Taken at face value it was a pretty brilliant speech. He said things about race that needed to be said. We all can agree that someone like Wright, who grew up during a time when racism was more blatant and codified into law, have every reason to be angry (though, as I’ve said, not as a Christian) but the expression of that anger is really the issue here. I think that Obama did a good job of reminding us why there is that anger and why Obama understands where his pastor is coming from.
Politically, it was pretty brilliant because he covered his tushie in case any more Wright comments come to light:
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
But I think that Obama drops the ball a little when on the one hand he condemns the remarks but on the other he sees Wright as a part of him. That’s fine and he does give a good reason for doing so but he leaves the door open for us all to embrace racist preachers if they are uplifting in other ways. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense:
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:
“People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend’s voice up into the rafters….And in that single note – hope! – I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones. Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn’t need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish – and with which we could start to rebuild.”
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
But I think that he was at his best when he talked about the problems we have in this nation regarding race:
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn’t make it – those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations – those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.
And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright’s sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
It paints a picture that we might want to ignore. We say, “Move on! Stop living in the past.” But we forget or don’t realize those things that have happened in the past may have robbed people of an opportunity for the future. One that they bitterly resent and that holds them bound to their past and unable to move forward. And that resentment can be passed on to future generations impeding their progress as well.
But that makes it even more heinous that Wright doesn’t preach the gospel in his church that he would say what he did without preaching forgiveness which is the heart of the gospel. That he doesn’t share with his people the need to remove the bitter root:
Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
That he doesn’t share with them the freedom of living in the grace of God and how freeing it is to forgive instead of resent those who have wronged you (I blogged about that here). How freeing it is to lift the burden of anger and resentment off your shoulders and give it over to God. To be able to be free from the bitterness and resentment because you know that justice will prevail, one day those who burdened you will pay before the judgment seat of God.
I thought what he said after this was crap, though (when he talked about white communities and our lack of privilege).
But he followed with this which I thought was pretty good:
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old — is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know — what we have seen – is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
It’s smart of him to acknowledge the gains. On the one hand, how racist can we be if he is leading the race for president but on the hand, I know there are people who aren’t voting for him because he’s black.
Overall it was pretty good speech, I didn’t like the ending. I thought it was a little arrogant. I know that there are many on the right who are trashing the speech but I’m ready to give him the benefit of the doubt. I understand that we can look at this very cynically and I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole thing was meant to be manipulative, telling us what we want to hear about race.
He probably helped himself politically because now the speech is the focus, not the words of the pastor but he’s words. And all the news shows will be praising it to the hilt. When he’s asked about his church, he can point to his speech and deflect the question. But ultimately it will probably have as much impact on the race as Romney’s speech did.
Update: I edited this because I didn’t meant to be so bold as to say that he never preached the gospel or that he never preached forgiveness. Though if he ever did preach forgiveness, his words negate that messages.
posted March 18, 2008 at 10:20 pm
The speech was brilliant–many have and will say so, but the thing that is compelling for me is that I do believe him. The man is the son of a white mother and an African father. From his own kitchen table, he could see race from different points of view. If we don’t heal racial animosity and misunderstanding in this country, we will suffer more and more. Obama is in a position to encourage and foster that healing, and I believe he wants to do it.
posted March 18, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Obama is a great man and he show the world what class is all about. He is the vision of Mlk coming true and I hope the next man in the white house. He is not the type to throw his friends under the truck, unlike Hillary. Obama is a man on a mission and i ask all of you to vote for him in nov 08. We have a man who for real change and let not not allowed it. We lost Bobby in 1968′s. let us not have it happen to Obama again. oh his Minister was really not wrong in his speeches, there was alot truth in them and we can not fully denial them. GOD BLESS AMERICAN, GOD BLESS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, GOD BLESS OBAMA YOUR MAMA PEOPLE.
posted March 18, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Thanks for some kind remarks on Obama! HOwever I queston on part of your post.
