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The Meaning of Reverend Wright

Mar 18, 2008 Posted by Rich Harwood

(Written for publication on Monday, March 17)

The Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's pastor, has caused quite a stir, as various news outlets have aired excerpts from some of his sermons. Now the question is, What should we make of it? This is a dangerous topic, because no matter what one says or writes, there is a very real chance that it'll be twisted and turned to fit another person's narrative. So, I weigh in with these thoughts, knowing full well that I run that risk.

Let me say from the outset that I do not endorse - indeed, I flatly reject - much of what I have heard Reverend Wright say that is now being reported in the news, comments like these carried by MSNBC.com:

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York, and we never batted an eye. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is brought right back in our own front yards."

"No, no, no not God Bless America - God damn America!"

But in everyone's rush to condemn the Reverend, I wonder if we have missed some key insights.

First, the tendency among political leaders, bloggers, news reporters, and others to corner Senator Obama and get him to shout "Uncle!" seems blatantly ridiculous, serving no other purpose than to fan the flames of political division and score points. I often watch with utter disgust and disbelief as they manipulate news in ways that only coarsen and cripple public life.

Instead, there is the question I wish Senator Obama would answer: What is it that you found to be inspiring, insightful, or engaging about Reverend Wright and Trinity Church in the first place? The Senator could have joined any church, but he joined this one - why? I suspect his answer to that question will yield something about Reverend Wright, but even more about the Senator's own beliefs and values. My guess is that there is something powerful in the history and teachings of that church that speak to the Senator's sense of faith and service, something beyond the handful of comments by Reverend Wright now being highlighted.

Next, what does it mean to have people in society, such as Reverend Wright, who aggressively challenge the status quo, who send out messages which some say are phony and which others call prophetic, who dare to cross the line of politeness and rupture norms of give-and-take, and whose comments merely reflect a portion of what they preach? Such comments can be mean-spirited and can produce ill-effects; we should not turn a blind eye to those. But neither should we automatically condemn someone's entire career because of selected remarks pulled out of context; indeed, we must not be driven by our fear of their remarks.

The alternative is to step forward and renounce them in ways that reflect the kind of public life and politics we seek to create. Let us take in the fullness of their argument and respond in kind - with clarity, forthrightness, and strength of conviction, even love. I do not suggest that anyone should back down, but neither do I advocate a slash and burn response that poisons the very public square we wish to invigorate.

Finally, I think the Reverend Wright situation raises the question, What does it mean to stand by a leader - in this case Senator Obama - who has worked for years to reengage people and build bridges, and who himself can hardly be accused of promoting incendiary comments that pit people against one another?

It seems to me that we must learn how to judge a public person, with all their misdeeds and maladies, with the expectation that they cannot comport themselves with absolute holiness over time, and nor should we be ready to grant them unfailing redemption at each turn. Doing so would forfeit our own claim to think and act for ourselves. Indeed, it is the depths of our very engagement -- our own willingness to step forward -- that may be the biggest issue we face this year.

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Re: The Meaning of Reverend Wright
Mar 25, 2008 | Linda Smith | lindas@austinpcc.org

It has occurred to me that within a discussion of the type you describe, you may be relating at different levels at different times in the discussion. Some of the time, it will be on a purely human level person to person and some of the time, it will be within the political/historical context which is more painful. Some of the time, the relationship will be among power positions -- relating across/lateral from one another or up and down in relative power positions. And all of this can happen at once with some individuals at different points at one time and then shifting around. I think it might be helpful to identify these possible sets of transactions so partiicpants can see when they are happening and maybe consciously all try to stay in one place until a conclusion is drawn. For example, when the whites say, "Can we move on?", they want to be in the human relationship. When the blacks say, "Let's talk about redress and active racism.", they are in a diagnostic place. A little tedious to sort out but well worth it if some conclusions can be drawn followed by action.
Let us not be distracted
Mar 19, 2008 | Julie Fanselow | jfanselow@everyday-democracy.org

Rich, Eric, and everyone at Harwood ...

