Just a Typical Black Person
Good thing for Martin Luther King admirers - blogs, talk radio, and 24/7 cable news “analysis” weren’t around in the Sixties.
King might not have the status of patron saint in the temple of American civil religion. Then again, King is safely dead. While America may be the land of “second-chances,” its people are definitely not the type to give props to a prophet while he or she is alive.
In criticizing U.S. policy in Vietnam, King said America was “one of the main purveyors of violence” in the world. Imagine King, with his sing-song black preacher cadence, saying that over and over and over again on CNN.
Longtime readers of this column might say this is typical Sean Gonsalves fare. And it’s true. So, let me explain just how typical I am.
I’m just a typical American who happens to be black, and no matter what Limbaugh says about Barack’s grandma, there’s a difference between typical and stereotypical.
Like most typical black people my age, from the time I was a little boy, through high school, right up until early adulthood, I spent a lot of time in the black Baptist Church. Tuesday night prayer meetings. Wednesday night bible study. And Sunday service.
It’s “typical” because something like 90 percent of all African-Americans are nominally-affiliated believers. And that’s why I can say with certainty that no black person in America was shocked to hear Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s “controversial” preaching and are probably more shocked at the hysterical and hypocritical manufactured controversy surrounding Wright.
I know we’re in the new PC era of “colorblindness,” where the word “racist” has been flipped on its head by the fading neo-right to mean: any public talk about race, without doing the Bill Cosby/Thomas Sowell routine, is “racist.”
People are free to think whatever they want but just so we’re clear: a racist, by definition, is someone who explicitly or implicitly believes one racial group is morally and intellectually superior to others. Only in a warped world is it considered “racist” to talk publicly about the legacy of white supremacy.
So let me tell you ’bout my typical black mother. She’s a church-going woman and she made sure my younger brother and I were church-going kids. No if, and, or she would whoop our butts. And not just church. My mother was a big fan of Sunday school too.
Boredom and longing to watch the 49ers or Raiders on TV aside, my Sunday school teachers sparked in me a deep and abiding interest in studying the bible (King James Version).
As a child of extreme energy and passion, I was drawn to the books of the Prophets (Jeremiah, Amos, Ezekiel, Isaiah etc.) - at first because it was fun to see my Sunday school teachers squirm when asked a hard question about, say, Elijah murdering hundreds Baalists, after he already proved his point. You’d think the fire would have be enough to settle the Who’s-God-is-Real contest but nope - Elijah just had to put the sword to every non-believer in sight.
It wasn’t until I began seriously studying the prophetic tradition that I came across the work of the great Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel. First, Heschel taught me what a prophet is not: “A prophet is neither a messenger, an oracle, a seer, nor an ecstatic,” but “a witness to the divine pathos, one who bears testimony to God’s concern for human beings.”
Reading the prophets words, “one cannot long retain the security of a prudent, impartial observer. The prophets do not offer reflections about ideas in general. Their words are onslaughts, scuttling illusions of false security, challenging evasions, calling faith to account, questioning prudence and impartiality.”
As any black church-goer will tell you, prophetic preaching is the communal lifeblood of black religious experience in America. Always has been. Rev. Jeremiah Wright comes out of that experience - an experience I personally encountered the Sunday I attended Oakland’s Allen Temple.
Wright used the Samson and Delilah story as his text, raising the question Delilah kept asking Samson: “What makes you so strong?” Then he asked his black audience: And what makes you so strong, black people?
He wanted to know, how is it that, after all black people have experienced - from slavery and lynching to segregation and economic deprivation - we could still produce such a wide array of heroic personalities. He listed well-known black achievers from Sojourner Truth to, yes, Bill Cosby, periodically punctuating his laundry list with the “what makes you so strong” question.
I shared a portion of Wright’s sermon in a column about 10 years ago, which prompted the USA Today to ask me to write a black history month piece. I received hundreds of e-mails and letters in response, mostly from white readers asking for a copy, saying they loved it because the sermon was an uplifting affirmation of the human spirit; that while people are often victimized, it doesn’t mean they can’t ultimately be victorious.
It was in another column - an Easter column - that I shared the last part of Wright’s “What Makes You So Strong?” sermon; re-telling his re-telling of when the late great theologian Paul Tillich visited the University of Chicago Divinity School in the 50s.
Wright was a seminary student at the time and Tillich came to give a three hour lecture “proving” that the historical resurrection of Jesus was a myth, concluding his talk by saying that because black American religious experience is based on a supposed relationship with “a Risen Lord” - who, in fact, didn’t exist - black American spirituality was nothing more than “emotional mumbo-jumbo.”
Tillich asked the packed lecture hall: “Are there any questions?” The silence was deafening, Wright said, until an old black preacher with white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium. The old preacher reached into his brown bag lunch and pulled out an apple. As he loudly, chomped and munched on his apple, the old black preacher asked:
“Was this apple I just ate - bitter or sweet?” Tillich responded: “I can’t answer that question because I haven’t tasted your apple.” The old preacher put Tillich’s condescension in its place. ” And neither have you tasted my Jesus,” he said. Game over.
Again, the response I got from mostly white readers was overwhelming. In fact, an evangelical book publisher (Guideposts) asked if they could re-print it in an upcoming book, Let There Be Laughter: A View from the Pew. I said yes. After all, I stole it from Wright. The book was published in 2005.
Now along comes the Wright “controversy” and Barack was forced to confront the issue of race. In doing so, he spoke to us like adults.
Unfortunately, some adults just don’t want to have grown up conversation. They want to talk about Wright’s “controversial” (prophetic) preaching. Funny how nobody wants to talk about McCain’s relationship with the controversial white preacher John Hagee.
I guess it’s asking too much of “Christian” America to notice the huge difference between a preacher steeped in the biblical prophetic tradition and “Christians” like Timothy McVeigh or Eric Rudolph. You don’t see members of Wright’s church going out and putting “hatred and anti-Americanism” into practice by becoming domestic terrorists. Nope. Members of Wright’s church just go out and do things like run for president and energize an entire generation of new voters.
