Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Barack’s Blasphemy: Rejecting Wright to unite.
On March 18, 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama delivered a speech that has been called the greatest speech on race since Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I have Dream speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom 1963. Listeners were reminded of the Illinois Senator’s command of the English language and smooth groove oratorical style.
The speech was named after the first sentence from the Preamble of the United States, “A More Perfect Union”; a powerful start and a high mark to maintain throughout a landmark speech while facing a political firestorm bearing down on the Senator’s campaign.
Why did Senator Obama do it?
Just five days ago several carefully edited excerpts from Senator Obama’s retired pastor, Rev Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr’s, sermons had become the top political story in cable news. The clips showed Rev. Dr. Wright making statement like:
- God Bless America – No - Goddamn America (the Sunday after the 9-11 attacks);
- Hillary ain’t never been called a nigger (December 2007); and
- America’s chickens have come home to roost (in response to 9-11).
In response to these statements Barack Obama was facing an obvious “swift-boat” attack similar to the John Kerry 2004. As a result cable news anchors and conservative radio talk show hosts demanded Barack Obama to:
- Reject and distance himself from his retired pastor;
- Denounce the “hate for America” language in the sermons;
- Prove his patriotism and maintain his vanilla racial identity; and most importantly
- Make White America feel safe enough to vote for him.
In short Barack Obama was being forced to pledge his undying, religious commitment to the United States of America or suffer a painful political death. And these cable news anchors would serve as the jury who would find him guilty of treasonous acts towards the USA.
Barack’s blasphemy.
Facing impending political doom Barack Obama stood in Philadelphia, in front of a row of United States flags and delivered a Sermon On The Mount about race, the Black Church, and the mulato experience in America.
“I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.
It’s a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one.”
Instead of falling in line with the United States religious commitment to be an A-racial politician Obama began a speech that turned American zealots into weeping surrogates for the historical significance of his campaign. With almost blasphemous arrogance Barack Obama took on the very issue that the Clinton campaign, her surrogates, and neo-conservatives have attempted to use to marginalize him, race.
Barack backing them down.
When was the last time you saw a Black politician running for the highest office in the land stiffen his/her back and tell America to CUT THE SHIT? It happened in this speech:
“As imperfect as he (Rev. Dr. Wright, Jr.) may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children.” - “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.”
The impact of Barack Obama’s speech is undeniable, evident in the response from conservatives like Charles Murray, who said of the speech, “it is just plain flat out brilliant”. Murray is a co-author of a book called the Bell Curve which discusses the connection between IQ scores and cultural propensities to crime. You can imagine the analysis of people of color in the book. By the end of the speech supporters were reminded of the “Yes We Can” speech in New Hampshire and opponents were warned that an underestimation of Barack Obama’s political chin and thickness of skin is a huge mistake.
Your reactions:
What do you think of Senator Obama’s speech A More Perfect Union?
- Will this act limit him to the “candidate of race” (as Rush Limbaugh put it)?
- Does Obama need to reject Black Liberation Theology and focus on the economy, Iraq, healthcare, and poverty?
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14 comments:
There are many reasons why this speech will be remembered as one of the most important speeches of the century. I want to focus on two. First, Obama broke with the precedent that had been established by Bill Clinton -- to do whatever is necessary to get elected. Clinton moved the Democratic party to the center to reach out to white southerners and white labor in an effort to restore the old new Deal coalition. He even co-opted Republican issues to appease a political right-to-center constituency, and later passed legislation on these issues that the Republicans themselves could not pass -- like ending welfare as an entitlement and passing the most repressive crime bill of the century. Yesterday, Barack asked Americans to elect him not becuase he told them what they wanted to hear (or not hear), but because he told them the truth. Before, Obama was marching down the same path that Clinton had paved -- he was avoiding the issue of race in order to appease moderate white voters. Yesterday he threw down the gauntlet and gave Americans, known for our historical amnesia, an important historical lesson on racial oppression and its consequences.
