Where Was Wright Wrong?

update: cnn finds text to another sermon, which gives us more insight. it is a must read.
perhaps wright is right. it's the way he said it that scared the wits out of some white folks. and come on, we have to see that the media played a big role in pushing this for more than what it is. see the truth about trinity.
from the houston chronicle:

And there it is. ... The 800-pound gorilla that is racial strife finally slings its poo against the political wall. Let me just say this: To me, the comments made by Sen. Barack Obama's spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, are pretty innocuous. I say that knowing that they are offensive to white people, but the question has to be raised — why?

Wright said that Sen. Hillary Clinton does not know what it is like to be a black man in an America run by rich white people. She doesn't. If the bone of contention is that America is not run by rich white people, I will have to humbly but unequivocally disagree and ask you to see the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans. Omit the entertainers and athletes. Just how many people of color are left?

According to Forbes, all you have is Oprah Winfrey at No. 165 and, based on the earlier caveat, she is disqualified because she is an entertainer. So of the 399 richest people in America, 98 percent are white. So where was Rev. Wright wrong?

Wright also offered some conspiracy theories about how the U.S. government has wronged people of color in the past. I do not believe that the government engineered AIDS, but it did engineer the Tuskegee experiments in which young African-American men infected with syphilis were denied treatment for study. This was conducted from 1932 to 1972, well-documented and acknowledged by the U.S. government. I am sure Wright remembers this and many other racial injustices in his lifetime.

In fact, let's go over the past 100 years of the United States' "stellar" race/citizen relations: Japanese interment camps, American Indian reservations, Jim Crow laws, lynchings, late women's suffrage, the immigration debate, the proposed anti-gay marriage amendment, voter irregularities of the 2000 election, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans ...

I hate to break it to Americans, but women and people of color can be a bit paranoid when it comes to actions of the U.S. government. As are, at times, white Americans. White conservatives, especially, get angry. Commentators Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter have jobs — and huge audiences — for a reason.

Let's face facts. Put the proverbial cards on the table. read more

Context to Wright's Sermon

in this video, rev. wright compliments bill clinton and speaks of the history of government back to the days of lincoln to when bush was elected, when he begins to get angry. we see a much calmer wright in contrast to the media's endless looping. his message: where governments fail god does not fail. those infamous words come in the last few seconds of the video. see more wright sermons at truth about trinity. here's another thing i didn't know about wright. he served six years in the marine corps and the navy.



wright's bio:

Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He completed his elementary education in that city and then went to Virginia Union University. After three and a half years at Virginia Union, Pastor Wright left school and entered the United States Marine Corps. He transferred from the USMC into the United States Navy where he served as a cardiopulmonary technician.

After six years in the military, Pastor Wright transferred to Howard University where he completed his undergraduate studies and received his first Master’s Degree. His second Master’s Degree was from the University of Chicago Divinity School. His Doctorate was received from the United Theological Seminary under Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor. In addition to Pastor Wright’s four earned degrees, he has been the recipient of eight honorary doctorates.

Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. became Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) on March 1, 1972. Within a matter of months he demonstrated an understanding and deep commitment to help TUCC achieve its motto and vision. The motto, "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian", was a phrase coined by his predecessor, the Reverend Dr. Reuben Sheares, and was officially adopted by the congregation shortly after Pastor Wright began his ministry.

Since 1972, under Dr. Wright’s leadership, the membership of Trinity United Church of Christ grew from 87 members; and currently exceeds 6,000! The membership continues to grow numerically and spiritually with large numbers of members tithing, studying in bible classes and serving in over 70 ministries offered to enhance the Christian journey.

Dr. Wright has lectured at seminaries and universities across the United States and has represented TUCC and The United Church of Christ around the world. He is recognized as a leading theologian and pastor and has published four books and numerous articles.

a more subdued wright



to learn more about trinity united church of christ, visit truth about trinity.

