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Commentary on the Wright Stuff
I have
listened very carefully to Rev. Jeremiah Wright's
presentations, both at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner in
Detroit on April 27, and his speech before the National
Press Club in
Washington
on April 28. Some African-American supporters of Barack
Obama may question Dr. Wright's judgment but not the truth
of his words.
To suggest that he should not have said what he said, when
he said it, or how, denies to him the freedom to be who he
is; an uncompromising black preacher. It would, however, be
dishonest not to acknowledge that his presentation,
especially during the question and answer session, gave
those who don't really want to see Obama become this
country's first black president, the excuse they were
looking for not to vote for him.
Rev. Wright, by his own admission, is not a politician, even
though his messages impact politics, just as the words of
Dr. Martin Luther King did. He is a preacher. And preachers
are not driven by what is politically expedient, socially
acceptable or economically feasible, but by what is morally
right. And it is the responsibility of the preacher to
convict, convince, convert and move people from where they
are to where they ought to be.
Dr. King was not a religious entertainer. He was a preacher.
When he began preaching we were riding on the back of the
bus, and when he got through preaching we were riding on the
front of the bus. At that time, the black church was the
center and circumference of black life. Since Dr. King's
death, it has become far more entertaining than
enlightening. It makes us feel good on Sunday morning about
feeling bad on Saturday night, but we are no better off on
Monday morning.
If you listen to the black preachers who were eager to go on
Fox News to condemn Rev. Wright, it is clear that they have
done nothing to advance the cause of black liberation, and
would never have been asked to appear on Fox News if they
were not bashing Barack Obama.
I wish the junior senator from Illinois had responded in a
different way to his former pastor. He could have simply
said that there are irreversible realities of history. You
can't un-slave slavery. Rev. Wright is describing America’s
past and present and I am working for a future America, and
in the words of the bible, "calling things that are not as
though they were."
I am, and will remain, both an admirer of Rev. Jeremiah
Wright, and supporter of Barack Obama.
Floyd
Rose
Valdosta, Georgia
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