Wright is Right
The more I think about it, the more pissed off I get.
All these pundits and 'intellectuals' get on my fucking, got-damned nerves. They are granted a voice of which they are blessed with the masses' rapt attention and they forever use it do to what, exactly? Spin to play politics and not very well is what they do. This latest hubbub over Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons are not taken out of context but they are misunderstood under the veil of the white majority's misplaced righteous indignation.
Well, it's my turn to be a little fucking indignant. I have white people in my family, whom I love but, let me tell you, the minute they—white or black—ever, if ever, step to me with anything remotely similar to what the talking heads on Fox or, even, black, Uncle Thomas Sowell has said about Wright and Obama, I will be the first to put them in their place. So, why not check a bunch of strangers? Couldn't find a reason not to, so here goes.
Wright's sermons have been dug up, gone through and carefully vetted for ammunition to use against Obama. We all know this as it is painfully obvious that the GOP political machine is gearing up for the fight to retain its White House. All this rhetoric about the man who mentored Obama for 20 years, officiated his wedding and blessed his children is a smoke screen. Before you get hung up on Wright's line of "God Damn America" let's peel this onion and actually THINK about how he got there.
The following video is the full segment of one of the most aired 15-second clips from one of his parishoners.
REV. JEREMIAH WRIGHT'S INFAMOUS SERMON (9 MINS 57 SECS)
Wright quoted Malcolm X's infamous, "Chickens have come home to roost." But has anybody stopped to think: did Wright lie? He said WE stole this country, WE did. He said, WE bombed Grenada, um, WE did that too. He said, WE started wars, yup. WE killed pregnant mothers and children, erm, yeah. He said, WE, WE, WE. Yup, yup, yup. The fact of the matter is, America did do all those things. And no, WE never batted any eyelashes while WE did it.
So, he gets called a divisive racist for speaking the truth. Yes, lawdy, the end times are near. Then he gets castigated on national television for calling out white mainstream America for putting both crack and AIDS in the African-American communities.
If you don't know, the war on drugs is a war on poor people of color. (Thanks to Reagan a president white people love and black people abhor for several reasons including trickle-down economics.) That's why the prison penalties for possessing as little as five grams of crack is about 10 years while the penalty for selling the cocaine crack is made from is the jail time equivalent of a slap on the wrist.
Still assuming you didn't know, people of color sell and use crack. Surburban middle, upper middle and upper class whites sell and use cocaine. It's that simple. Hence, Obama's record of not voting for stricter drug penalties because he knows they unfairly penalize people of color. (This will be one of the GOP's strongest arguments against Obama's bi-partianship claim. They will scream, "He's got a liberal record! He votes his party line!!" You watch.)
As recently as November, the US Sentencing Commission lowered the unduly harsh 10 years to 8 because prisons are busting at the seams. The GOP's plan actually worked. Now all those due to be released from prison, can NEVER vote in any election because they are convicted criminals although they have paid their debt to society.
The majority of America's white people from D.C. to L.A. freaked out and collectively, whether unspoken or outspoken, said, "Wright's crazy. Why would white people want to kill/destroy black people? That's just ludicrous!"
How easily the comfortable majority forgets the atrocities committed not that long ago. I know people experience selective recall but I'm not about to let our government with the help of these media buffoons forget these three words:
THE TUSKEGEE EXPERIMENT
Photo courtesy of minority-health.pitt.edu
Our government claimed to be administering a vaccine for spyhilis while dosing black patients with a placebo to merely observe how the disease spreads and kills. Other sufferers were given aid through treatment programs withheld from 399 black men who suffered. Our government only copped to this when the experiment was exposed.
This is the reality of America's black community. And when you hear blacks denounce our voting system, it stems from years of being subjected to poll taxes and literacy questionnaires whites weren't. And, the 2000 and 2004 elections weren't the only ones where blacks were disenfranchised. It happens in EVERY election and it will in 2008 too.
For those of you who buy into the idea Wright committed a wrong, I question how could you not understand? He spoke plainly with the vehement veracity of those who suffer injustice, generation after generation, yes. But when did he lie? Not once. The one thing on which we can all agree—from the ire his sermons have drawn—the truth still hurts.
