Racism and the voice of a prophet
by Kent Harrop
Recently Sen. Barack Obama gave a speech offering a sweeping assessment of race in America. The catalyst, were sermon excerpts of his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Rev. Wright is a nationally recognized preacher in the United Church of Christ. Rooted in the African American tradition, Rev. Wright leans heavily upon the prophetic tradition of the Hebrew prophets and of Jesus.
In some of his sermons, Pastor Wright cast our government as racist, violent and corrupt. Critics of Senator Obama were critical of his attending a church, where a pastor would make such statements. In response, the senator sought to distance himself from some of his pastor's more controversial statements, while continuing to affirm the right of his pastor to speak from his heart.
What has gotten Jeremiah Wright and by association Senator Obama into trouble, is the prophetic tradition of the African American church. This tradition reads the Bible through the lens of oppression. It is a fact, that African Americans lag behind in access to health care, in infant mortality, in life expectancy, in employment and in fair treatment by the judicial system.
Preaching into such a context, African Americans have looked to the Bible and the church for hope and guidance. They have looked to their preachers, to speak truth to power, a word of challenge on behalf of the poor and oppressed. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. understood this when he said: "That the church is to be the conscience of the state".
Rev. Wright has gotten into hot water, because he applied the teachings of Jesus and the prophets, to the injustices of our time. This means that from time to time, he was intemperate in his words. Just as Jesus and the prophets, often got under the skin of the powerful. In truth Jesus was crucified on the cross of empire, because he refused to dance to the music of Caesar or Caiphas. Rev. Wright's namesake, the prophet Jeremiah, was thrown down a well and left to die, because he challenged the corruption and priorities of his nation.
Wright's crime is laying bare the myth of America being a benevolent, color-blind society. To prove Pastor Wrights point, we need only observe this political campaign, where politicians and commentators of all political persuasions, focus upon Senator Obama's race. Are we a racist society? Yes. And most of us who are white, don't want to acknowledge this truth.
I recently said to a group at church: "I am racist, sexist and homophobic". In saying this, I sought to emphasize that I, like each of us, are a product of our own culture and experience. I know I carry bias with me, simply because I have never been a woman, or gay or of another race. All I have to draw upon is what I know. And, what I know has limits.
It is my belief, that the first step to moving beyond our isms (racism, sexism etc.) is to look for and name the bias' that we each carry. A second step is to intentionally enter into community with people who are different, who offer another way of looking at life. A third step is to listen with the desire to understand. A fourth step is to look for the common threads in our various life stories. Such common threads can bring us together.
Taking on the thorny topic of race, Senator Obama said: "I have asserted a firm conviction, a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people, that, working together, we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds - we have no choice, if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union."
Regardless of who you are backing in this political season, Rev. Wright's prophetic witness and the resulting backlash, remind us that America has a long way to go, before the ugly wound of racism is healed. Let us use this time, to reflect and talk about the uncomfortable topic of racism...and let us open ourselves to the truth of the prophets and the healing way of Jesus.
Kent Harrop is the chairman of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and the pastor at First Baptist Church of McMinnville
I beg to differ - Rev. Wright got into trouble because
he was preaching PREJUDICE on the basis of skin COLOR: "Whitey" = Racism -regardless of which COLOR vs. Whatever COLOR. (BTW, there's no such thing as "race", it's a matter of COLOR & genes. More than 87% of Americans HAVE black ancestors & you can't tell by LOOKING at skin Color-Who-has genes of African origin.
This election is not about color/"race", gender, liberal or conservative...its about BIG MONEY...& 29 new nuclear power plants.
(your copy of an email I am sending to all our Congress People.)
NO Obama = NO NUKES!
NO to Dick Cheney! & GE!
****EXTREME WARNING****
** to ALL DEMOCRAT Senators & Representatives**
DEMOCRATS Voting in the PRIMARY States CHOSE CLINTON.
Do NOT Allow REPUBLICANS in the CAUCUS states to "choose" our Candidate.
IF YOU Throw this Election to the Republicans--The Democratic Party
IS HISTORY--and YOU will be OUT.
TABOO words the MEDIA doesn't Mention:
Cheney Energy Bill
Rezko Trial
Quoting Obama: "The American people deserve honest answers."
QUESTIONS All of US should be ASKING The MEDIA: Phone, Fax, email, post, blog & Asking ALL your Congress people/SuperDelegates.
QUESTIONS:
1. WHY isn't THE MEDIA providing NEWS Coverage of The BIGGEST---ENERGY ISSUE? i.e. Are WE going to LET Cheney, GE, Westinghouse et al, Build 29 New nuclear power plants, or Not?
ANSWER: The TV MEDIA isn't providing NEWS coverage of one of the BIGGEST ISSUES of our time --BECAUSE: the BUILDERS of those nuke power plants will be GE, Westinghouse, Excelon Corp. of Illinois, Entergy; 3 Consortiums of nuke industy companies...
