Letters to the Editor

• Dr Rhymes

  [Read the article: Obama "outraged" by Wright]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  "Once Again ....

  Let us stroll down the boulevard of ignorance. I usually don't like to talk about my credentials, but here I think that it is important to discuss them--- since the phrase "cultural experts" has been uttered. I have a PhD in Sociology with an emphasis in Critical Race Theory and Black Studies; I have a two Masters in Sociology and Theology; I am an ordained minister and licensed chaplain; I have taught ethnic studies and philosophy at the university-level; I have taught graduate courses in education; I have been an university administrator in the area of multicultural affairs and for the past 18 years I have conducted anti-racism and cultural proficiency training (the last 8 years this work has been done in concert with my Swedish-American wife) and have been Black/Native-American all

  my life.

  I have said all this to say that it amazes me how many white liberals & progressives (so-called) in their thinking about race and ethnicity are not that far apart from their white conservative counterparts. To see "mocking" of white people when someone is merely pointing out differences is especially troubling (given that Wright said over and over again different is not deficient). There are differences that have been ignored and worse, demonized. In response to the questionable science comment and how “offensive” Wright’s assertion is that blacks and whites learn differently, as an educator, I know from experience that there are cultural differences in learning styles and America's "benevolent" educational uniformity has helped to create an achievement gap, nay, an achievement chasm and has stymied the educational growth and development of some of America's most creative youth all cultures. Howard Gardner, acclaimed Harvard education professor and educational expert, understood this when he created the multiple intelligences framework for education. His findings have not be denied by the educational establishment of the United States, but they have not been implemented because that would mean too much of a radical change from the status quo.

  Does Reverend Wright have an ego? Yes and who doesn't. Might it be said that his ego is larger than most? Maybe. However, he did not ask to have his name vilified and demonized and none of us, including Barack Obama, has the right to tell that man when it is convenient for him to defend his name and reputation. I am always astonished by the cultural contradictions in this race for the White House. When Obama made the misstatement concerning some small-town Americans, their anger was deemed as justified by pundits and politicians of conservative and liberal persuasions (and might have well been), but if a man has been caricatured and denigrated (in ways that few people are) and his life’s work is reduced to several salient sound-bites and he happens to be somewhat truculent in his defense of himself, then it is somehow not only viewed as unjustified but ego-maniacal as well.

  I believe his words in a Letter From A Birmingham Jail are extremely appropriate: “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate (yesterday’s white moderate is today’s white liberal), who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a ‘more convenient season.’ Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” There are many parallels that can be drawn in our present society to the words Dr. King wrote over 40 years ago.

  Joan, you stated that Wright’s view that the government gave blacks AIDS was offensive. Let me remind you that blacks have been the target of governmental medical malfeasance i.e. the Tuskegee Syphilis "Experiment." And before you attempt to use the tortured logic of the government not having given blacks syphilis, but rather failed to treat them; I would like you to consider this: is there is a vast difference between the evil that creates a thing and the evil that allows a thing to grow and spread? That is the equivalent of saying that although I didn't shoot you I am going to let you bleed to death. It is this sort of cognitive dissonance that is so frustrating to most Black people. I guess I don't blame you, but rather our educational system. If the whole of American history was taught, these conversations would have to take place less frequently. America was also the first nation in world history to have a forced sterilization law (Indiana 1907) which ultimately led to the forced sterilization of over 60,000 of her citizens after other states followed suit --- Nazi Germany followed our blueprint in creating their forced sterilization plan. There is a very fine line between "they shouldn't be allowed to reproduce" and "they shouldn't be allowed to exist." So while I do not find concrete evidence that suggests that the American government concocted the AIDS virus as a means to exterminate Black people; I also do not find those who believe that it is possible are somehow delusional or "wackjobs." You taking offense to some of the things Wright said seems to prove that you think that different is deficient.

  Joan, your article to me as a Black man is akin to a man telling a woman what it feels like to be pregnant--- you have no clue."

  Permalink Tuesday, April 29, 2008 04:59 PM