All these pundits and 'intellectuals' get on my fucking, got-damned nerves. They are granted a voice of which they are blessed with the masses' rapt attention and they forever use it do to what, exactly? Spin to play politics and not very well is what they do. This latest hubbub over Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons are not taken out of context but they are misunderstood under the veil of the white majority's misplaced righteous indignation.
Well, it's my turn to be a little fucking indignant. I have white people in my family, whom I love but, let me tell you, the minute they—white or black—ever, if ever, step to me with anything remotely similar to what the talking heads on Fox or, even, black, Uncle Thomas Sowell has said about Wright and Obama, I will be the first to put them in their place. So, why not check a bunch of strangers? Couldn't find a reason not to, so here goes.
Wright's sermons have been dug up, gone through and carefully vetted for ammunition to use against Obama. We all know this as it is painfully obvious that the GOP political machine is gearing up for the fight to retain its White House. All this rhetoric about the man who mentored Obama for 20 years, officiated his wedding and blessed his children is a smoke screen. Before you get hung up on Wright's line of "God Damn America" let's peel this onion and actually THINK about how he got there.
The following video is the full segment of one of the most aired 15-second clips from one of his parishoners.
REV. JEREMIAH WRIGHT'S INFAMOUS SERMON (9 MINS 57 SECS)
Wright quoted Malcolm X's infamous, "Chickens have come home to roost." But has anybody stopped to think: did Wright lie? He said WE stole this country, WE did. He said, WE bombed Grenada, um, WE did that too. He said, WE started wars, yup. WE killed pregnant mothers and children, erm, yeah. He said, WE, WE, WE. Yup, yup, yup. The fact of the matter is, America did do all those things. And no, WE never batted any eyelashes while WE did it.
So, he gets called a divisive racist for speaking the truth. Yes, lawdy, the end times are near. Then he gets castigated on national television for calling out white mainstream America for putting both crack and AIDS in the African-American communities.
If you don't know, the war on drugs is a war on poor people of color. (Thanks to Reagan a president white people love and black people abhor for several reasons including trickle-down economics.) That's why the prison penalties for possessing as little as five grams of crack is about 10 years while the penalty for selling the cocaine crack is made from is the jail time equivalent of a slap on the wrist.
Still assuming you didn't know, people of color sell and use crack. Surburban middle, upper middle and upper class whites sell and use cocaine. It's that simple. Hence, Obama's record of not voting for stricter drug penalties because he knows they unfairly penalize people of color. (This will be one of the GOP's strongest arguments against Obama's bi-partianship claim. They will scream, "He's got a liberal record! He votes his party line!!" You watch.)
As recently as November, the US Sentencing Commission lowered the unduly harsh 10 years to 8 because prisons are busting at the seams. The GOP's plan actually worked. Now all those due to be released from prison, can NEVER vote in any election because they are convicted criminals although they have paid their debt to society.
The majority of America's white people from D.C. to L.A. freaked out and collectively, whether unspoken or outspoken, said, "Wright's crazy. Why would white people want to kill/destroy black people? That's just ludicrous!"
How easily the comfortable majority forgets the atrocities committed not that long ago. I know people experience selective recall but I'm not about to let our government with the help of these media buffoons forget these three words:
THE TUSKEGEE EXPERIMENT
Photo courtesy of minority-health.pitt.edu
Our government claimed to be administering a vaccine for spyhilis while dosing black patients with a placebo to merely observe how the disease spreads and kills. Other sufferers were given aid through treatment programs withheld from 399 black men who suffered. Our government only copped to this when the experiment was exposed.
This is the reality of America's black community. And when you hear blacks denounce our voting system, it stems from years of being subjected to poll taxes and literacy questionnaires whites weren't. And, the 2000 and 2004 elections weren't the only ones where blacks were disenfranchised. It happens in EVERY election and it will in 2008 too.
For those of you who buy into the idea Wright committed a wrong, I question how could you not understand? He spoke plainly with the vehement veracity of those who suffer injustice, generation after generation, yes. But when did he lie? Not once. The one thing on which we can all agree—from the ire his sermons have drawn—the truth still hurts.
Great article. Never before had I noticed what you wrote about until I moved to Nashville.
It is so open and in your face what the white people are doing to the black community and from what I have learned from my black neighbors that the police have allowed the black people to sell drugs for their own personal gain for over 30 years. The money and sex was their motive. It didn't stop with the drug dealing they used the black women for prostitution including for servicing the police, which I was told they got a discount price.
