Wright is still wrong.

[DKW 86 7,441]

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/...new_wright.html

A Speech That Fell Short

By Michael Gerson

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama has run a campaign based on a simple premise: that words of unity and hope matter to America. Now he has been forced by his charismatic, angry pastor to argue that words of hatred and division don't really matter as much as we thought.

Obama's Philadelphia speech made this argument as well as it could be made. He condemned the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's views in strong language -- and embraced Wright as a wayward member of the family. He made Wright and his congregation a symbol of both the nobility and "shocking ignorance" of the African-American experience -- and presented himself as a leader who transcends that conflicted legacy. The speech recognized the historical reasons for black anger -- and argued that the best response to those grievances is the adoption of Obama's own social and economic agenda.

It was one of the finest political performances under pressure since John F. Kennedy at the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in 1960. It also fell short in significant ways.

The problem with Obama's argument is that Wright is not a symbol of the strengths and weaknesses of the African-American community. He is a political extremist, holding views that are shocking to many Americans who wonder how any presidential candidate could be so closely associated with an adviser who refers to the "U.S. of KKK-A" and urges God to "damn" our country.

Obama's excellent and important speech on race in America did little to address his strange tolerance for the anti-Americanism of his spiritual mentor.

Take an issue that Obama did not specifically confront in Philadelphia. In a 2003 sermon, Wright claimed, "The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color."

This accusation does not make Wright, as Obama would have it, an "occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy." It makes Wright a dangerous man. He has casually accused America of one of the most monstrous crimes in history, perpetrated by a conspiracy of medical Mengeles. If Wright believes his charge is correct, he should urge the overthrow of the American government, which he views as guilty of unspeakable evil. If I believed Wright were correct, I would join him in that cause.

But Wright's accusation is batty, reflecting a sputtering, incoherent hatred for America. And his pastoral teaching may put lives at risk, because the HIV virus spreads more readily in an atmosphere of denial, quack science and conspiracy theories.

The Philadelphia speech implied that these toxic views are somehow parallel to the stereotyping of black men by Obama's grandmother, which Obama said made him "cringe" -- both are the foibles of family. But while Grandma may have had some issues to work through, Wright is accusing the American government of trying to kill every member of a race. There is a difference.

But haven't George Bush and other Republican politicians accepted the support of Jerry Falwell, who spouted hate of his own? Yes, but they didn't financially support his ministry and sit directly under his teaching for decades.

The better analogy is this: What if a Republican presidential candidate spent years in the pew of a theonomist church -- a fanatical fragment of Protestantism that teaches the modern political validity of ancient Hebrew law? What if the church's pastor attacked the American government as illegitimate and accepted the stoning of homosexuals and recalcitrant children as appropriate legal penalties (which some theonomists interpret as biblical requirements)? Surely we would conclude, at the very least, that the Republican candidate attending this church lacked judgment, and that his donations were subsidizing hatred. And we would be right.

In Philadelphia, Obama attempted to explain Wright's anger as typical of the civil rights generation, with its "memories of humiliation and doubt and fear." But Wright's problem is exactly the opposite: He ignored the message of Martin Luther King Jr. and introduced a new generation to the politics of hatred.

King drew a different lesson from the oppression he experienced: "I've seen too much hate to want to hate myself; hate is too great a burden to bear. I've seen it on the faces of too many sheriffs of the South. ... Hate distorts the personality. ... The man who hates can't think straight; the man who hates can't reason right; the man who hates can't see right; the man who hates can't walk right."

Barack Obama is not a man who hates -- but he chose to walk with a man who does.

And this is a character flaw with Obama. It might not be fatal, but it is a flaw nonetheless.

[OldNewby 27]

Wright is still wrong.

True… and a nice play on words.

[LegalEagle 22]

Excellent article.

Obama is half-white - but apparently all black. Wright is almost-white, but apparently 110% black. What is the cut off percentage for being African-American vs. Anglo-American?

If you are 75% white and 25% black, have you really been persecuted? Should your 75% part pay for your forefathers sins against your 25% part?

I'm sorry, but I don't get it. Maybe white folks still have an edge in this country, but it's only marginal. I can't see the benefit of spewing racist venom - especially in church. Church is where we should all consider ourselves completely equal before God.

