Barack Obama's Controversial Pastor Puts Church (and possibly Barack) In Hot Water

RebSaint said
Okay. Since Pasty didn't place the quote in context, I will. Pasty I think will weigh in on why he posted the sermon, and if my assessment of his intententions were incorrect, but I'll take a shot at it nonetheless.

The point goes back to DavidM's post: Frederick Douglass when he made that speech was considered a radical, as were most abolitionists. Abolitionism in 1841 was a minority position and very unpopular with most Americans (especially southerners, obviously) Regarding sensitive issues concerning race, there are many black activists whose rhetoric is off-putting and downright offensive. I'm not defending it. Now, many in 1841 probably thought Douglass's rhetoric to be just as off-putting.

We can easily dismiss Wright's comments as coming from some lunatic racist, or we can place them in a broader context of the plight of the black community, being not-so-far removed from racial autrocities, Jim Crow, segregation, etc. I'm not comparing the black plight to slavery in 1841, but as DavidM so aptly pointed out, these comments need to be placed in a larger context of the black struggle for equality and the problems which still plague the black community. I'm not defending his remarks, but from an historical, sociological, and human standpoint one can see where these comments might be over the top just to gain recognition and call attention to issues which need to be addressed.

I think Pasty's posting Douglass's sermon underscored DavidM's very thoughtful insights. :shrug:

Thanks for saying what I wanted to say better than I could have done.

The truth is that I was trying to emphasize the importance (1) of clicking the link before you react (:mad:), and more importantly, (2), that Wright is writing within a tradition of discourse that has its roots in Douglass's quest (the virtue of which most of us can openly acknowledge) for social justice.

I was purposely vague about the source in hopes that people would click the link to figure out when exactly these volatile words were spoken. I thought at least that those eager to condemn Obama by association might look to find the date so that they could start checking to see whether Obama had a fundraiser on that day (:hihi:).

The truth is that we really aren't many years past a cultural history of despicable inhumanity. Yes, each of us personally may be completely innocent but that doesn't negate the history of our country (if Chop were still here, I'm sure he'd have a few things to say about the settlers' treatment of Native Americans), and it's that history, which cannot be ignored or denied, that provides a foundation for the "radical" speech of Wright.

I can tell you that when I try to put myself in someone else's shoes and understand the experiences of poor, inner-city African-Americans, I feel inadequate to the task. They don't know my life, and I don't know theirs. And just maybe, trying to see things through their eyes would help us to achieve a bit of perspective on this whole Wright mess. To me, it seems the sane thing to do, rather than just get :mad: and cry "reverse racism!" and "love it or leave it!"