I have attended many, many worship services and special meetings in many African American churches. I have never heard ONE black pastor say any of the things that Rev. Wright proclaims from the pulpit. I understand that in those closing "hoops" it is easy to get carried away ... but Rev. Wright now has made it clear that these are ideas that he believes and embraces. U.S. government producing HIV and spreading it in the black community, Judaism being a gutter religion, U.S. government and Israel being leading terrorist states, the list of his hatred for the U.S. government and white America seems endless.
I understand and believe that the policies of our nation have been horribly hurtful toward the black community for 400 years (first slaves imported to Jamestown in 1608). I understand and believe that today there is racism in this country. I understand and believe that there continue to be racist and hurtful policies enacted and promoted by aspects of our government at all levels, local, state, and federal (justice system, criminal laws, voting rights, enforcement of local regulations that profile young black men etc.). I understand and believe that there is not yet equality achieved, realized, or assured for black Americans. I understand this because I dialog regularly with many black friends who are able to express those concerns and hurts without engaging in any of the untruthful extremes of the Rev. Wright.
I did not experience the mindset of African American culture or church a generation ago. However, I have talked with many blacks, who like Sen. Obama, grew up in this country as the beneficiaries of the hard work of the civil rights movement. A generation ago there was much Afrocentric, anti-white, anti-government sentiment in the black community. Obviously it still exists today in older blacks, and seemingly in the young hip-hop generation as well. But the majority of black America rejects the concept that the white businessman or white government is behind the inferred racist attack of putting the pepper on the lower grocery shelf underneath the salt because the white power structure hates the black man and wants to demean him! That sentiment, and those of Rev. Wright, are from a past generation, that in today's world - as imperfect as it is - sees the rantings of Rev. Wright as just as racist as the past Jim Crow generation.
I grew up in some churches that proclaimed that God had cursed the black race, that we should put all black people on ships and send them back to Africa, that black people could not be as intelligent as white folks etc. As a pre-teen and early teenager I was outraged by those statements, and when I became old enough to choose my own church I left. But even as a young child (who spent plenty of Sundays sleeping in church) it didn't take long (far less than 20 years) to come to the realization that those were views regularly espoused by the pastor of that church in the '70's. Therefore, I find in extremely difficult to believe that Sen. and Mrs. Obama could sit in a church like Trinity for 16 years and somehow want me to believe that they did not know what the pastor believed, when after 6 weeks and never once setting foot in his church, I now know beyond a doubt what Rev. Wright believes about race in America.
The NYT published some of the conversation that is supposed to have taken place between Sen. Obama and Rev. Wright the day before the announcement of the senator's bid for the presidency of the United States. Sen. Obama decided just hours before, to disinvite Rev. Wright from speaking and giving the invocation (prayer).
I understand and believe that the policies of our nation have been horribly hurtful toward the black community for 400 years (first slaves imported to Jamestown in 1608). I understand and believe that today there is racism in this country. I understand and believe that there continue to be racist and hurtful policies enacted and promoted by aspects of our government at all levels, local, state, and federal (justice system, criminal laws, voting rights, enforcement of local regulations that profile young black men etc.). I understand and believe that there is not yet equality achieved, realized, or assured for black Americans. I understand this because I dialog regularly with many black friends who are able to express those concerns and hurts without engaging in any of the untruthful extremes of the Rev. Wright.
I did not experience the mindset of African American culture or church a generation ago. However, I have talked with many blacks, who like Sen. Obama, grew up in this country as the beneficiaries of the hard work of the civil rights movement. A generation ago there was much Afrocentric, anti-white, anti-government sentiment in the black community. Obviously it still exists today in older blacks, and seemingly in the young hip-hop generation as well. But the majority of black America rejects the concept that the white businessman or white government is behind the inferred racist attack of putting the pepper on the lower grocery shelf underneath the salt because the white power structure hates the black man and wants to demean him! That sentiment, and those of Rev. Wright, are from a past generation, that in today's world - as imperfect as it is - sees the rantings of Rev. Wright as just as racist as the past Jim Crow generation.
I grew up in some churches that proclaimed that God had cursed the black race, that we should put all black people on ships and send them back to Africa, that black people could not be as intelligent as white folks etc. As a pre-teen and early teenager I was outraged by those statements, and when I became old enough to choose my own church I left. But even as a young child (who spent plenty of Sundays sleeping in church) it didn't take long (far less than 20 years) to come to the realization that those were views regularly espoused by the pastor of that church in the '70's. Therefore, I find in extremely difficult to believe that Sen. and Mrs. Obama could sit in a church like Trinity for 16 years and somehow want me to believe that they did not know what the pastor believed, when after 6 weeks and never once setting foot in his church, I now know beyond a doubt what Rev. Wright believes about race in America.
The NYT published some of the conversation that is supposed to have taken place between Sen. Obama and Rev. Wright the day before the announcement of the senator's bid for the presidency of the United States. Sen. Obama decided just hours before, to disinvite Rev. Wright from speaking and giving the invocation (prayer).
Mr. Wright said that in the phone conversation in which Mr. Obama disinvited himJodi Kantor of the New York Times in March 2007
from a role in the announcement, Mr. Obama cited an article in Rolling Stone,
“The Radical Roots of Barack Obama.” According to the pastor, Mr. Obama then
told him, “You can get kind of rough in the sermons, so what we’ve decided is that it’s best for you not to be out there in public.” (italics mine)
See the Rolling Stone article here
See the entire sermon of 10 Essential Facts About the United States (not for the squeemish)
When asked about that yesterday, Rev. Wright said ...
Oh, I was not invited because that was a political event. Let me say again: I'm
his pastor. As a political event, who started it off? Senator Dick Durbin. I started it off downstairs with him, his wife, and children in prayer. That's what pastors do.
So I started it off in prayer. When he went out into the public, that wasn't about prayer. That wasn't about pastor-member. Pastor-member took place downstairs. What took place upstairs was political.
see the full transcript of Rev. Wright's remarks onMonday April 28, 2008.
It would seem apparant that Sen. Obama was well aware of what his pastor believed, and often said in public. This is not what the senator is telling us.
No comments:
Post a Comment