You know the world’s crazy when hope is confused with hate.
Sean Gonsalves is a syndicated columnist and assistant news editor with the Cape Cod Times. He can be reached at sgonsalves@capecodonline.com
Tillich couldn’t possibly taste the old preacher’s Jesus, since that Jesus was entirely in the old preacher’s head.
As a 43 year old white male, I have recently made the following observation. In today’s climate, the term “racist” has been re-defined in the following way. You are “racist” if you violate the following tacit agreement between whites and blacks:
If you are white, you promise not to advocate segregation in schools and housing, not to lynch black men for dating or even speaking to white women, not to prevent black people from voting, not to accuse innocent black people of committing crimes just because of the color of skin. ETC
If you are black, you promise not to talk about it, when white people break the above promise.
In other words, Black people are considered racist when they want to discuss racism.
Even when it’s Barak Obama, delivering one of the most thoughtful, comprehensive, nuanced speeches on the topic ever offered by a political leader to a national audience.
I’m white, and the Rev. Wright was right.
Read Howard Zinn’s incomparable treatise on American history, then go back and listen to the Rev. Wright’s actual words - in their full context. A white historian and a black prophetic preacher reach the same conclusions - America has sinned, is sinning, and if there is a just God, a subject on which Zinn and the Rev. may disagree, those responsible for such inhumanity will be punished. If there is no God, then their crisis of immorality and inhumanity needs to be punished by all those who have suffered their abuse. If the punishment takes legal form - reasoned and rational - then man learns; if not, we only keep repeating these horrendous errors.
It’s funny how in this country the white experience is treated as the norm - esp. in the media. And everyone who has a different experience has to “explain his or herself” ….. often to no avail.
A black secret service agent who served with JFK said a secret service agent said to him: you were born a ni**er. You will always be a ni**er, and you will die a ni**er, dont forget it.”
I think the issue here is:
so?
The issue isnt whether it matters that you are a ni**er, the issue is why does being white make you better?
If humans want to address discrimination–whether its zionism, christian or islamic fanaticism, human supremacy etc, the best way is to attack the notion of being special or important.
If whites are superior to blacks, why then does a lava flow not avoid whites?
Why does gravity affect them the same way?
It isnt good enough to say: well, when it comes down to it, blacks and whites are both humam and that is what is important. Instead of attacking the notion of a VIP club, people are just moving the line.
You want to promote justice, attack the idea of a VIP club, otherwise humans will just find someone else to pick on.
I have this feeling that at some point something will happen to make us realize that our planet is actually small and we are all in the same boat and we must all row together to save ourselves. That our similarities must overcome our differences. I wish we could accomplish that before we are forced to, but it seems to be human nature not to do anything until we are forced to do it.
I believe we would be better off joining the positive universal energy field instead of turning it into a tangled ball of yarn on this planet we are blighting. I believe Obama offers us a chance to do that. I like his positive solutions as apposed to divisive quarrelsome solutions his opponent uses. So I see us at a crossroad now. And the direction we go, as it turns out will be up to the super delegates. The decision they make will depend in part on how willing the voters are to take a chance and how willing the super delegates are to take a chance.
kathyodat
The fact is that religion, which is supposed to be such a positive influence on morality, does the exact opposite. They practice condemning their ‘enemies.’
Most religions don’t realize the difference between moral values and moral condemnation. Just because someone has different values from you doesn’t give you the right to condemn them to hell.
And the religious orginizations damn you if you don’t follow their divisive message. They damn you if you don’t condemn their ‘enemies.’ This applies to black churces, white churches, temples, mosques, and all colors in between.
There is love and fear. Most faiths rely on fear to try to keep people in line. And it has lead us to the formation of this country, which argues that it is a god fearing country, yet acts with such hate, vengeance, and lies just to justify its greedy wars.
These are not my values.
Just another athiest commie pinko wanting peace, justice, and human rights for all.
so it goes…
In response to barely human’s remarks at the beginning of this discussion, I recently read something that is a bit like what the preacher in the article was getting at. I wish I could remember where I read it but it said something along the lines of: “Solace from imaginary sources is not the same as imaginary solace.” So whether it is only in his head or not, for those who need it and believe it, what it does for them is real. The pity is that individual solace is not enough for many religious folks who feel impelled to kill, opress and destroy in the name of their religion.
When it’s down to belief in somebody’s flat-earth genocidal blood-god, count me out. The monsters flip from sweet baby Jesus to torture and rape in the name of their deity - in a NY minute. And one other thing.
Those flat-earth Holy Books from the pastoralist killer nomads from the ME have been used repeatedly to support every abomination from genocide to incest to gender and human slavery while mouthing obscene pieties. Aren’t you weary of flat-earth tribal values?
Oh, yeah, don’t tell me, those aren’t the REAL Xrstians. They are the REAL Xrstians. You can know that because they have always been the ones calling the shots, and fucking your children.
Peece.
Rev. Wright has raised matters that transgress the contours of acceptable American political discouse. For example, one cannot say that “9/11 is the chickens coming home to roost” (decades of US foreign policy in the Middle East have caused the attacks of 9/11, e.g. CIA trained and funded the cells of the Afghanistan Mujahadin in the 1980s later known as al Qaida, etc.) or that “the US government supported the distribution of cocaine in West Coast urban areas” (Gary Webb’s exposes in the San Jose Mercury News collected in the book “Dark Alliance,” documented in “Whiteout” and corroborated by the findings of the CIA Inspector General and Senator J. Kerry’s Committee). As such, Rev. Wright must be thought of either as insane (like in the USSR or in Orwell’s “1984″) or as anti-American (which is worse than insane because it renders one an enemy). In either case he must be denounced by all right-thinking American pundits and members of the political class because the rhetorical contours must be defended. Without them, there is no way for the grown-ups to control the unwashed masses.
Wonderful column, thank you. I happen to agree that we are the “main purveyors of violence” and hypocrisy in this world. It serves Bush and Cheney well to keep us fighting against eachother so we don’t notice the sins being perpetrated in our names.
