I get knots in my gut when I hear an arch-wingnut like Pat Buchanan spewing the insidious idea that social justice preaching (which goes on in many predominantly Black churches all over America every Sunday) is somehow unacceptable in American political discourse. Well, what about your side, Pat? How about your buddy, Catholic hatemonger, Bill Donohue? Talk about incendiary remarks. How about Michael Bray and the Army of God? How about the thousands of priests and preachers all over America railing against the "crime" of abortion and the "mortal sin" of birth control, who are the inspiration for murderers like Paul Hill and James Charles Kopp? By the way, who do those folks support politically do you s’pose? Not Barack Obama, I assure you. Did any of them support you when you ran for President, Pat? Just curious.
I am a little disappointed that Barack so readily acquiesced to the anti-progressive smear machine’s tactics here regarding the sermons of his minister, Jeremiah Wright. I certainly understand the potential for this situation to hurt Obama if the controversy is not addressed with a sure hand. I think I understand the campaign’s initial attempt to limit the damage by disavowing the specific remarks which were said to be offensive, but I do not believe that is going to diffuse this situation, because the question that remains is how Barack could be a member of this church for twenty years and not know (damn well) what kind of preaching goes on there from week to week. The point is that Obama does know that Jeremiah Wright is a firebrand preacher who uses very tough (and sometimes angry) words to make his (very legitimate) points about our moral failures as a nation, particularly with regard to race relations, poverty and justice.
The problem so painfully illustrated by this particular dustup is that most white people (and most journalists who are writing and commenting and editorializing about this) have never heard this kind of preaching and cannot understand the anger and frustration that underlies it. But this is (and has been for many years and for good reason) the voice of many Black ministers and race activists in America. This is the voice, not only of Jeremiah Wright, but also of Frederick Douglas and Martin Luther King. This is a voice that must not and cannot be silenced, no matter who it offends.
In his speech tomorrow, Barack Obama has to acknowledge the cultural ocean that still separates Black and White America; and by the very act of acknowledging our deep and painful divide, he can propose a way to heal it with love and understanding. This debate is not only about the sermons of one man in one church in Chicago. This is one battle in the long internal war that has been the central test of our democracy since its founding, when Negro slaves were assigned a value of 3/5ths of a person. This is the very reason I am convinced that Barack Obama is the man for our times. Here’s hoping he rises to the occasion tomorrow in Philadelphia. The founders might well be looking on.