That clip from Rev. Wright's Sermon was a barn burner! Whoo!
Why is he so angry? And how dare he say 'God damn America'?
In this diary, I intend to examine each and every one of his claims from the clip to see if anything he said makes any sens at all. Please follow me belos the fold...
First let's examine the first claim.
Rev. Wright: "They give us the drugs."
Unfortunately, that is a true and well documented statement. Anyone old enough to remember the Iran Contra hearings will remember that the illegal operation was financed by the CIA through the sale of crack cocaine. As the dailykos community has debated the injustice of disparate sentencing guidelines, most of us are aware that black and latino communities were targeted to receive the crack and suffered devestating effects because of it. Worse still, many of the evil geniuses who brought us Iran Contra have been prominently featured in George Bush's government where they have presided over rendition, torture, murder and all the other skills they picked up in the 1980s.
Rev. Wright: "They built bigger prisons."
Yes, the U.S. government expanded prisons and built new ones including assistance to the growing private prison industry. Only last week, I read diaries on this website expressing dismay at the rate of adult incarceration in this country. Rev. WRight is merely connecting the dots.
Rev. Wright: "Passes a three strike law."
Who can deny the truth of this? This is only one of the laws that disproportionately impacts the poor and people of color.
Rev. Wright: "...and then they want us to say, God Bless America. Naw, naw, naw...God Damn America."
Here is the thing. You don't have to be black to see and agree with Rev. Wright's case against America. In the clip he referrs to South African Apartheid as state sponsored terrorism and points out the United STates supported the system for years. Who here disagrees with that characterization? He has not said anything in his clip that I have not seen the mostly white bloggers here at dailykos saying for the last several years. I think most Kossacks who visited Wright's church would find themselves nodding their heads in agreement most of the time during his sermons. I know, I do.
But...even accepting the truth of the case against our country, we all have a choice to make. We can either damn America as Rev. Wright does or we can resolve to save America.
Barack Obama is just young enough to have reached the conclusion that America is worth saving. And because we can see the palpable strength of his belief in this country, many of us who are weary, are able to give the political process one more try. And new people who tune out politics are willing to get involved.
I realize that people in this country have no long term memory. But some individuals do. And to condemn a man for stating matters of public record from the pulpit is the definition of cynicism.