Originally posted on March 14, 2008.

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The following two snippets are from the online coverage of the statements of Rev. Jeremiah Wright which have caused a major controversy, and could, in fact, ruin the candidacy of Barack O'Bama...

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In a fiery sermon in April 2003, Wright said: “The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes three-strike laws and wants them to sing God Bless America.

No! No No!

God damn America … for killing innocent people.

God damn America for threatening citizens as less than humans.

God damn America as long as she tries to act like she is God and supreme.”

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“We bombed Hiroshima. We bombed Nagasaki. And we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye.”

“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because of stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own backyard. America is chickens coming home to roost.”

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Now, I hear African-Americans all the time defending statements like the above, and I heard it again while watching Bill O'Reilly's coverage of the story. Both of the guests who were supporters of Barack O'Bama supported and defended the statements of Pastor Wright, saying that Bill, and the rest of White America could not understand the "Black Church", and what goes on in the "Black Church".

Now, I am not about to tell you that I understand the collective roots of African-Americans. I understand what slavery was, how it happened, and how it was ended, but I understand it because first, I happened to be listening in my school classes, and second, because I became a historian, and that makes it my job to undestand these things on some level...but I don't have the racial or ethnic background to trully understand what such things have meant to African-Americans.

However, I also realize that neither me, nor African-Americans live in that time anymore. Slavery was abolished throughout the world during the 1800s. Civil rights for African-Americans have steadily improved since 1865, to the point where successful African-Americans are serving as justices on the Supreme Court, they have served as governors of Virginia, and now, in New York, they are found in high places in government, and they are all over the corporate world. There is no real place for African-Americans to say that today's America is the same as the America of the days of slavery. To do so is to ignore over a century and a half of history, and is an insult to African-Americans who have been successful, and an insult to African-Americans who dared to stand up against the segregationist majority in the 1960s and declare "I have a dream!"

As far as Pastor Wright and Barack O'Bama are concerned, the right thing for O'Bama to do is to get rid of the man...he serves on an unofficial religious advisory group. He needs to publicly disavow Wright's statements.

Totally.

This is important because as others have said, O'Bama is running to become the next President of the United States...not President of the African-American United States...he hopes to become my President too. And as such, we have a right to know his views, his policies, and how he got to all of them.

If Pastor Wright is anywhere near any of it, O'Bama is unfit to be President.

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John B.
Blog Guy

READER COMMENT:

"Gee, I sure am glad that no conservatives are hate mongers and twist the truth! Where would we be then? Thanks for this post, I almost forgot the unending kindness of Sean Hannity. He is such a good man." - Doomage (11/2/2007)

EDITOR'S RESPONSE:

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See, now ya need to go back and re-read what I said. I didn't say that ALL Liberalistas were hatemongers, just Keithy.I also did not proclaim all Conservatives to be angels, in fact Michael Savage was pointed to as one of the 110 people ruining this country by Bernard Goldberg.

My post was simply about one person.

As for Sean, while I listen to him every so often, he is not my preferred choice. His problem is that he gets into arguments where the main strategy seems to be arguing over the top of the other person. This may be because there is only so much time during a radio or TV segment, but I learned in speech clases that such a tactic is bad form, and in a blog, I have the luxury of not needing to resort to such things.

Good reply. :)

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John B.
Blog Guy

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