Listen to Obama; it could save us in the end.
I tend to agree with barely human in the first post - just because someone doesn’t experience something, that does not mean it DOES exist. For example, a person who doesn’t believe in Santa Claus is not simply inexperienced with the Santa Claus in someone else’s head. In fact, if someone is convinced that Santa is a real, living entity (other than as a symbolic representation of the spirit of the holidays), few people would admire that “faith.”
Having said all that, Sean Gonzalves’ article was quite wonderful. My not believing in Rev. Wright’s god does not diminish his message concerning racism or American imperialism.
The following is a comment I posted in Alternet this morning in response to an article concerning one of Hillary Clinton’s ministers who apparently also had some controversial things to say. It seems to pertain here, too:
So far, at least, America still has freedom of speech. It’s what allowed the likes of Francis Schaeffer (one of the founders of the religious right) to compare the US to Nazi Germany and the USSR and still be courted by people like Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan. It was his opinion that abortion, tolerance of gays, and the prohibition against organized prayer in schools were indicative of moral decay in this country. He had the right to that opinion, and he had the right to express it both in his speeches and in his writing. He was correct when he said that America allows abortion, that gays are increasingly tolerated (at least one would hope so), and that organized prayer in public schools is not permitted. It’s his view of these issues, not the fact of them, that might be offensive to many people.
By the same token, Rev. Wright was of the opinion that the American government had allowed and even perpetuated crimes against blacks and other ethnic groups. Of course, this is true. Once again, it’s not the facts, it’s the assessment of those facts that is inflammatory. It’s hard to argue with the fact that blacks have been discriminated against in the past, or that racial profiling and other indignities continue to be perpetuated against racial and ethnic minorities in the US. However, whether or not one believes that god should “damn” America for that behavior is another matter.
Rightwingers tend to condone or tolerate anti-American rhetoric when it comes to religious principles or “conservative” points of view. (We need another word to replace “conservative,” as the extreme right is most definitely not conservative at all. They are radicals!) Although Francis Schaeffer writes that prohibiting organized prayer in schools is comparable to the “godless” USSR, Huckabee says he would select Schaeffer’s book to take on a desert island along with the Bible. Liberals, being true believers in freedom of speech, mostly really don’t care if someone expresses an unfortunate opinion, so they are simply not up in arms about this kind of thing.
When a progressive, black minister makes a provocative statement, the right reacts quite differently. It’s the same right to free speech, it’s a person expressing criticism of American morals or policies, it’s a matter of a given slant on certain facts, but it’s somehow not acceptable to the political or religious right. America denounced by god for racism is different to them from America denounced by god for allowing gay marriage.
The radical right in America has a definite double standard, and the “liberal” media has not felt the need to point this out. Candidates should not be held accountable for the opinions, speech, or writings of their ministers, friends, or associates of any kind. But even more, the treatment by the media of the different ends of the political spectrum should not be so out of balance.
Riverman, give it a rest! And if you can’t do that, please at least learn to spell, construct readable sentences, and the proper use of emphasis.
Your opinion concerning abortion is well-known to readers of this site, and you are not going to change anyone’s views with your virtual shouting and indignation.
Some of us don’t believe that a few cells or an undeveloped fetus constitute human beings. Some of us believe that a fertilized egg is one step away from an unfertilized egg or a single sperm. (Uh oh! Some sperm isn’t being directed toward fertilizing eggs! And some eggs have missed being fertilized! How can we rectify this situation?) Your outrage that people are not engaged in the continued overpopulation of this planet isn’t shared by everyone, and isn’t even particularly welcome as an interjection into every discussion.
4thefuture,
You gave the quote:
“Solace from imaginary sources is not the same as imaginary solace.”
I think that is true just as it is true that religion is the opiate of the masses. And I basically agree with your point.
I became agnostic at 11 and was anti-religion for a few years, but in my late teens I began to realize that for some people religion is the best opiate they can find, and I would not feel comfortable yanking it away from them. Most people seem to need opiates.
I know religious conflicts have caused X number of wars and Y number of deaths, but conflicts between those who believe in communism and those who believe in capitalism have also caused a great many deaths. And atheistic Social Darwinists are as hard-hearted and as dangerous as any religious zealot.
It is apparent that inconsistent belief systems always have the potential to cause conflict and death, and that potential does not seem to abate simply by declaring certain types of belief systems out of bounds. However, possibly we can reduce the potential by connecting with all humans all over the globe to the greatest extent feasible, increasing understanding and empathy, even if not coming to complete agreement on fundamental beliefs.
My grandfather on my father’s side was a Methodist minister who rode circuit in rural Missouri, preaching almost exclusively to all white congregations for whom the Civil War was still a divisive point. I was raised Methodist in an ecumenical tradition, and regularly attended a large, nearly all white Methodist Church in Michigan that could best be termed middle class mainstream.
Gonsalves’ excellent essay on the prophetic tradition in preaching underscores a key point about why individuals and families turn to religion and church going in the first place. Some want placid reflection, a reprieve from the tumult of the real world work week, an experience of renewal in what they know is an idealized, almost artificial temporary environment. Other people want a religious experience that interprets and directly connects to their everyday fears and concerns, and gives them some sort of roadmap to make moral sense of it and carry on.
Some folk go to church to reinforce what they already believe. Some folk go to church to figure out what to believe. Some folk go to church to be exposed to, and challenged by, new beliefs. And, I suppose, some folk do go to church primarily to social network.
As young, upwardly mobile professionals, Barack and Michelle Obama were fortunate enough to have had a lot of choices available on where to live, work, send the kids to school, and where to worship. I supsect that the Obamas may have chosen an inner city Chicago church with a tradition of social activism partly because they wanted to be sure their children remained in touch with the whole socioeconomic spectrum of their community. Not all parents relate to church affiliation that way. I think it is praise worthy, if what I suspect was indeed part of their decision making mix.
