Rev. Jeremiah Wright & Sen. Barack Obama: The Failure of “Colorblindness” and the Ignored Reality of White Social Power in the US

Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright has my admiration and respect. Unfortunately, citizens had to witness the media gauntlet formed in the last week of April 2008 and its fallout.

What the media circus showed is that the United States is still mired in race yet does not want anyone to point out that fact or the United States’ failed foreign policy adventures. Moreover, Senator Barack Obama unjustly condemned Rev. Wright’s statements as “not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate.”

The Black Agenda Report’s Executive Editor Glen Ford has written an excellent column analyzing the collapse of Sen. Obama’s color neutral world view.

The world views of Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Sen. Barack Obama were incompatible from the start, just as the mythical American Manifest Destiny world view is directly at odds with the facts as perceived by Blacks in the United States. Wright finally forced Obama to choose sides in the conflict of racial/historical visions, and in doing so, performed a service on behalf of clarity. Obama lashed out in a startlingly personal manner, calling Wright a “caricature” of himself and linking the minister to forces that give “comfort to those who prey on hate.” Rev. Wright exposed the flimsy tissues of so-called “race neutrality” in a nation founded on racial oppression.

This whole event between Rev. Wright and Sen. Obama leaves unanswered the question of what happens to current issues of concern of the Black community (which Sen. Obama essentially downplays as relics of older Black people in his heralded speech on race). I assert that the issues Rev. Wright speaks about, still are relevant (and essentially unaddressed) today.

Some of these issues I have attempted to address on this blog in tracking Ward Connerly’s ballot initiative in four states (click on the affirmative action tag in the right column for my previous posts on this subject).

One is the facile (and untrue) implication that Blacks and Whites have equal social power in the United States. Sen. Obama alludes to this view in his speech on race.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

The fact is that the White population has the sole social power in the United States. First, the travails of White Americans were not caused by Black people but rather the economic policy of the United States, which happens to be dominated by White people. In addition, Black people have similar problems on top of institutional anti-Black discrimination.

Second, Sen. Obama fails to acknowledge that Whites have a much bigger population size than Blacks in the United States. The White side alone (75.1 % of the United States population) controls governmental power. The 2000 Census makes this clear.

United States (population: 281,421,906 (2000 Census)

Race	Percentage of population	Number
White	75.1%	211,460,626
Black	12.3	34,658,190
Native American	0.9	2,475,956
Asian	3.6	10,242,998

Thus, it is not fair simply to compare the groups strictly as equals, as Sen. Obama did in his April 2008 speech.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright: Media Incorrectly Asserts that Pastor is a Political Figure; He Had to Speak to Correct Calumnies

It is error to view Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright through a political lens. Rev. Wright is not running for nor holds a political office. Yet this is how the media generally is treating Rev. Wright.

Various media outlets (here, here, and here) have criticized Rev. Wright for continuing to speak at various events (speech to NAACP in Detroit, National Press Club speech). The underlying view is that his speeches act to undermine Senator Barack Obama’s campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination. [See my post providing the full context of Rev. Wright's past sermons here.]

[Observation: One must wonder, if Sen. Obama has the majority of the pledged delegates, why are a large number of superdelegates still undecided?]

This analysis is irrelevant as Rev. Wright has never sought political office. Indeed his sermons were brought into the campaign.

But as Sen. Obama characterized Rev. Wright as a “crazy uncle” and an embittered older person, Rev. Wright had to respond to those derogatory remarks. His speeches and interview with Bill Moyers demonstrate that Rev. Wright is a man of great learning, caring and humanity as a pastor should be. Moreover, it is only proper for Rev. Wright to identify and criticize the social injustices that exist in the United States.

I think he has made it clear that his words cannot be attributed to Sen. Obama. Regardless, it should be noted that a church member, who is also a politician, can never dictate the content of righteous ministry.

The Futility of “Colorblindness” (Part 4): Rev. Jeremiah Wright & Race in the United States

A Washington Post article reported on how a Virginia church handled the issues surrounding Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright’s sermons (featured in the media and on YouTube).

