Thanks for the post. Rev. Wright was my former pastor for several years when I lived in Chicago. He was always intelligent and spiritual and Trinity's services were always uplifting. It is unbelievable how the mainstream tried to demonize him. The truth always emerges in the end.
 

ashé, sista... word.
 

I remember listening to the soundbites of Rev. Wright that the media tried to sensationalize. My lady and I looked at eachother and were like, "Right on! Truth be told!" I remember thinking more highly of President-elect Obama as a result of his being affiliated with Rev. Wright at one-time. What's truly sensational is how brainwashed we are as Americans. But the lady who commented first is exactly right, the truth eventually rises to the surface. Thanks Davey D and those that commented.
 

Rev. Wright Was Right!

It was great to share this historic moment with you Davey.

Paradise
 

Thanks for taking the time to shed some light on this subject. I hope others can understand and see how anything can be manipulated to mean something else.

Its just evidence of the trickery that the devil employs to breed confusion and divide us as a people.
 

I agreed with everything Wright said!
 

Always respect this man. I never forgave Obama for doing what he did. Rev. Wright got twisted all out of context and was crucified for the sake of White feelings... fuck us. That whole incident made me turn from even considering O for anything Presidential. 3 times he ran over this brother... I'm surprised a cock didn't fuckin' start crowing, lol. I am still happy I voted Green... cause it's ON now.

Intregrate one's Self before intergrating into society. White ppl should get that. But, many of us are pandering to them like house niggaz... I'm done with that shyt, yo. I'd rather be alone in a field than unhappy in the house with my butt cheeks all scrunched up. Money can't buy your integrity.

Someone on this blog told me to "forgive" Obama's grandma... but, where was the outrage when everyone started dissing Rev. Wright? Man... please. J. Wright gets ALL my respect. HE stood up for all of us in more ways that Obama has NOT. Let's not start with his support of ALL people, regardless of race, creed or even orientation.

REV. WRIGHT is MY hope. Word.


Good looking out, D.
 

What did you not forgive Obama for? When they cornered him with the Rev. Wright stuff, I thought he was going to tuck his tail and throw Rev. Wright under the bus but he never did that. He publicly stated that he wouldn't turn his back on him and in that speech on race he explained to entire nation why Rev. Wright would feel the way he does. Personally, I thought he showed much respect to Rev. Wright in the way he handled the situation.
 

One thing fam/.. both farrakhan and wright spoke about Obama.. they are not angry with him and have expressed great pride.. I got the sense from talking with wright that he clearly understood what needed to happen.. There was no way Obama could get elected if he didn't handle it that way..

I too was upset with the way things were handled, but I'm more upset that many of us did not step up for wright..Where were the marches and letters of outrage from church leaders? It wasn't on obama to do it.. it was on us.. I didn't play this part of the convo where wright talks about farrakhan shedding tears as he voted for Obama.. They spoke about this publicy at the State of the Black wold conference..

In naycase the way this was handled is bigger than one man.. Its on us to do rep and rep hard..

D
 

Thank you for posting this.The bottomline is this people are scared of the truth.We live in a fast food society.People do not read think or do research anymore.I have always been a fan of Rev.Wright
 

My pastor's a friend of Rev. Wright's and occasionally gets to preaching like him. Jeremiah ain't nevah lied, either! I hope some day I can meet the man. I consider him a genuine hero.
 

Davey, it's time for you to Spam the White Book dude.

But seriously, I was hellafied baffled by all of the sensationalism. I don't know of any progressive Black church that doesn't espouse the same rhetoric Wright does. If anything, I felt like all of the hoop-a-la was indicative of the gross ignorance many 'Americans' have about Black/African American culture. Yes that can be a generalization, but think about it; many of the historical contributions to the Civil Rights Movement were fermented within or came out of the church (or other religious institutions). Without going too deeply Malcolm X and Dr. King were both men of faith. . .