In the Methodist church of my youth, social activism had its input on Thursday evenings, not during the main Sunday morning sermon. Thursday evenings was when guest ministers, missionaries, evangelists, and (yes) anti-Jim Crow civil rights activists shared their provocative views with those who came to listen. In contrast, in most of the Protestant African-American church services that I have attended, the social gospel component comes straight from the pulpit forcefully, often right between the eyes.
The shabby ordeal that Barack Obama has had to endure in this recent right wing media feeding frenzy shows how little remains of the wall our Constitution’s founders erected between church and state.
In my opinion, the junior Senator from Illinois has passed this wholly illegitimate religious test to qualify for public office with flying colors.
Bill from Saginaw
Riverman please go drink some of our medicated tap water.
As an atheist, I fully appreciate Reverend Wright’s fiery condemnation of injustice in this world. He treatise on imperialism is quite powerful, contained in the same sermon as the now infamous “god d*** america” clip (for genocide against native americans? internment of japanese americans? slavery and discrimination against african americans? for imperial behavior around the world? sounds about right to me).
And of course the mainstream media doesn’t want to mention Wright’s embrace of gay and lesbians, and his upliftment of women’s rights (even wishing for Tiger Woods to lose because he played at a men’s only golf course). All they could see are them there lynching words. That Sean Hannity has neo-nazi buddies should clarify things a lot in this case for what he means by racism.
Check this out: http://wrightisright.wordpress.com
Reactionaries against Wright!
I’ve always wondered why the African American community rallies around a religion that was used to enslave them, and continues to be used to enslave them.
The saddest part is that preachers are considered leaders, although most have no training in anything but religion. And bad advice from a book that’s 2000 years old is still bad advice.
Instead of wasting time praying to the invisible sky being, perhaps spending Sundays studying history at the local secular library might change things.
Thanks you, Sean Gonsalves, for this column. I am grateful for all of it but esp. the story about that apple. Blessings on you and yours and ours.
Riverman, you show great lack of logic in your hyperemotional approach. Do you think you’ve changed a single mind here? Not with your lunatic-appearing rantings. More on abortion and breast cancer:
Since 1994, several exhaustive studies have found no tie between abortion and breast cancer. A 30-year Swedish study of 49,000 women indicated no link between abortion and breast cancer. Furthermore, the Swedish study did not suffer from an inaccurate reporting of medical histories because it was based on a national medical registry in Sweden and not based on interviews.
Largest Study Ever in Denmark, 1997
Published in 1997, a study from Denmark indicates no increased risk for women who had abortions when they analyzed medical histories of more than 1.5 million women. This larger more comprehensive study is persuasive because it does not rely upon interviews. Data came from Denmark’s national health records, thereby eliminating the possibility of “recall bias.” The study showed that even women who had two or more abortions were no more likely than those who never had an abortion to develop breast cancer.
The Danish study analyzed the abortion histories of 10,246 women with breast cancer among 1,529,512 women. A total of 370,715 abortions occurred in 280,965 women. Among the 2.3% of women who had abortions after the first trimester (after 12 weeks), the researchers found a gradually increasing risk of breast cancer as the stage of pregnancy advanced. However, researchers concluded that the actual number of women with second trimester abortions was too small to warrant a firm conclusion. In Denmark, abortions are both legal and free, so there are fewer reasons for women to have abortions after 18 weeks unless there are other medical problems. These other problems might themselves be the cause of the increased cancer rate.
Interestingly, women who had abortions prior to seven weeks of pregnancy actually showed a slightly decreased risk of developing breast cancer. But again, the actual number of women in this category is very small.
I was dissapointed by Mr. Gonsaves definition of “racism”.
“A racist, by definition, is someone who explicitly or implicitly believes one racial group is morally and intellectually superior to others.”
Actually, this is a definition a superficial manefestaton of racism, aka “bigorty” and the type that is relatively harmless.
A better definition of racism is this:
Racism - A system of discriminatory social customs, economics and politics, which is enforced on a group of people with identifiable racial characteristics, for the porposes of maintaining the unequal wealth and power relationships necesary for the function of Capitalist economies.
So by this definition, blacks can exhibit prejudice toward whites, but they can’t be “racist toward whites (in practically any part of the world I know of), since they would have to be in a position of economic and social privlege to exercise racism. In other words, a black person can say he hates whites all he wants, but since it in no way preserves or elevates his position of power in that society, it isn’t racism.
However, sometimes, black people can be racist toward blacks, as when multi-millionare Bill Cosby mocks African American culture.
I encorage everyone to read the various essays and works of Tim Wise - Just Google him of do a search on Znet.
Lots of topics here to get a hold of… but I only want to address two.
First, Barely Human–how do you know there is no God? Or are you expressing an opinion based on faith?
Second, I found Wright’s “Chickens come home to roost” clip and watched it. I thought it was an accurate, well-developed, and actually pretty conservative discourse on American imperialism (I agree with LeeAnnG–using the correct definition of conservative.) I can’t wait to hear more of Rev. Wright’s sermons. I may be just a typical white person, but I have belonged to several black churches over the years, so I have learned to bridge the cultural divide, and I think this man has a lot of good things to say about putting faith into action.
Why is there so much “fire and brimstone” on Jeremiah Wright’s comments on the “health” of the American society? Instead of discussing the issues he raised, the media and people are labeling the one who raised the right questions as “unpatriotic”? Is it the one, who points to the “stink” in the society in order to make it a “healthy” society, “unpatriotic”, or those who perpetuate the “stink” and do not allow others, like Jeremiah Wright, to address the problem?
Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s “righteous condemnation” of a racist country is well supported by the reality:
1.Education System: The federal education law No Child Left Behind, is a racially punitive piece of legislation. Schools serving predominately black and brown communities remain understaffed and underfunded.
2. Human Rights record: The authors of the Amnesty International report write “The U.S. administration’s double speak has been breathtakingly shameless. It is unrepentant about the global web of abuse it has spun in the name of counterterrorism.’’ Wright was right regarding the September 11, 2001, attacks representing “America’s chickens coming home to roost.” Al-Qaeda was founded and funded by CIA, and its terrorists were armed and trained by CIA.
