The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright is an interesting character. I actually saw him speak earlier this year at a memorial service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. where he brought attention to the fact that- out of all the King memorial services he had ever been invited to- he had never heard anyone bring attention to King's April 4, 1967 speech criticizing the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. I spoke to him after his presentation and he gave me his business card (which I still have in my wallet).
Known for his stance of being “unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian,” Pastor Wright has grown in popularity recently due to his reputation for outspokenness against the U.S. government and his relationship with his most popular church member, presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Dr. Wright has recently been
in the news regarding some quotes taken from a sermon he gave over 5 years ago from his pulpit at Trinity United Church of Christ located on the southside of Chicago, Illinois. When I first heard excerpts of Dr. Wright's sermon, I thought he had gone off of the deep end. I wasn't surprised to also hear that Senator Obama had publicly distanced himself from Wright and denounced his remarks as "divisive."
But after some reflection and investigation, I’ve come to believe that despite some abrasive phrasing, Dr. Wright was accurate in his sharp criticism of America’s oppressive policies and actions on both domestic and foreign soil. My only issue with Dr. Wright’s sermon has to do with his occasionally coarse and offensive phrasing of ideas (unlike Dr. Martin Luther King’s more diplomatic yet equally sharp critique of the U.S. in his anti-war sermon from April 4, 1967). But I don't think we should stop at the point of offense. We need to listen closely to hear the concern behind the commentary. In the sermon excerpts that the media has been quoting lately, Dr. Wright is “spot on” when he refers to the U.S. government’s treatment of young black males:
“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme…We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, 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 now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.”
In all fairness, behind what many have deemed as unpatriotic, divisive, inflammatory and insensitive rhetoric, Dr. Wright is telling the truth about America's history. Yes, the idea that we sing “God Bless America” as if God would bless America above all others is arrogant and narcissistic. Yes, the Bible mentions plenty of instances where The God of Israel orders the slaughter of innocent people and our government has also commissioned the killing of innocent people. Yes, throughout history the U.S. government acts as if it has been divinely ordained to conquer and control other cultures, peoples and the resources of the earth. Yes, it is highly likely that recent attacks on the U.S. are merely responses to our often violent and suppressive foreign policies and actions. I think Dr. Wright is right to critique those things and I wholeheartedly agree with him on these matters.
Now, I definitely think Dr. Wright could have presented his ideas in a less abrasive way- without all the “God damns” and “God damn Americas” when he might have been more accurate to specify what he meant by "America"and whether or not he was referring to our country's ideals, the people, or the American government and the decisions of its legislative and executive branches. I also don’t think it helped matters much for him to allude to Malcolm X’s infamous “chickens coming home to roost” quote- which was originally given in response to the news of John F. Kennedy’s assassination- itself a phrase that carries within it the heavy baggage of racial tension, a negative view of Islam, and smacks of unpatriotism during a time of intense anxiety and hostility in regards to race relations. But. in reality- and as Wright alludes to in his sermon- he was quoting Edward L. Peck, who had allegedly spoken out about America's foreign policies in an interview the night before Wright's sermon.
While I think Dr. Wright could have maintained effectiveness by rephrasing his ideas, and went too far with his "God damn America" line, I sometimes think we miss the point and get offended by the way someone presents their words and ideas without really hearing the hurt, rage or concern behind them. I think it would be an injustice to ignore the validity of Dr. Wright’s words due to our being offended by his presentation because I believe he has brought to light some serious truths that our country needs to confront. In a way, I am glad the media keeps replaying the quotes from his sermon because I hope that more people can hear the hurt and concern behind what many have deemed as being unpatriotic, divisive and inflammatory rhetoric and investigate the matter for themselves. Since Wright's remarks became public, many skeptical of media slants have scoured YouTube and internet search engines searching for audio clips and transcripts of Wright's sermon so that they can hear it in context for themselves.
Dr. Wright is retiring soon, but in the future, we may find ourselves remembering him as one of those prophets who never fully understood or appreciated during their lifetime. We'll see.
Earlier this afternoon, our local urban talk radio station read what I found to be a very courageous and appropriate statement by Dean J. Snyder, Senior Minister of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. (the church regularly attended by Bill and Hillary Clinton).