[OldNewby 27]

Church is where we should all consider ourselves completely equal before God.

Well said, LE!

[autiger4life 3]

I'm sorry, but I don't get it. Maybe white folks still have an edge in this country, but it's only marginal.

and then we can all ride off on our magical unicorn.

[LegalEagle 22]

I'm sorry, but I don't get it. Maybe white folks still have an edge in this country, but it's only marginal.

and then we can all ride off on our magical unicorn.

Can you be a bit more specific? What's your comment?

[WinCrimson 61]

I think he's attempting to say that your statement on the "only marginal" edge that whites have over blacks is untrue. That's my interpretation of his words.

Then again, I think the gap between races is much bigger in different areas of the nation. The South brings up the rear in all economic and social categories, and the majority of this nation's African-Americans happen to live here. You'll find much less disparity between races in other areas of the nation. Blacks of the Mississippi Delta and Alabama Black Belt obviously live drastically different lifestyles than those in more affluent areas.

[LegalEagle 22]

I think he's attempting to say that your statement on the "only marginal" edge that whites have over blacks is untrue. That's my interpretation of his words.

Then again, I think the gap between races is much bigger in different areas of the nation. The South brings up the rear in all economic and social categories, and the majority of this nation's African-Americans happen to live here. You'll find much less disparity between races in other areas of the nation. Blacks of the Mississippi Delta and Alabama Black Belt obviously live drastically different lifestyles than those in more affluent areas.

Well, whites don't do as well in those areas either. However, I find it difficult to believe that one who applies himself in school, develops a habit of honesty and strong work ethic, goes to work, and abides by the law of the land has any difficulty in reaching at least the broad middle class of America. I don't care what color he/she is.

Think about it - how many people who follow the Auburn Creed are hurting for a hand out or a hand up? That applies whether you get a higher education or not.

[WinCrimson 61]

I think he's attempting to say that your statement on the "only marginal" edge that whites have over blacks is untrue. That's my interpretation of his words.

Then again, I think the gap between races is much bigger in different areas of the nation. The South brings up the rear in all economic and social categories, and the majority of this nation's African-Americans happen to live here. You'll find much less disparity between races in other areas of the nation. Blacks of the Mississippi Delta and Alabama Black Belt obviously live drastically different lifestyles than those in more affluent areas.

Well, whites don't do as well in those areas either. However, I find it difficult to believe that one who applies himself in school, develops a habit of honesty and strong work ethic, goes to work, and abides by the law of the land has any difficulty in reaching at least the broad middle class of America. I don't care what color he/she is.

Think about it - how many people who follow the Auburn Creed are hurting for a hand out or a hand up? That applies whether you get a higher education or not.

I don't disagree. Yet, when I see two "parents" hauling around a preteen with Swisher Sweet affixed to his lips, you can pretty much discount him from ever making it to the middle class. I hear all this talk about people being able to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, but I come into contact with many who don't even have the bootstraps. Based on your handle, I'm guessing you do, too.

And while whites obviously don't do as well in depressed areas, either, the majority of the race doesn't reside in them. If blacks compose 25% of the nation, then what percentage of that one-fourth lives in the South? It is true that they do much better in the industrial Northeast and Midwest, but very few of them live there.

[autiger4life 3]

Well, whites don't do as well in those areas either. However, I find it difficult to believe that one who applies himself in school, develops a habit of honesty and strong work ethic, goes to work, and abides by the law of the land has any difficulty in reaching at least the broad middle class of America. I don't care what color he/she is.

Here is the problem or I guess the misunderstanding in my viewpoint. What you see when you think about the arguement is if you take a black and a white and put them together, then the world won't hold the black person down to much.

The point I think about is more along the lines of what someone is given in their situations. Before I start, I know there are tons of stories of people making it out, my father is one of them who made it out from poverty(though his is white). However, I think those are the exceptions, not what should be expected of the norm. I grew up in Hoover and Vestavia. Many of those kids barely made it through Auburn and Alabama and they had everything handed to them. And then they look down on those less fortunate and say, oh he was just lazy, it doesn't have to do with his situation or color or both, they just didn't work hard enough. When in reality, that same kid graduated Vestavia with a 2.5 GPA with some of the best teachers in the nation, parents who encourage education above almost everything else, and didn't ever have to worry about making money to help his single parent pay for bills, or the safety while they rode the bus to school.