3. Judiciary: On a wider scale, race-based inequity is perhaps most apparent in the criminal justice system, where the color of the defendant’s skin and the victim’s skin play a significant role in determining who receives the death penalty in the U.S. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), people of color have accounted for a disproportionate 43 percent of all executions since 1976, and currently account for 55 percent of inmates currently awaiting execution. While European American victims account for approximately one-half of all murder victims, 80 percent of all death penalty cases involve European American victims. Furthermore, according to the ACLU, “as of October 2002, 12 people have been executed where the defendant was white and the murder victim black, compared with 178 black defendants executed for murders with white victims.”
Unspoken, of course, is the assumption that jails are meant for poor, young people of color, particularly young African-American males. According to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, one in seven African-American males are currently or permanently disqualified from voting because of criminal charges. One in three young black males between the ages of 18 and 39 will spend time in prison, on parole or probation.
Is that because African-American men are particularly violent and murderous? A 1997 study of death sentences in Pennsylvania from 1983 through 1993 showed that a black defendant was 38 percent more likely to receive a death sentence than a white defendant accused of a similar crime. According to another report an African American is ten times more likely to get life imprisonment than European American counterpart for a similar crime in the US.
Just take the example of the killing of 14 year old Martin Lee Anderson by the guards at a Florida boot camp. The entire horrific crime was captured on tape, and a (second) autopsy showed Martin Lee Anderson died of suffocation after being gang-muscled by guards on his very first day at a Florida boot camp. Despite the medical and video evidence, an all-European American jury took only 90 minutes to find the guards innocent of all wrongdoing!!! The guards — who were careful to keep their hats sitting jauntily on their heads throughout the fatal assault on Anderson — enjoyed the impunity that flows from a society in which African American life has no value. “These men were able to keep their hats on because they know America keeps her hat on, her bonnet straight, in the midst of acts of raging racist justice system. These men knew what America refuses to say — they knew that they would not have to spend one day in jail, they knew that they would end up with an all white jury and they knew that no jury of their peers would convict them for killing an African American youth in a boot camp.”
4.Economic: The socio-economic disparity between the races remains pronounced in the U.S. today. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2005 median income for European American households was $48,554, while that of African American households was only $30,858. The Bureau also reports that in 2001, 22.7 percent of African Americans lived below the poverty level, while only 7.8 percent of European Americans lived below the poverty level. Witness Hurricane Katrina. We didn’t see very many European Americans trapped inside that stadium.
5. Political: You know how many African Americans have served as governors or mayors (leave alone president, vicepresident, speaker) in the 200+ years of American history.
The Bush administration has been accused of politicizing the Justice department’s Civil Rights Division which was formed 50 years ago to protect the voting rights of African-Americans. According to a recent report by the McClatchy newspapers, the Bush administration has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates.
6. Law Enforcement (Police): Sean Bell, a 23 year old groom-to-be and his two African American friends were gunned down by five plain-clothed New York City police officers who felt compelled to fire over 50 shots total at the three unarmed African American men who were celebrating Bell’s impending marriage. Why? The three were unmistakably young, black, and deemed suspicious and menacing–even without possessing weapons. Apparently these young men didn’t need to be armed to be considered dangerous.
How do minorities fare at traffic stops? African American, Hispanic and European American drivers are equally likely to be pulled over by police, but African Americans and Hispanics are much more likely to be searched and arrested, a federal study found. Police were much more likely to threaten or use force against African Americans and Hispanics than against European Americans in any encounter, whether at a traffic stop or elsewhere, according to the Justice Department.
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 standing 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.
Imagine if you will that Hillary Clinton had made reference to “the typical black woman.” Or that Hillary’s pastor ranted and raved in a fashion similar to Obama’s pastor …
Oh lord I would not want to see the hysteria if that had happened.
I’m so tired of all this nonsense. Black, white, brown.
Met a black man from Jamaica in Denver years ago. He told us “don’t you call me an African American - I’m from Jamaica.”
I no longer assume black or brown people are “african american” - a nomenclature I can’t stand.
We all share the same mitochondrial DNA. We all go back to Africa. Look it up. We are all brothers and sisters and like most families - I’m beginning to realllllllllllly hate my siblings!
With tongue firmly planted in cheek -
Juliann
My good friend (and former pastor) has been at a number of Wright’s services and has nothing but good things to say about this man who took a congregation of 87 to over 8000. It’s tough to grow a congregation on the premise of hate. He’s equal opportunity about calling folks on the carpet.
In the last year, almost all the generalizations in the national media about black people and white people have come from Obama and his friends.
This is the meaning of racism, however much Obama and his friends may want to redefine it whenever it’s convenient for them.
The hate speech of Jeremiah Wright and his mentor James Cone has no connection whatever to Jesus as he is portrayed in the Gospels:
I’m white, and I think Wright is right too!
How about some bumper stickers: “Wright is right!”
rev wright is entitled to his opinions. its deppresing many americans can’t place his words into context.
that many white americans ignore racism in america. the christian fundamentalists in this country threw cultural relativism under the bus……hopefully obama can resuscitate the concept…….
leeann g,
exactly, free speech… people are allowed to hypothesize in public, and we all can reflect on their comments. censorship doesn’t benefit anyone - believers or critics.
kivals - good post…
i have similiar feeling about religion especially christianity (perhaps it’s the religion i’ve been exposed to the longest, therefore have the most resentment towards); it’s not my cup of tea, but it definately is an indication of the legitimate boundries of discussion. it’s difficult to talk about cultural anthropology, history, evolutionary biology, astrophysics, astronomy when the person your speaking with honestly believes the world is 6000 years old.
it severely limits discourse. it’s like television, it’s a drug that has serious side effects. it often indicates that the person engaged in the dialog has willingly accepted fiction as truth…..
