And Grandma Under the Bus

The thing that strikes me the most about Obama's race speech today is that his campaign intends for this to be the definitive and last word on the subject. It is as if they believe that Obama himself is entitled to play by his own set of rules while holding Hillary, her campaign and her supporters to another standard entirely. Lets begin by examining some of words that Obama used and see if what he claims measures up with the facts on the ground.

In describing his intimate relationship with Reverend Wright Obama took great pains to create an image of a true reverend of a man, a patriot dedicated to helping others in need and preaching the gospel of Christ.

But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

All very well and good. It seems logical that if Obama had the deep feelings for this man that he describes in many places he would look up to him and regard him as a role model. Not just to himself but to others. But what Obama doesn't mention is that the "values" that Reverend Wright and the Trinity Unity Church of Christ believe are "black" value system. Not the Christian value system. On the face of it seems that Obama's church of 20 years is a segregationalist church. In fact it is.

Trinity United Church of Christ adopted the Black Value System written by the Manford Byrd Recognition Committee chaired by Vallmer Jordan in 1981. We believe in the following 12 precepts and covenantal statements. These Black Ethics must be taught and exemplified in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Blacks are gathered. They must reflect on the following concepts:

1. Commitment to God

2. Commitment to the Black Community
   
3. Commitment to the Black Family
   
4. Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
   
5. Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence
   
6. Adherence to the Black Work Ethic
   
7. Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
   
8. Disavowal of the Pursuit of "Middleclassness"
   
9. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the Black Community
   
10. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting Black Institutions
    
11. Pledge allegiance to all Black leadership who espouse and embrace the Black Value System
    
12. Personal commitment to embracement of the Black Value System.

For the strangest reason this Black Value System was "disappeared" from the Trinity Church's website. This occurred sometime between March 15, 2007 and March 29th, 2007. Here is a link to an archived copy of the page for your reading pleasure: About Us But as it turns out the Black Value System page of the Trinity website still does exist. It is now a little link on the Home Page just under where it says: For more information click here The Black Value System.

You will notice that this goes into much more detail as to what the Black Value System is and what they expect of their adherents. And frankly I don't find anything that they state to be objectionable. In fact they are all worthy goals. Except for the fact that they emphasize that they are black goals for black people. And they are exclusively for blacks. But isn't exclusivity segregation?

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

I wondered about his choice of words here considering the fact that his church, while not segregated, is indeed segregationalist with it's "black" value system. What is Obama trying to say to us? Is he claiming that churches in white neighborhoods preach a "white" value system too? Well in fact, Obama's choice of phrase comes from the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who used it frequently in describing his religious experiences in the deep south during the 1960s.

Most Segregated Hour

Miller: Don't you feel that integration can only be started and realized in the Christian church, not in schools or by other means? This would be a means of seeing just who are true Christians.

King: As a preacher, I would certainly have to agree with this. I must admit that I have gone through those moments when I was greatly disappointed with the church and what it has done in this period of social change. We must face the fact that in America, the church is still the most segregated major institution in America. At 11:00 on Sunday morning when we stand and sing and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation. This is tragic. Nobody of honesty can overlook this. Now, I'm sure that if the church had taken a stronger stand all along, we wouldn't have many of the problems that we have. The first way that the church can repent, the first way that it can move out into the arena of social reform is to remove the yoke of segregation from its own body. Now, I'm not saying that society must sit down and wait on a spiritual and moribund church as we've so often seen. I think it should have started in the church, but since it didn't start in the church, our society needed to move on. The church, itself, will stand under the judgment of God. Now that the mistake of the past has been made, I think that the opportunity of the future is to really go out and to transform American society, and where else is there a better place than in the institution that should serve as the moral guardian of the community. The institution that should preach brotherhood and make it a reality within its own body.

So Obama claims that we need to move on from the past while at the same time holding on to the definitions of the past. He claims that we need to reach out beyond the racial divide to seek unity and racial equality and yet he belongs to an Afrocentric church that preaches the "black" value system. And this man
that Obama admires so much who is supposedly "doing God's work here on Earth" apparently does so by condemning the United States with his 10 essential facts.

Destiny's Child

Wright takes the pulpit here one Sunday and solemnly, sonorously declares that he will recite ten essential facts about the United States. "Fact number one: We've got more black men in prison than there are in college," he intones. "Fact number two: Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run!"There is thumping applause; Wright has a cadence and power that make Obama sound like John Kerry. Now the reverend begins to preach. "We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns and the training of professional KILLERS. . . . We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God. . . . We conducted radiation experiments on our own people. . . . We care nothing about human life if the ends justify the means!" The crowd whoops and amens as Wright builds to his climax: "And. And. And! GAWD! Has GOT! To be SICK! OF THIS SHIT!"

Whew! That sure doesn't sound like any church I ever attended. In fact, in the churches I attended it was taught that we weren't supposed to use words like "shit". And we were taught that all races and all people are equal under God's law. But Obama explains....

They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

Sorry there Senator Obama. It isn't the dancing and the clapping or the screaming and the shouting that jar me. It is WHAT they are dancing and clapping and screaming and shouting about.

And those who know him well agree that apparently Obama agrees with Wright.

"If you want to understand where Barack gets his feeling and rhetoric from," says the Rev. Jim Wallis, a leader of the religious left, "just look at Jeremiah Wright."

So it is understandable that Obama might be unwilling to distance himself from his pastor, spiritual mentor and close personal friend of 20 years. He is like a member of his family.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

So, is he saying that because Granny said some racist things more than once during his lifetime and she is white that we can now excuse Reverend Wright? Or is he saying that because Reverend Wright is like a member of his family and that well, racism runs in the family so there really isn't anything he can do about it? It makes one wonder. But Obama finally offers the real excuse.

But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Jim Crow laws existed in 17 states: AL, AZ, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NM, NC, OK, SC, TX, VA, WV and  WY. The Jim Crow laws did NOT exist throughout the entire United States. In fact they did not exist in Illinois where Reverend Wright preached his hate for those many decades. The President that put an end to the Jim Crow laws was a man from Texas. His name was Lyndon Baines Johnson. And Hillary was berated and declared a race baiter for bringing this fact up by Senator Obama's campaign. In fact Senator Obama himself alluded to it. So much for his experience and capability trying to heal racial wounds.

As his speech comes toward conclusion the oratory reaches new heights, entreating us to put aside these differences and work toward the common good.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life.

This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

And yes they are beautiful words. But remember. They are words. Just words.

Indeed, when Senator Obama has been caught associating with a despicable man that he considers his spiritual advisor it is time to change the subject and discuss the "real" issues. According to him, his campaign and his followers it does not matter what Senator Obama has done. It is only what he says he will do that is important. Because this isn't about him, it's about you. Isn't that a convenient "out" for hanging out with a racist for 20 years? Because this race isn't about him. It's about someone else. And that is who we should be talking about.

Never mind that the man asking you to do this has demonstrated horrible judgment in associating with such a despicable man that used the sanctity of the church to spew his racist hatred. Never mind that the man asking you to do this has a spiritual mentor that praises and is friends with one of the most vile racist and antisemitic beings on the planet. Never mind that the man asking you to embrace racial unity is a long standing member of a black segregationalist church. And never mind that when his opponent for the Democratic nomination offers detailed solutions to help ordinary Americans as he says we must do, he tears down her character, brings up the most horrible references from her past and laughs to his audiences about it.

No. Never you mind any of that. Because this isn't about him. This is about you.