On the flipside John is born into a black family, who through the generations starting after slavery has slowly advanced but still lives in the ghetto. Sometimes one will make it out due to atheletic ability or extreme ungodly intelligence, but more often one will have the chance to make it out and something will happen such as their single parent loses a job, or brother is shot or killed, or they get caught up in a gang because their parent is working two or three jobs to try to support the family.

I know this is a very negative outlook, but it really is not uncommon and the point of comparing the Vestavia kid and the poor kid is that if that Vestavia kid had been put in a more difficult situation, he would not have made it. He wasn't a hard worker, he didn't try that much, he was decently smart, he just got put in a pretty good situation. In twenty years, as an adult he may turn into a hard worker and look back and say, hey if they worked hard they can do the same, when he really was just lucky. I just think it is ignorant or even arrogant to think we could have done the same. Some of you probably grew up poor and made it out, but I think there is a difference in poor and living in the ghetto with people having a prejudice against you that you won't be anything and you are a gangbanger.

I will give an easier example. I graduated high school after taking 8 AP classes. Take me and then take a kid from a Birmingham City School that doesn't offer any AP classes and put us against each other for a college spot. We have the same intelligence, same grades, same SAT scores, same motivation and yet I get the spot and scholarship because A. my grades look better due to AP classes and the school B. I have AP credit. However, had he been given the same situation, he would have done the same, and possibly better because he would have had better teachers. Yet he gets the bad end because of something he couldn't control or help.

I guess what I'm saying is that either you think that blacks are more often put in situations that are much harder to overcome and this is the majority of the reason we have such a gap in black and white crime, graduation rates, salaries, etc. or you think blacks are just born with less intelligence and lazier. I just don't think the latter is true. I graduated with several black people who I found very intelligent, and I attribute it to them having similar opportunities as me.

[LegalEagle 22]

Well, whites don't do as well in those areas either. However, I find it difficult to believe that one who applies himself in school, develops a habit of honesty and strong work ethic, goes to work, and abides by the law of the land has any difficulty in reaching at least the broad middle class of America. I don't care what color he/she is.

Here is the problem or I guess the misunderstanding in my viewpoint. What you see when you think about the arguement is if you take a black and a white and put them together, then the world won't hold the black person down to much.

The point I think about is more along the lines of what someone is given in their situations. Before I start, I know there are tons of stories of people making it out, my father is one of them who made it out from poverty(though his is white). However, I think those are the exceptions, not what should be expected of the norm. I grew up in Hoover and Vestavia. Many of those kids barely made it through Auburn and Alabama and they had everything handed to them. And then they look down on those less fortunate and say, oh he was just lazy, it doesn't have to do with his situation or color or both, they just didn't work hard enough. When in reality, that same kid graduated Vestavia with a 2.5 GPA with some of the best teachers in the nation, parents who encourage education above almost everything else, and didn't ever have to worry about making money to help his single parent pay for bills, or the safety while they rode the bus to school.

On the flipside John is born into a black family, who through the generations starting after slavery has slowly advanced but still lives in the ghetto. Sometimes one will make it out due to atheletic ability or extreme ungodly intelligence, but more often one will have the chance to make it out and something will happen such as their single parent loses a job, or brother is shot or killed, or they get caught up in a gang because their parent is working two or three jobs to try to support the family.

I know this is a very negative outlook, but it really is not uncommon and the point of comparing the Vestavia kid and the poor kid is that if that Vestavia kid had been put in a more difficult situation, he would not have made it. He wasn't a hard worker, he didn't try that much, he was decently smart, he just got put in a pretty good situation. In twenty years, as an adult he may turn into a hard worker and look back and say, hey if they worked hard they can do the same, when he really was just lucky. I just think it is ignorant or even arrogant to think we could have done the same. Some of you probably grew up poor and made it out, but I think there is a difference in poor and living in the ghetto with people having a prejudice against you that you won't be anything and you are a gangbanger.