In the article, a church member opined that the racial history in the United States was bad, but now it should be forgotten (emphasis mine):

[Karl] Heeter said that he has not focused on the controversy surrounding Wright’s comments and that he didn’t hear [Senator Barack] Obama’s speech. But he said the country doesn’t need to revisit its ugly racial history. “I’m not saying it wasn’t horrible, but we need to get over it,” he said.

 

As such, he doesn’t see the need to talk about racial differences in church. “I don’t see any point in stirring it up in an area where there don’t appear to be any problems,” he said.

Presuming you have not suffered the injustice and inhumanity (central to Rev Wright’s sermons), it is rather cavalier (for those who have not suffered systematic anti-Black discrimination) to tell those who have endured the burden to forget.

Tim Wise, an anti-racism author and activist, wrote about a conversation he had with a White male college student. Wise relates to the reader that the college student expressed a similar opinion to Heeter (above). Wise also describes how the racial discrimination in the past of the United States still has effects in the present day (emphasis mine):

[...] “Yes, we used to have a problem with racism, but that’s in the past and we need to move forward.”

 

That was cliche number two: this time objectively absurd and highly relevant to our discussion, which concerned what obligations (if any) the United States has to rectify the legacy of institutionalized white supremacy. Perhaps reparations for its victims? Perhaps affirmative action? Perhaps both, or neither?

 

“We should do nothing,” he explained, because — and I’m sure you can guess the rest — he “wasn’t even alive when all that happened, and shouldn’t have to pay for what others did.”

 

Cliches within cliches, all piled upon one another like driftwood, floating on an ocean of white denial, searching for a home in the minds of the self-proclaimed innocent–those who are apparently convinced that the past has no bearing on the present, that history ended sometime around 1964 with the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and that inertia is only a property of the physical, but not socioeconomic universe.

 

But of course, the evidence of the past’s lingering grip on the present is all around us. Thanks to overt racism in housing markets, for example, which all agree ruled the day for the better part of the last century, white families were able to accumulate assets and wealth at a time when people of color were severely limited in their ability to do so.

It is tough to get progress when society is unwilling to acknowledge the impacts of anti-Black discrimination in the United States.

Post script:

Also, in the Post’s article, a church member mentioned a safe space would be needed to engage in racial discussions:

Frank Bertrand, the church’s lay leader, said the country has been ready to have a frank discussion about race for more than a generation. Yet he acknowledged it would be difficult to bring it up without setting parameters. People are more inclined to speak openly if non-threatening questions are asked and they know “what to expect and what the objectives are,” he said.

Tim Wise wrote an interesting article on the insistence on safety when discussing racial issues.

Although it isn’t usually made explicit, this admonition about the importance of safety is almost always really about making white people feel safe. After all, people of color rarely feel safe discussing race amongst members of the dominant group, and it’s pretty unlikely that a simple sentence calling for civility would change that. Black and brown folks know that race is a touchy subject, and yet they engage in race dialogue (whether formal or informal) as a matter of survival: they have to do it, safe or not, because the alternative is to continue neglecting an issue that is far too important to their everyday lives.

It also is important to consider the demographics of the United States. The vast majority of the population is White, a fact that is often understated.

United States (population: 281,421,906 (2000 Census)

Race	Percentage of population	Number
White	75.1%	211,460,626
Black	12.3	34,658,190
Native American	0.9	2,475,956
Asian	3.6	10,242,998

 

Jeremiah Wright: Full Context of Remarks on YouTube

Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright has been the focus of extraordinarily unfair criticism this week for certain statements made during sermons.

It happens that the news organizations selected statements of Rev. Wright that were dramatic and removed the context of his statements in his sermon.

The fortunate thing about the Internet is that it provides a medium for research and discussion. There is a site on YouTube that now provides the part of the sermon that gives context to Rev. Wright’s statements that were displayed on the news programs.

Here is the sermon that includes Rev. Wright’s “God Damn America” statement with the other part of Rev. Wright’s sermon that provides context for his remarks.

There are other videos at the YouTube site for Trinity Chicago that also provide context for Rev. Wright’s televised comments.

For example, Rev. Wright in speaking of the chickens coming home to roost was actually referring to a statement made by an ambassador featured on a Fox News program.

The condemnation of Rev. Wright is unwarranted and unfair.