When Racism is a Last Resort

Have you seen seen the much-talked about cartoon on the cover of

the New Yorker yet? Here's a description from the Right:

"It's got Obama in his Muslim dress with a turban, and he's

there with his wife. His wife has a 'mad at the world' afro,

circa 1968, she -- she's got bandoliers and an assault weapon,

and there in their fireplace is burning the American flag. The

New Yorker finally got it right." -- G. Gordon Liddy.

Regardless of whether you think this particular satire is

offensive or funny or a failure, there's no doubt that it

focused some attention on the kind of outrageous attacks that

continue to be made against Sen. Obama's patriotism and faith. I

believe many of these attacks on Sen. Obama, and on his wife

Michelle, are proxies for race.

I remember watching Sen. Obama's major address on race on my

second day on the job as president of People For the American

Way. It felt like the start of a different kind of conversation

about race in America, one that is honest, direct and

respectful. It hasn't always turned out that way. We've seen

plenty of ugliness, from anonymous e-mailers to national

television figures, attempting to stir up and exploit the racism

that stubbornly infects our society. And I am sure we'll see

more of it between now and November.

But when I ask myself why this election is shaping up to be so

ugly, I realized that the Right must think its only chance is

character assassination. I think some of the stuff being thrown at

Obama by the Far Right is a sign of desperation. Their old wedge-issue

tactics aren't quite as reliable as they used to be. The

country, especially the younger generation, is moving beyond its

bigotries. People want to focus on solving the nation's urgent

problems. When Larry King asked about the New Yorker, Obama

downplayed its importance, saying, "But you know what, it's a

cartoon, Larry." I think his instinct not to have the

presidential campaign get mired in the muck is a good one.  

For our part, we should not let this history-making campaign,

or other signs of progress, keep us from being keenly aware of

the ways that racism and other prejudice do still affect the

lives and opportunities of millions of Americans -- and the role

we can play in challenging bigotry and discrimination, and

preserving the legal and constitutional principles of equality

under the law for everyone.   

Those principles are at stake this year, and that's why we're

here. That's why the future of the Supreme Court is so important

... why we're so committed to defeating the Right's efforts to

use gay rights as a divisive wedge issue in California this year

... why our African American Religious Affairs program equips

and mobilizes progressive Black clergy and other leaders to

resist these wedge campaigns and to bring their voices more

effectively into the public arena ... and why in this election,

as with every election, we'll be working hard to stop voter

suppression and make sure eligible voters are aware of, and able

to exercise, their rights.  

If you have thoughts about the ways that race is being handled

or manipulated in this campaign season -- or suggestions for

what we can do about it -- e-mail me at Kathryn@pfaw.org.

All the best,

Kathryn Kolbert, President 

P.S. I love it when our opponents go after us when our work

makes them uncomfortable. This week Pat Robertson griped on the

700 Club about People For the American Way distributing segments

of his program to reporters. I can't understand how he thinks

we're stifling free speech by encouraging news coverage of his

statements ... but I can sure understand why he and his guests

are embarrassed by some of the things we catch them saying. 

http://www.PFAW.org

United Church of Christ Leader Responds to Pastor Wright

I'm not going to post the Rev. Dr. Wright's words here because it would be redundant since we've seen the video countless times. But what I wanted to share is the thoughts of the leader of the United Church of Christ. 

Note that this statement was released the day before Senator's Obama's speech in response to the way Dr. Wright had been portrayed by the media.

This is a powerful message and well worth the read.

BTW, somebody sent me an email with the following expression which applies to Dr. Wright's situation:  

 A pastor's job is to comfort the afflicted 

and to afflict the comfortable.

Written by staff reports

March 17, 2008

The Rev. John H. Thomas, UCC general minister and president, released the following statement on March 17 on the rhetoric of preaching, in light of recent news coverage of Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., and Chicago's Trinity UCC.

What Kind of Prophet? Reflections on the Rhetoric of Preaching in Light of Recent News Coverage of Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. and Trinity United Church of Christ

The Rev. John H. Thomas General Minister and President United Church of Christ

Over the weekend members of our church and others have been subjected to the relentless airing of two or three brief video clips of sermons by the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ for thirty-six years and, for over half of those years, pastor of Senator Barack Obama and his family.  These video clips, and news stories about them, have been served up with frenzied and heated commentary by media personalities expressing shock that such language and sentiments could be uttered from the pulpit.  

One is tempted to ask whether these commentators ever listen to the overcharged rhetoric of their own opinion shows.  Even more to the point is to wonder whether they have a working knowledge of the history of preaching in the United States from the unrelentingly grim language of New England election day sermons to the fiery rhetoric of the Black church prophetic tradition.  Maybe they prefer the false prophets with their happy homilies in Jeremiah who say to the people:  "You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you true peace in this place."  To which God responds, "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them.  They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. . . .  By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed," (Jeremiah 14.14-15).   The Biblical Jeremiah was coarse and provocative.  Faithfulness, not respectability was the order of the day then.  And now?