I was, however, very disappointed by the way he was acting out of pocket AFTER all of the mess went down and Obama was forced to distance himself from him. I think we all remembered Obama said in response, "He doesn't speak for me" or something to that effect. I felt like Wright's acerbic comments were adding fuel to fire. He is/was well aware of politics and racism in the United States. I'm sure he understood how all of it was blown out of proportion and realized there was absolutely nothing he could have done to fix the situation outside of going away quietly aka shutting up. But he didn't. It seemed as if Wright went on a damn speaking tour. Yes, it was an unfair situation, but we all know that it doesn't take much to vilify a brotha and he wasn't helping Obama become less vilified.
 

I think he noted that his behavior at press club was unfortunate and a mistake.. The interviews leading up top that were incredible and he was on point even with his remarks about Obama being a politician. It sounds harsh in print but in the context of a longer convo it makes perfect sense...
 

This situation wasn't about being a "politician." Obama was trying to get ELECTED. He was APPLYING for a job; a job that required tact and diplomacy. Wright is an elder pastor with significant leadership experience and he above all people should have understood the complexity of the situation and "America's" (non-African Americans) response. It's almost like going to a job interview with an afro and kente cloth on. I know some (white) folks are ignorant and afraid of what they don't understand. And because of that I probably wouldn't rock that mess until I actually got a job. And even if he is apologetic, I wonder if it is only because his family was affected. . . Truth be told, pastors got huge egos. It probably took him awhile to understand the damage he was doing.
 

Natcha please lay out exactly what damage pastor Wright caused?

The sermons were taken from 2003.. and they were consistent with what he has always said from the pulpit.. In fact in march of last year Obama spoke that the United Church anniversary in Hartford. i spoke at that same conference.. Around this time controversy was just starting to arise with Wright.. he introduced Obama..If you recall folks used that event as an excuse to further demonize Wright, Obama and United Church of Christ.The GOP sued the church.

Wright as a pastor is NOT there to apply for any job. His job is to his entire congregation. That congregation includes Oprah, Common and lots of folks in need of a healing word and salvation. The trinity members needed their pastor to be exactly who he was..

If I recall correctly when negroes were running around saying Obama wasn't Black enough to run.. It was his pastor who held him up.. and in many ways Obama's association with that church gave him some credibility in Black circles.. I have tapes with people saying back in january that they weren't sure about Obama..but hey if he goes to trinity and claims pastor Wright than he must be ok..

It was Wrights staunch positions against the war, his association with Minister farrakhan and his willingness to swing hard at Bush and be 'unapologetically' black that Obama got a boost.
Shit I can pull out the tapes of people making all those comments. I know for myself. I knew about Wright before Obama and when i thought dude was a bit too the right I gave him that second look and a donation based on him being in Wright's church..

As for white folks being afraid.. well lets be clear about this.. because we still have 10 million elegible Black voters who still didn't vote.. and abunch of folks who were not with Obama soft peddaling on issues he wound up having to appeal to a small group of folks in Ohio and Pennsylvania who are afraid of Black folks.. In March at that meeting in hartford, Wright was introduced as the pastor of a church that was 'unapologetically black'. I thought it was interesting that a guy who was trying not to get too racial would come out to an all white audience with that monikor both on stage and in print. Obama also gave a dope hard hitting speech.

If Obama knew he would have to appeal to those types of folks why stay in a Church that rolls the way it did? Like I said Wright has always been a firey preacher..
The only thing Wright did was mess up at the press club.. and he like everyone else is allowed a mistake.. Furthermore we shouldn't have to tip toe and be quiet around white folks.. If they're afraid than too bad..
 

I can't speak for Natacha, but she did make the analogy of Obama applying for a job (President), not Wright.
As for me, and what I think she may be talking about was the damage of his later comments, not the ones they twisted. That may be what you're talking about at the press club? I'm not sure, but it was when he was saying "Obama feels just like I do" and "he's a politician, he has to say those things." I, personally was disappointed to hear that because he knew what Obama was trying to do.
But I grew up an hour from Chicago and a man's rep definitely travels so I had heard about the man long ago and he was always solid. But that one interview was potentially very damaging.
 

Actually Anwar.. if you recall Obama seperating from Wright suddenly had tyhis one group of white folks praising him for 'doing the right thing'.. Go back and look at all the comments and the punditry.. They were saying things like thats an awful man.. Look at the vile things he said Obama did the right thing by letting him go. Just like they said Obama did the right thing by distancing himself from Farrakhan and just like he did the right thing by not having Al & jesse camapign alongside him.. Bottomline Obama in filling out his job interview needed to stay away from all things Black or risk being seen as the candidate for Black america and not America..Thats really what this all boiled down to...

