(American) Politics and Racism

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/15/us/politics/15wright.html

Obama Denounces Statements of His Pastor as ‘Inflammatory’

By JODI KANTOR

Published: March 15, 2008

 

In the handful of years Senator Barack Obama has spent in the national spotlight, his stance toward his pastor has gone from glowing praise to growing distance to — as of Friday — strong criticism.

 

On Friday, Mr. Obama called a grab bag of statements by his longtime minister, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., “inflammatory and appalling.”

 

“I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue,” he wrote in a campaign statement that was his strongest in a series of public disavowals of his pastor’s views over the past year.

 

Earlier in the week, several television stations played clips in which Mr. Wright, of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, referred to the United States as the “U.S. of K.K.K. A.” and said the Sept. 11 attacks were a result of corrupt American foreign policy.

 

On Friday, Senator John McCain’s campaign forwarded to reporters an article in The Wall Street Journal in which Mr. Wright was quoted as saying, “Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run,” and accusing the United States of importing drugs, exporting guns and training murderers.

 

Later in the day, Rush Limbaugh dwelled on Mr. Wright in his radio program, calling him “a race-baiter and a hatemonger.”

 

In the statement he released a few hours later, Mr. Obama, known for his uplifting messages about national unity, professed a certain innocence about his pastor’s most incendiary messages.

 

“The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation,” he said.

 

The eight-paragraph statement, first posted on the Web site The Huffington Post, did not recount Mr. Wright’s claims but addressed concerns about whether his beliefs reflected Mr. Obama’s. “He has never been my political adviser,” Mr. Obama wrote. “He’s been my pastor.”

 

Mr. Obama has belonged to Trinity for two decades. He was married by Mr. Wright, and his two daughters were baptized by him.

 

Mr. Obama credits a sermon of Mr. Wright’s, “The Audacity of Hope,” with drawing him to Christianity, and he used those words as the title of his second book.

 

But the evening before he announced his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Mr. Obama started to distance himself from Mr. Wright, canceling an invocation he had asked the minister to give at his presidential announcement.

 

Mr. Wright, 66, who last month fulfilled longstanding plans to retire, is a beloved figure in African-American Christian circles and a frequent guest in pulpits around the country. Since he arrived at Trinity in 1972, he has built a 6,000-member congregation through his blunt, charismatic preaching, which melds detailed scriptural analysis, black power, Afrocentrism and an emphasis on social justice; Mr. Obama praised the last quality in Friday’s statement.

 

His most powerful influence, said several ministers and scholars who have followed his career, is black liberation theology, which interprets the Bible as a guide to combating oppression of African-Americans.

 

He attracts audiences because of, not in spite of, his outspoken critiques of racism and inequality, said Dwight Hopkins, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, in an interview last year.

 

But Mr. Wright’s blistering statements about American racism can shock white audiences.

 

“If you’re black, it’s hard to say what you truly think and not upset white people,” said James Cone, a professor at Union Theological Seminary and the father of black liberation theology, who has known Mr. Wright since he was a seminary student.

 

Mr. Wright is no longer on Mr. Obama’s African American Religious Leadership Committee, though Mr. Obama’s aides would not elaborate on the circumstance of his departure, and Mr. Wright did not answer a message left on his cellphone requesting an interview.

 

The minister’s defenders say the statements that have been playing this week on television are outliers, taken out of context, and that he is not antiwhite. The United Church of Christ, the denomination of the Chicago church, is overwhelmingly white. And Mr. Wright is an equal opportunity critic, often delivering scorching lectures about black society, telling audiences to improve their education and work ethic.

 

“I can remember Jeremiah saying in probably half his sermons: Everyone who’s your color ain’t your kind,” Richard Sewell, a church member, said in an interview last year.

 

One of the statements that have been most replayed this week comes from the sermon Mr. Wright delivered following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

 

“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards,” he said. “America’s chickens are coming home to roost.”

 

Asked in an interview last March to explain the sermon, Mr. Wright said he had been questioning the country’s desire for vengeance against the perpetrators, counseling his congregants to look inward instead.

 

Immediately after the attacks, the country’s response was “to pay back and kill,” he said. But before it got “holier than thou,” he said, the nation should have considered how its own policies had led to the events of that day. (Last year, Mr. Obama said, “The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without justification,” and added that he and his wife were at home on the day of the sermon, tending to their new baby.)

 

In the interview last spring, Mr. Wright expressed frustration at the breach in relationship with Mr. Obama, saying the candidate had already privately said that he might need to distance himself from his pastor. But perhaps the two could repair things, said Mr. Wright, pointing out that Mr. Obama’s opponent, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, had faced worse.

 

“At least there are no semen stains on any dresses,” Mr. Wright said, one of several digs he has taken at the Clintons.

 

“That kind of frankness scares people in the campaign,” he added.

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with any of the pastor's remarks. They are only "inflammatory or appalling" to those who are uncomfortable acknowledging the reality of racism in the USA.

It makes me ashamed that our current political climate requires candidates to disavow and distance themselves from such views. The mainstream's desire to sweep anything critical or uncomfortable under the table is what prevents us from coming to any sort of lasting racial understanding and harmony.

Kinda hard to come to an understanding with minorities when you don't really want to hear what they have to say about their oppression.

