Posted on 03/14/2008 8:06:12 PM PDT by bahblahbah
So much controversy surrounds the church where Barack Obama has worshipped for two decades, the church whose retiring pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, has stirred a storm with his words about power in America -- words which Obama himself decried today as "appalling.''
So much of the racial divide that remains in America is reopened with debates over these words, followed by renunciations and demands for even greater repudiation, that it's refreshing to hear some words of common sense rising through clouds of polarizing venom.
These words come from the congregation tonight. As the torch passes at Trinity United Church of Christ -- with the Rev. Wright's retirement and the ascension of the Rev. Otis Moss III, and with Obama repudiating the harshest words of the outgoing pastor while insisting that he and his family will remain as members -- another longtime member writes to the Swamp this evening to offer another perspective on the controversy that has enveloped the church.
"I am an African American who is very proud to say that I am a member of Trinity United Church of Christ,'' writes "BLH,'' in a posting on Obama and the retiring pastor below. "I have been a member for 30 years.
"I was in church that Sunday after 9/11. Our church seats about 8,000 people and we have 3 services; 7:30 a.m., 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Non-blacks do attend our church. However, we are located in a predominantly African-American neighborhood.
"On that Sunday people were standing against the wall and in the halls. People were still scared and shocked by what happened. Rev Wright's words may seem rascist to people who look at this world through rose colored glasses. You are the same people who think that the USA is the superior country and for some of you that white America is the superior race. That is sad.
"The United States of America became a powerful nation on the backs of free labor; slavery. 400 years later the effects of that, Jim Crow laws and discrimination still exist. You can see it in the disparity between our public schools and the widening gap in this country between the haves and have nots.
"I am well educated. I have a BS in Accounting for the Univesity of Illinois and I have an MBA from Northwestern University. However, in this country the fact that I am not white and male will limit my opportunities. This is not racist. This is the truth.
"Trinity United Church of Christ promotes the positiveness of being black in this country because everyday we see images that say otherwise. White churches don't have to do that because being white in this country is already seen as being a plus.
"You might not agree with what Rev. Wright said. I rarely agree with anyone 100 percent of the time. However, the USA has not been an innocent. It has not been "right" all of the time. The minute someone points that out they are seen as being un-American.''
Say Amen.
"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," Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001.
"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," he told his congregation.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4443788
He better frickin retire and hope he hasn’t guaranteed himself a place in the ingrates’ hall of fame.
They are racist and anti-American to all but idiots, racists, scum and satanists.
This person has been taught this and has absorbed it, but it is not the truth. Blaming your failures on others is the ultimate weakness.
In this country the fact that I am of average height, build, looks and over the age of 40 limits my opportunities to become a babe magnet. This is the truth. So what?
Wright has already retired. But Obama refused to answer a question in one of tonight’s interviews—whether his retirement was voluntary or forced.
The words of this minister of God were appalling after 9/11. Why are they only now appalling to Barack Obama?
This may be too little too late.
So many adages apply to the company we keep. They are called “truisms” for a reason.
Just think about it … 20 years of listening to this crap and he (Obama) still has a fair and balanced mind? I DON’T THINK SO!!!
Jeremiah Wright is a racist, anti-semite, demagogue, buddy of Farrakhan. Barack swears he never heard these sermons, but he was 20 years his mentor and inspiration for his book Audacity of Audacity.
I denounce all these statements says Barack. You can’t be friends of 20 years with a racist and heal the country’s racial division.
Yeah, it's not that you sound like a seething hate-whitey guy. If this is what comes out of your mouth to your colleagues no wonder you aren't going anywhere. Who would want to be around such a downer?
Some people need to get over their racism. They’re the ones keeping it alive.
This country wasn’t built on slavery. The south had few resources and lost the Civil War. Slavery did nothing to help the south.
And we are the greatest nation on earth. Deal with it.
As discussed on one of the many political talk shows of the evening, there's no way - NO WAY - a member of a congregation, even a casual churchgoer, would not hear about such hateful, ignorant, and contemptible statements from the pulpit, within the community. Unless of course these sermons are the status quo, regular fodder and thus not newsworthy in the community - or if you actually are not really a church member and send your sizeable donations to keep your membership current for whatever ulterior motive (aka political) you may have.
"I am well educated.
"Well educated"? Not in history: this country was built by the sweat of ALL of its people, who built the factories and cities, farmed the wilderness, who fought and died in the Civil War, and who sacrificed for the freedom of others around the world. And not in math: from 1865 to 2007 is not 400 years.
The facts are that Wright probably preached that hate speech regularly. Someone needs to document that, and also document Obama's attendance.
I’m sure this is an anomoly and that this is probably the only church in America where this kind of rhetoric is taught.
Barak Obama had nearly twenty years to learn what was going on in that pulpit and did not find out til now. (light bulb over my bald head) Mr. Obama is too slow a study to be President of the USA.
...to the Presidency of the United States of America.
America sure sucks, doesn't it, Michelle, you ungrateful wench; the best argument that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" is your attitude.
Substitute short and ugly for “Black” or ...
People are prejudice about almost everything, big noses, fat legs, gang bangers, metal in the face, (I am prejudiced against facial hair) and you name it.
But the lowest of the low is this Reverend, who inflames prejudices, with lies and histrionics only to promote himself. The devil is awaiting.
Barak’s church is an exact mirror image of the White Aryan Nations “Christian Identity Church.”
Just reverse the races, the hate is the same.
Putting “Christ” in the name of a racist organization does not make it less racist.
Will limit your opportunities? How do you know? When did you graduate? What position do you have now?
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