CNN: Obama is Leading

i wonder why cnn chose to state this fact now? it's been a fact for a while. obama has been leading in delegates and popular vote since super tuesday. and he's won 30 states to clinton's 14. the ONLY way clinton can win is to present her case to the superdelegates (or cheat). her case: she is more electable.

turns out clinton's looking to capitalize on the pastor wright controversy to make her appear more electable. that seems suitable, since her campaign started the fervor by passing around the video to start. (that's according to newsweek).

but if the race issue didn't bubble up, we never would've gotten that great speech from obama, which has led to people talking. everywhere.

unlike clinton, mccain continues to shut down the people in his party who keep acting like children. i don't agree with mccain's political views but i think he's an upstanding person.

for clinton, it looks like her strategy might just come back to bite her because it appears that following obama's "a more perfect union speech," more people have joined the obama camp than have left. of course, that's just my anecdotal evidence.

what would really be cool is if the superdelegates came out. a flock of them could do this. but i don't think they'll do it until after pennsylvania. that state is one that clinton has staked the rest of her campaign on. she's expected to do well. but who knows? i secretly hold out for an obama win. that would take plenty of new voters, which reminds me, that pennsylvanians who want to vote for obama have until march 24 to register as a democrat if they aren't already.

The Good and Bad in All of Us

that's essentially the content of obama's speech. people aren't all good or all bad but a combination of good and bad.

do you find the fact that your own mother is bigoted despicable? yes, but she's also ineherently good and you still love her. does your friend do stupid things that you wish she would change? yes, but she's still your friend. does your teen get pregnant? yes but you still love her.

it takes a lot of courage and leadership and honesty for obama to openly say that he found his former pastor's remarks divisive and that he has disagreed with his pastor's political views, but at the same time he can't disown him.

obama understands where wright is coming from but he doesn't agree with him. you CAN do both.

obama's point is that the only way to address the racial injustices or anything in america is to agree to come together to solve bigger problems that affect all of us. in addition to long standing racial problems, we have some doozies. i don't think anyone realizes the depth of our economic problems, due much to the fact that the bush administration has turned away from the country's economy to focus on war. we know the depth is deep because many of the economists can't even say the word "recession."

they keep coming up with new descriptions. maybe it's worse than a recession. anyway, we don't have the truth and we're not likely to get it until it's too late. we just have bush saying that we are in "challenging" times. i don't need bush telling me these are challenging times. i know. i don't need cheney to tell me that the progress in iraq is "phenomenal." i know he's lying.

the bush administration is phenomenally challenged.

with the economy in the dumps and the wars in iraq and afghanistan, we don't have the time to be sidetracked by people who are spreading hate for their financial gain or political purposes.

a whole slew of reactions
reaction: mother jones
reaction: dailykos.com

obama's audacious speech newsweek:

the nation:

Barack Obama could have responded to the controversy that has been ginned up with regard to comments made by his former pastor with a safe and predictable speech. The politically "smart" strategy -- counseled by some Obama allies -- would have been to have the Democratic presidential contender focus on concerns about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr.'s critique of U.S. foreign policy and then distance himself from any offending sentiments.

But Obama did not do the politically "smart" thing.

He did the right thing. And that is why his campaign will weather this storm.

NYT:

There have been times when we wondered what Mr. Obama meant when he talked about rising above traditional divides. This was not such a moment.

We can’t know how effective Mr. Obama’s words will be with those who will not draw the distinctions between faith and politics that he drew, or who will reject his frank talk about race. What is evident, though, is that he not only cleared the air over a particular controversy — he raised the discussion to a higher plane.

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bad reactions.

it must be really sad when you hear something brilliant (and there is an ultimate truth) and something genuine that flies in the face of your views but you are so entrenched in your views that you have to find a way to fight for them. i'm thinking extreme wings and talk show hosts and their followers. i mean, the things they're coming up with are actually quite funny.
some folks are more subtle "good speech... but" and others just can't seem to get over themselves.

Obama's Actions Speak Louder than Pastor's Words

finally, some perspective. hallelujah and amen! tune in tomorrow when obama will speak on race and politics in pennsylvania.
the atlantic

The relevant - the only relevant - question is: are Obama's beliefs represented by the handful of video clips of the most incendiary of Wright's sermons? Or to unpack it a little further: Does Obama believe that black people should damn America? Does he believe that racial separatism is a viable option? Is he a black liberation theologian?

Seriously, I can find absolutely no evidence that he is, and if anyone can, I will gladly eagerly air it.

Give me a speech or a sentence or an off-hand remark in the last twenty years in which Obama has said such a thing or reflected such a worldview and I will gladly post it. On the other hand, we have many, many, many examples of Obama's own thoughts on these issues, several extraordinary sermons and speeches, two books, one of which is searingly honest about race and faith and identity. The notion that this immense record should be displaced by a few YouTubes by someone else seems, well, disproportionate. more

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