Obama Takes on Race, Religion in Speech Today

Posted by Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend at 6:36 AM on March 18, 2008.

Barack Obama is in Philadelphia today, where he is going to deliver a speech about race, religion, and with it, cultural differences and perceptions. The dustup over the contentious comments by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the pastor of Obama's church, who stepped down from his religion advisor to the campaign after inflammatory recorded comments of Wright's sermons surfaced cast a pall over the campaign -- and the Right ran with it.

"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," Wright said. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

Barack Obama has to give this speech because he has sold himself as a uniter, a bridge builder and when you have someone like Wright connected to the campaign railing that Hillary Clinton didn't understand what it was like to be black, saying "Hillary can never know that. Hillary ain't never been called a n-----," you have to cut them loose.
However, the message delivered is not a lie, it's true. She cannot know. Black men are too often bear the brunt of an unequal and unfair criminal justice system. In this case, the fiery, condemning delivery does nothing to address how people can come together in greater understanding and empathy -- I gather that wasn't the point of that particular sermon, but to allow the rage of injustice out from the pulpit to those who understand.
That said, people have to acknowledge part of the reason for the discomfort lies in Wright's delivery of the message. It's so black, isn't it? It sounds militant to tender ears outside the traditional black church. For that matter, it doesn't resemble the delivery of sermons in other denominations of black churches -- I was raised Episopalian, and those folks aren't the hooping and hollering types of congregations. That said, what does that all mean? If the same messages were delivered with a velvet glove, with less inflammatory language, would it generate the same reaction? I doubt it. But what does that mean in the bigger picture. I'm not sure. I think it requires more dialogue. Dialogue too many of us are afraid to engage in.
A message from Trinity United Church (Obama's house of worship), provides some insight on how the commentary about Wright's remarks are viewed on that side of the fence. Read after the jump.

This came in my inbox:

Trinity United Church of Christ's ministry is inclusive and global. The following ministries have been developed under Dr. Wright's ministerial tutelage for social justice: assisted living facilities for senior citizens, day care for children, pastoral care and counseling, health care, ministries for persons living with HIV/AIDS, hospice training, prison ministry, scholarships for thousands of students to attend historically black colleges, youth ministries, tutorial and computer programs, a church library, domestic violence programs and scholarships and fellowships for women and men attending seminary.

Moss added, "The African American Church was born out of the crucible of slavery and the legacy of prophetic African American preachers since slavery has been and continues to heal broken marginalized victims of social and economic injustices. This is an attack on the legacy of the African American Church which led and continues to lead the fight for human rights in America and around the world."

Does that excuse conspiratorial remarks about the US government causing AIDS Wright has mentioned in past sermons? No, not really. But Wright wouldn't be the first person making that assertion without proof.
A larger question I have is why either campaign, or the GOP need to bring religion into any of this -- they aren't running to be a spiritual leader. Quite frankly, Democrats have been chasing the religious vote at their own peril -- take a look at the GOP. Its moderate wing was completely silenced by the party's decision to jump in bed with the radical right religious set. Fiery sermons with bigoted hateful remarks against Catholics (Hagee), LGBTs (just about all of the professional "Christian" set) were tolerated, endorsements not turned away. This is what happens when church, state and politics are conflated as essential to political ascent.
This isn't a call to ignore faith communities -- but a plea to put personal faith into proper context. It has no place in governing or politicking because it often has a toxic, misguided effect on people's ability to govern on behalf all citizens of different faiths, no faith at all, sexual orientation or race. Look at what we've seen come out of the mouth of Sally Kern over the last week. Need I say more?
But I want to turn the discussion back to race, because I think this episode with Rev. Wright exposed the whole "scary black revolution" primal fear here.
When I heard Wright, I heard a delivery not unlike the unhinged gay-bashing Rev. Willie Wilson (Wright is actually gay-affirming, btw). The delivery sounds so angry, so harsh to many. You get the feeling, based on the reaction out there, that people are afraid Barack Obama by association, is some sort of Trojan Horse of Black Anger waiting to be unleashed, prepared to exact revenge on white society by pulling their wool over their eyes by appearing friendly, "articulate" and non-threatening. In other words -- not that [Wright] kind of black guy. And it's why Obama had to politically cut him loose, and why he's giving this speech today.


politicalceci @ DKos asked some questions in a thread and precious few took her up on the offer to provide answers. They are questions I've asked in one way or another in various posts on race matters. As an exercise, take a crack at this modified list.
* Do you believe that political consultants use subtle and overt racism to score points because it works, and that the end justifies the means? Is that good for our society, or does it matter?
* Do you think that some white people are uncomfortable when race comes up in the presidential race, from either campaign or surrogates? Why?
* Do you think that the uncomfortability of discussions about racism and implicit bias causes a shutdown of honest dialog about it in the progressive movement?  
* Does the potential defensive reaction of blacks toward broaching the topic of race inhibit at all? What personal incidents inform that judgment - and is it fair to apply that to all black people?
* Does the fear of being perceived as racist or patronizing outweigh the benefits of addressing honest questions we have about the effect of race?
All of these questions, of course, can be applied to gender as well, but for the sake of staying on topic, let's try to stay within the boundaries of race in order to make this more pointed, and less comparative. Doing so makes it more difficult because you have to dig deeper in thinking through answers. It's easy to try to measure our problems with race, gender or sexual orientation against one another as if it's an oppression Olympics. That's not the point of the questions -- it's to reveal how race, in this case, has an impact of its own on all of us.
***

Brent Childers of Faith in America notes how the media has spent much attention on Rev. Wright to the exclusion of many of the same leaders we've seen Bush cozy up to who have delivered caustic messages.

Over and over again, listeners have heard Wright's words; God damns America.  At first it is reasonable to assume most Americans would recoil from such words coming from the pulpit.  The particular interest in this pulpit is that a presidential candidate sits in front of it.

Only in recent memory, consider how many times the Religious Right, from its pulpits, has stated that America is damned because of policies aimed at protecting gay and lesbian Americans from hate crimes and discrimination? How long have Americans, former presidential contenders and presidents sat in front of that pulpit?

It is not mere coincidence that this story was brought to our attention by the Fox News network, a media outlet that is perceived by many to carry water for the Religious Right.  What is indeed shocking is how the mainstream media seemed blindsided by the story by first trying to ignore it and then falling right in line with Fox News in reporting on this as a story that has grave consequences for Obama and the Democrats.

This shows how far out of touch the mainstream media is with mainstream America.  Even more disappointing is how far out of touch the mainstream media is when it comes to confronting the Religious Right's spin machine and thinly veiled bigotry.

As long as religion is used by either side in the political realm to divide --  no matter the message or method of delivery -- we all lose.  

AlterNet is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed by its writers are their own.

Tagged as: religion, race, racism, clinton, obama, african americans, wright

Pam Spaulding blogs at Pam's House Blend.