Demonizing Jeremiah Wright, but not right-wing evangelical leaders.
Mar 18, 2008 at 9:59 AM by Political Chase
Glenn Greenwald has an excellent post contrasting the outrage expressed over Barack Obama’s former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Williams, and the acceptance, if not sanctification, of precisely the same remarks and sentiment made by right-wing evangelical leaders such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and John Hagee. The right-wing evangelicals are asked to serve as high-level White House advisers, and endorse GOP candidates, whereas Williams and others like Williams, are demonized as American-haters and anti-American.
As his first name suggests, Dr. Wright seems to be preaching a JEREMIAD, of sorts. Compare the harsh, hyperbole-filled figurations he levies against those in HIS country who, willfully bereft of history, continue to oppress poor whites and non-whites, women, etc. with the rhetoric of Old Testament prophets like Jeremiah, Samuel, Elijah, Daniel, Hosea, Isaiah, and NT John the Baptist.
Much of his rhetoric about 9-11, the AIDS conspiracy, and the infiltration of drugs into urban communities has already been proclaimed by American thinkers who span political, identity, and cultural categories. Are they all crack-pots?
As an African American Republican who sometimes feels myself “blackened” by the rhetoric of race-based supremacy and HYPER-capitalism, I wish that we can name those moments when ALL of us are unfairly racialized by apartheid practices and other forms of godliness that deny the power thereof. We can start by trying to first understand and perhaps even trust those traumas that are imposed on us by cultural practices predicated on the myth of race. This means naming the demons and getting to the heart of the hyper-classification movement of the Enlightenment’s Carl Linnaeus, the “objective racism” of de Tocqueville and Hippolyte Taine, and (of course) the wrongheadedness of the Eugenics Movement, and strident, meaner elements of ethnocentrism–be it Afro or Euro.
And when “privileged” Americans of color such as Michelle and Barack and others decry the social injustices of OUR nation, they often (I assume) do so on behalf of those who are limited by race, gender, and class to show that the American Dream they now have was achieved not BECAUSE of their race, but IN SPITE of it. This is a trauma that whites must trust is true; for I think it leads to the beginning of naming and casting out the demons of division that continue to cripple our nation’s great potential.
And if the kamikaze politics of the Clintons should wrench from McCain or Obama the presidency, then flee to the hills O Judea ’cause with slick Billy as first spouse, he’ll have that White House looking like Ottawa of the 70s and early 80s. In fact, he’ll be the Margaret Trudeau of a new millenial America. Are we ready for that?
J Rich -
Excellent comment.
After listening to Obama’s speech today and then reading your post, I begin to wonder if you participated in drafting his speech. Although Obama’s speech was at a higher (or is it lower) level to facilitate comprehension by the masses, he posited, I believe, the same tenets you write about. Moreover, where he expressed amelioration through education and communication, you present relatively the same argument (I think), but with specificity and example, and are careful to note lessons that should be avoided (viz. Eugenic Movement).
Unfortunately, until Americans become motivated to learn and understand others, Wright’s prophecies, with respect to status quo, are far more accurate than they are wrong or the rhetoric of the anti-Christ. Few will pursue as Taine did, and no one realistically expects or suggests the same fervor is required, but a modicum of willingness would suffice.
You write, “I wish that we can name those moments when ALL of us are unfairly racialized by apartheid practices…”
Indeed. And I dare say there are many white Americans, who are unaware they may have been a victim of said bias and segregation. I have no evidence to cite other than my own personal experiences and travels, but I have experienced apartheid practices, and 99 percent of it occurred in the South, 30-plus years post-desegregation. I found the best, and almost instantaneous remedy was not denial or reciprocation, but to show courtesy and respect.
I know many are as “shocked” by the liturgy or ritual, if you will, of Obama’s church as they are by any words Wright may have spoken. Again, ignorance is the problem. Urban T. Holmes briefly touched on the subject in his rather provocative book, The Priest in Community. I have unsuccessfully tried to find the specific reference over the past two to three days, but in summary, Holmes wrote how deeply founded it is, not just in African-American culture, but to humans that participated in the earliest known forms of religious ceremonies or rites.
As Obama said today, we cannot expect overnight transformations, but we can hope that at this place and this time, we could be establishing another milestone.