Learning to listen: Cultural perspectives on Rev. Wright »
Posted by: jovial 5 months agoAs white Americans, it is natural to view the narrowly excerpted comments of Obama's Reverend Jeremiah Wright through the lens of white culture, and therefore to condemn him.
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jovial5 months ago
"If we do not truly understand the anger and frustration of the African-American experience, and do not understand the role of the black church pulpit in addressing, expressing and ameliorating that experience, then we have fallen short as citizens.""
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Spadecaller5 months ago
Excellent article. I'm in complete agreement. Most white people are unable to relate or understand the African American experience.
Recently I heard a young black minister denounce Rev. Wright and the church for digressing from the church's primary purpose --to carry the message of Jesus Christ to the Congregation; not to discuss politics or civil rights.
I disagree with that opinion. Though I am not a believer in organized religion, I have great respect for the role that ministers have played and still do in sharing the tribulations of living in a nation, where racism has been and still is a daily experience.
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Spadecaller5 months ago
MLK was a perfect example of this. For those that do not recall, MLK was not accepted by mainstream America until after he was assassinated. Yet, he shared the experience of living with racial strife, government exploitation of the poor, and the impact of the Vietnam War on all people.
I am not comparing MLK with Rev. Wright, except for the role that ministers often play. I believe the relationship between the minister and the congregation should be left in church and not used for political fodder.
If the minister was using the pulpit to incite violence that would be an entirely different scenario. To vent anger is human nature ... to judge this and to exaggerate it for political or racist motives is truly unfortunate.
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lvrofwolves5 months ago
Recently I heard a young black minister denounce Rev. Wright and the church for digressing from the church's primary purpose --to carry the message of Jesus Christ to the Congregation; not to discuss politics or civil rights.
I disagree with that opinion.
Spadecaller-I agree about civil rights, but religion and politics should be seperated. Take into consideration an example of organized religion that had 'Jesus camp' and they almost had the children worshiping a cardboard cut out of Pres. Bush, there are many other examples.
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Spadecaller5 months ago
I am not referring to endorsement of candidates, but the freedom of a minister or any clergy to discuss any issues that affect their congregation is their right and it should not be interfered with. I am an ardent supporter of separation of church and state, but the freedom to speak out about issues within the context of each entity does not violate that principle.
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lvrofwolves5 months ago
Sometimes it is very difficult to understand if you have no experiance with it in any way. Yes most people see or hear what's going on through the news or TV, some never have the opportunity to immerse themselves in other cultures, maybe not even the desire.Even attempts at trying to understand do not always produce results.
Some people say unless you are, you will never truly understand, and if that is the case, what is a person supposed to do?
A question I have is..is it supposedly only white people who are viewing Rev Wrights words a certain way, or what is the opinion of Hispanics, Asians and other races? not that any one person speaks for a whole race of people...just trying to get a grip on this! I mean racism comes in every color.
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4mogger5 months ago
Which is worse, racism or one who defends a racist? The article is morally reprehensible.
One who preaches hate should be held accountable for promoting hate. I trust the American people to see the truth and it appears that most of us do. Obama failed to condemn his pastor and failed to explain why he would remain a supporter for 20 years. For that, his position in the polls is slipping away quickly...just as it should be.
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lvrofwolves5 months ago
4mogger- you make some good points, but if I was a black person tho, I may see this situation at a different perspective. Does it mean because I'm not black I don't understand why BO continued to support and ask for guidance or view those speeches as 'hate' speeches from Rev Wright?, maybe...because I sure do wonder why, and if the black and white perspective is so different, it only adds more division amongst us all, and that's not a good thing.
Really tho, you needn't keep negging people for asking questions, racism and those who defend it are one thing, plain ignorance (lack of knowledge) is entirely another, that's how people learn things by asking questions.
I for one do not have experiance being black, or Jewish or homosexual, or Asian or 100s of other things, there is no way to change that fact. I do have empathy tho and the ability to learn, and I'd really like to understand BO reasons in order to make a decision, so far none of his reasons make sense to me.
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DeadXXXManXXXTalkin5 months ago
I like something Obama said on the View:
Suppose someone took the 5 stupidest things you've ever said and made a 30 second loop of them and that was all someone had to form an opinion of YOU.
Is it fair to call someone racist on the basis of a few quotes?
