Why Wright Is Wrong
I know a million words have been written about Obama and his pastor to this point, but it seems that every day something new comes out and I can't ignore posting about this any more.
By now you've all heard the same half a dozen clips played over and over again where Wright accuses the government of creating the AIDS virus to kill brown people, says that America deserved 9/11, and that the CIA is bringing in crack to give the government an excuse to lock up black men.
What strikes me about all of this is that Wright, like Sharpton and Jackson and so many other "civil rights" leaders, plays on the fears of the very people he claims to support. He is helping to foster a culture of victimhood within the black community that allows them to blame everything that goes wrong in their community on outside forces beyond their control, thereby relieving them of any responsibility for fixing any of their own problems.
This is in stark contrast to what the black community longed for when oppression was real. When Frederick Douglas asked the question
Rev. Wright denies that right to his flock. Or rather, he encourages the self denial. He mocks members of the black community who have become successful, while continuing to portray the vast majority of the community as victims. No, that's not right. He mocks successful conservative members of the black community who are successful, referring to "Uncle Clarence" Thomas and "Condi-skeeza" Rice. (Full disclosure, he also names Oprah and Colin Powell, but makes no attempt to paint them with the denigrating terms he used about Clarence Thomas and Condi Rice) He also takes great pains to point out what a sellout Tiger Woods is for playing at country clubs that don't allow women. You can hear all of these quotes in the following exchange between Greta Van Sustern and Al Sharpton.
Sharpton, playing the race baiter that he always does, claims that there is nothing hateful about anything that Uncle Jerry says in that video; that he's merely reciting history. You know what? Fuck you, Al.
This country has had very bad history when it comes to race relations. I will be the last person to try to gloss over that. But America over the last 40 years has made great strides to do all it can to right those wrongs and provide equal opportunities to all its citizens.
The problem is that when we go from MLK Jr. hoping his four children "one day will not be judged by the color of the skin but by the content of their character" to Rev. Wright spouting off about "U.S. of KKK A", progress stops. When the black community is bombarded with this message from their pastor, from "leaders" like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, from anti-semite's like Farakahn, they are left with no reason to not believe that the only reason they can't succeed is that the white man is holding them down, trying to make slaves of them again.
Completely ignoring the fact that right now the black community is its own worst enemy. Let's look at some simple statistics.
The statistics go on and on about the breakdown in the black community, and much of it can be directly attributed to the culture of victimhood fostered by the likes of Jeremiah Wright.
What I don't understand is the willingness of the black community to believe stories about the C.I.A. distributing crack to control the black population, but the sheer ignorance about who really means them harm.
In the video above Reverend Wright claims that the hand picked justices of the Supreme Court don't believe women have the right to control their own bodies, and they are going to overturn Roe vs. Wade, as if this is some sort of affront to the black community. The truth is that abortion on demand was mostly championed by groups like Planned Parenthood, which was founded by racist Margeret Sanger as a means of controlling the black population. Rev. Johnny M. Hunter, the lead sponsor of the 1999 "Say-So" march in Washington, D.C., and national director of Life, Education and Resource Network (LEARN), the largest black pro-life organization, had this to say.
If you've never read about Margaret Sanger, go read the full article and search around for other stories about her.
Finally this week we got a short sound bite summarizing just how the black community has been trained to think of the white community in Barak Obama's "typical white person" comment. If you haven't heard it, here it is.
I find several things very offensive about these remarks.
1. Obama completely mischaracterized the experience of his grandmother. Basically, she was being harassed by a particularly aggressive panhandler and she didn't like it. Obama's grandfather, not wanting her to appear uncharitable, said that she didn't like the guy because he was black. Obama translates that to "Granny sees a black man on the street and panics".
2. The unbelievable double standard that he sets for America. Between his speech Tuesday and these remarks, he is essentially saying that it's okay for someone like Wright to hate America and whites because, you know, times were hard when he was younger and we just need to ignore his rantings because when he's not in the pulpit he's a really great guy who is really helping the community. It's also okay for the messiah of racial healing to make blanket statements about the inherent racism of the "typical white person", and their distrust of blacks. But if Geraldine Ferraro makes a remark about Obama that includes race, he wants her fired. Or if Imus makes a racist comment, Obama claims that he would never have someone like that working for him. It's time to be able to talk openly about race in America and not have the the debate automatically skewed from the first word.
In the end, I don't have a solution for the problem. As long as the black community continues to exalt leaders that feed their culture of victimhood, along with willing accomplices in the media who continue to put the most divisive race bating guests in front of cameras, the likely hood of racial reconciliation will stay a dream. At least in the media. In the mean time, the black middle class will continue to grow, minorities will continue to become judges and lawyers and doctors, silently making their own way in this world.
In the end, I guess change is going to come the same way it does everywhere else; in spite of our leaders, not because of them.
Update: I sit corrected. Listen to James David Manning, Phd. rail against Obama and the irresponsibility of black men. I can't say I agree with everything he says, but he is definitely not your typical black preacher. Don't look for Sharpton to be embracing this guy any time soon.
tip of the hat to LGF for the last video.