this persons reasoning always has to juggle the thoughts and words while placing them in the context of the story. it can be extremely confusing sharing insight with a person who is skeptical of science or other philosophical hypothetical. like the characters in orwell’s 1984 or huxley’s brave new world… most people don’t question authority… when people question dogma there are consequences.
my path, i participated w/ my family’s protestant religion of choice until the ‘choice’ of confirmation. i choose the school of bob villa and julia child, national geographic (PBS) instead and from about 14 was a skeptic. but in the back of my mind i still retained this sense of soul (confusion perhaps about my sense of place and ego completely human feelings), then meditation (buddhism) only to firmly declare myself agnostic but extremely skeptical of anthropomorphic images of…….?
nevertheless people are entitled to their opinions, i believe over time (3-4 generations) as global communications increase, as science further unravels the mystery of the brain, allot of spiritual behavior (rapture, bliss) will be linked to human physiology (including near death and out of body experiences). it’s the star trek concept (w/out wild west themes and racist connotations) 1 people 1 planet….it makes sense to me..the discovery of an alien life form would be a great reality check for earthlings…
…peace…
I still don’t see what all the fuss is about except that Fauxnews deliberately pulled out inflamatory snippits of Rev. Wright’s sermons and the clintons keep it going, both for political gain. The controversy is pure BS. I’m 50+, Southern, female & white and I understood exactly where the Reverend was coming from. He was expressing the feelings of black Americans in a black church - HIS church.
Americans are just STUPID lemmings if they buy such MSM garbage. Oh, wait! Look who’s president!
Well, I’m just a typical white guy, and I also found myself nodding in agreement at Dr Wright’s comments. The CIA and most serious (i.e., non-jingoist) academics agree that our past policies have created the hatred of us that motivates terrorism. A glance at our nation’s ghettos and prisons confirms that blacks still haven’t attained equality. You’re right, Sandy. It’s a pity that Obama has had to dance around the issues, but if he confronts them head on he’ll be dead in the water.
I see the usual double standard in this issue. No matter what horrible things white preachers say, no one in the MSM objects. But black preachers are supposed to say “Yassuh, we’s all happy suh!”. Health care delivery for blacks is appalling, blacks are found to die of diseases at a much higher rate than whites (with medical studies wandering around wondering why - I know why, I saw the level of care my asthmatic black daughter-in-law was getting), infant mortality rate of black babies is twice that of whites, unemployment rates of blacks are as high as 40%, incarceration and death row rates of blacks are through the roof, black kids get prison time for crimes that white kids get sent home to Mom and Dad, driving while black is a major hazard and too frequently life-threatening, black neighborhoods are loaded up with liquor and gun shops (now why would that be?) and overpriced grubby grocery stores with reject vegetables from white supermarkets, the most underfunded schools in the country, but still, they’re not supposed to have any complaints, they are living in the most wonderful country in the world. According to the whites. Get real, there’s plenty to be mad about. What’s amazing and for me humbling, is the amount of grace in the black community.
kathyodat
He’s a mulatto, not a black. Mulatto Power!
Aren’t we all just a little bit “racist”? Look around you: don’t your friends, lovers, family members look quite a bit like you? Don’t you see a reflection of yourself in the people you choose to be with? Don’t we all think that whatever group we belong to is the best? I believe it is a biological, instinctual need that helped to ensure the perpetuation of the species.
The problems arise when one group tries to claim superiority and/or dominance over another group, or even all the other groups.
When we were living in caves it was important to be racist. The residual effects of this need still influence us all to some extent. But we’re not (just) animals anymore, we’re rational beings and it’s time we acknowledged that racism as we know it is more about power and manipulation than with any real superiority of one style of human over another.
I am a white man.
Rev Wright stated that the attacks against america on 9/11 were the product of american foreign policy.
Why is this a controversial statement? It is obvious and true.
At the time of 9/11 there should have been a national discussion of why the attacks occurred. Rather than an in depth national discussion we got a ridiculous statement from bush ‘they hate us because we are free’
Unfortunately the oligarchs who run the country and the news media stifle all honest discussion that does not promote their objectives.
Bravo Rev Wright! Bravo Barach!
All the many posters defending Jeremiah Wright’s racist ranting and Obama’s claim that he didn’t hear any of it have inspired me with a vision of the inauguaration of Barack Obama:
Instead of the usual invocation, Jeremiah Wright screams “God damn America!” and Barack Obama pretends he isn’t there!
Ddoes anyone else get the impression that angry hate speech from a black minister may stir up such racial hostility that some blacks may take their anger out on white men and women because they are white. Hillary has allowed us to point out that black hate speech is wrong. Will she now start saying that all crimes committed against whites by blacks should be prosecuted as hate crimes? If Hillary wins, her vengeance may be taken out on blacks. Good bye to affirmative action and hello to Jim Crow.
Isn’t it a shame that the Clintons, Geraldine Ferraro and Carvelle, who once lauded themselves as heroes of the black people and demanded equality for blacks are now claiming a black man can’t be president and blacks don’t know any better without good white folk to guide them.
By the way, most of Hollywood agrees with Barack’s pastor- so why can’t Barack?
tolerancenow, Hollywood isn’t running for President. There are certain ironclad rules for running for President. You know, like putting your hand over your heart when facing the flag. Or not pissing off the corporate owned media. Already Obama rocked the boat with a shockingly honest speech which the country and media are still digesting. And of course the discussion is not about the values he brought up, but “did he go too far” with his honesty. I think the media is trying hard to divert our attention away from the topics he addressed with ‘look over here’ stories.
kathyodat
You’ve all probably seen this in the Huffington Post, but just in case you missed it—
Pastor Of Clinton’s Former Church: Don’t Use Wright To Polarize
March 25, 2008 10:24 PM
On Tuesday, Sen. Hillary Clinton re-stoked the flames of the controversy surrounding Sen. Barack Obama’s former pastor, saying she would have long ago distanced herself from Rev. Jeremiah Wright if she had attended his church.