Rev wright was someone who got tossed in the mix by no fault of his own and stayed there.. The damaging comments was not him calling Obama a politician.. If it was they would've rocked those quotes on those commercials at the end of the campaign. The damage was those quotes from the '03 sermon..The Goddamn America quotes..
 

I feel you about him having to stay away from all things Black but it was actually two fold. He had to stay away from all things Black but he had to really get the hell away from all things Black and Revolutionary - that's another level. Jesse, Al, the event Tavis Smiley was mad about him not attending, those were examples of the "Black" he had to stay away from.
But Rev. Wright and Farrakhan were an even bigger threat to those people's peace of mind as they are not only Black, but revolutionary thinkers.
You spoke about Rev. Wright and "Liberation Theology." Al, Jesse, and Tavis would never use the word liberation in public (to my knowledge - correct me if I'm wrong though).
But maybe you're right and maybe I'm speaking for myself because I know the God damn America thing caused the initial damage, but I felt like Obama addressed it and threw dirt on the fire and most people accepted it. But when Wright came back after that and made the comments about "Obama feel just like I do" and all that - that's when I was disappointed and it looked like sabotage. Because I'm thinking, "I know he feel like you do. Shit I do, too, and everybody else out here with they eyes truly open, but don't say that shit right now!" I just didn't understand what was to gain by it.
 

Thank you for seeing my point (twice) and being significantly more eloquent : )
 

Jesse has spoken about liberation theology and for the most part him and wright hold the same views.. jesse over the years has learned to not be as firey.. But him playing along and being nice hasn't won him any friends.. he's still crucified by the same people who went after Wright..

As for Wright fanning the flames.. No that shyt wasn't over.. The end game was to seperate them.. If Obama had not done that more tapes would've surfaced and it would've been on and popping. Also many in the church weren't feeling Obama not defending the church.. This wasn't just about Wright it was about the Black church.. Wright handled the first two interviews well and 'messed up' at the Press club.. It definitely wasn't sabotage.. But it had to be clear to everyone that Wright could not and should not be defended. Not by fellow church goers, fellow pastors and fans and friends... His out of character actions at the Press club.. signaled that.. No one could and would defend him and he dropped out of sight until after the election..
 

Yes, but it goes back to the job application analogy. On the application is best to give the boss what they want to see. Full disclosure is a point-of-view, hiding the glaring past is risky and you will have get your foot in the door before is gets slammed. The winning method for Obama is to associate with the common Protestant/Catholic belief - not The Black Church. Non-blacks can (and often) do assume that it is a Black Church that Obama came from. To polarize the issue with so-called revelations of Liberation Theology would be the suicidal approach to religious accreditation and common values.

The media wanted to see all sides bleed in this long-drawn campaign. The witchhunt on extremist religious beliefs did not start with Rev.Wright... but is was a welcome issue once the sensitive nerves of white americans were touched. Clearly Obama had to skirt extremism - while maintaining his credibility as a man of Christian belief and integrity. It is far-fetched by many to think that Black/Afro-Americans would turn their backs on him for simply protecting his moderate religious image. The media did well to sell George W. Bush as the guy who gets his foreign policy from sporadic denomination-specific Evangelical sources. President-Elect Barrack Hussein Obama did well to avoid the extremist condemnations that worked so quickly against the innocent Rev.Wright.
 

My question- how many more Rev. Wrights will need to be thrown under the bus for the sake of one man's political ambition? Picking the lesser of two evils still leaves you with evil, and politics is an evil, if not necessary, game.

As an American, I am rooting for him to do what it takes to push our nation in the right direction. Now that he is office, will he push the people's mandate or will he allow himself to be co-opted bythe typical forces of political power?

We'll see, but for all those who railed againts the good Rev, just keep in mind that truth had to be sublimated in order for Obama's success.

Is telling and living by half-lies, half-truthes a good strategy for black America's success? Hip-Hop's? Progressive's?

Since when has power yielded anything, but to power?
 

yes! amazing...
 

sensational interview!