By now you've all heard the same half a dozen clips played over and over again where Wright accuses the government of creating the AIDS virus to kill brown people, says that America deserved 9/11, and that the CIA is bringing in crack to give the government an excuse to lock up black men.
What strikes me about all of this is that Wright, like Sharpton and Jackson and so many other "civil rights" leaders, plays on the fears of the very people he claims to support. He is helping to foster a culture of victimhood within the black community that allows them to blame everything that goes wrong in their community on outside forces beyond their control, thereby relieving them of any responsibility for fixing any of their own problems.
This is in stark contrast to what the black community longed for when oppression was real. When Frederick Douglas asked the question
"What shall we do with the Negro?" I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are wormeaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall! I am not for tying or fastening them on the tree in any way, except by nature's plan, and if they will not stay there, let them fall. And if the Negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone! If you see him on his way to school, let him alone, don't disturb him! If you see him going to the dinner table at a hotel, let him go! If you see him going to the ballot- box, let him alone, don't disturb him! [Applause.] If you see him going into a work-shop, just let him alone,--your interference is doing him a positive injury. Gen. Banks' "preparation" is of a piece with this attempt to prop up the Negro. Let him fall if he cannot stand alone! If the Negro cannot live by the line of eternal justice, so beautifully pictured to you in the illustration used by Mr. Phillips, the fault will not be yours, it will be his who made the Negro, and established that line for his government. [Applause.] Let him live or die by that. If you will only untie his hands, and give him a chance, I think he will live.When America was two separate nations, people of color didn't want to be given anything except the opportunity and the freedom to determine their own lives, which is exactly what they deserve, both then and now. Self determination is the greatest gift God has bestowed upon us, and to deny it to another is the worst of all crimes.
Rev. Wright denies that right to his flock. Or rather, he encourages the self denial. He mocks members of the black community who have become successful, while continuing to portray the vast majority of the community as victims. No, that's not right. He mocks successful conservative members of the black community who are successful, referring to "Uncle Clarence" Thomas and "Condi-skeeza" Rice. (Full disclosure, he also names Oprah and Colin Powell, but makes no attempt to paint them with the denigrating terms he used about Clarence Thomas and Condi Rice) He also takes great pains to point out what a sellout Tiger Woods is for playing at country clubs that don't allow women. You can hear all of these quotes in the following exchange between Greta Van Sustern and Al Sharpton.
Sharpton, playing the race baiter that he always does, claims that there is nothing hateful about anything that Uncle Jerry says in that video; that he's merely reciting history. You know what? Fuck you, Al.
This country has had very bad history when it comes to race relations. I will be the last person to try to gloss over that. But America over the last 40 years has made great strides to do all it can to right those wrongs and provide equal opportunities to all its citizens.
The problem is that when we go from MLK Jr. hoping his four children "one day will not be judged by the color of the skin but by the content of their character" to Rev. Wright spouting off about "U.S. of KKK A", progress stops. When the black community is bombarded with this message from their pastor, from "leaders" like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, from anti-semite's like Farakahn, they are left with no reason to not believe that the only reason they can't succeed is that the white man is holding them down, trying to make slaves of them again.
Completely ignoring the fact that right now the black community is its own worst enemy. Let's look at some simple statistics.
- IN 1993, 8.8 percent of whites, 10.5 percent of African-Americans, and 7.3 percent of Latinos were divorced. source
- In the first two years following a divorce, family income among white children falls about 30 percent, while it falls by 53 percent among black children. source
- 68% of all births among blacks happens outside of marriage source
- Contrary to what you hear from Rev. Wright, Sharpton, et al., blacks are more likely to be killed by other blacks than by any other race source
The statistics go on and on about the breakdown in the black community, and much of it can be directly attributed to the culture of victimhood fostered by the likes of Jeremiah Wright.
What I don't understand is the willingness of the black community to believe stories about the C.I.A. distributing crack to control the black population, but the sheer ignorance about who really means them harm.
In the video above Reverend Wright claims that the hand picked justices of the Supreme Court don't believe women have the right to control their own bodies, and they are going to overturn Roe vs. Wade, as if this is some sort of affront to the black community. The truth is that abortion on demand was mostly championed by groups like Planned Parenthood, which was founded by racist Margeret Sanger as a means of controlling the black population. Rev. Johnny M. Hunter, the lead sponsor of the 1999 "Say-So" march in Washington, D.C., and national director of Life, Education and Resource Network (LEARN), the largest black pro-life organization, had this to say.
Civil rights’ doesn’t mean anything without a right to life!" declared Hunter. He and the other marchers were protesting the disproportionately high number of abortions in the black community. The high number is no accident. Many Americans–black and white–are unaware of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger’s Negro Project. Sanger created this program in 1939, after the organization changed its name from the American Birth Control League (ABCL) to the Birth Control Federation of America (BCFA).
The aim of the program was to restrict–many believe exterminate–the black population. Under the pretense of "better health" and "family planning," Sanger cleverly implemented her plan.
If you've never read about Margaret Sanger, go read the full article and search around for other stories about her.