As a white woman I had never seen this activity in any city including N.Y. before in my life the way it happens in Nashville.
Confronted the police for years, even asked why the black communities are treated differently than the white communities? Needless to say the police chief and 2 sergeants all flagged me.
I was told to move. Frustrated with the amount of black people shot, murdered, used and abused is why to this day I continue the fight.
Black politicians tried to have the police investigated but to date they have been hushed up or threatened like many of my neighbors. Scared of the dealers, scared of the police has been the norm. I hear the term "dirty cop" on a daily basis.
For five years, and two camcorders later, a new Commander we are finally seeing results. People that have been dealing are being given a second chance to change their drug dealing lives. What's sad is that they have records a mile long, and many addicted because of the apathy within the police department and within the white political community whom all have made thousands of dollars from those in the black community at the cost of many of their lives.
The other night an officer was in front of my home. He showed me a 357 he just got off a child who traded it for a crack rock. The kid went to juvenile, sad, but at least the kid is alive.
No curiosity where the kids are getting these guns from the police department and that bothers me. They know that there is more black on black crime and if they kill their own they justify it by saying they where all involved in illegal activity so it it accepted. The police know they will shoot one another so they just sit back and watch.
Not sure how long I will be here but as long as I am I will fight to keep all in my community safe. My God, they are all God's children and deserve the same rights as every other one of God children. "A RIGHT TO LIFE."
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The decline of black communities began with integration and your neighborhood (which I know well) serves as proof it continues today.
The old adage, "be careful what you wish for" rings true when it came to the after effects of integration, especially in the American South, ie, Nashville. During segregation, black communities flourished because they pumped their own money into the businesses within their neighborhoods. This created jobs and marginal representation because of the tax base they generated. Once blacks could spend their money in white businesses in mainstream city centers, they did and kissed the revenue, jobs for blacks by blacks and quality goods and services within our own communities goodbye. Today, we still haven't recovered from the loss and little is done on the whole to rebuild these communities.
Pre-9/11 Magic Johnson and a coalition of businessmen and women invested in Harlem for a second renaissance. First, it was a Starbucks, then a movie theatre and a couple of mainstream fast food places. Post-9/11 all those displaced whites who always looked down their noses at Harlem, quickly realized the historically black neighborhood IS a part of Manhattan Island and there are various anchor stores now located there to reflect who is moving to the area. This comes at a cost--gentrification.
I don't know what the correct answer is to solve the perpetually systematic neglect by city, state and federal governments of communities of color but until we do, there won't be any fundamental changes in neighborhoods like East Nashville.
I do know the black community doesn't trust any police official. So the handing out of leaflets by said police, encouraging black drug dealers to turn their lives around with courses, etc. is probably perceived as today's version of the same leaflets that offered a sphyilis vaccine in Tuskegee in 1932. They are right not to trust it, as those same police officers are the ones who stop by to pick up their weekly take, while pitstopping on the corner for a BJ from their favorite teenage hooker. Every facet of mainstream America exploits the poor and the hopeless, the police are no exception--in Nashville or New York.
Thanks for reading!
LL
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wonderful article.
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So glad you liked it. Thanks for reading!
LL
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Fear is what it comes down to. I think that fear has set in, because "they" are realizing Obama can win. They have to try and find something dirty about him. Try to dirty up his value system. The Minister Wright is a good minister, he a black minister, speaking about real issues in his community and the world as he sees. A typical sermon on a Sunday in any "black" church. That man didn't say anything in any of those sermons that I saw as Anti-American or racist. Reality is what I saw. Not every church is "Sit, Kneel and pray" some ministers actually use the bible for more than just a scare tactic,lol. I've been those boring churches where it's more like a funeral than church. I'll take a minister like Wright any day of the week over that mono-toned dry stuff America would like to shove down your throat trying to scare into your faith.
