And Another Thing...

If there is anything more bizarre than The Evil Rush Limbaugh deep-frying John McCain on a daily basis, it is surely the White House Propaganda Office (known to the public as Fox News) being so deeply offended by the preaching of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Sen. Barack Obama. There is just nothing better than a set full of privileged, wealthy, young white people challenging how a 67 year old black man has experienced and perceives America. Having actually spent time in conversation with older African-Americans, I have heard stories of what it meant to grow up in these United States in the 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's as a person of color.
We who feel mistreated when someone moves into our lane without signaling first would have been poor candidates to live through what our black seniors had to endure. And as for Rev. Wright's feelings about America, he served six years in the military, split between the United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy. Wonder how long the Fox News punks...oh, what's the point? They're Chickenhawks just like Bush and Cheney. Always ready to someone else to get their ass shot off to demonstrate the patriotism of the warmongers.
Their objections to his sermons are funny for a couple of reasons: 1) Rev. Wright has been pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ since 1972. The only reason that they are interested in him now is that one of his congregants is running for president; 2) Nobody cares what preachers say. We spend most of our time trying to impact human behavior, but the extent of our effectiveness is typically a "Hey, preacher, you really told THEM this morning!" 3) Rev. Wright's clips, as I have seen them presented, are a challenge to America to be what America is supposed to be, from someone who has experienced America settling far short of what we aspire to. Only the current, pathetic "America: Love It or Leave It" crowd could begin to argue that we shouldn't seek to live into the nobility of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
I might never phrase some of Rev. Wright's objections the way he does, but I just don't find him to be the "Un-American racist" that he has been labeled by Murdoch's Morons.
(And, by the way, they mean biggot, not racist. A member of a minority group can be a biggot; such a person can never be a racist. Being a racist has to do with reaping the benefits of being a member of the majority without standing for those who are deprived of those benefits because of their race. For example, whatever my attitude toward my black colleagues, if I unquestioningly spend my career enjoying the benefits of being appointed to the more affluent white congregations of our Annual Conference without objecting to the limitations placed on the appointments of those black colleagues for no reason other than their race, then I am, indeed, a racist. Perhaps not a biggot, but certainly a racist. Because the field is tilted in my favor. That's racism. And that's why members of the minority cannot be racist. Ever!)