If He Wasn’t Black…

Election 2008 (USA) Comments (2)

All this fuss about what Barack Obama’s pastor said in some of his sermons is rather pitiful if you ask me. Okay, I know, no one asked, but I have to say that I find this ‘double standard’ he is being held to rather informative. And yes I did say Double Standard, because frankly, if he was white, there wouldn’t be half this fuss being made. And there is amble proof of that, by simply looking at Jerry Falwell.

This man, and other Evangelical Leaders routinely denounced the United States for its stand on Abortion, on Homosexuals, and other so called ‘religious issues‘. The Catholic Church routinely prods the United States for its current Illegal Immigration policies, going to the extend of actually providing SANCTUARY TO LAW BREAKERS. How about good old boy Reverend Phelps and his band of merry hypocrites?

Yet where is the long lasting outrage against them?

Is Senator McCain being constantly talked about, being forced to address his stand on issues raised by the unwavering support of Hegee or whatever the guy’s name is? Pat Robertson who was one of those who claimed 9/11 was part of God’s Judgment on America for being permissive, which really isn’t much different that what Obama’s Pastor said. Yet you don’t see John McCain having to defend him, now do you?

How come?

Gee, cause they are white folks, and Obama, well in case you haven’t noticed, he isn’t a white man. What is worse, is how the GOP will capitalize on this nonsense, to their delight of course. I mean, so what if this man denounced the United States. So what if he visits Obama at the White House. Falwell was a regular visit, as have other demagogues visited, so what is the big deal?

In their view, the inflammatory sermons by Obama’s pastor offer the party a pathway to victory if Obama emerges as the Democratic nominee. Not only will the video clips enable some elements of the party to define him as unpatriotic, they will also serve as a powerful motivating force for the conservative base. (source)

It isn’t Obama who said it, it isn’t Obama who even claims to believe in that rhetoric, but many believe he should have left that Church at the first utterances. Like, how many left Falwell after his remarks, Pat Robertson? Just what is the rationale here, that somehow because he is Black, he should have immediately left and gone to another Church? Maybe what the guy said sucks, but you know, that is part of the price of Democracy. The right of all people to voice their opinions, and it is no different than what many White Preachers have said.

How about all those White Preachers in the Southern States before the Civil Rights Era? Should all those people have left those Churches where White Pastors talked about how Blacks were not equal, not worthy of being called human?

You know, this whole race issue is plain stupid. Okay, you don’t like someone because of the color of skin, and you blast Obama for not getting up and leaving his church, but how would you feel, under the circumstances, many Black People have been forced to face? I am not just talking about slavery, but how about that it took nearly a hundred years after Emancipation for Blacks to be able to VOTE IN SAFETY. Or how about that only this last year the US Senate apologized for not condemning the LYNCHINGS OF BLACKS during the 1940’s?

Just take a look at Florida & Michigan. Notice how pissed the people are, because their vote in a primary may not count? Now imagine how a black person must feel, knowing that right was denied for how many decades? That resentment doesn’t just evaporate, once you get the right either, and it really isn’t all that long back that it did pass, now is it?

I am in a double minority, I am both Jewish and Gay, and I can tell you from experience, you don’t just forget the atrocities heaped on you. There is a constant worry that what has just been given may just as quickly be taken. Hell, we got the right to marry, and less than 2 years later, here comes our new Government, wanting to turn it back. So the resentment, the pride, isn’t that easy to show, to push.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time. (source – MSNBC Transcript)

See there is the problem to me, whether white, black, Jewish, Gay, or whatever. We look for someone or something to blame for our own failure, or lack of success. Is it because of affirmative action, is it because we threaten? The whole ‘same sex marriage‘ is about how it threatens the religious core beliefs of those who oppose homosexuality strictly on a religious basis, but that really isn’t it. It is opposed simply because its an excuse, someone to blame. When space in a college is filled, but a supposed minority gets in, wed don’t blame it on our lower grades, or not high enough grades, but because the school catered to a minority. That is what we blame, and let us be honest, I think we all do that.

People have stuck with Churches not because every single sermon is right on target, or uplifting, or even true. We stick because we believe in the whole, not just the part that offended us. I believe in God, and yet why should any Jew believe in God? Millions of Jews were sent to horrible deaths, and God did nothing about it, but we still believe, we still have faith. Do we condemn what we don’t know? Is that how we choose leaders?

Did Trudeau make mistakes? Chretien? Naturally they did, because they are human, but for me, they did a lot more good than bad, and that deserves my support, my respect. To me, Brian Mulroney, Stephen Harper, did not do more good than bad, so I cannot support them, cannot have respect for them, though I do for the office they held. Not easy to do, but it is what is right. It isn’t because of what their Priests or Pastors said or didn’t say. Both Trudeau & Chretien are Catholics, and yet Chretien risked all that, to grant Gays the right to marry. He wasn’t happy about it, neither was Paul Martin, another Catholic, but they did it, because Religion is personal, Governing is not.

Here are three leaders, who were able to do what they believed was right. They did not blindly do what their religious leaders urged, and not just in the Pulpit. Trudeau for example, believed in his religious principles, he never sought a divorce from his wife, even though she did. He never remarried, holding to his principles.

He kept a separation between Church and State, unlike George Bush or even Stephen Harper.

John Kennedy was Catholic, and there was a huge fuss about how the Church would control him. He had to assure people that he would keep Church & State separate. Yet here we are, demanding it, but then assuming that in Obama’s case he should have acted differently. That somehow, because he is Black, he should have done what no other leader has done when in conflict with their church, leave it.

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina – or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies. (source – MSNBC Transcript)

This is what a leader is, one who can speak about what is wrong, and what must change. He is right, this issue must be discussed, must be talked about, and to be honest. What he says is true, because George Bush has won two elections based on his fear tactics, his attack strategies, the same basic strategies that Hilary Clinton is using. It is the Political Fad of the decade, and it isn’t serving anyone’s interest. It certainly won’t help the USA get out of its mess, nor will it make the country any worthier of praise.

As a Non American, it is this which gets many outside America shaking their heads. To be bullied isn’t fun, to be attacked because we disagree isn’t pleasant. This is the way we perceive the United States, and this whole Wright Issue only illustrates the double standards that exist in the USA. It isn’t just about having the right laws, but it is about ENFORCING THOSE LAWS.

Reverend Wright said some nasty stuff, but that is HIS right, as a FREE PERSON. He is no different than any other citizen, preacher or not, who can address a crowd. The Religious Right leaders do it routinely, but because they are WHITE, it doesn’t make the six o’clock news every night, but Reverend Wright’s does.  Tell me again that isn’t simply because he is Black?  Because I simply do not buy it.

Ian @ March 21, 2008