Finally this week we got a short sound bite summarizing just how the black community has been trained to think of the white community in Barak Obama's "typical white person" comment. If you haven't heard it, here it is.
I find several things very offensive about these remarks.
1. Obama completely mischaracterized the experience of his grandmother. Basically, she was being harassed by a particularly aggressive panhandler and she didn't like it. Obama's grandfather, not wanting her to appear uncharitable, said that she didn't like the guy because he was black. Obama translates that to "Granny sees a black man on the street and panics".
2. The unbelievable double standard that he sets for America. Between his speech Tuesday and these remarks, he is essentially saying that it's okay for someone like Wright to hate America and whites because, you know, times were hard when he was younger and we just need to ignore his rantings because when he's not in the pulpit he's a really great guy who is really helping the community. It's also okay for the messiah of racial healing to make blanket statements about the inherent racism of the "typical white person", and their distrust of blacks. But if Geraldine Ferraro makes a remark about Obama that includes race, he wants her fired. Or if Imus makes a racist comment, Obama claims that he would never have someone like that working for him. It's time to be able to talk openly about race in America and not have the the debate automatically skewed from the first word.
In the end, I don't have a solution for the problem. As long as the black community continues to exalt leaders that feed their culture of victimhood, along with willing accomplices in the media who continue to put the most divisive race bating guests in front of cameras, the likely hood of racial reconciliation will stay a dream. At least in the media. In the mean time, the black middle class will continue to grow, minorities will continue to become judges and lawyers and doctors, silently making their own way in this world.
In the end, I guess change is going to come the same way it does everywhere else; in spite of our leaders, not because of them.
Update: I sit corrected. Listen to James David Manning, Phd. rail against Obama and the irresponsibility of black men. I can't say I agree with everything he says, but he is definitely not your typical black preacher. Don't look for Sharpton to be embracing this guy any time soon.
tip of the hat to LGF for the last video.
Labels: race relations
You are white. Middle class, elitist to be sure, but more importantly, so far from the values and culture of people of color all you can do is make grasping conclusions based on statistics that are flawed from the jump (since most black people tend to distrust whitey, the idea that the statistics are complete is suspect at best).
Priviledged white people speaking about race relations or about how to view race relations is the worst sort of irony possible...
Posted by
Anonymous |
11:31 PM
Actually, you don't know shit about me, Ed. I spent the first several years of my life living in the projects in New Jersey, where more than 90% of my neighbors were black. Everywhere I lived until I was in my twenties were racially diverse neighborhoods, with most of my friends being black, Hispanic (mostly Puerto Rican), and a couple of guys from America Samoa to boot. I've been poor, and I've witnessed discrimination against all sorts of different people from all sorts of different people. My three years of middle school were spent watching the majority population at school daily kick the shit out of the minority population of the school. Which means that it was the black guys regularly harassing the few white kids that went to that school. Not the picture of oppression that Uncle Jerry wants to paint for everyone, but it was my experience growing up.
When I was a young child I saw my father get spit on and called baby killer because he wore a uniform, although he had never been anywhere near a war. But because the feel good, all inclusive left in this country decided that the military was bad, we were treated like dirt. The town I lived in had a really nice park at the center of town, with a large sign posted that said, "Dogs and G.I.'s stay off the grass". I would like to have seen someone get away with having a sign that said, "Dogs and Blacks Stay Off The Grass". Even in the 70s they would have been overrun with marchers and media.
But you know what? We didn't spend all our time worrying about who disliked us because of the color of our skin, or the clothes we wore. My father spent 15 years in night school going to college to better himself, and my mother spent almost 10 years working and going to school at night to get her degree. Yes, I'm middle class now, because I busted my ass and worked hard to get where I am. No one has ever given me a hand up to get to where I am, and I never asked for one. My parents are very comfortable now, but have seen times when they wondered where they were going to get their next meal.
So don't give me this bullshit that because I'm white I couldn't possible understand what minorities go through. That's the trump card that everyone tries to play as soon as you try to discuss race, and I'm throwing down the bullshit card. The biggest problem with any racial discussion in this country is that everyone else thinks they can dictate the terms of the discussion to those who happen to be white. Well I, for one, am sick of it. Jeremiah Wright is no better than your average klansman, only he gets the protection of the media because 40+ years ago he would have been discriminated against. Well, now he's the pastor of one of the largest churches in Chicago, and most likely a multi-millionaire. He has been the guest at the White House and is a personal adviser to a leading presidential candidate.
Hell, I don't know how he gets up in the morning with that kind of oppression.
Posted by
Frank |
12:38 AM
People of every race can be really awful and discriminate against other people for all sorts of reasons. So. . . you've witnessed some of it. I'm sorry to hear that.
But the truth is that because you are white you can't possibly understand what non-white people deal with. And that's all there is to it. I am also white, so neither can I. But I do know that by saying "...he gets the protection of the media because 40+ years ago he would have been discriminated against" you are showing just how very much you don't understand.
Oh, and Happy Easter Frank! :-)
Posted by
Anonymous |
9:26 PM