Posted on 03/17/2008 11:41:36 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The eruption of outrage, shock and fear that is flowing over Barack Obama’s campaign like hot lava because his pastor has preached some strident sermons tells us one thing for certain: Many white people don’t know black people at all.
If they did, they would know that Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago is hardly the only black minister who uses the pulpit to rant against racial duplicity and injustice. The black church has always been the place for letting our hair down and speaking our peace -- a safe haven from the criminations outside. It’s how and why the black church became the nursery for the freedom and civil rights movements. Not every minister seasons his or her sermons with political commentary, and not every one who does is as fiercely spoken as Rev. Wright, but there is nothing unusual about the black clergy as social agitator. Guess the shockees didn’t know that.
It seems they were also clueless that, when race, racism and discrimination do invade the pulpit, it is not always in the context of forgiveness and humility. Much of black America is resentful, angry and distrustful -- rightly so, some of us would say. Did the uninitiated honestly believe that slavery, lynching, Jim Crow, white resistance and flight, economic and educational duality, hyper-incarceration and yawning disparities in wealth, health and longevity have had no lasting effects; that all of that is really no big deal -- something we can kick off as easily as our Sunday shoes?
Surprise.
This could be a teaching moment for the society at large, which would do well to pay closer attention to 35 million of its members and to give heed to their accounts of their own experiences. Unfortunately, and typically, the alarmists are threatening to make it a Waterloo for Obama.
The candidate has denounced Rev. Wright’s statements about America’s treachery, honest as they were.
Obama has even removed his Wright from his ministerial council. That had to be painful for Obama, who has otherwise spoken devotedly of the preacher who “brought me to Jesus,” performed his marriage ceremony and baptized his daughters.
Those pounds of flesh are not enough for the alarmists, however. They and frothing pundit after frothing pundit want the candidate to rebuke Wright categorically -- mind, body and soul.
Obama is in the unenviable position of having to court a large and diverse audience -- the American electorate generally and Democratic voters particularly -- that includes a good number of people who have no knowledge of, curiosity about, nor sympathy for the black experience, while, at the same time, remaining true to what he knows about Rev. Wright specifically and the black church generally.
It’s a delicate balance, and Obama has tried to strike it, explaining to journalists that the anger and disdain expressed by Rev. Wright reflect common themes in “the black memory,” albeit not sentiments he shares.
In a fair world, Obama would be able to elaborate about the black perspective and thereby give some context to Wright’s comments and the facts of black expression.
But, then, in a fair world, there would be no racial divide to bridge. Of course, Obama’s detractors would never consider that.
Proverbs 25:21-23
21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the LORD will reward you.
you. are. ridiculous.
I believe Obama's chief foreign policy advisor is white.
Strident? The SOB's been plagarizing snopes.com!
“strident sermons”
That’s how he describes angry, hate-filled tirades.
Then he goes on to justify the self-induced pathologies in that community.
Listen. Slavery ended. You’re still living in slavery. It’s over. Get over it!
The people who had slaves are dead. The former slaves are dead.
No one alive today was a slave or held a slave (except in Africa).
“Many white people don’t know black people at all.....”
That doesn’t excuse racism by any race!!
It’d be nice to have more libs around to battle with,
but they usually can’t remain civil enough to avoid getting kicked out.
You certainly have more faith in the Dims than I do.
Ain’t been getting any from Mr Murry?
Either way it’s a win-win.
Obama obviously holds these views, and is lying about it.
Either he gets dumped, or loses the general by a landslide.
If he does get dumped, the far left and black block vote will be VERY angry.
The good reverend said that we bombed Hiroshima and Nagaski w/o batting an eye.
Is that honest? When the decision was one of the most difficult decision any leader could make and when the American public has agonized over it from that time to this. Regardless of one's opinion on whether it was the right thing to do, the statement that we did it w/o batting is simply ignorance.
I knew very well that there were thousands of jeremiah Wrights across the country and I'm pleased as punch that many of my brethren are learning what I've long known.
Anti-American racial hate mongers like Wright and the 'congregations' that spur him on and shout Amen to 'God Damn America' don't desreve this country. They don't deserve to live here and they don't deserve the handouts they've recieved at the detriment of the rest of us for the last 40 years!
The more I read things like this, the more I believe everything Martin Luther King fought for has been completely ignored by those who invoke his name the loudest.
Good to know .. I feel like I know them all much better now.
Wow, what a liar you are.
Typical liberal.
Leading dhimmirat on Meet the Press yesterday:
“why’d we drop a second one days later? that was unnecessary”
mark for self
The answer I think, lies in the depths of guilt harbored by white liberals. These folks seem to be in constant turmoil and extreme angst over stuff for which they personally could have had no control! Maybe that's the issue. Liberals are frustrated control freaks.
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