Today I was going to tell you about my trip to the dentist, but a post about my discussion of Jeremiah Wright with a black co-worker is more timely.
We'll call this co-worker Alicia. Alicia is a fellow Democrat (surprise!) and a big Barack Obama fan (surprise again!). Whereas most people at work talk about how they can't get their son to eat his turnip greens, Alicia and I talk about the presidential race.
Awhile back we were talking about how funny the rumor was that Obama was a Muslim when the information was available everywhere that he was a member of the Trinity United Church. During that conversation Alicia mentioned she had named her son after Trinity's pastor, Jeremiah Wright. This was a good month before the "God damn America" controversy. When I finally saw Rev. Wright on TV of course my eyes popped out and I thought, "Ohhh...so
this is who she named her son after?"
Due to a rising call volume we hadn't gotten a chance to talk politics in weeks, but in the break room Monday she asked me if I had seen the full-length Jeremiah Wright sermons posted on YouTube. I had watched a longer 10-minute version of the "God damn America" speech. She asked me if, in that context, I had gotten where he was coming from.
I expressed hesitance to discuss my spin on Jeremiah Wright in the Fitzsimmons breakroom, and internally weighed expressing that spin where I was the only whitey in the room and holding an unpopular view, but Alicia egged me on. I warned her it might tick her off and I was afraid she wouldn't want to talk to me again. There was also the Muslim girl there with us in her headwrap, and she laughed at my reluctance. Alicia egged me on, so off I went.
On one hand I could understand, given Rev. Wright's age, that his mind might be stuck in 1960, but he was talking like we were still in the age of bus boycotts and church burnings, and we aren't. And if he really lives in "AmeriKKKa," as he said, how is it he's building a $1 million house in the suburbs of Chicago? (I say, not the South side where his congregation is, but the suburbs?) Yes, I knew about the scholarships and community work his church did, but his sermons were just pandering to poor angry black people looking for a scapegoat, designed to keep his pews and collection plates full, and that was all.
Alicia told the Muslim girl that it was nice to find someone with a different perspective who didn't mind sharing it no-holds-barred. But then she asked me did I get what he was saying, that he was just paraphrasing the Bible, that a nation that spilled innocent blood would have its innocent blood spilled. I said but the 3,000 people who died on 9/11 hadn't spilled any blood, our foreign policies weren't their idea. She said that's where the "innocent" came in. I said whatever, Rev. Wright sounded like he was gloating to me, which was even more unsettling.
But I also said if you looked at it her way, what Wright was saying was no different than when Jerry Falwell said that homosexuals had provoked God to let 9/11 happen. At the same time, though, he quickly withdrew that statement. She said, "He withdrew it under pressure, but he said what he meant the first time!," and it didn't sound like she disapproved of Falwell's sentiment. That opened the door to saying New Orleans deserved Hurricane Katrina, though, I countered. She had no rebuttal to that.
She did say that every time she goes to Chicago she visits that church, and has "tapes and tapes" of Jeremiah Wright's sermons and, like Obama, she'd never heard anything like the clips that got repeated on the news.
Alicia then got up to leave with some other ladies and I said, "Well, there you go! You're taking off! Nice knowing you!" I was kidding, but I think she must've taken me a wee bit seriously.
Later she came to my desk and said, "Oh, Art, I wouldn't stop talking to you about anything like that! You're my friend! That's what the definition of a friend is, someone you can discuss religion and politics with and not see eye-to-eye and not get mad! I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican or whatever!" I'm not used to such warm-and-fuzzy sentiment, but I thought that moment was an interesting outgrowth of this "conversation about race."
It made me think back on my friends Sharon and Richard, two more black people with whom I've had long conversations over the period of days and weeks and even months about all these sorts of issues. I realized Barack Obama wants us to have a conversation about race, but I already had that conversation several times in my late teens and early 20's. What sticks out the most is that any of those talks with actual black people was far more friendly and civilized than when I had the same conversation with a bunch of white (and Indian), far-Left freaks on DemocraticUnderground.com. Over there they're so sensitive that anything that doesn't follow the "white man bad, black man divine" model gets you banned.
Okay, where's the government form I fill out for the Obama administration to show I've had my obligatory conversation about race?
Alicia is perfectly right. Southern Baptist & TV & White Evangelical preachers have been doing this shtick for Decades. Including the curses. And consistently getting plenty of Amen's from the assembled brethren too! Few in the media have been watching or inclined to report on such things. You can find them on the net too damning America now & again for abortion, unwed mothers, welfare, feminism, working women, and most of the 20th century in general when they really get going.
And the stats on Black wealth & poverty are actually fairly easy to come by. Use the Census. Atlanta happens to be one of the nexuses of concentration of Black wealth, and it does show. Still Overall, across the nation, Most Blacks (and Most Whites) are not rich. Here's a recent article on some of the facts here: [http://www.alternet.org/stories/80974/]. Here's some more facts with charts!
[http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2007/08/comparing-presidents-black-and-white.html].