Thank you for this post. I am in DC this week at the Take Back America conference and I just happened to be attending a Race Matters panel when, waiting for the session to start, a dozen or so of us huddled around a laptop to watch a replay of the speech. The moderator, among us, said she felt he was summarizing all she wanted to say at the panel. I blogged about it here:

http://democracyspace.typepad.com/democracyspaceorg/2008/03/obama-speaks-on.html

For those of us doing civic engagement work, especially around the issue of racial equity, this was both a news event and a compelling call to keep on doing our work. In Obama's words from yesterday:

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that. But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.” This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.
Re: The Meaning of Reverend Wright
Mar 18, 2008 | richard puffer | dpuffer@coker.edu

The conversation about the role race plays in dividing our communities is one that needs to be facilitated again and again. The Senator from Illinois has helped facilitate the discussion with a head on approach for which we should be thankful. The question now, is how can we find a way to continue such a discussion in communities that have made their ways to 2008 finding all kinds of excuses to not even bring the discussion to the table, let alone, have a real conversation. On both sides - or on all sides - we have been concluding the others won't be able to understand so let's just avoid the subject. I hope we can now find a way to make this subject come alive as we build communities.
Re: The Meaning of Reverend Wright
Mar 18, 2008 | Glenn Simmons | glennsimmons60@comcast.net

In a world that seems to be increasingly fed by sound bites, these comments are tailor made for a runaway train. Perhaps the public feels that the truth is so hard to get to that along the way the truth doesn't matter as much. from the pace we move at nobody seems to take time enough for truth anyway, because truth requires patience, depth, and most of all trying really hard to listen to the others sides position. Perhaps it's more like our parents used to say "it's not what you say, but how you say it". Reverend Wrights comments strike a nerve in me, but they also make me reflect to find any strains of truth, and any possibilities of making me look into my America deeper. We are a great country because of its people, always have been, always will be. Sadly truth will continue to be twisted for personal gain as long as we let it happen.
Re: The Meaning of Reverend Wright
Mar 18, 2008 | Ellison Horne | ehorne@uwba.org

Valuable insights, Rich. Thank you.

I understand, Barack Obama will deliver a speech today, addressing issues centering on Pastor Wright, and more important, on race in America.

If Mr. Obama is the person I feel he is, it will be one of the most important speeches to come from this entire campaign.

It may well be that by September of this year, after the conventions, America will finally face the complex issues of race as never before. Rev. Wright has stepped down, but his words still resonate with truth as they have for many decades.

We have only to review the entire PBS series, "Eyes on the Prize" to realize the vast lack of understanding that still plagues and torments the soul of our country. Yes, there have been many strides in bridging the divides between Blacks and Whites. Yet we continue relentlessly forward, failing to address the deeper context that Blacks in America are still haunted by a legacy from their forefathers, who were forced to lay down their freedoms and their very lives to establish the foundation on which commerce could grow and democracy be defined. (I have relatives who still live under the thundercloud of slavery’s reign, which exists even today—in little shack houses, with no electricity or plumbing—still living the terror-based custom of never making eye contact when addressing a White person for fear of harm, or even death.)

Barack and Michelle Obama are modern day heroes. People from all walks of life realize this. And for all our past failings to understand and respond to the times, they represent a new breed of “We the People”.

With a clarion call to unite, neighbor to neighbor, we face a new opportunity standing squarely before us, the American people--an opportunity ready to embrace us with arms of acceptance and forgiveness, knowing we will do better, that we will be better, together.
Re: The Meaning of Reverend Wright
Mar 18, 2008 | KC Burton | kcburton@aecf.org

Thanks Rich for providing clear thinking around this emotionally charged circumstance. Thanks for reminding us that Reverend Jeremiah Wright is more than how he is presented in some selected video and passages. If parts of his sermons where he speaks fervently of following Christ, were juxtaposed with the clips now being displayed, he no doubt could be seen in a different way. Even in the unacceptable rhetoric and hyperbole of the now infamous clips, no one seems ready to fact check the first part of what he said, rather only seize upon his condemnation of America for its role in creating those facts. Truthfully, if he had not said America should be damned, his remarks would likely never have seen the light of day. That's because America and most of our media wants to remain too silent about the parts of our history and practices that do not comport with the image we wish to project. Wright is correct to point out American hypocrisies, even if possibly damnable himself for his methodology. The bigger point is what the affect is on Barak Obama of having been exposed to Wright's leadership through twenty years? Since Obama has spoken to and demonstrated an ambition to unite Americans beyond our petty differences of race and the like, that alone serves as adequate repudiation of Wright's offensive words and actions and possible demonstration by Obama of messages that more appropriately characterize the mainstream of Wright's thinking and beliefs. Before we make someone guilty by association we need ,as you suggest in your message, to first fully assess the associate.

