“The anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races,”
Of course it is real, otherwise we wouldn’t hear such hate from your preacher. I also understand the roots but I still question… whether it is justified.
Now of course when CNN aired his little speech they of course put up a list of every controversial thing they could find of what his preacher has stated in his sermons, just like they did about mormonism when Romney had his speech right? No? Gee I’m shocked.
Well I’m sure CM can come along and offer some moronic bullshit excuse for media bias.
And just for bonus here’s AoSHQ with the coverage of Obama talking about racist statements.
It’s an interesting strategy to act as if the US is not a racist country. I guess this is what marks him out as quite different from the previous contenders (Jesse Jackson etc). His campaign invites people to prove that they are not racists, and the country is not racist, by voting for him.
EDIT: changed link because the WSJ one wasn’t great
I didn’t word it very well. What I meant is that by not running with a ‘this country is racist’ narrative, he’s drawing people in. As opposed those who would run a campaign complaining about racism, which actually pushes people away (and which can then be used to prove the point that everyone is a racist).
He’s saying ‘this country isn’t racist, look at how much support I get’. People would probably prefer to hear ‘this country isn’t racist, vote for me’ as opposed to ‘this country is racist, vote for me’.
Instead of saying “His campaign invites people to prove that they are not racists, and the country is not racist, by voting for him” I should have said ‘’His campaign invites people to prove what he claims - that a black person can be elected to the highest office, but he doesn’t do it in an off-putting, negative way”.
I agree, he and his campaign are certainly taking that approach. The current Reverend Wright crisis is about how much of that colorblindness he espouses he actually believes in. We’ll see over the next weeks.
I agree, he and his campaign are certainly taking that approach. The current Reverend Wright crisis is about how much of that colorblindness he espouses he actually believes in. We’ll see over the next weeks.
He certainly goes to go to great lengths in that speech to remove himself from the sentiments.
I agree, he and his campaign are certainly taking that approach. The current Reverend Wright crisis is about how much of that colorblindness he espouses he actually believes in. We’ll see over the next weeks.
He certainly goes to go to great lengths in that speech to remove himself from the sentiments.
But went to no lengths to do so for the last 20 years while attending that church.
I’d leave a church that said anything like that about anyone… even commies and lefties… its not the place… plus, the preacher is a hater (not exactly someone I’d trust for spiritual advice)…
I found the parts surrounding sl0re’s quote interesting....(I’ve bolded the part he took from it)
This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What’s remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn’t make it – those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations – those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicia ns, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.
And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright’s sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committ ed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
So he talks about the anger on both sides equally.
I agree, he and his campaign are certainly taking that approach. The current Reverend Wright crisis is about how much of that colorblindness he espouses he actually believes in. We’ll see over the next weeks.
He certainly goes to go to great lengths in that speech to remove himself from the sentiments.
But went to no lengths to do so for the last 20 years while attending that church.
I’d leave a church that said anything like that about anyone… even commies and lefties… its not the place… plus, the preacher is a hater (not exactly someone I’d trust for spiritual advice)...
I guess he kinda addresses that here (my bold):
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:
“People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend’s voice up into the rafters….And in that single note – hope! – I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones. Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories tha t we didn’t need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish – and with which we could start to rebuild.”
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
I’m not saying that should be enough for you to agree with him.
I agree, he and his campaign are certainly taking that approach. The current Reverend Wright crisis is about how much of that colorblindness he espouses he actually believes in. We’ll see over the next weeks.
He certainly goes to go to great lengths in that speech to remove himself from the sentiments.
But went to no lengths to do so for the last 20 years while attending that church.
I’d leave a church that said anything like that about anyone… even commies and lefties… its not the place… plus, the preacher is a hater (not exactly someone I’d trust for spiritual advice)...
I can envision the general election campaign commercials already:
First, an audio (or video) of CottonCandyObama saying that the Right Racist unReverend Wright is his spiritual leader and mentor. Then the audio of the Right Racist unReverend Wright saying “God damn America!” and calling us the “The United States of KKKAmerica!”
I agree, he and his campaign are certainly taking that approach. The current Reverend Wright crisis is about how much of that colorblindness he espouses he actually believes in. We’ll see over the next weeks.