I will give an easier example. I graduated high school after taking 8 AP classes. Take me and then take a kid from a Birmingham City School that doesn't offer any AP classes and put us against each other for a college spot. We have the same intelligence, same grades, same SAT scores, same motivation and yet I get the spot and scholarship because A. my grades look better due to AP classes and the school B. I have AP credit. However, had he been given the same situation, he would have done the same, and possibly better because he would have had better teachers. Yet he gets the bad end because of something he couldn't control or help.

I guess what I'm saying is that either you think that blacks are more often put in situations that are much harder to overcome and this is the majority of the reason we have such a gap in black and white crime, graduation rates, salaries, etc. or you think blacks are just born with less intelligence and lazier. I just don't think the latter is true. I graduated with several black people who I found very intelligent, and I attribute it to them having similar opportunities as me.

While you are quite correct in your statement, you are really on another issue. This is the land where the rich get richer and the poor stay poor. I'm all for busting up the landed aristocracy with estate taxes (death taxes).

But, you start with two (2) poor kids, one black one white. If they apply themselves equally, for good or bad, I believe they will stay close on any measure of achievement or failure. That is what I am saying.

It's so rare these days to even find a kid who will do manual labor, that should one exist, he/she would stand out like a sore thumb. He/she would be noticed and given opportunity. I cleaned dog kennels 7 days a week beginning at age 5. Each morning before school, I did that. Upon age 16, I worked every summer to get money for college. I worked in the watermelon fields for $1/hr in South Alabama. I also weeded peanuts by hand for $0.75/hr. I worked as a table boy at Little Henry's my entire time at AU. When I was a kid, people took pride in their ability and willingness to do hard work. Today kids seem to be above working hard.

Are there honest kids left? My grandkids are visiting this week. The 6 yr. old boy plays battle and go fishing with his mom and my wife. Every time they leave the table, he checks out their cards. I bring it to their attention, and they all laugh.

To sum this up, my point is that if you are dependable, honest and hard working, you will overcome any racial or sexual impediment you have because of those traits.

[DKW 86 7,441]

I guess what I'm saying is that either you think that blacks are more often put in situations that are much harder to overcome and this is the majority of the reason we have such a gap in black and white crime, graduation rates, salaries, etc. or you think blacks are just born with less intelligence and lazier. I just don't think the latter is true. I graduated with several black people who I found very intelligent, and I attribute it to them having similar opportunities as me.

It is more than that. In a lot of black culture, just trying to be successful is defined as "being or acting white." I coached peewee football team that was basically Dave and the project kids. Most of the parents were probably functionally illiterate after 12 years of school. You dont get that way by chance. You get that way by proactively wasting your life for 12 years. Cosby is right. Some black culture is the result of openly made decisions to not suceed. They have to change that. You cannot do it for them. Dr. (In Education) Cosby does a whole hour or better on the difference between some black culture and Latino, Asian, etc. They all strive to achieve. They dont see success as a negative.

Sport of Embracing Failure 1

Sport of Embracing Failure 2

[autiger4life 3]

It is more than that. In a lot of black culture, just trying to be successful is defined as "being or acting white." I coached peewee football team that was basically Dave and the project kids. Most of the parents were probably functionally illiterate after 12 years of school. You dont get that way by chance. You get that way by proactively wasting your life for 12 years. Cosby is right. Some black culture is the result of openly made decisions to not suceed. They have to change that. You cannot do it for them. Dr. (In Education) Cosby does a whole hour or better on the difference between some black culture and Latino, Asian, etc. They all strive to achieve. They dont see success as a negative.

I agree that a lot of it is the culture and where they are raised and that really is my point. While there may not be a huge difference of a white and black kid raised in Vestavia, the difference is that if you are white then you have a better chance of being raised in a culture that encourages reading, education, and hard work. It is hard to teach your kids good work ethic when you are addicted to drugs or spend more time with men or women then your children, but it is the child who suffers and who I feel needs the help because it is not their fault that they did not have parents who care enough, or have the mental capacity to take care of them and raise them right. But yes, it is the culture, but it is still there and still needs help.