The Reverend's Right

Fox News is spreading a fear campaign... and the people are biting. Obama has had to publicly distance himself from the "controversial" comments of his pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. It would be great if Obama could stand up and translate what the Reverend is saying so that white people wouldn't be so afraid. Since Barak has to tread the middle path, I'll try.



The reverend is VERY concerned about the day-to-day racism that poor black citizens have to deal with in today's America.

The reverend is NOT saying that Jesus was literally black. He is comparing the plight of the Jewish people in a land ruled by the Roman empire to that of black people in white America. I'm sure half of America freaked out when they heard a "crazed militant negro" saying that Jesus was black. Listen harder you Fox News loving idiots.

The reverend IS suggesting that Jesus would have cared about the plight of poor black people.

The reverend IS saying that most American presidents (and even candidates) have been rich white men. I'm not sure why this is controversial. This seems unequivocally true.

The reverend IS saying that Hillary (even though a woman) fits the mold of rich, white privilege.

The reverend is addressing a black church audience. The people running up to him and "hitting him on the back" or standing up and shouting are not being disrespectful or assaultive. They are actually encouraging/agreeing with the speaker.

The reverend NEVER actually attacks the white race... but he does extol the character of Obama as a champion of the underprivileged, essentially comparing Obama's path to that of his lord Jesus Christ. He even draws the parallel that Obama is being betrayed (as Jesus was) by his own people. He IS excoriating black America for claiming that Obama is not "black enough" by comparing them to the Jews that betrayed Jesus.

The reverend is clearly suggesting that America, which IS currently run by rich white men, is not the best environment for black people, and that black voters ought to support Obama over Clinton because she will never truly understand their experience.

I do not understand how this is being construed as hate speech. This is an emotional sermon from a black person to a black audience about his belief that there is ONE candidate that truly understands them. Would anyone complain if a Planned Parenthood representative spoke out that Hillary is the only candidate that can really empathize with the female perspective on reproductive rights issues? No. What if she spoke passionately about the persecution suffered by young women unable to choose whether or not they carry a child... about a history of back-alley medical mishaps and family disownment? Still no. You would nod your head and judge just how relevant that information is to you. And that's exactly how white America should respond to Reverend Wright.

Urged to disavow Reverend Wright by various groups, Barak Obama had this to say... and it's pretty awesome:

"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... 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."