#4 Jeremiah Wright

Right off the bat, let me say that the media's focus on the relationship between Obama and Wright is of little importance at this point. Everyone interested in the presidential election process who owns a television or has internet access knows the basics. It's time to get back to the platforms of the candidates.

With that being said, I wanted to BRIEFLY highlight Rev. Wright. To be honest with you, when I first heard his soundbites and Barack's response, I wrote the situation off. I've visited too many churches where there are pastors that push their personal, political, or economic agendas from the pulpit which sound like less dramatic versions of the "God damn America", "chickens coming home to roost", "U.S. of KKK A." tag lines now associated with the ramblings of an old, bitter black pastor. In addition, the few quotes I read by the pastor came across ignorant, defensive, and ultimately not insightful in my quest to understand his position without traces of political propaganda.

As a result of this week's installment of "Wright & Obama: The Soap Opera", I wanted to read Wright's address at the Detroit NAACP's annual Fight For Freedom Fund. Despite my best efforts, I found only the same snippets quoted by the tv news media. Luckily, I stumbled across his speech given to the National Press Club the following morning. As I read the transcript with an open mind, I found the content fascinating. The ramblings were actually well thought with consistent allusions to others' writings and comments. The bitter pastor's words read more like those of a professor's symposium on the black church in America. Here's an excerpt I was pleasantly surprised to read:

"The prophetic theology of the black church has always seen and still sees all of God’s children as sisters and brothers, equals who need reconciliation, who need to be reconciled as equals, in order for us to walk together into the future which God has prepared for us. Reconciliation does not mean that blacks become whites or whites become blacks or Hispanics become Asian or that Asians become Europeans. Reconciliation means we embrace our individual rich histories, all of them. We retain who we are, as persons of different cultures, while acknowledging that those of other cultures are not superior or inferior to us; they are just different from us. We root out any teaching of superiority, inferiority, hatred or prejudice. And we recognize for the first time in modern history, in the West, that the other who stands before us with a different color of skin, a different texture of hair, different music, different preaching styles and different dance moves; that other is one of God’s children just as we are, no better, no worse, prone to error and in need of forgiveness just as we are."

I know Rev. Wright has a flair for the dramatic. I believe he has in his repertoire lines like "damn America" after 9/11 or angry monologues about the apathy of the government to the needs of the poor and uneducated in this country. I know more liberal and conservative white Christians who have voiced these same perspectives than I do members of the black community. Though I understand the frustration with his sensationalist language, I'm not as outraged as the media tells me I should. I'm also not convinced that Wright warrants this many arrows shot at him. As I mentioned at the start, we've ascertained all we can about Obama via Wright. I don't have time or interest to hear interviews with everyone with whom I respectfully disagree. (Sorry, Oprah, I will NOT be watching highlights of your newest interview with "Crazy" Tom Cruise!)

It's unfortunate that the comments of a non-candidate have been used to distract voters from the actual platform agendas of those running for the Presidency of the United States. Maybe in a strange play of irony, Rev. Jeremiah Wright hasn't been a distraction but a spotlight on issues that should be discussed - poverty, education, health care, institutionalized racism, and race relations.