“He would not have been my pastor,” Clinton told a gathering of the campaign press corps, repeating a line she used earlier in the day on a Pittsburgh radio program. “You don’t choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend.”
But the pastor at the church that Clinton did once attend has recently expressed public support for Wright. He’s even proclaimed it a “grave injustice” to make a judgment on Wright based off of “two or three sound bites,” and criticized those who would “use a few of [Wright’s] quotes to polarize.”
Last week, Dean Snyder, the senior minister at the Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington D.C. — which the Clintons famously attended while in the White House — released a little noticed statement offering a sympathetic defense of the totality of Wright’s work.
“The Reverend Jeremiah Wright is an outstanding church leader whom I have heard speak a number of times,” Snyder wrote. “He has served for decades as a profound voice for justice and inclusion in our society. To evaluate his dynamic ministry on the basis of two or three sound bites does a grave injustice to Dr. Wright, the members of his congregation, and the African-American church which has been the spiritual refuge of a people that has suffered from discrimination, disadvantage, and violence. Dr. Wright, a member of an integrated denomination, has been an agent of racial reconciliation while proclaiming perceptions and truths uncomfortable for some white people to hear. Those of us who are white Americans would do well to listen carefully to Dr. Wright rather than to use a few of his quotes to polarize.”
Snyder, it should be noted, was not the pastor at Foundry during the Clinton years. That was the previous minister, J. Philip Wogaman. Moreover, there seems to be confusion as to exactly what church Clinton now attends. Her campaign did not return requests for comment.
However, Foundry was cited on numerous occasions as a steady presence during the first couple’s time in the White House. And in January 2001, Bill Clinton gave a farewell speech to the congregation, thanking the church for its work in the city as well as for its “courage” to welcome gay and lesbian Christians.
Snyder, according to the church’s website, became senior minister in 2002. “Before his appointment to Foundry, he served as director of communications for the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. His writings on theology, Biblical interpretation, and Christian mission have appeared in dozens of publications.”
And in a recent New York Times article, even he acknowledged that some in his congregation were aghast at Wright’s remarks.
“During staff meetings this week at his church,” the Times reported, “Snyder said he noticed the rising awareness among some African-Americans of white Americans, he said, ‘who don’t understand the history of black people in this country and the role of the black church as a prophetic voice, and that in church you can say things that you couldn’t in larger society.’”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/25/pastor-of-clintons-forme_n_93418.html
Dr. Wright only spoke the truth when he said our past policies have created the hatred of us that motivates terrorism. They dont attack us because they hate our freedoms, like BushCo said. I was always insulted by that asessment and the lack of dialogue about it before we went - all Yosemite Sam on the Iraqis.
The state of the majority of black people in America is heartbreaking. We all saw it in living color as Katrina drowned too many and poor people were literally abandoned and shot in the street ( by mercenaries!!) Okay, remove the water and you’ve got your everyday black America right here and now. Black people need help and direction and guidance. I dont want anyone to be a hater, but, healing does often start withlooking at the truth in the clear light of day. Dr. Wright attempts to do this. I like Obama more as a result of looking into Dr. Wright’s words.
I’m white, and I think Wright is right too!
How about some bumper stickers: “Wright is right!”
Better yet, how about bumper stickers that read “GOD DAMN AMERICA?”
Wright is a typical black person just like most whites are typical white people; we all get upset at typical white people and their typical thinking. I think the same should occur with black, Latino or native American people who preach discord. I currently describe myself as a “secular catholic”; HOWEVER, I have never in 56 year as a Catholic ever heard a priest or deacon preach hate or bigotry at mass or at catholic school or any other catholic or community gathering and I have been a member in good standing in 6 parishes in 4 states over the years and had at least 12 parish priest of various religious order that I can remember. The gospel of Christ is not about revenge, retribution, hate, excuses or rehashing past wrongs; it is about love of one’s fellow human being. It is also not about control of women, greed, prosperity, hype, war, politics or fear. I was, like most Catholics, mortified at the child abuse and the coverup that ensued several years ago; we will be feeling the reprucussions for years to come as the Church grapples with how to treat the victims, their perpretrayors and the policy changes needed to prevent future wrongs. The “reverend” Wright is a bigot, black yes, but a bigot still the same. If Wright had been white, we would be hearing from the NAACP, the media and god knows who else about his “racism”. If black people want things to change for the better, then they need to let go of the past hatreds just as they demand (and rightly so) that we whites bury our own bigotry. This tit-for-tat crap will lead us down the same path at the middle east and that I do not think is very American or very Christian.
PS: Thanks thundermoon for your comments to riverman; his mistrust and disrespect of women is down right anger provoking. His falsification of medical studies is annoying and fraudlent at best.
elainem,
I do not think I can agree with your comment. Evolution may have placed within us the propensity to become attracted to other humans, but I do not believe we have any natural revulsion to other races or significantly stronger attraction to our own race (i.e., to the extent that exists, it is culturally determined). As a white US male, I always found women of other races more exciting than white US women because they seemed more mysterious, and if they were from other countries as well, that was all the better. And it turns out that mating with those who are quite different genetically minimizes the chances of double recessive genes and so it has its advantages.
I married a woman from China, who is Han Chinese, and we have a satisfying marriage, at least in part because we have frequent conversations where one will tell the other about certain aspects of history or culture, or language, with which the other was unfamiliar.
Furthermore, I do not see how the human race makes it without the mixing of all races and all cultures over time. It cannot be forced, and maybe it should not happen too rapidly, but it must happen for there ever to be the stability and understanding that is necessary for long-term human survival in a world of dwindling resources and increasingly deadly technologies.
iowablackbird,
I basically agree. I would add that, in confronting a universe of unbounded complexity, we all have to learn to accept that our models of reality are limited and flawed. And in accordance with that sometimes we will adopt models that we know might not be too accurate but which give comfort to us (e.g. religious beliefs). And we do not want anyone else to force us to give up those comfortable models and impose their own models on us, especially since we know their models are inevitably incomplete and imperfect anyway. And some of us will fight to the death to stop that.
