Pastor's rhetoric is just as bitter as U.S. race history

[babylonsister]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5637078.html

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?

[MethuenProgressive]

1. It's disappointing to see progressives endorsing Hate Speech.

I'm not surprised. Just disappointed.
Hate speech does not help us progress.

[Fredda Weinberg]

2. Worse yet, we've either not known or forgotten what special interest

politics does to the Democratic Party in the general. Sounds great to us ... deadly to the electorate that regularly lies to pollsters.

How can you damn someone and ask for their vote? The Reverend Wright never thought he had a serious presidential candidate or he'd have kept his peace. And the campaign knew all along this was an issue w/legs.

Oh well ... been here, seen this.

[Grey]

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.

[Karenina]

7. His oratorial style...

scares the dickens out the dominant culture, especially when it's loaded with truth.

I live in a largely Turkish neighborhood. I used to think they were always angry and felt threatened. It took getting to know families intimately before it slowly dawned on me. Their communication style was just different. I understand it now so I just holler along with the rest...

[yurbud]

8. we gave them a hatful of shit and called it a chocolate cake, and they aren't supposed to complain?

[classysassy]

9. Speech

just the facts,this country has always been color blind,treated all its citizens fairly,ask any Indian,he or she will tell you the facts.Take your head out of the sand,or some other play where you can't see day light.

[skooooo]

3. Indeed!

You always have good posts babylonsister.

[BlueFireAnt]

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.

[flashl]

6. Could this be the America Wright see ...

ACLU: Noose Display: Free Speech

Plan to prohibit noose displays runs into static
ACLU chief says bill would curb free speech

BATON ROUGE -- Legislation making it a crime to draw or display a hangman's noose on public property or the property of someone else as an intimidation tactic has been filed for debate at the general session that begins March 31, but civil libertarians said Thursday the proposal may be a violation of freedom of speech.

...

Marchand's bill would make it unlawful for anyone "with the intent of intimidating any person or group of persons to etch, paint draw or otherwise place or display a hangman's noose on the property of another, a highway or other public place." Black Americans traditionally have viewed the hangman's noose as a sign of racism and oppression in the South, reminiscent of the lynching of many black people starting in the days after the Civil War.

...

But Marjorie Esman, executive director of the state branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, said although displaying a noose may send "an odious message" to black Americans, the action still is protected by the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech.

"Government cannot be in the business of keeping people's feelings from being hurt," Esman said. "Prohibiting people from expressing themselves is not the goal . . . even if that message is an abhorrent message. . . . We understand there are concerns about racism in Louisiana. However, curtailing speech is not the answer."

The TImes Picayune

US: Uphold Treaty Against Racial Discrimination

(Washington, DC, February 7, 2008) – The United States has failed to comply with its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

In the 48-page report, Human Rights Watch documents US noncompliance with ICERD in seven key areas. The treaty, ratified by the United States in 1994, requires member governments to take affirmative steps to eliminate discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national or ethnic origin in all areas of public life. The Human Rights Watch report was prepared for submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, an international body that monitors and reports on compliance with ICERD. The committee will examine US compliance with ICERD at a session in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 21-22, 2008.

“The convention against racial discrimination was the first major human rights treaty signed by the US,” said Alison Parker, deputy director of the US program at Human Rights Watch and the author of the report. “Unfortunately, more than 42 years later, the US has failed to uphold its treaty obligations in several important respects.”