But again, none of this is difficult to find. It's all a matter of perception. If you think Obama should be held responsible for the crazy things his pastor says, I can show you many very large churches in town where some very crazy things go on (Cue the Paulks) and/or where crazy things are regularly spoken about the nature of society and how we should all be living according to the strictures of the 'Lords Law'. Including stoning adulterers & 'fornicators'. In prior generations they spoke out against the clear and present dangers of miscegenation too. (Another clear detriment to the Chocolate lovers Club no doubt!)
So yeah. It's a double standard. Another one. Whitey gets to say any damn crazy thing possible, and McCain & all the Rethugs comes courting their favors, and the media fawns. 'Oh lookie, he's getting religion! Why we never knew...'. Show up at a Black church that's as active & involved, and it's like 'Lookie here what we found!' Them Darkies seemingly Don' Like Us! How very strange! They must be Commies, the Lot of them!' This was Jessie Helms' answer to MLK day, which just started to be celebrated here in Ga. (where he was born) in some lilly White communities.
Yeah. The Radical Black Commie Preacher hiding in the closet. Who would have thought it? It's been done before. Again & again. Always Listen to the Whole speech. With a Bible in hand. Then look to the parts & citations he cites as he goes along. It's a sermon. It's supposed to be a bit controversial. And it was. And you can get tapes of Jerry Falwell, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, D. James Kennedy saying the same damn thing, Damning the US, America, our policies, our Presidents, our Schools & Universities (especially!) over their own damnable favorite bugbears, abortion & 'feminism' being their number one concerns. The rest of the media clowns just haven't been paying any attention to them. After all, they only preach to over 33 Million Americans every week.
So keep on talking to friends, and they'll help you see. You may not come around to liking it all, but perhaps understanding it a bit better. Cheers, JP
After I brought Jerry Falwell up I got the feeling Alicia agreed with Falwell as much as she agreed with Wright. She also asked me if I had heard of Haggis, Haggard, whoever this kook is John McCain is in bed with. I kinda expect Republicans to be in cahoots with nutty Eric Robert Rudolph encouragers, that's why I don't vote for them. When religious delusion comes into the conversation I have to tap out.
AlterNet...that's another one of those Democratic Underground-endorsed Web sites. I'm leery of info from AlterNet like I'm leery of info from Drudge Report and Free Republic.
But true, Obama may not be the first to consort with fringe religious sorts, but hey, we're trying to get Hillary elected, aren't we? That woman dodged bullets for our country! I heard her say so herself! When I asked for proof, though, Chelsea said it was none of my business. I'm still for Hillary.
The supreme irony of Obama's popularity is that if and when we have a black president, the conversation about race is just beginning.
Seems to some of us that event should mark the Swan Song, but I guess I'm just a slavering racist blinded by my own hatred for anyone remotely different than me.
People also forget that although many Black Churches are Economically fairly Liberal, many of them are *almost* just as 'conservative' (in a traditional sense) as many of the mainline SBC Churches. Many have their homes & roots in the South, and this was always seen as pretty 'natural' to most of their congregants. But on preaching their own fiery brand of evangelical prophesy, we tend to forget that they have much in common with their fellow brethren in the region. It's just those mostly White, unchurched, and ever remote from any sort of spiritual language or speech sorts of Clueless 'reporters' who could have been deeply shocked by such things. Do a tour of Atlanta's SBC churches, and you'll likely get the same on almost any given Sunday. As the election nears, of course it'll be mostly those Ebbil Dems they rail about too! Without fail...
So I usually don't stalk or spend much time on most of those 'non news' web sites, I just don't have the time. I don't waste my time with many of the arguments there, I just use them as a place to get the news the MSM/Regular 'Newsy' folks are not reporting on, which of course is quite a bit. Try and find economics reporting that's anything but flag waving & cheer leading or Anything about labor & work safety issues, and you'll understand that. Jebus they Suck at That!
And as I've said before, I'm no Obama-maniac. He's just about my 3rd choice here. But Hillary would need to draw into something akin to an inside straight to pull this out. She might just do it. But it looks increasingly remote. If Obama wins Penn it's about all over. And it's looking likely that there's increasingly good odds that he just might. The betting line is that the much vaunted 20-10pt spread she enjoyed will be whittled down to a whisker of about 2-3Pts if she can pull it out. A Bushie kind of 'win'. But hey, if she's still viable I want her in there. I just hoped dearly for a better campaign.
BTW: It's official now. George Bush The Lesser, Dubya, The Great Pretender, The Resident of 1600 Pennsy Ave. is now and may be forever The Worst President in American History!: So say the Historians: [http://hnn.us/articles/48916.html].
[Snip via HNN.US]
4-01-08
HNN Poll: 61% of Historians Rate the Bush Presidency Worst
By Robert S. McElvaine
Mr. McElvaine teaches history at Millsaps College. His latest book, Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America, has just been published by Crown.
Always Good to hear from you Art. And keep up with that Chocolate Lover's Club, it may come in handy. Just saying... Cheers & Good Luck! JP 'Vinegar Joe'