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	Home > Blogs > The Meaning of Reverend Wright Printable Version Tell a friend The Meaning of Reverend Wright Mar 18, 2008 Posted by Rich Harwood (Written for publication on Monday, March 17) The Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's pastor, has caused quite a stir, as various news outlets have aired excerpts from some of his sermons. Now the question is, What should we make of it? This is a dangerous topic, because no matter what one says or writes, there is a very real chance that it'll be twisted and turned to fit another person's narrative. So, I weigh in with these thoughts, knowing full well that I run that risk. Let me say from the outset that I do not endorse - indeed, I flatly reject - much of what I have heard Reverend Wright say that is now being reported in the news, comments like these carried by MSNBC.com: "We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York, and we never batted an eye. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is brought right back in our own front yards." "No, no, no not God Bless America - God damn America!" But in everyone's rush to condemn the Reverend, I wonder if we have missed some key insights. First, the tendency among political leaders, bloggers, news reporters, and others to corner Senator Obama and get him to shout "Uncle!" seems blatantly ridiculous, serving no other purpose than to fan the flames of political division and score points. I often watch with utter disgust and disbelief as they manipulate news in ways that only coarsen and cripple public life. Instead, there is the question I wish Senator Obama would answer: What is it that you found to be inspiring, insightful, or engaging about Reverend Wright and Trinity Church in the first place? The Senator could have joined any church, but he joined this one - why? I suspect his answer to that question will yield something about Reverend Wright, but even more about the Senator's own beliefs and values. My guess is that there is something powerful in the history and teachings of that church that speak to the Senator's sense of faith and service, something beyond the handful of comments by Reverend Wright now being highlighted. Next, what does it mean to have people in society, such as Reverend Wright, who aggressively challenge the status quo, who send out messages which some say are phony and which others call prophetic, who dare to cross the line of politeness and rupture norms of give-and-take, and whose comments merely reflect a portion of what they preach? Such comments can be mean-spirited and can produce ill-effects; we should not turn a blind eye to those. But neither should we automatically condemn someone's entire career because of selected remarks pulled out of context; indeed, we must not be driven by our fear of their remarks. The alternative is to step forward and renounce them in ways that reflect the kind of public life and politics we seek to create. Let us take in the fullness of their argument and respond in kind - with clarity, forthrightness, and strength of conviction, even love. I do not suggest that anyone should back down, but neither do I advocate a slash and burn response that poisons the very public square we wish to invigorate. Finally, I think the Reverend Wright situation raises the question, What does it mean to stand by a leader - in this case Senator Obama - who has worked for years to reengage people and build bridges, and who himself can hardly be accused of promoting incendiary comments that pit people against one another? It seems to me that we must learn how to judge a public person, with all their misdeeds and maladies, with the expectation that they cannot comport themselves with absolute holiness over time, and nor should we be ready to grant them unfailing redemption at each turn. Doing so would forfeit our own claim to think and act for ourselves. Indeed, it is the depths of our very engagement -- our own willingness to step forward -- that may be the biggest issue we face this year. add a comment main blog popular links Jun 2, 2008 \| tramadol \| merid@gmail.com Cool site! My site about canadian pharmacy - tramadol [url=http://www.mysignup.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?datafile=tramadol]buy tramadol[/url] and meridia [url=http://www.mysignup.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?datafile=meridia]meridia online[/url]. popular links May 28, 2008 \| ionamin \| leviin@gmail.com Cool site! 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The cheapest price for adipex - adipex, [url=http://adipex.wetpaint.com]adipex[/url]. chemodanopilok url:http://www.theharwoodinstitute.org/ht/d/AddBloggerComment/i/9509/pid/185(-2004356284):)name:adipexurl:http://adipex.wetpaint.comemail:adipash@msn.commessage:Cool site! The cheapest price for adipex - adipex, [url=http://adipex.wetpaint.com]adipex[/url]. chemodanopilok Re: The Meaning of Reverend Wright Mar 25, 2008 \| Linda Smith \| lindas@austinpcc.org It has occurred to me that within a discussion of the type you describe, you may be relating at different levels at different times in the discussion. Some of the time, it will be on a purely human level person to person and some of the time, it will be within the political/historical context which is more painful. Some of the time, the relationship will be among power positions -- relating across/lateral from one another or up and down in relative power positions. And all of this can happen at once with some individuals at different points at one time and then shifting around. I think it might be helpful to identify these possible sets of transactions so partiicpants can see when they are happening and maybe consciously all try to stay in one place until a conclusion is drawn. For example, when the whites say, "Can we move on?", they want to be in the human relationship. When the blacks say, "Let's talk about redress and active racism.", they are in a diagnostic place. A little tedious to sort out but well worth it if some conclusions can be drawn followed by action. Let us not be distracted Mar 19, 2008 \| Julie Fanselow \| jfanselow@everyday-democracy.org Rich, Eric, and everyone at Harwood ... Thank you for this post. I