Letters to the Editor
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Rev. Jeremiah Wright isn't the problem
There are many problems, but actually, I think the root problem is a lazy media. Even this article, which I think in many respects is a good article, falls short of the mark.
The fact of the matter is, very few people have actually heard the entire sermons of Wright which the sound bytes were extracted from. yes, Wright can be crude at times, yes, he makes obscure black pop-culture references, and yes, he can be very stark. But the sermons are not about hating anyone, and in fact would have saved America a tonne of money if they were heeded.
The sermons are out there. Even I, a man armed only with FireFox and Google, could find them. Why have these intrepid reporters not done the legwork, I mean fingerwork?
The fact is that if you listen to his sermons, including the ones Fox butchered into a few soundbites, in their entirety, there is nothing hateful or racist about any of them, and he demands of his flock the same behaviour he demands of "mainstream" America, the same tolerance and respect for others.
My simple research has shown that Wright is and has always been a force for racial reconcilliation, and end to sexism, and an end to homophobia. Yes he sees things form a Black American perspective, which unfortunately differs from the White American perspective. I say unfortunately because in a truly just society, there would be no difference. It's that dichotomy of perspectives that can allow a rational man to honestly believe government AIDS conspiracies, because the US government has done things like this to black people before (Tuskegee for example), so as a result it's a pretty commonly held belief at least among a certain generation. But a more forgiving, liberal and tolerant Black American you will never meet. He had a multi-racial flock, female ministers, and expelled a parishioner for her intolerance to gays. He treats AIDS patients and drug addicts. He fought for his country even as he knew it was screwing him over.
If you were to take the best parts of Malcolm X and the best parts of Martin Luther King Junior, I think you would get someone like Wright.
The most frustrating thing about this is that this vile act of slander itself goes unnoticed and unpunished and largely uncommented, and thus perpetuated. Anderson Cooper of CNN has heard a couple of the full sermons, and on his blog links to two them, and affirms that there is no racism, or real reason to be angry at the man, but you'd never know it from Raw Politics last night, wherein he lets the use of Wright as bludgeon by Clinton go uncommented, outside of saying the surface stuff, like why does Wright matter, and why stir up race, and just questioning the timing. But the fundamental Big Lie, that Wright is a hate monger, goes untouched.
I leave you now with some links. Watch, listen and learn. But be warned - after turning my back on Christianity for some 26 years, Wright's sermons have made me consider picking up the Bible again. He actually is what I thought Christians were supposed to be.
Full 9/11 sermon
http://odeo.com/audio/17889043/view
Full God Damn America sermon
http://odeo.com/audio/17890793/view
Expanded "Hillary Clinton" sermon Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciWzbtiwUxA
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvcmqnju9PM
Wright on Farrakhan (ironically relevant, given the vile smear currently being run)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX1y6Q9PYcg
And lastly, the lone voice in the wilderness from the Brave souls at Trinity United Church. It’s enough to make you cry.
http://truthabouttrinity.blogspot.com/
Lucky for the news media that Fox successfully sued for the right to lie, or I think a lot of you would be paying some heavy damages. In fact, I'm surprised no one has been sued for libel. It's a hell of a day when I can trust YouTube more than my television or the newspaper.