Just to comment a little on what Nashville was saying. I am happy to see that her eyes are opened to the struggle. These are scary times we are living in and they wouldn't change, because they can't change. Not until people WANT to make a change. Drugs are god, money is god and yes,lol sex is god. They dirty cops only see profit and power. The people selling the drugs only see greed and success. The people buying the drug only see the high. The government sees control. As long as all this going on in the "ghetto" it keeps "them"(us) out of "our"(them) backyards. And if it gets to out of hand, there is always prison. Prison is nothing more than slavery. Trust me they know that, that's why sentencing for drug crimes are so long. Down south they have already gone back to chain gang prison systems. Going out to the "farm" is a term I've heard about going to prison in the south and we all know what the "farm" was . People need to wake up! Realize that the majority of people in prison are there because of control. There is a formula to what is happening and if the math works out the way it should, prison(legalized slavery)will be ultimate form of control. Because now you've given up everything that makes you an "American" citizen. the most important of things being your freedom.
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Excellent entry. You should forward a copy to Elizabeth Hasselbeck from the View as she has been making it a daily mission to bring up Rev. Wright and demonize him as a racist. This, as obvious ignorance because although it would be possible for him to hold prejudices, a racist he simply cannot be. He is, for all intents and purposes, the "Speaker of the African American/Black House" as we all know that within our community, the Church is and will remain the heart beat of our people. It's difficult for people of other ethnicities to understand this because THEY HAVE representation, but we have always had to rely on the Church for ours. It's our own government. Wright wasn't lying. He was reiterating facts. He was recalling his own experiences. He was speaking the truth. And that is far too much for those living with and embracing and benefiting from "W. Privilege" to grasp.
What's interesting is that the Clintons ALSO welcomed Rev. Wright and there is ample evidence of a relationship with him, but yet, that hasn't been a news story that had staying power because it simply doesn't benefit those with connections to rise above it.
Barack is between a rock and a hard place and our Dem party isn't doing its job to support him and dismiss this nonsense. It's much like a school yard fight where everyone stands around watching and refuses to take sides until it's clear that someone has the edge. Well, Obama has that edge...and it's time Howard Dean and the media get off their butts and focus on the issues or at least dig fairly and with accuracy on the other candidate. Hil has her own skeletons and it's my belief that those won't stand up against McCain in any debate, let alone election. All this bickering, especially when we know which camp it comes from is only going to confuse voters and leave them without a viable candidate come convention time. The time to pick a side is now. Even as a Clinton-ite....a devoted one, I think it's time for Hil to do what is best for the party and bail so we can put all our resources together for the real battle. Battling the real status quo, the real issues in D.C., battling John McCain and the tongue he is using to suck up to the far right and the Bush administration.
Obama cannot only just win, he will win, but it will require Americans to take off the rose tinted glasses and stop trusting people just because their last name reminds them of a time when life may have been a bit easier. There won't be another dot com boom....something that made Clinton's terms seem Fantasia like. This is the real deal and I guarantee you that when it all comes down to it, more people will care about the economy, the war and trade agreements than what any preacher said in a 10 second blip.
And even with that, Wright was on point. It's just that some people can't handle the truth without throwing out the cop out/conversation stopper of "Oh, the race card again," or question ones patriotism.
~Scenic~
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Good points, all. I would have approved this comment sooner but as an earlier entry states, my blogging is now sporadic as I am transitioning this blog to its next phase.
Thanks for reading.
LL
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LoisLane: You made some very good and pertinent points in the article. Well done. I liked it.
I have absolutely no interest in the content of any speech by Rev. Wright, and will not sit here pretending to even care, because in all honesty I do not listen to church sermons anymore. But, the views of Rev.Wright do have relevance because others involved in the electoral process want to make his views relevant. They want to ascribe to Barack Obama, the controversial views allegedly expressed by Rev.Wright.
Barack Obama was electable, and maybe he remains so, because he was able to define himself as a man rather than as a black man. His rivals know this and thus they, including Hiliary Clinton, are seeking to redefine Barack Obama as a black man.
Accordingly,the views of Rev.Wright are relevant to indicate by association not only how Barack Obama really thinks,but more importantly to show that he holds views that are similar to those held by the typical angry black man in America.
In effect, the rivals of Barack Obama, maybe even in collusion with the media, are playing the "race card" against him. Yes,of course, they would all deny this and claim that Barack Obama is a decent candidate, that his race is not an issue, and that he is a man of the highest integrity. But they also know that those claims do not conteract the implicit suggestion that Barack Obama is nothing but an angry black man who cannot be trusted enough to occupy the highest office in America.
The truth is clear for all who have eyes to see it and an open mind that is sufficiently receptive to it.
LuvDane
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