--Jack

I might be stating the obvious, but perhaps, it's a balancing act. He might see these issues as being a risk to his chances of winning the presidency. And perhaps, when and if, he does attain that position of power, only then can he feel he has the ability to address such issues with more confidence and honesty.

Hmm well I don't know the priest so it's hard for me to comment.. I can only judge from the article you just posted and I'm not sure I want to do that..

However, it does seem like Obama thinks supporting the priest might jeopardize his chances to win the elections..

Even though I understand that he wants to do everything he needs to get into the white house.. personally I think it's pathetic to throw your beliefs overboard.. and be elected for the person you're portraying, and not the guy you really are... you know?

When I, as a European, look at the USA I still see a lot of racism.

Actually yesterday on Oprah they had a special for Martin Luther King day.. and she focussed on certain parts of the country where racism was still very much happening.. and I was seriously shocked that these things still happen in 2008.. especially in a rich and powerful country like America!

My cousin went to Chicago not long ago with some friends.. and they were sitting around eating Dutch candies and these little kids were looking at them all curious about what they were eating.. So my cousin explained what it was and asked them if they wanted to try some and honestly, the kids' parents were shocked.

So they started talking and the parents explained that stuff like that doesn't really happen.. that they still get discriminated..

I didn't want to believe that story was true.. it's so sad!

I'm not saying everything here is perfect by the way, cuz it's not.. but that's not what this thread is about.

I might be stating the obvious, but perhaps, it's a balancing act. He might see these issues as being a risk to his chances of winning the presidency. And perhaps, when and if, he does attain that position of power, only then can he feel he has the ability to address such issues with more confidence and honesty.

Oh yes certainly.

But it makes me so sad that making acknowledging this viewpoint IS a risk to winning the presidency, or that we need our candidates to step away from their real views and/or sympathies in order to win us over with fake ones.

It ensures that political debate never takes place anywhere that is remotely real. Fake people speaking fake put-upon viewpoints to an imagined fake audience.

Today's a sad politics day for me. I just read this post on another message board in response to the issue of gay rights, and the fact that a senator has recently said that gay people were "more dangerous than terrorists" to America, and I wanted to repost it:

I've got a senior in high school and a sophomore in college. I really think thier generation will be the most tolerant generation we have ever seen. This generation has basically been exposed to diversity their whole lives (hopefully), and I really think it is going to make a difference in how they are going to tolerate bigotry like that of the senator. At least I hope it does.

 

I used to think that in the 1970s. The only crazy ass right wingers around then were fringe John Birch society types. You can imagine my surprise when the enlightened young people all grew up and turned into crazy John Birch society types and became the dominant force in American society. And the decades passed and they didn't go away, and their stupid policies were demonstrated to be more and more bankrupt and people cheered for them and wanted more.

 

I thought things like the legalization of harmless drugs like marijuana would happen when these enlightened young folk who all knew from personal experience that the anti-drug propaganda was a lie came into power. Instead more people than ever are in jail for having a joint.

 

I thought that racism and hate for anyone that's different would fade a bit (didn't think it would ever go away) and instead it became more entrenched with all sorts of code words for the discrimination.

 

I thought decades of scientific advances would make people even more appreciative of the incredible universe we all find ourselves living in, instead they've become stupider, more repressive, more fearful of everyone and everything and more blindly, dogmatically turned in on themselves. Xenophobia has never been stronger.

 

The future is not Star Trek, the future is Mad Max except there will be no heroes, just the armed cretins fighting over the scraps of society.

 

/it is to weep.

--Jack

I know I live in my own little bubble, but articles and testimonies like this shock me too.

I think I have lived and worked in London too long and as you know, it's so cosmopolitan there - everything is the norm.

I've also worked for large companies, where it was drummed into employees via courses and example that homophobia, racisim or sexism was absolutely a no-no.

A lot of the racism here, at the moment, isn't black v white though, it's very much to do with Eastern European immigrants.

And so it carries on.

Jack, did this senator say why gay people were so dangerous? Is it a popular view in America, do you think?

“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards,” he said. “America’s chickens are coming home to roost.”

Sounds like this man should be advising the next president. Maybe then the US can extract itself from the mess it's in and move forward.

Jack, did this senator say why gay people were so dangerous? Is it a popular view in America, do you think?

Here's the recording of her speech:

Unbelievable.

Sounds like this man should be advising the next president. Maybe then the US can extract itself from the mess it's in and move forward.

 

 

 

Here's the recording of her speech:

 

 

Unbelievable.

Blimey. You're right . Unbelievable. But she doesn't explain or justify? Can she be talking to sensible people?

Blimey. You're right . Unbelievable. But she doesn't explain or justify? Can she be talking to sensible people?

I guess someone was sensible enough to tape it and leak it. But I suppose there are people that still abide this kind of thinking or she wouldn't have been elected in the first place.

Blimey. You're right . Unbelievable. But she doesn't explain or justify? Can she be talking to sensible people?

She is obviously a Christian fundamentalist. Her political views are based out of her interpretation of the Bible. Ironically, she is actually being honest about her belief system and knows that it is not a popular stand. It is her failure to understand that she cannot simply force her faith background on the rest of the country that is pathetic.