He certainly goes to go to great lengths in that speech to remove himself from the sentiments.
But went to no lengths to do so for the last 20 years while attending that church.
I’d leave a church that said anything like that about anyone… even commies and lefties… its not the place… plus, the preacher is a hater (not exactly someone I’d trust for spiritual advice)...
I can envision the general election campaign commercials already:
First, an audio (or video) of CottonCandyObama saying that the Right Racist unReverend Wright is his spiritual leader and mentor. Then the audio of the Right Racist unReverend Wright saying “God damn America!” and calling us the “The United States of KKKAmerica!”
That is gonna be one killer commercial.
It sure is. Michael Moore could direct it.
Bummer for Obama. I guess many of those who’ve read or heard this speech won’t be surprised or affected though.
Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Oh, ok… so the fact that he occasionally spouts out racist crap is irrelevent if at other times he was helping people? I get it. Credit where credit is due — those trains certainly did run on time!
Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
See? Some of his best friends are white!
And about all of his “I can’t disown him he’s like family”, well, emphasis on the like. We can’t choose our family, but we can choose our pastors, friends and mentors.
And heck, even if someone is family, if that person acts in a way you find particularly abhorrent, you can refuse to affiliate with them. If you don’t, then I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to question just exactly how seriously you take their offenses.
Obama throwing his grandmother under the racist bus. What a good man comparing his grandmother who’s fears he also had to a racist who believes AIDS and crack are government conspiracies by white people against minorities
Obama claims that he is the one to bring the healing to racism in America yet he can’t even do it with the man that is his spiritual mentor, a man who he got the title for his latest book from.
Obama claiming that he would not have someone who makes racially insensitive remarks on his campaign, yet his reverend was on it.
Claiming at various times that he doesn’t think his church is controversial, not knowing that his preacher made such racially insensitive* remarks, saying that he knows his preacher has made controversial statements, and saying he doesn’t agree with the remarks people find controversial. His head is spinning more than the girl in the exorcist to get all that out.
*I don’t know how you cannot know what your reverend of 20 years said the sunday after 9/11 claiming that america got exactly what it deserved, and our “chickens had come home to roost” with such joy and enthusiasm. Calling what this stain of a human being say “racially insensitive” doesn’t do justice to what it actually is.
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough.
Mr. Wright, who has long prided himself on criticizing the establishment, said he knew that he may not play well in Mr. Obama’s audition for the ultimate establishment job.
“If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me,” Mr. Wright said with a shrug. “I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.”
Mark Levin has started calling him “Barrack Milhouse Obama”, initially because it became apparent that the MEdia and Obama’s minions were nixing using his real middle name, “Hussein”. Considering that just last week Barrack said he never heard Wright actually make those statements and today he did an about face on that, the appointed middle name of Milhouse seems even more appropriate--for historical reasons.
“I am not a crook...”
Maybe not a crook, but a liar seems about (W)right.
CM
It’s an interesting strategy to act as if the US is not a racist country.
I’m just wondering if you can name (1) country in the world that doesn’t have any racism.
I just heard a quote from Milhouse about why he wasn’t going to turn his back on Wright. He said something to the affect that Wright’s complexities (the good and the bad) embody all that’s right and wrong with America and if he gave up on him he’d be giving up on America. What a load of BS. Unfortunately for me, a guy who just wants the KKKlintons out of the picture, Milhouse just might be done. But then again we still have the true believers out there who will vote for no one else.
CM
It’s an interesting strategy to act as if the US is not a racist country.
I’m just wondering if you can name (1) country in the world that doesn’t have any racism.
I just heard a quote from Milhouse about why he wasn’t going to turn his back on Wright. He said something to the affect that Wright’s complexities (the good and the bad) embody all that’s right and wrong with America and if he gave up on him he’d be giving up on America. What a load of BS. Unfortunately for me, a guy who just wants the KKKlintons out of the picture, Milhouse just might be done. But then again we still have the true believers out there who will vote for no one else.
I think you’ve misunderstood me, like sl0re did.
I’m not saying the US is a racist country. I think it’s probably less racist than most.
What I mean is that Obama appears to be coming from a position where he probably does actually think it’s a racist country, but he’s going to run a narrative that it isn’t. As opposed to former black leaders who push that it is.