Second, Obama provided an empathetic understanding of the lives of the white working class. He blamed the contemporary conditions in America on corporate America and on a war-mongering administration. In other words, he redefined himself and his campaign in racial and class terms. In fact, he did what terrifies the white ruling class in America the most, he attempted to unite the working classes and to define the problems of America in racial and class terms. He articulated a position that Martin Luther King had arrived at at the end of his life when he led the Poor People's Movement and opposed the Vietnam War. Obama made important connections between poverty, race, war, and neoliberal capitalism yesterday. It was a risky speech and it was radical. Now it is our turn to reward him for telling the truth and to organize in the space that he is creating for real social change, something not seen for more than 40 years!
Tim you nailed it!!!
All morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe. Joe Scarborough's reaction is exactly what you pointed out here. You can already hear him and other political opportunist setting the trap for the Obama camp saying they think he is going to lose because of the race conversation but in the same breath arguing that he needs to expand and facilitate the conversation so "racist" Catholics like Scarborough's and Tim Russert's father will feel comfortable voting for him. Russert did a good job defending the conversation and Obama's remarks but he won't tell Scarborough he was wrong.
Actually Mike Huckabee did great job win Scarborough asked him about Wright's comments. He said he didn't support the remarks but he would be as angry if not more angry if he had gone through what people like Wright had survived. He didn't agree with Wright but he understood how the emotions can get going in the pulpit when you start talking about it.
I think this is going to blow up in Obama's face but I don't think he could have avoided it.
Wow nice piece here. I'm taking a long week from work and I must say this is one of the better blogs I've come across about the Obama campaign not Obama.
I was clicking through the banner of articles at the top of the page and my suspicions were confirmed. Most writings are saying that the risks Senator Obama took yesterday were not unsafe. He has all the math in his favor and he probably won't start losing but 15 to 20 percent of the votes so he will maintain his academic lead in the primary.
By the convention he will have been "vetted" by the press and will get credit for having the courage of MLK. Jr, the political strategy of Reagan, and the crossover appeal of Andrea 3000 (lol). Combined with the offensive "quiet sonny" demeanor of McCain he may actually be our next president.
This is amazing and exciting. I'm glad it's happening in my lifetime.
It was a must. Janice and Tim you make excellent points. The weaving of American History, Racism, Classism and Sexism was brilliant. How long have we, Black Americans, tried to convey to White America that the struggle about racism is not over? Obama also expressed a new inner and outer oppression that most people ignore being biracial. I want to add to that list how he included the importance of Black churches and the role religion plays in Black Communities. I am angry that we again have to explain how we, Black Americans, worship, talk and/or behave. No one questions the occultism of the Catholic Church and how they continue to cover up their child molesting priest (fathers). So why do we have to explain our religious leaders sermons? Wright could very well been talking about Revelations and the last days when speaking on 911 and when he said ‘God damn America’. Before commenting folks should pick up the Bible and read it. How can anyone turn away from the person who led them to Christ? Believers know the importance of the one God uses to lead them to accept Jesus. That individual is special and you will be ever grateful to them. The question shouldn't be about his leaving the church. It should be about why is America more concerned with his Christianity after accusing him of still being Muslim, and not with their racist, sexist and oppressive judgmental attitude?
Follow me on this:
The United States of America is now having a conversation that White America has known about but that White America has demanded stay in the shadows in order for Black America to survive.
No different than parents who know their child is angry at them but ignores it or send the child to his/her room. Barack Obama is forcing a conversation that is forcing a relationship that White America has demanded not be had.
Black people don't have the power to kill a conversation but we do have the influence to force a conversation if we can live with the consequences. Barack OBama and ultimately everyone in America has to live with.
After seeing Don Cheadle's movie, Talk To Me, about radio host Petey Greene. I thought I had a good idea of the anger, fear and frustration felt by Black people when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Then I watched Senator Obama literally take his life into his own hands on March 18, 2008. White America silenced this very conversation and stemmed any self perpetuating systemic change on racism when they killed King.
I now know those feelings because I feel them for real now. I can feel all of those emotions bubbling up and I caught myself saying to myself that I don't know what I will do if they kill Obama, literally or politically. At the minimum I would have to boycott the election in November. And for the people who say if Black people boycott the election McCain will win understand this. There is no difference of ideology between Clinton and McCain. The only variation is that Clinton is actually worst because she is hiding her real shit and McCain is not.