What's really going on here?  First, it may state the obvious to point out that these television and radio shows have very little interest in Trinity Church or Jeremiah Wright.  Those who sifted through hours of sermons searching for a few lurid phrases and those who have aired them repeatedly have only one intention.  It is to wound a presidential candidate.  In the process a congregation that does exceptional ministry and a pastor who has given his life to shape those ministries is caricatured and demonized.  You don't have to be an Obama supporter to be alarmed at this.  Will Clinton's United Methodist Church be next?  Or McCain's Episcopal Church?  Wouldn't we have been just as alarmed had it been Huckabee's Southern Baptist Church, or Romney's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?   

Many of us would prefer to avoid the stark and startling language Pastor Wright used in these clips.  But what was his real crime?  He is condemned for using a mild "obscenity" in reference to the United States.  This week we mark the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, a war conceived in deception and prosecuted in foolish arrogance.  Nearly four thousand cherished Americans have been killed, countless more wounded, and tens of thousands of Iraqis slaughtered.  Where is the real obscenity here?  True patriotism requires a degree of self-criticism, even self-judgment that may not always be easy or genteel.  Pastor Wright's judgment may be starker and more sweeping than many of us are prepared to accept.  But is the soul of our nation served any better by the polite prayers and gentle admonitions that have gone without a real hearing for these five years while the dying and destruction continues?

We might like to think that racism is a thing of the past, that Martin Luther King's harmonious multi-racial vision, articulated in his speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 and then struck down by an assassin's bullet in Memphis in 1968, has somehow been resurrected and now reigns throughout the land.  Significant progress has been made.  A black man is a legitimate candidate for President of the United States.  A black woman serves as Secretary of State.  The accomplishments are profound.  But on the gritty streets of Chicago's south side where Trinity has planted itself, race continues to play favorites in failing urban school systems, unresponsive health care systems, crumbling infrastructure, and meager economic development.  Are we to pretend all is well because much is, in fact, better than it used to be?  Is it racist to name the racial divides that continue to afflict our nation, and to do so loudly?  How ironic that a pastor and congregation which, for forty-five years, has cast its lot with a predominantly white denomination, participating fully in its wider church life and contributing generously to it, would be accused of racial exclusion and a failure to reach for racial reconciliation.

The gospel narrative of Palm Sunday's entrance into Jerusalem concludes with the overturning of the money changers' tables in the Temple courtyard.  Here wealth and power and greed were challenged for the way the poor were oppressed to the point of exclusion from a share in the religious practices of the Temple.  Today we watch as the gap between the obscenely wealthy and the obscenely poor widens.  More and more of our neighbors are relegated to minimal health care or to no health care at all.  Foreclosures destroy families while unscrupulous lenders seek bailouts from regulators who turned a blind eye to the impending crisis.  Should the preacher today respond to this with only a whisper and a sigh? 

Is Pastor Wright to be ridiculed and condemned for refusing to play the court prophet, blessing land and sovereign while pledging allegiance to our preoccupation with wealth and our fascination with weapons?  In the United Church of Christ we honor diversity.  For nearly four centuries we have respected dissent and have struggled to maintain the freedom of the pulpit.  Not every pastor in the United Church of Christ will want to share Pastor Wright's rhetoric or his politics.  Not every member will rise to shout "Amen!"  But I trust we will all struggle in our own way to resist the lure of respectable religion that seeks to displace evangelical faith.  For what this nation needs is not so much polite piety as the rough and radical word of the prophet calling us to repentance.  And, as we struggle with that ancient calling, I pray we will be shrewd enough to name the hypocrisy of those who decry the mixing of religion and politics in order to serve their own political ends.   

Taking the Gay Lesbian Experience into the Church

 

From Ben Smith over at Politico, which is really a great blog   

Selling gay rights - Ben Smith's Blog - Politico.com

February 28, 2008 Read More: Barack Obama

Selling gay rights

Obama's rally in Beaumont today was the highest-energy of this Texas swing, with a crowd that was about three-quarters black cheering at almost every turn.

An interesting moment came when he was asked a question about LGBT rights and delivered an answer that seemed to suit the questioner, listing the various attributes — race, gender, etc. — that shouldn't trigger discrimination, to successive cheers. When he came to saying that gays and lesbians deserve equality, though, the crowd fell silent.

So he took a different tack:

"Now I’m a Christian, and I praise Jesus every Sunday," he said, to a sudden wave of noisy applause and cheers.

"I hear people saying things that I don’t think are very Christian with respect to people who are gay and lesbian," he said, and the crowd seemed to come along with him this time.

The moment reminded me of a conversation I had recently with a senior figure in the national gay rights movement, who noted that Obama's deference to some black Christian discomfort with homosexuality — his refusal to dump the "ex-gay" gospel singer Donnie McClurkin from a tour — angered some gays and lesbians; but conversely, that his ability to sell gay rights in the black church is unique and appealing.