeed, hell was where you’d be heading.
So you can curse God in this way—and to imply such hate on God’s part is surely to curse him—and in effect, curse those who aren’t Christians, and no one says anything. That isn’t considered bigoted. That isn’t considered beyond the pale of polite society. One is not disqualified from becoming President in the minds of millions because they go to a church that says that s** every single week, or because they believe it themselves. And millions do believe it, and see nothing wrong with it whatsoever.
So white folks are mad at Jeremiah Wright because he challenges their views about their country. Meanwhile, those same white folks, and their ministers and priests, every week put forth a false image of the God Jeremiah Wright serves, and yet it is whites who feel we have the right to be offended.
Pardon me, but something is wrong here, and whatever it is, is not to be found at Trinity United Church of Christ.
Tim Wise is the author of: White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son (Soft Skull Press, 2005), and Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White (Routledge: 2005). He can be reached at: timjwise@msn.com
This essay originally appeared in Lip
By Michael H. Smith
April 6, 2008 2:44 PM | Link to this
Nor is it a problem for these preachers to teach and preach that those who dont believe as they believe are going to hell. Despite the fact that such a belief casts aspersions upon God that are so profound as to defy beliefafter all, they imply that God is so fundamentally evil that he would burn non-believers in a lake of eternal firemany of the white folks who now condemn Jeremiah Wright welcome that theology of hate. Indeed, back when President Bush was the Governor of Texas, he endorsed this kind of thinking, responding to a question about whether Jews were going to go to hell, by saying that unless one accepted Jesus as ones personal savior, the Bible made it pretty clear that indeed, hell was where youd be heading.
Just curious, Tim, what does the Bible have to say about who is heading to hell, what is the determining factor?
By the way, Rev. Wright was right, until he called for the damnation of America.
By Marcellus
April 6, 2008 5:49 PM | Link to this
To Mike Smith,
What (in the world) does Barack Obama have to be in a position to offer White people that they DON’T already have?
By Michael H. Smith
April 6, 2008 7:00 PM | Link to this
Ooooooooookay, lets see here Marcellus.
To Dear Santa Obama
Energy Independence so we can get out of Iraq and stay out. Maybe afford to drive to work too?
A sensible immigration policy that meets the needs of the American people NOT the demands of corporate greed and foreign governments. Lower the corporate tax rates on companies that keep American jobs in America and tax beyond any mercy companies that take American jobs, money and bread right of the tables of any U.S. Citizen, right out of this country.
No more idiotic give the country away trade deals. Repeal or renegotiate all the bad Bush trade deals made over the past seven years.
Healthcare that the individual not only can afford but controls completely so they never will lose it.
Domestic national service that will enable every U.S. Citizen who serves the country here at home (namely in securing our borders and ports) funding to get a college or technical education.
Eliminate earmarks and all spending that does not meet set agreed upon priorities that the people of this country assign to our government.
But, most of all fall down own your knees and cry to GOD ALMIGHTY that he will help America and hold back his wrath a little bit longer, so you can do all these things and more with his help, which this nation should have done long before now. And, if your Pastor does not do the same, then get a new Pastor and new Church.
This will probably give Black people in this country things they DON”T already have, so do they still count , Marcellus?
Well, it was just a short list anyway.
By Ashley
April 10, 2008 9:28 AM | Link to this
I can see both sides. I have not heard all of Rev. Wright’s sermons or even the whole sermon(s) that has or have been seen as controversial. Therefore, I can’t make a judgment on something wherein I don’t have a full disclosure of all information.
I do know many people who attend churches and have attended churches for years and don’t always agree with what their Priests or Pastors say or believe. I know many people who were raised in Catholic churches and don’t agree on it’s biases towards women or the belief that priests should not marry or the way the Catholic church covered up and handled priests who have been caught molesting children but they still attend the Catholic Church.
People stay at churches where they don’t agree with ALL of the teachings of the Priest because they have a history with the church and congregation and the Priest. It’s the church their parents went to or it’s the church where they felt some deep spiritual connection to God. It is usually for sentimental/emotional reasons. After all, Obama did say that the Rev. Wright lead him to Christ or his faith and belief in Christ, so I see both sides. I am not naive enough to believe that I know everything and that Senator Obama beliefs are the same as Rev. Wrights. Just as I don’t think that Senator Clinton’s beliefs are the same as Geraldine Ferraro or reflect Ferraro’s media hyped controversial statements either. I also wouldn’t say that Ferraro is racist because of her comments.
I think it is really sad that we as Americans can never seem to get past race and ignore the media’s successful attempts to keep up controversy and to keep us divided as a nation. I will be glad when we really become united as people and reflected what we say we are—the UNITED States of America.
By Wilbur Post
May 4, 2008 2:15 PM | Link to this
Tim Wise is woefully incorrect regarding WWII and the reasons why the atomic bombs were used on civilian targets.
I don’t propose to write a 2,000 word thesis to challenge his views, I just wish people like Wise would read a little more history re: Dresden, Tokyo, firebombombings,Operation Olympic, etc. before they get all wet-eyed regarding the dropping of the A-Bombs. It WAS a necessary and proper evil. It can also be argued that the example set by the after-effects of these events had a cooling effect on any nation using nuclear weapons post WWII.
By BalIcepedycle
March 15, 2009 5:29 AM | Link to this
Спасибо солидное за предоставленную справку. Существую рад разместить ее у себя на дневнике. Если Вы не против, то я так и совершу.Если существуем какие-то проблеммы со копирайтом, постучитесь на мой дневник,я целое исправлю. Так же сложил Ваш место на соцзакладки. Вообщем если что обращайтесь, - постоянно выслушаю и осмыслить. Со, почтением, Firestarter.