am in DC this week at the Take Back America conference and I just happened to be attending a Race Matters panel when, waiting for the session to start, a dozen or so of us huddled around a laptop to watch a replay of the speech. The moderator, among us, said she felt he was summarizing all she wanted to say at the panel. I blogged about it here: http://democracyspace.typepad.com/democracyspaceorg/2008/03/obama-speaks-on.html For those of us doing civic engagement work, especially around the issue of racial equity, this was both a news event and a compelling call to keep on doing our work. In Obama's words from yesterday: For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies. We can do that. But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change. That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.” This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time. Re: The Meaning of Reverend Wright Mar 18, 2008 \| richard puffer \| dpuffer@coker.edu The conversation about the role race plays in dividing our communities is one that needs to be facilitated again and again. The Senator from Illinois has helped facilitate the discussion with a head on approach for which we should be thankful. The question now, is how can we find a way to continue such a discussion in communities that have made their ways to 2008 finding all kinds of excuses to not even bring the discussion to the table, let alone, have a real conversation. On both sides - or on all sides - we have been concluding the others won't be able to understand so let's just avoid the subject. I hope we can now find a way to make this subject come alive as we build communities. Re: The Meaning of Reverend Wright Mar 18, 2008 \| Glenn Simmons \| glennsimmons60@comcast.net In a world that seems to be increasingly fed by sound bites, these comments are tailor made for a runaway train. Perhaps the public feels that the truth is so hard to get to that along the way the truth doesn't matter as much. from the pace we move at nobody seems to take time enough for truth anyway, because truth requires patience, depth, and most of all trying really hard to listen to the others sides position. Perhaps it's more like our parents used to say "it's not what you say, but how you say it". Reverend Wrights comments strike a nerve in me, but they also make me reflect to find any strains of truth, and any possibilities of making me look into my America deeper. We are a great country because of its people, always have been, always will be. Sadly truth will continue to be twisted for personal gain as long as we let it happen. Re: The Meaning of Reverend Wright Mar 18, 2008 \| Ellison Horne \| ehorne@uwba.org Valuable insights, Rich. Thank you. I understand, Barack Obama will deliver a speech today, addressing issues centering on Pastor Wright, and more important, on race in America. If Mr. Obama is the person I feel he is, it will be one of the most important speeches to come from this entire campaign. It may well be that by September of this year, after the conventions, America will finally face the complex issues of race as never before. Rev. Wright has stepped down, but his words still resonate with truth as they have for many decades. We have only to review the entire PBS series, "Eyes on the Prize" to realize the vast lack of understanding that still plagues and torments the soul of our country. Yes, there have been many strides in bridging the divides between Blacks and Whites. Yet we continue relentlessly forward, failing to address the deeper context that Blacks in America are still haunted by a legacy from their forefathers, who were forced to lay down their freedoms and their very lives to establish the foundation on which commerce could grow and democracy be defined. (I have relatives who still live under the thundercloud of slavery’s reign, which exists even today—in little shack houses, with no electricity or plumbing—still living the terror-based custom of never making eye contact when addressing a White person for fear of harm, or even death.) Barack and Michelle Obama are modern day heroes. People from all walks of life realize this. And for all our past failings to understand and respond to the times, they represent a new breed of “We the People”. With a clarion call to unite, neighbor to neighbor, we face a new opportunity standing squarely before us, the American people--an opportunity ready to embrace us with arms of acceptance and forgiveness, knowing we will do better, that we will be better, together. Re: The Meaning of Reverend Wright Mar 18, 2008 \| KC Burton \| kcburton@aecf.org Thanks Rich for providing clear thinking around this emotionally charged circumstance. Thanks for reminding us that Reverend Jeremiah Wright is more than how he is presented in some selected video and passages. If parts of his sermons where he speaks fervently of following Christ, were juxtaposed with the clips now being displayed, he no doubt could be seen in a different way. Even in the unacceptable rhetoric and hyperbole of the now infamous clips, no one seems ready to fact check the first part of what he said, rather only seize upon his condemnation of America for its role in creating those facts. Truthfully, if he had not said America should be damned, his remarks would likely never have seen the light of day. That's because America and most of our media wants to remain too silent about the parts of our history and practices that do not comport with the image we wish to project. Wright is correct to point out American hypocrisies, even if possibly damnable himself for his methodology. The bigger point is what the affect is on Barak Obama of having been exposed to Wright's leadership through twenty years? Since Obama has spoken to and demonstrated an ambition to unite Americans beyond our petty differences of race and the like, that alone serves as adequate repudiation of Wright's offensive words and actions and possible demonstration by Obama of messages that more appropriately characterize the mainstream of Wright's thinking and beliefs. Before we make someone guilty by association we need ,as you suggest in your message, to first fully assess the associate. add a comment
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