... and .... GE owns NBC/MSNBC, Westinghouse owns CBS...PLUS-(GE, 2nd largest corp. on the planet) & Westinghouse have $BILLIONS of Adverising $$$ to spend in EVERY FORM OF MEDIA they don't own.)
i.e. The NEWS you GET to SEE & HEAR on TV is the "news" GE/Westinghouse et al...WANT You to SEE and Hear. THEY do NOT want YOU to KNOW Anything about The Cheney Energy Bill.
2. What's the Cheney Energy Bill about?
ANSWER: The Cheney Energy Bill passed in 2005 (H.R. 6). McCain Voted FOR it. Obama Voted FOR it. Clinton Voted AGAINST it. (i.e. McCain & Obama already SOLD OUT to the nuke industry in 2005. Clinton did not: will not.)
The Cheney Energy Bill decreed that US Taxpayers would REPAY the Nuke Building LOANS that DEFAULT. (The Congressional Budget Office rated the risk of default at 50% or greater.) No new nukes were built for 30 years because the banks wouldn't loan the money--too risky.
Why Should we build nukes?
ANSWER: There is NO Good Reason for US to build nukes. We NEED De-Centralized, Clean, Renewable, INEXPENSIVE ENERGY Technology. Nukes are NONE OF THE ABOVE. There's PLENTY of excellent NEW Technology that will fill the bill...given greater INVESTMENT.
Why Shouldn't we build nukes?
ANSWER: Nukes are OBSOLETE 70-Year OLD Technology. WE already have a 50 YEAR NIGHTMARE Legacy of MILLIONS of TONS and BILLIONS of Gallons of NUKE WASTE all over the USA in leaking tanks, crumbling buildings, contaminated rivers...GOOGLE: Rocky Flats Denver Plutonium & Hanford WA nuclear waste...and READ about the NIGHTMARE that = nuke waste.
ALL the Nuke waste dumps are CLOSED. The nuke waste at the 100-Plus existing reactors has been stored ON-SITE for DECADES. All of them represent Terrorist TARGETS of opportunity & potentially catastrophic accidents.
3. Why isn't the TV MEDIA providing NEWS coverage of the Rezko trial? Why did NONE of the TV MEDIA even mention last week's SENSATIONAL Court Testimony that:
Two Witnesses testified that Rezko told them the prosecutor in the Rezko case (Patrick Fitzgerald) was going to be fired to stop the criminal prosecution of Rezko.
ANSWER: GE, Westinghouse, et al = the Corporate Controllers of the Corporate-Controlled MEDIA. They will not be covering NEWS from the Rezko Trial--UNTIL--AFTER Obama gets the Nomination.
The so-called "left wing" & "right wing" MEDIA have ALL been PROMOTING Obama on TV everyday since last November. Their GOAL is to get Obama nominated, THEN Start reporting the REAL News/REAL DIRT the FBI has been gathering on Obama, Rezko, Auichi, Alsammarae for more than 4 years.
5. Here's some Words the MEDIA says A LOT: Obama hasn't been VETTED.
QUESTION: WHY Not?? HOW can the "news" MEDIA keep repeating that FACT.. without it ever occurring to them it's THEIR JOB to VET HIM?
ANSWER: The NEWS MEDIA'S--JOB--isn't to Report the News; not anymore. Their JOB is to Put out WHATEVER Propaganda their Corporation wants to SELL to the American people...to make themselves MORE MONEY.
ALL the "faux" "journalists" on MSNBC, et al are now Media "Stars" making $$$Millions per year to Convince YOU of anything their Corporate Masters WANT you to Believe.
QUESTION: Why hasn't he been VETTED by the Democrat Party Leaders?
ANSWER: MONEY. The Democrat party leaders already KNOW most of the Real News/REAL DIRT the Republican Party will Spring on Obama as soon as he's nominated, but, a whole lot of them are SELL-OUTS to the same Big Corporations that are running McCain&/Obama for President.
Many of the smaller fry...a whole LOT of the Congress People/SuperDelegates are already bought and paid for.
Obama Formed HIS Own PAC. The military-industrial complex, insurance companies, drug companies etc. already put their cash into his PAC---before he started running. THEN Obama's PAC made "campaign contributions" to a WHOLE LOT of his fellow Congressmen & Senators/ SUPERDELEGATES.
i.e. THE FIX was IN -- BEFORE he even started running.
[You have to greatly admire the extreme fortitude,
Honesty, and GUTS of ALL the DEMOCRATIC CongressPeople/ SUPERDELEGATES who are STILL Standing AGAINST CHENEY/ GE/Westinghouse/their MEDIA].
MOST Americans RECOGNIZE the Republican Party as their ENEMY.
WE the People Threw a WHOLE LOT of those bums OUT in 2006.
WE must now RECOGNIZE the TV MEDIA & Most of the 'Mainstream MEDIA" as our ENEMIES -operating as the PROPAGANDA TOOLS of their REPUBLICAN Owners.
Millions of us also yelled, phoned, wrote, and emailed Congress & WE succeeded in STOPPING the Dubai Ports Deal.