Should Barack Obama make history and win the 2008 presidential election,I believe that we will look back on March 18,2008 as the turning point. On this day, we saw two images; Barack Obama, United States flags placed strategically behind him,looking decidedly presidential while eloquently addressing the "elephant in the room",who lately has been knocking over all of the furniture in the room and taking a crap on the rug. As Keith Olbermann pointed out, the only thing missing was the presidential seal on the podium from which Obama spoke.
Contrast this image with video footage of Senator John McCain in Jordan, who in response to a reporter's question, stated that it is "Common knowledge that Iran is training Al-Queda fighters for combat in Iraq", then after being immediately corrected by Senator Joe Lieberman, said that Iran was actually training "Muslim extremists".
I believe that Obama should now shift his focus to the issues confronting this nation. All of the previous posts make excellent points. As Mickey said,the choice between Obama and the clueless, doddering McCain should be a no-brainer. Tim, LaResse and Janet are on target in pointing out America's selective memory and hypocrisy regarding its brutalization and oppression of black people, which obviously contributes to the anger of older blacks such as Pastor Wright, who experienced this treatment firsthand.
Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly are engaging in daily race baiting on their talk show programs. Obama can only lose by continuing to participate in the rigged race game that the media wants him to play.
I appreciate all of the comments made above. I was astounded by Obama's remarks because he did not conform; he forced the audience to address the issue head-on. A lot of whites in this country say that race is a "passe" issue, but Obama's campaign has shown that it isn't. In addition, the way the commentators responded to his oration was surprising--the hypocrisy within the media is absurd. I saw CNN's and Fox News' coverage of Obama's speech, and all these whites were implying that Obama has now alienated white people because he refused to reject his pastor. I am not a churchgoer myself, but I would imagine that I also would not reject my religious leader simply for a few words he used. The other basic truth is that religion is a personal experience over which a participant has control. Obama could choose to embrace some of the messages Pastor Wright sent out--he seems intelligent enough to differentiate between the messages applicable to his life, and the messages which are inapplicable. To summarize, I was very moved by his speech, and I think that the outcome was that it revealed the hypocrisy within the media rather than made him look like a risky candidate. If you want some laughs, you should check out the cnn.com bloggers' responses to Obama's speech. Someone wrote that they heard a lot of commentators saying that his speech was safe--I heard the opposite. My local newspaper coverage asked whether Obama had dug himself deeper, and if he had now set himself up to look like a new Malcolm X. I think that the clear answer is absolutely not. However, the fact that the question is being raised is problematic in itself and shows the lack of originality on the part of the media.
As a Black woman I completely identified with Obama having to defend someone's comments because it make Whites uncomfortable. But what was completely unexpected is Mike Huckabee (a southerner) identifying with the comments made by Rev Wright. Janet, I agree with you. Will we understand the impact that Obama's speech had on older White men who remember Blacks having separated water fountains and separated bathroms from Whites? We may have to wait until November... Regardless, Tuesday was a defining moment. I'd rather he go down for speaking to truth.
Why can't we ever talk about race in away that is comfortable for us as Black people? We always have to talk about it in a way that allows White people to be comfortable. This fucking sucks.
It's ashame that we are not in a place where Wright is seen as the truth-teller that he is, and where Obama's comments are seen as such a leap forward (compared with the rest of white America).
I stand by my support for Obama's candidacy. Our local white caucus against racism has been grappling with the question of how to get whites energized and enlightened about the importance of racism in our lives. Clearly Obama's speech, viewed by millions, will serve as a tremendous springboard for that effort. No amount of our work could possibly have reached so many people. As Tim mentioned above: it opens space for our organizing.
But at the end of the day...it'll be the work of organizers-and not the work of the politicians-- that will make real change
Unfortunately, it's clear that any real anti-racism work often gets too heated for whites--We whites MUST resist the temptation to bolt, as soon as there is conflict and contention--We've got to keep our eyes on the Prize (clearly identifying what that "prize" is for us).
Listening to Wright's comments, it reminds me how ugly racism has been. If we're really serious about actually doing something about racism, we gotta be committed.
People made some great comments here, and I don't think I could add anything about the importance of Obama's speech.