Is there proof Wright has ever discriminated against whites in any real, non-rhetorical way?
Is his church open to whites? I believe it is. So we know the church doesn't discriminate.
Anybody reported a checkered past?
Anything outside the pulpit at all?
Ever been taped calling someone a honky?
Ever rented housing to blacks only?
Ever rooted for Muhammed Ali to beat up Gerry Quarry?
I'm sorry. Pastor-gate is just so ridiculous I seem unable to blog about it without being silly.
And I know for a FACT he cheered and rooted for Ali to kick Quarry's ass
I know Wright is racist against whites, and I know Obama is too...
...neither one will eat dinner with Obama's mother...tho I hear the Pastor say he'd be willing to date her..
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OnionHead5 months ago
The Black church equals the Black Barbershop / Beauty Parlor for some folks. And if you've never spent any time in any of them, the message will sound foreign and scary.
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KYRed5 months ago
A racist is a racist, now matter what color they are. And a hater is a hater no matter what color they are. Obama should not only throw this man under the bus as he did his white grandmother who raised him while his black relatives did nothing for him, he should also drive the bus. Imagine a white man saying a black woman was a "typical black woman". What an outrage! Obama is not the answer to America's problems.
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ETproductions5 months ago
One has to wonder if the racist might not be you, KYRed. Obama did nothing like throwing his grandmother under the bus. To say he did is an outright lie.
I agree with your basic premise that racism is racism whatever color or excuse it wraps itself in. When Rev. Wright claimed that Israel has treated the Palestinians worse than Hitler treated the Jews, that was racist, and a contemptible lie to boot. When has Israel ever set up concentration camps and marched millions of Palestinians into gas chambers? When did Israelis make lampshades out of tattooed Palestinians?
Whether Rev. Wright or Mahatma Gandhi said that, it would be utter racist bunk. But I have friends that have said things that are utter racist bunk. I haven't disowned them because they are loons in one area of their lives. I see no reason why Obama should disown Wright. He only needs to denounce the hate speech Wright has delivered. And he has done that.
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hyperbola5 months ago
Well ET, the number palestinian christian and moslem victims of zionism exceeds the number of jewish victims of Hitler. Frankly the jewish religon has produced as many mass murders as any other religion.
Stalin's Jews
We mustn't forget that some of greatest murderers of modern times were Jewish
...And us, the Jews? An Israeli student finishes high school without ever hearing the name "Genrikh Yagoda," the greatest Jewish murderer of the 20th Century, the GPU's deputy commander and the founder and commander of the NKVD. Yagoda diligently implemented Stalin's collectivization orders and is responsible for the deaths of at least 10 million people. His Jewish deputies established and managed the Gulag system. ..
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Spadecaller5 months ago
"String em both up!" You can hear and see the crowd of hoodlums scream. I can name a dozen right wing white religious leaders who routinely make unpatriotic, anti-Semitic, and bigotted commments to their congregations; but do you hear this crowd carrying on about them?
Who is in this crowd of hoodlums? They consist mainly of people who would either never vote for a democrat or a person of color under any circumstances anyway.
And the media knows this; so they play them.
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lvrofwolves5 months ago
Not only the media, but politicans are the biggest players on Earth, I don't want religious leaders at any level falling into the game as well. Regardless of who does it, white whatever wing, black whatever wing, it's WRONG.
I have family members who have said racist things, can't change the family I was born into,as a child I didn't have a choice, but as an adult I can and often do choose to distance myself from those particular people. I do not have friends who are racist, I need to feel respect for my friends, I wouldn't respect a racist attitude, I can and do pick my friends, it may be the reason I have few good friends, but quality is much better then quantity, and I'm totally fine with that. If I had a church that had views that I STRONGLY disagreed with, bet your butt I'd go elsewhere, that's a choice.
If BO Grandmother who was helping raise him was racist, not much he could have done about it as a child, but when you grow up you have many choices.
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libsRfunny5 months ago
"I can name a dozen right wing white religious leaders who routinely make unpatriotic, anti-Semitic, and bigotted commments to their congregations; but do you hear this crowd carrying on about them?"
Cite them, and perhaps they will be.
The problem with Obama and his pastor is Obama painting himself as a healer, a uniter, and man without race. Yet, when examined, it turns out he has attended a race-baiting, race-hating church for all of his adult life. A church that, apparently, paints all blacks as helpless victims incapable of rising above their alleged plight. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Obama recently referred to his grandmother as a "typical white person." If that isn't bigotry, there is no such thing.