What YOU can do to STOP The MEDIA SELL-OUTS and the Democrat Party SELL-OUTS from giving Obama the nomination and throwing this election to the Republicans: Phone, fax, email, write, to your Representatives/Senators & SUPERDELEGATES:
*DEMAND they VOTE to Nominate CLINTON*
INFORM them that those who SELL OUT the Democratic Party and the Majority of the population of the United States---by Voting to nominate the FAKE Obama candidate--will be duly noted and thrown out of office at the earliest opportunity.
**DEMAND that they FAIL to nominate
THE Candidate who HAS NOT BEEN VETTED**
*Tell them "The MATH" does NOT Add Up*
WITH two to five times more MONEY than Clinton, and the FULL SUPPORT of--ALL---the TV MEDIA--Obama is less than 1% ahead in the pledged delegate count and the popular vote count--Proving beyond any question that CLINTON is BY FAR the Strongest CANDIDATE: BEST FOR PRESIDENT.
Tell them: The ACTUAL number of VOTES cast by INDIVIDUALS - does NOT correspond to the Pledged Delegate TOTALS, or the popular vote TOTALS given that; the Caucus states do not even have to report ACTUAL Vote Totals; & given the EXTRA Delegates AWARDED in some precincts.
i.e. The "Criteria" by which Obma (Falsely) Claims that Superdelegates voting Clinton in as the nominee...goes against "the will of the people" and "TAKES the Nomination Away" from him is SPECIOUS and FALSE on its Face, and the SuperDelegates know it.
A. The ACTUAL Real PRIMARY Vote Totals ARE a true reflection of the will of the people, and that WILL = Clinton for President.
B. Obama Does Not HAVE the Nomination;
The SuperDelegates can't TAKE AWAY something Obama does not possess.
Obama has not EARNED or DESERVED the nomination. Clinton EARNED IT: Clinton DESERVES IT. Clinton WILL WIN.
... cut, copy, paste--use any or all of this message, or write your own...AND Send to everyone on your email list & ask THEM to email it to everyone on their email list.
IF Most of the people on your email list...& their email list...WILL do that AND Phone, fax, write, email their Congresspeople & Senators... POST on blogs: Local, State, National--TV "news", newspapers, radio, colleges--& (posting as much as possible in all the Upcoming PRIMARY States)...
...WE THE PEOPLE can CHANGE the dastardly direction this election is headed:
WE WILL GET the Clintons back in the White House:
RE-GAIN Good Government:
RE-GAIN a better future for our children and grandchildren:
RE-GAIN the Trust and Respect of the rest of the nations and peoples of OUR WORLD...just like WE THE PEOPLE-STOPPED-the Dubai Ports deal.
Post this REAL News everywhere you can:
Obama's campaign is based on ONE BIG LIE:
*Working across the Aisles to bring
*CHANGE*
OBAMA = NO Experience/NO CHANGE
Obama claims 7 years experience in the Illinois legislature -Working Across the Aisles, Bringing people together to get good CHANGES passed-as exemplified by 26 good bills with his name on them.
A Chicago neewspaper reporter says all 26 bills were passed in ONE Year and they were NOT Obama's.
http://wweek.com/editorial/3418/10516/
EXCERPTS:
But what’s interesting, and almost never discussed, is that he built his entire legislative record in Illinois in a single year.
Republicans controlled the Illinois General Assembly for six years of Obama’s seven-year tenure.
Then Emil Jones Jr. (became the Senate Majority leader), He became Obama’s kingmaker.
Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills.
During his seventh year in the state Senate, Obama...sponsored a whopping 26 bills including many he now cites in his presidential campaign when attacked as inexperienced.
Making CHANGES = ZILCH
INTEGRITY = ZERO
(His book "Audacity ..." confirms:
Democrats had Majority Control of the Illinois Senate when those bills were passed. They were passed during his last year in the state Senate.)
Dick Cheney has Pulled Off,
& made US PAY for:
Energy Ripoff # 1: ENRON: Electricity Rates
Energy Ripoff # 2: Oil & Gas: Market Manipulation
Ripoff #3: Iraq War
Let's ALL Get Together and STOP Cheney's NEXT Big
Energy Ripoff #4: Nuclear power plants
SOUND THE ALARM!
p.s. Last week's NEWS: The governor of South Carolina is refusing to allow the Federal govt. to ship 30 tons of plutonium into South Carolina---until the Feds provide him with a written agreement that the Feds will --REMOVE-- the plutonium from South Carolina-in the event their plans to produce FUEL are unsuccessful.
(Looks like the govt. wants to move 30 TONS of plutonium from the western states to South Carolina to locate it closer to the 29 nukes to be built in many of the Eastern a& Southern states.
(See Map at NY Times LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/washington/31nuclear.html?_r=1&oref=sl... )
(BTW a microscopic particle of plutonium, once inhaled, will kill you from lung cancer in about a week.)
Plans to build those nuclear power plants are well advanced -with licensing hearings already scheduled for the first few.