http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x346797babylonsister (1000+ posts) Fri Mar-21-08 01:30 PM
Original message
Pastor's rhetoric is just as bitter as U.S. race history
But don't tar Obama with the Rev. Wright's words
By STAFFORD H. BURNS
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
And there it is. ... The 800-pound gorilla that is racial strife finally slings its poo against the political wall. Let me just say this: To me, the comments made by Sen. Barack Obama's spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, are pretty innocuous. I say that knowing that they are offensive to white people, but the question has to be raised — why?
Wright said that Sen. Hillary Clinton does not know what it is like to be a black man in an America run by rich white people. She doesn't. If the bone of contention is that America is not run by rich white people, I will have to humbly but unequivocally disagree and ask you to see the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans. Omit the entertainers and athletes. Just how many people of color are left?
According to Forbes, all you have is Oprah Winfrey at No. 165 and, based on the earlier caveat, she is disqualified because she is an entertainer. So of the 399 richest people in America, 98 percent are white. So where was Rev. Wright wrong?
Wright also offered some conspiracy theories about how the U.S. government has wronged people of color in the past. I do not believe that the government engineered AIDS, but it did engineer the Tuskegee experiments in which young African-American men infected with syphilis were denied treatment for study. This was conducted from 1932 to 1972, well-documented and acknowledged by the U.S. government. I am sure Wright remembers this and many other racial injustices in his lifetime.
In fact, let's go over the past 100 years of the United States' "stellar" race/citizen relations: Japanese interment camps, American Indian reservations, Jim Crow laws, lynchings, late women's suffrage, the immigration debate, the proposed anti-gay marriage amendment, voter irregularities of the 2000 election, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans ...
snip//
Let's not forget, however, that America is a country and not a deity. We have freedom of speech and religion.
People need to remember that and get over the idea that America is a pristine land of no wrong. This is a great country, but what good is it if you can't criticize it?
A nation that does not take care of its veterans has got no business whatsoever making new ones." Stacy Bannerman
Alert | Hide Thread | Recommend (1 vote) Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
So that makes it alright, just leave Osa, I mean Obama alone. Y'all can't put a band-aid on this one.
MethuenProgressive (1000+ posts) Fri Mar-21-08 01:39 PM
Response to Original message
1. It's disappointing to see progressives endorsing Hate Speech.
I'm not surprised. Just disappointed.
Hate speech does not help us progress.
Fighting terrorism since 1492! God BLESS America!
Alert Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
Grey (214 posts) Fri Mar-21-08 03:08 PM
Response to Reply #1
5. I don't see it as "hate speech".....
just the truth, making some people uncomfortable.
Hiding the ugly truth under the rug and pretending it never happened
does not help you progress either.
Something I don't understand is the 'pretend we're perfect' mind set.
Alert Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
BlueFireAnt (3 posts) Fri Mar-21-08 03:04 PM
Response to Original message
4. You're absolutely right, kinda.
This country is run by rich white people, and probably always will. Racism is an invention of these rich white people. They use it to keep all of us poor Americans at each other's throats and keep our minds off of the real issue, class. If the underclass would ever unite for the common cause of taking back our country, the upperclass would crumble. They know this. That's why the media, both liberal and conservative pundits and anchormen, shove any black on white or white on back crime down our throats. That's why they are shoving this Reverend Wright story down our throats. You have the O'Reilley's and Limbaugh's fanning the flames of racism from the right, and the Sharpton and Jackson fanning the flames of the left. Note that Sharpton and Jackson are upperclass, and would like to stay that way. We underclass Americans need to wake up and see what's happening. Only then, can we make a real change. We need to look past this media charade and elect a bi racial president to show the powers that be that we are tired of having our strings pulled and we're gonna take this country back.
Alert | Add to my Journal Printer Friendly | Permalink | Edit | Reply | Top
WTF was that?
White people
invented racism?