So the level of human understanding (”human” as in the entire human group, the human race) must advance slowly and carefully, and we should never forget that adults already may have invested much of themselves in their current models of the universe and will defend them vigorously.
I disagree with those who say Wright is a racist. Geraldine Ferraro, for one, called him a “racist bigot” (somewhat redundantly). I don’t consider it racist for a black man to point out the injustices that white America has perpetrated on black America. And from everything I’ve read about Wright, he has helped and welcomed both blacks and whites in his ministry.
As a white person, I have been on the receiving end of both white hate and black hate. When my black girlfriend and I walked into a Denny’s in a panhandle town in Florida, she was the only black person in the place, and a whole bunch of white people glared at the both of us for having the nerve to associate with each other. This was in the 1990’s, not the 1950’s.
(The racism was not limited to the South. On another occasion, at a dance club in a suburban New Jersey town, I remember getting major dirty looks from some white folks simply because I accepted an offer from a black man to dance. That was in the 1980’s.)
On the flip side, when one night that same Florida girlfriend and I went to an all-black club in that panhandle town, I was the only white person there, and the older black folks accepted me and welcomed me without a fuss. But outside the club, a young black guy, probably in his early 20’s, said, “Hey, white bitch, why don’t you leave. We don’t want you here.”
Right or wrong, I had far, far more anger towards those white folks who gave me dirty looks than I did towards that young black guy who didn’t want a white girl at his club. Was he being a racist? Yes. Do I blame him? No. After everything that white America has done and continues to do to black America, I don’t blame him one bit for hating me simply because of the color of my skin. Is it sad that he feels so much hatred? Yes. Is he justified? Yeah, I’d say so.
I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade, but according to http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/t/tillich.htm
The Tillich story in this article is a total fiction.
Summary of the eRumor:
The famous theologian and philosopher Paul Tillich was speaking at the University of Chicago on “Baptist Day.” He spoke for more than two hours, challenging the resurrection of Jesus. At one point, a old African-American preacher stands up. He’s munching on an apple and asks Dr. Tillich whether the apple is bitter of sweet. Tillich tells the man that he can’t answer the question because he hasn’t tasted the apple. The old preacher then says, “Neither have you tasted my Jesus.”
The Truth:
A spokesperson at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago says there’s no evidence that this exchange ever took place. Additionally, he says there is no record of the school ever having a “Baptist Day” in its annual schedule. Paul Tillich was on the faculty of the school from 1962 until his death in 1965.
Rockerbabe, I agree. Christianity is supposed to be about forgiveness and not forever living in the past and trying to get revenge for past wrongs.
I’m just wondering when churches became political entities? Rev. Wright goes on and on about wrongs done to blacks. I don’t know what kind of sheltered world some people live in, but I’ve seen more black-on-white violence, beatings of whites, hatred for whites, etc.
Actually, I agree with Mr. Wright about the wrongs the U.S. government has done to others, but he’s given Hillary Clinton a present by his indiscreet rants against America. Couldn’t he have said “God damn America’s leadership” or something similar, a little more tactful? We would have gotten the message.
And NO, I’m not a racist. I take everyone as an individual and am not into stereotype grouping.
Lillulu, I’ve got news for you. You ARE a RACIST. I’ve seen you post here on CD several times wherein you make comments such as: Barack Obama isn’t really black or African American because he’s half white and he’s light skinned. You just said the same thing about Reverend Wright on a different post. And another poster (or maybe it was you) mocked Reverend Wright for being light skinned and trying to parrot Michael Jackson. If these aren’t racists statements, then I don’t know what is!
You all need to get a clue. You have no concept of the black-American or mulatto-American or African-American experience, or whatever you want to call it. Now, if you were living in the Caribbean, you could get into the whole “high yeller” controversy and debate whether light-skinned blacks are perceived as “superior” to dark-skinned blacks and treated as such. But here, in this country, a light-skinned black person is STILL a black person, with all the badges and vestiges of slavery that come with it. You just don’t get it and you never will.
anne faith, if it makes you feel better to think that I’m a racist, be my guest. But please don’t blame me for every post on CD, okay? Thank you.
The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. White america thinks that they can continue to abuse people of color worldwide with impunity which completely negates the laws of reciprocation. This country is living in a self induced fancy land like Alice and the rabbit hole. The people have been conditioned to think that it is their god given right to do whatever they want to do to any people anywhere in the world and to justify those atrocious actions with homiletics about national security and bringing democracy to people who are no threat and have not asked for nor are in need of america’s democracy. The problem with america is that it is in such a state of denial the it can not handle the truth and want to bully, bribe, or intimidate the colored peoples of the world into accepting it flawed concept of reality. By flawed reality I mean columbus discovered america, custer’s last stand was a massacre but wounded knee was a battle, the civil war was fought to free the slaves, there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. These are but a few of the lies that have been told in schools and society since the inception of this country and the time has come to just tell the f—ing “truth”. The founding of america and all of the things that made this country the most powerful and riches country in history was based on some of the most horrendous crimes that would even disgrace a nation of savages. The things that the nazis did during WWII was childs play and a picnic compared to the crimes of america!!!
lillulu I would like to hear a black persons’ assessment of your statements because I consider them racially insensitive. You seem to think the whites are the victims here. Well, cops aren’t out there shooting whites for “driving while white”.
I’m sure no one is blaming you for every post on CD, but you like the rest of us are responsible for what you post.
kathyodat
kathyodat
lillulu: There is more than enough blame to go around for everyone and everything. There isn’t one group in this country, including whites, who haven’t felt the sting of mistreatment and abuse. This business of my hurt hurts more than yours is just immature and childess, but this game goes on and on; kids call it tit-for-tat. Obama’s speech was a very good talk on race and racism - years ago, Bill Clinton attempted to bring the topic up for general conversation and the effort fell flat. I think it may take awhile (generations) to get past the racial and yes, gender issues in this country. And, no I don’t think you are racist for trying to speak about you POV any more than I think black people speaking about their POV are necessarily racist.