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ETproductions5 months ago
The Reverend Hagee, Fred W Phelps, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and MANY MANY more. http://www.godhatesamerica.com/
"Obama recently referred to his grandmother as a 'typical white person.' If that isn't bigotry, there is no such thing." No no, if taking things out of context to try to paint any uniter as a racist isn't bigotry, they there is no such thing.
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hyperbola5 months ago
This articleand the comments here are another good example of how easily americans can be led around by the nose by corrupt corporate media. You should have thought deeply about the very first sentence:
"""As white Americans, it is natural to view the narrowly excerpted comments of Obama's Reverend Jeremiah Wright through the lens of white culture, and therefore to condemn him."""
The key words are "narrowly excerpted"!!! After screening hundreds of sermons, the "corporate media" managed to find about 10 phrases taken out of context with which to whip you up into a stereotyped frenzy designed to keep you dumb and docile. Heaven forbid that you should question anything about our corrupt elite and their media lackeys.
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hyperbola5 months ago
Words in Context
... In every single newsroom on every single day, commercial and political decisions are being made while cloaked under the pretense that events themselves are the overwhelming force that steers editorial judgment. But consider how little we actually know about the decision-making process that triggered what has become the most explosive story in the presidential campaign.
On Good Morning America on March 13, Brian Ross with the stealth of a terrorist who is just about to set off a bomb, uttered these seemingly innocent words: "â;¦ an ABC News review of more than a dozen sermonsâ;¦ " â;; and we all know what followed.
What we don't know, but what could be as illuminating as the DVDs themselves, is what led ABC News to be conducting a review of Rev Jeremiah Wright's sermons in the first place.
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hyperbola5 months ago
For months, everyone who had been paying much attention knew that Wright's connection with Obama had the potential to wreak political havoc....
..So, while every cable news channel has followed ABC News' lead and made Rev Wright campaign issue #1, no one has been pressing the ABC News investigative team to explain how exactly it came to set the political agenda.
.. When news isn't new then this issue of timing means that newsmaking is taking place inside the newsroom. The media has become manufacturer. Might we be allowed to become privy to the process?
For instance, it's obvious why the ABC News editors would deem a line such as "America's chickens are coming home to roost" as newsworthy. But how did they decide that most of what came immediately after that line was irrelevant. Would most Americans not have responded in a different way if they had then heard Wright say:
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jimdoze5 months ago
This article = sophisticated excuse making.
There may well be a tradition and even, formerly (long in the past), a rationale for the form and substance of Rev Wright's monlogue's. However, there are many such memes in our culture that have become taboo... the use of the term "nappy headed ho" as an element of humor on the public airwaves is one that immediately comes to mind. The whole style and substance of the broad sweep of much of what Wright has to offer is another that, in my opinion, should be considered taboo as well.
I can hear the rejoinder: "So you would deny Wright his heritage and tradition?" My answer is "no". He has a right to be a black nationalist and to preach the form and substance of black nationalism. However, I certainly would not want my president to be associated with it in any shape, manner or form.
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GoldStandard5 months ago
Bull$hit. Wright's skin color doesn't somehow validate his hate speech, and to insist otherwise is racist in itself.
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Mdiar5 months ago
It was racist. Simple as that. The people saying what they say don't get to choose if its racist, normally that decision is left to whether or not the group that was characterized in a certain manner consider it racist. It seems most among the groups he has attacked find what he said racist. I know I was offended by it just like I'm offended when I go to a church that preaches homophobia. The thing is... I still go to that church sometimes. I may be bisexual myself, but I get more from it then the hate. I believe that to be the case with Obama. Some people are different and react differently to hate.
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SpareChange5 months ago
It's easy to discuss racism when someone says something on videotape... what do you do say about racim that's systemic?
Most of the racim in America today is institutionalized, like driving while black, poor schools, lack of job prospects, 28% of black males in prison.
This country is racist, but it no longer is said to people's face, it's said through the police, a judge or an employer.
And that's where the anger and resentment begins.
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Submitted By:
jovial
Grew up In Brooklyn. Joined the Navy in 1976 stayed in 10 years. Aircraft Electronics tech. Worked for Major Govt. contractor then settled in California ...
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