Observations

Obama Still Plagued by Minister's Racist

and Anti-America Rants

Although Barack Obama's poll numbers have mostly recovered after Reverend Jeremiah Wright's incendiary political messages from the pulpit, the controversy continues to boil. In an effort to douse the flames of discontent resulting from those disgusting words, the Illinios Senator gave a speech recently. And some of what Sen. Obama had to say in that speech about the racial divide in the US was very good. He explained the way black Americans think about slavery and the anti-black prejudices that existed in this country during and after slavery, remnants of which still exist in the US today.

His comments helped explain the mindset that is present in the black Christian churches of America, or some of them, or most of them. And curiously enough, it is one of those radical churches to which Barack Obama, who speaks in soaring tones of hope and change and coming together, belongs and has for twenty years.

Sen. Obama says that comments by his pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, highlight what is wrong with America, but fail to address what is right with America. And while it is to his credit for him to make that point, it is still troubling that he has immersed himself in that poisonous atmosphere for all these years, the atmosphere being one of the radical, Afro-centric churches that preach Marxist "black liberation theology" in the name of God, as if “white Christianity” isn’t good enough for black people, just like nothing white seems good enough for blacks.

Indeed, if you have heard the comments of Reverend Wright, there is a whole lot about America that he and his flock don’t like. Blacks are angry over slavery and discrimination. But slavery was ended more than 140 years ago, and discrimination is fading into the pages of history.

Why do black Christian ministers like Reverend Wright feel the need to feed that anger, especially when such dramatic changes have occurred since the days of slavery and the days when black people were seriously discriminated against? Wouldn’t the Christian thing to do be to disarm that anger, for Reverend Wright to try to calm his followers, to encourage them, to show them that things have improved and are improving? Could he not point to a few prominent black Americans who since the days of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. have succeeded at the highest levels of entertainment, athletics, government and politics? People like Mohammad Ali, The Greatest; Jackie Robinson, the first black man to play in the major leagues; Michael Jordan, one of the greatest basketball players of all times; Bill Cosby, Arthur Ashe, Tiger Woods. People like Colin Powell, a four-star Army general and former Secretary of State; or Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas; or Condoleezza Rice; or Douglas Wilder, the former Governor of Virginia; or Michael Steele, the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, or Thomas Sowell, the brilliant economic historian and writer; or Alan Keyes, the former Ambassador to the United nations.

Instead of being held up as examples of what black Americans can achieve, these successful people are often called “Uncle Toms,” and looked down upon as being less black than the perpetually aggrieved members of Trinity United Church of Christ where Reverend Wright spews hate in his anti-white, anti-American political speeches that he substituted for proper Christian sermons. Jeremiah Wright chose to replace stories of Jesus with rants that encourage his followers to believe they are all victims of rich white people.

You might expect that a man smart enough to point out all of the failings of America, real and imagined, would be smart enough to understand that you can’t get past race issues by making racial mountains out of molehills. The black churches focus on race, reminding their faithful from the pulpit, as Wright did, of their misfortune with fiery, rabble-rousing comments meant to stoke the fires of racial discord, not to help put them out.

Senator Obama’s political success itself is an example of how far the United States has come from the days of slavery and racial discrimination; it is an example of the equality that blacks say they want, but complain that they don’t have. But equality is a two-way street: It means that a black demagogue is due the same treatment as a white demagogue. Jeremiah Wright is a black demagogue, and we are asked to believe that a man who belonged to his church and who calls Rev. Wright a friend and a mentor completely rejects his hateful views. That, my dear friends, is a tough sell.

Barack Obama’s church affiliation is a stark contradiction to his carefully crafted election-year image. Should we believe his words, or should we believe his history? Can we trust the protestations of a man who says he rejects the anti-white, anti-America messages of his minister, but who did not have the good judgment or courage to find a church and a minister whose views mirror those he claims to hold? Or worse, that he didn’t notice this trend in his pastor?

The detestable views of Reverend Jeremiah Wright are said to be rather common in black churches. If that is so, then isn’t it reasonable to assume that those who attend black churches hold those same beliefs? You can see signs of these beliefs in the comments of Michelle Obama, Barack Obama’s wife. Is there anyone that believes his children are not being indoctrinated with these hateful messages? Is it possible to believe that a black man who attends a black church for nearly 20 years is somehow immune to the hate speech and racist comments of its minister, that he does not share those beliefs at some level?

Obama may be what he appears: a fair minded, non racially-motivated black man who just wants to save the world. One wonders, however, why such a man needed to be associated with the “typical black man’s” political grievances?

And if blacks feel they aren’t accepted by white people, maybe they ought to try to fit into the existing primarily-white society they are a small part of. Blacks comprise just 13 percent of the US population, so instead of highlighting and wallowing in their differences, why not join the majority. The black Americans who believe they are a part of this country and behave that way and the ones that are most successful.