“But I think that Obama drops the ball a little when on the one hand he condemns the remarks but on the other he sees Wright as a part of him. That’s fine and he does give a good reason for doing so but he leaves the door open for us all to embrace racist preachers if they are uplifting in other ways. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense:”
There are some people who had a significant influence on me as a child, teen, in college, etc that also have some views in certain areas I strongly condemn. My parents were racist! However to speak of them positively in many areas, and recognizing they are a part of me, is not in my mind opening others up to embraceing racism. I had a fav prof in college (Philosophy) who helped me to learn to think critically. I certainly reject some beliefs he held, but he also had a very positive impact one me in other ways. To love someone, and let them influence your life, despite significant disagreement with them, is to not open the door for us all to “embrace” the wrong. “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” (Luke 7:33-34). Jesus left the “door open” to be accused of “embracing” the wrong beliefs by hanging with the “wrong” people, but he embraced the person whose beliefs he did not believe. Although Obama certainly is not Jesus, maybe he was doing, in some ways, what Jesus called all of us to do- be missional, and not just hang out with those who are just like us.
posted March 18, 2008 at 10:51 pm
You are critical of Rev. Wright because you think he doesn’t emphasize forgiveness and/or because you think he is soft on bitterness and hatred.
It seems to me that such sentiments miss a critical concern. Where is confession and repentance?
It is not enough to claim I am not a racist because I am not aware of any feelings or attitudes of racism. That is neither repentance or confession. Racism isn’t so much about individual intent as about insensitivity to historic and systemic oppression. Healing dialog has to begin with at least recognition that others feel a grievance. More importantly, even if you have trouble recognizing hurt in others the least you can do is join together to try to make things better for the common good.
Are you willing to have the money for the next new school go to where the new school is most needed even if the next ten schools would go to black neighborhoods on that basis? Are you going to take your children out of the public schools to try to escape what you think is an inferior school and then oppose the next bond referendum because you are already paying for education and you don’t want to pay twice?
When you weigh your answers you might want to consider that Trinity United Church of Christ which has few white members is the largest congregation in a denomination, the United Church of Christ, which is over 90 percent white. It is also the largest contributor of any congregation to the national denomination. This is not a church that hates and divides. It is a church intent on solidarity across the lines of race, willing to meet and share across racial lines, willing to join in cooperative ministries across racial lines.
Can you imagine how hard it is to be a pastor when you work with a family that cannot buy a home because of race based red-lining? There is a lot to get mad about, a lot to get mad about that is the same old story year after year. As Obama says, sometimes anger leads one astray. But you need to hear that Rev. Wright and Trinity United Church of Christ are a lighthouse of healing and justice.
And what makes Rev. Wright the most angry? The anger, the buried self-interest, the unwillingness to listen to the hurt that is part of the truth he lives with day-to-day. He has shown again and again that he is willing to hold out his hand in fellowship, to share in the ministries of healing and justice with others, and to work for a better United States that he fought for as a Marine. Are you willing to look further than the clips taken out of context? Are you willing to meet the whole person, the whole church.
By the way, I am white and have never been a member of Trinity UCC. But I have heard Rev. Wright preach at national meetings of the United Church of Christ and I know that he has a deep grounding in a constructive and loving Christian faith.
posted March 19, 2008 at 1:21 am
In my part of the world the best way to find out what people really think is to take some time and go to the corner bar and if my corner bar is any indication, the speech bombed in ways that the pundits cannot begin to imagine.
Now, admittedly, this is not Obama country I’m in, but the level of popular commentary was hostile in new and interesting ways. So if he wanted to ingratiate himself with the white unmiddle class, my admittedly biased and unscientific research would indicate that he failed and failed miserably.
posted March 19, 2008 at 1:46 am
“… but the level of popular commentary was hostile in new and interesting ways.”
please explain. i’m very interested to know what they were saying at the bar that you frequent.
posted March 19, 2008 at 3:56 am
“But that makes it even more heinous that Wright doesn’t preach the gospel in his church. That he doesn’t share with his people the need to remove the bitter root”
michele, have you attended every one of his sermons? have they all been posted in their entirety on youtube for you to critique? how then can you know what has or has not been preached by wright? how can you erase the full measure of the man and define a person by a handful of 20 second clips? that’s quite judgmental of you.
