I've learned a lot about racism this election season.
I've learned there is a lot more of it than I had thought, and that none of us are exempt from its influence.
I've learned that a democratic candidate, whose husband was once called, metaphorically of course, "the first black president," is also not exempt. However much they have worked for black causes, and included African Americans in their very wide circle of friends, Bill and Hillay Clinton are willing to ignore the views of African Americans as they somehow define the most important constituency in America as white working class voters who haven't gone to college. They are willing to attack Barack Obama, and thus a large swath of African American church goers, because of the harsh, isolated and out of context sound bites of his very passionate pastor.
Well the education continues. After the intial condemnation of Wright by the media, and by Hillary Clinton, Obama gave a masterful speech on race, and on the importance of coming together. That wasn't enough for Clinton - she had to attack Wright and Obama again last Tuesday.
Since then, Wright has spoken up. He spent an hour answering the questions of Bill Moyers, in a very gentle and intelligent interview. The pundits were given a few snippets ahead of time and tore the interview apart before they saw the whole thing. They've been strangely silent since the entire speech aired, hopefully because it made their ramblings look moronic.
Tonight, Wright gave another speech, this time to the NAACP, and he came on completely differently than he did in the one on one Moyers interview. He was in his most comfortable element, as the unapologetic, fiery and brilliant preacher that he is.
He educated us about differences between Americans and Africans, reminded us we are all immigrants, entertained with some song and dance, and begged us to come together, remembering that our differences are not indicative of any deficiency on the part of anyone.
Yes he was loud. So what? Is being loud a crime?
He was passionate and inspirational as he showed just how wise he is.
The man who introduced Rev. Wright gave us a little biography, reminding us all that while Cheney got five deferrments, and Bush was AWOL, Jeremiah Wright left school and enlisted in the military. If Republicans and Hillary Clinton are so concerned about how much patriotism one shows, instead of judging it by whether or not you wear a flag pin, perhaps they should think about Jeremiah Wright. Wright showed true patriotism, not the phony patriotism you wear on your lapel.
I don't know what the media and the pundits will make of the speech. By tomorrow they will have dissected it and made a pronouncement on what it will mean to Obama.
I no longer care what the pundits think, and neither should the American people. The speech and Jeremiah speak for themselves, as does Barack Obama. The American people can judge for themselves. That is what Wright trusts them to do. That is why he was not afraid to speak to them. That is what Obama trusts them to do. That is why he did not disown Rev. Wright.
True courage is saying what needs to be said, and doing what you know is right, even when you don't know what the outcome will be.
I certainly don't know how this might affect the race. I suspect the media will have a lot to do with that. They frame things the way they want to frame them.
But no one can deny that both Wright and Obama are courageous men. No one can deny that these two speeches - one by Obama and one by Wright - have contributed enormously to the discussion we must have about race and racism. Because if this presidential contest has taught me anything, it is that racism is still a festering wound in our body politic. And if we are ever to be the truly great nation that some think we are, and others just dream we might become, we must look at this wound in all of its ugliness, and start doing what we must to heal it.
That is one of the many reasons I support Barack Obama. Because of who he is, how he was raised, and what he represents, he alone among the candidates, can help us overcome the lingering pain and ugliness of racism.
And no matter how much the media, the Repulicans and their handmaiden Hillary want to slander Jeremiah Wright, the fact is that Obama has benefited from his pastor's brilliance, passion, wisdom and courage. And should we be fortunate enough to someday have Barack Obama as our president, Jeremiah Wright will be partly responsible for our good fortune.
Update: I wrote this post after I heard Jeremiah Wright speak last night at the NAACP dinner. I just finished listening to his speak at the National Press Club. The speech itself was not controversial, but the Q and A afterwards was explosive, and I fear it could pose a huge problem for Obama. I have some family responsibilities this morning, so I will have to write more about this later, but for now let me put on my psychologist's hat and say this: I saw a similarity today between Jeremiah Wright and Bill Clinton. Both are men with huge egos, prone to narcissism, and both are currently hurting their preferred candidate. Bill Clinton reacts with rage whenever his administration is criticized by Obama, and Wright is acting with mocking arrogance, and anger, because he feels he has been treated unjustly by the media, and also by Obama. Jeremiah Wright is obviously a brilliant man, as is Bill Clinton, but both have the capacity to destroy a candidate. And the media is really going to help do it in the case of Obama, because everything I said about the racism in this country still holds. We are, for instance, not getting coverage of some of the preachers who have supported and still suppport Republican candidates: Bob Jones and John Hagee, for instance, who have also said some very inflammatory things. Why are we not hearing their sermons in full, and seeing them dissected on television? I'll leave that to you to answer.