I was just listening to this podcast of Larry Holmes, an African-American socialist, talking about the Obama campaign . . . both the inspiration it is giving to millions of people and the contradictions and challenges that it creates. It's already a little dated because it was from a speech given on February 29, but there's some powerful stuff. This is the link:
http://www.workersdaily.org/podcast/audio/lh29feb2008.mp3
One of the points that he makes toward the end of his speech echoes something that Lorenzo says about not knowing what he would do if they killed Obama because he is forcing America to talk about racism. Larry also talks about the possibility of intense political attacks on Obama, especially if he does become president, and the likelihood that the right wing will try to blame him for things like the growing economic crisis or for the "failure" of the war.
Larry points out that Obama himself will in some ways be trapped . . . he's a part of the system, and even with massive grassroots support to get him elected he still needs to cooperate with the power brokers in Washington. So we, at the grassroots, will have to organize independently to defend him and to defend an agenda of change.
This made me think about Chile in the 1970's when Salvador Allende was elected. He was a "work within the system" progressive who had huge popular support, and when he started making changes that threatened the people in power, they came after him. When those attacks came, it was the people organized at the grassroots level who were able to fight back because they weren't beholden to the banks or the corporations or the mainstream political alliances or the chamber of commerce. Even so, they were not strong enough to prevent a CIA-sponsored coup d'etat that ultimately killed not only Allende but 30,000 Chileans.
I want to see Obama win and win big. But I want to keep working to build organizations that can fight for power outside of the political machines, because I believe that's the only way that real change can be made and defended.
This is a racist country and has been since the start of the "white race" in the U.S. 400 years ago. White wealth was built on fields worked by enslaved Africans, railroads built by indentured Chinese, land stolen from Native Americans. What's surprising about Reverend Wright's sermons are that they weren't stronger in condemning the racism and oppression then and now. Senator Obama spoke as passionately as possible to draw attention to the ongoing inequities while keeping his place in the presidential race.
I recently read two very good books on white privilege: White Like Me by Tim Wise (2005) and The Cost of Privilege by Chip Smith (2007). They each point out how white supremacy still reigns and what we, the white people, must do to fight against it. It's not enough to work on our attitudes, it's not helpful to feel guilty, it's not productive to just talk about our feelings and change our choice of words. We must work with and support our brothers and sisters of color, women, and LBGTQ folks to change the laws, policies and politics that keep these interconnected oppressions alive and well. Housing, education, prison, health care, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, immigration...the list of what is wrong and unjust goes on and on.
In addressing how to "fix" our society, Chip Smith also discusses the concept of oppressed nations in the U.S.: Azatlan in the Southwest, the Black Nation in the South (and the dispersed, connected communities,) Native people's nations and the many other oppressed communities of color. He discusses the need for self-determination -- including the right to secession -- for the oppressed nations.
I speak on behalf of the white race now: We are all racist. What differentiates some is the willingness to address and change ourselves and the commitment to working to change the system.
Is the white working class also oppressed? Of course. However, the white ruling class works very hard to keep white workers from finding and fighting the common enemy. We, the whites, have a responsibility to make these connections.
We can only hope that Senator Obama wins, and more importantly, that we all continue to organize and build a progressive agenda that holds him, other elected officials and ourselves accountable.
Good comments all. I was thinking of something though. There are a lot of emails and youtube videos going around saying Barack Obama is the anti-Christ.
But it is White America that is trying to force him to denounce his faith, church, and former pastor in order to be president. There demands are blasphemous not Barack's stance.
Things that make you go hummmmmmm!
Obama seems to be making a comeback. As of Easter Sunday new polls show that America appreciates Obama talking to them as adults about an issue that up to this point has been a remedial and juvenile discussion in back rooms.
The new Gallop Poll on Democratic National Race shows Barack Obama has regained the ground he lost to Hillary Clinton after the Jeremiah Wright tapes hit the news on March 13th and 14th (48% for Obama and 45% for Hillary) with a -/+ 3% margin
The new CBS Poll show found that 63% of all voters agree with Senator Obama on race
Another new CBS poll shows 69% of people say Obama did a good job addressing race.
It seems that the Obama strategy to take this issue head on is working because it is the Achilles’ heel of his campaign. The sky is the limit is America thins Obama can address race without guilt, blame and self hate.
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