“I understand that we can look at this very cynically and I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole thing was meant to be manipulative, telling us what we want to hear about race.”
i’m glad that you have tried your best to look at this evenly, and that you say you give obama the benefit of the doubt, but your words send a different message.
what are you giving him the benefit of the doubt for? do you think that obama is racist? did he say anything that was racist? did he endorse those clips of wright? also, what motive would he have to NOT disown wright when that would have been the politically safe thing to do? i just can’t agree with you on this point. even you have indicated that you don’t agree with “guilt by association”.
what i haven’t heard enough yet is the msm pressing mccain on his association with his “religious advisors”… can’t we take mccain on his word?
hagee also agrees that god damns america:
and
or of pastor rod parsley, whom mccain publicly embraced as his spiritual advisor:
i suppose that we can attribute the msm’s silence on mccain’s friends to their liberal bias and love and free passes for obama…
“I thought what he said after this was crap, though (when he talked about white communities and our lack of privilege).”
what part, exactly? because i connected with the white resentment that he addresses. it’s exactly what my white, conservative father complains about. it’s exactly what my white, conservative friends complain about (especially after a beer or two).
posted March 19, 2008 at 11:27 am
“You are critical of Rev. Wright because you think he doesn’t emphasize forgiveness and/or because you think he is soft on bitterness and hatred.
It seems to me that such sentiments miss a critical concern. Where is confession and repentance?”
If you had gone to the link to my article where I addressed forgiveness, you would have seen that I mentioned that a number of denominations have apologized for slavery. I understand that forgiveness and reconciliation are a two way street and have already addressed that issue.
Plus, I think you need to read more of the posts that I’ve written on this topic because I don’t deny that the anger and bitterness isn’t justified, it’s just not very Christian.
posted March 19, 2008 at 11:33 am
Where have I equated Obama with the words of his pastor?
“michele, have you attended every one of his sermons? ”
You’re right, in the past I’ve written that a little more carefully. I did in the previous article I wrote on forgiveness.
You will be happy to know that I addressed pastors asking God to damn America in my most recent post.
BTW, I doubt that McCain even knows what Hagee has said and there’s a big difference between sitting in the pew for 20 years and getting an endorsement from someone on the rr.
posted March 19, 2008 at 9:17 pm
This is just toooo timely …
Upcoming book links parishioners’ politics with their priests’ views – Catholic News Service …
“But whichever subjects their priests address, said author Gregory Smith, a fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, people clearly are being influenced in their political thinking by what they hear from the pulpit and read in their parish bulletins.”
Could just apply to the Catholics …
posted March 19, 2008 at 11:01 pm
“BTW, I doubt that McCain even knows what Hagee has said and there’s a big difference between sitting in the pew for 20 years and getting an endorsement from someone on the rr.”
actually, he does. and it’s clear, based on his comment. my point is that i think we can take them both at their word, obama says he does not agree with everything that wright says, and mccain claims the same with hagee. i have no reason to doubt either of them.
and, yes, the difference would be that obama and wright have a 20 year friendship, which makes it difficult for him to disown the man even if he disagrees with some of the things he says.
btw, thanks for clearing up your earlier hasty mistake.
posted March 20, 2008 at 10:12 am
“actually, he does. and it’s clear, based on his comment”
Come on, get real. He was probably told the guy was an anti-Catholic. I doubt he’s read or heard anything the guy said. Look, I have no intention of defending the guy on Hagee but I really don’t think McCain has a clue about Hagee because if he did, he wouldn’t have bothered with the endorsement (he’s not that influential and he’s considered a bit of a kook).
“thanks for clearing up your earlier hasty mistake”
Believe me, I’m not interested in slandering a fellow Christian (both Obama and Wright) it would be wrong of me to attribute motives or actions that I don’t have clear knowledge of.
posted March 20, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I have no intention of defending the guy [McCain] … (he’s [Hagee] not that influential
Loyalty takes humility and involves vulnerability, as someone loyal to a wayward church can discover the hard way.
posted March 21, 2008 at 11:01 pm
even had he not known prior to accepting the endorsement (which i still find hard to believe based on his “caveat”) i’m certain that by now, he should be very aware. if not, then i’d be concerned about his lack of awareness and worldly knowledge.
although, considering that after five years at war he still can’t get sunni and shiite and iran and al qaeda in iraq right while supporting the war in iraq, maybe you have a valid point.
posted April 22, 2009 at 8:55 pm
The “More Perfect Union” speech was the genesis behind a book and website of the same name: http://www.segregatedhour.com. Please visit the site for information, articles, and books on the topic of church segregation.