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Comments from an AP history
and government teacher in Raleigh, NC.
e-mail betsynewmark AT gmail.com
Commissions earned from selling items through Amazon will go towards buying materials for my classes. Thank you.
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Monday, March 17, 2008
An interesting echo
In all the outrage and commentary about Barack Obama's minister, the part of the story I keep coming back to is Reverend Wright's sermon on 9/16/2001, five days after 9/11."We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001.Watch the congregation when Wright makes these sorts of incendiary statements that have been broadcast now on news networks. They aren't surprised; they're nodding and praising right along with their pastor. Senator Obama says that he was not in church the Sunday after 9/11 and didn't hear those comments. But the congregation had clearly heard those sorts of comments before because they aren't shocked to hear them in the post-9/11 sermon. The church sells DVDs of those sermons which is how ABC and Fox News got the video that they showed on TV. Imagine if these sorts of comments were brand new to the congregation. Wouldn't you expect a different reaction if, five days after 9/11, the pastor suddenly said these sorts of things?
"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost," he told his congregation.
I keep returning to that phrase "America's chickens are coming home to roost." It's a famous phrase in civil rights history because it was what Malcolm X said when asked by a news reporter for a comment on President Kennedy's assassination, Malcolm X said that the assassination was an instance of "the chickens coming home to roost" for President Diem's recent assassination in South Vietnam. He said that "he never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roost so soon." And he added "Chickens coming home to roost never made me sad. It only made me glad." He went on to connect the violence against President Kennedy with the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the murder of Medgar Evers, the bombing of the church in Birmingham which killed three black girls which were all "other chickens coming home to roost." All of these comments by Malcolm X were, as the New York Times reported at the time, received with the same type of raucous acceptance that you see in Reverend Wright's congregation. It seems doubtful that it was a coincidence that Reverend Wright used such a historically-weighted phrase in what he must have known would be an eagerly-awaited sermon right after 9/11. The message seems clear to me: violence against America is just because of our nation's sins of the past. It's an incendiary message more likely to be cheered in Gaza than in political rallies for a presidential candidate today.
Barack Obama is trying to portray himself as a new candidate of a post-racial America. He has responded to the criticisms of his pastor by blaming the era in which the Wright grew up. But it is clear that this sermon was no anomaly. As Mark Steyn writes, Obama can't portray himself as the uniter and healer of America's racial divide if he's also willingly part of a congregation who nods along when the pastor blames 9/11 on "America's chickens coming home to roost."All Sen. Obama will say is that "I don't think my church is actually particularly controversial." And in that he may be correct. There are many preachers who would be happy to tell their congregations "God damn America." But Barack Obama is not supposed to be the candidate of the America-damners: He's not the Rev. Al Sharpton or the Rev. Jesse Jackson or the rest of the racial grievance-mongers. Obama is meant to be the man who transcends the divisions of race, the candidate who doesn't damn America but "heals" it – if you believe, as many Democrats do, that America needs healing.A year ago the New York Times asked Obama about those post 9/11 comments and he said he disagreed with them and gave out his "blaming the 60s" excuse for Reverend Wright.
Yet since his early twenties he's sat week after week, listening to the ravings of just another cookie-cutter race-huckster.
What is Barack Obama for? It's not his "policies," such as they are. Rather, Sen. Obama embodies an idea: He's a symbol of redemption and renewal, and a lot of other airy-fairy abstractions that don't boil down to much except making upscale white liberals feel good about themselves and get even more of a frisson out of white liberal guilt than they usually do. I assume that's what Geraldine Ferraro was getting at when she said Obama wouldn't be where he was today (i.e., leading the race for the Democratic nomination) if he was white. For her infelicity, the first woman on a presidential ticket got bounced from the Clinton campaign and denounced by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann for her "insidious racism" indistinguishable from "the vocabulary of David Duke."
Oh, for cryin' out loud. Enjoyable as it is to watch previously expert tossers of identity-politics hand grenades blow their own fingers off, if Geraldine Ferraro's an "insidious racist", who isn't?“The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without justification,” he said in a recent interview. He was not at Trinity the day Mr. Wright delivered his remarks shortly after the attacks, Mr. Obama said, but “it sounds like he was trying to be provocative.”Reverend Wright knew a year ago that this moment would come and he also knew how Obama would respond.
“Reverend Wright is a child of the 60s, and he often expresses himself in that language of concern with institutional racism and the struggles the African-American community has gone through,” Mr. Obama said. “He analyzes public events in the context of race. I tend to look at them through the context of social justice and inequality.”
Despite the canceled invocation, Mr. Wright prayed with the Obama family just before his presidential announcement. Asked later about the incident, the Obama campaign said in a statement, “Senator Obama is proud of his pastor and his church.”Mr. Wright, who has long prided himself on criticizing the establishment, said he knew that he may not play well in Mr. Obama’s audition for the ultimate establishment job.So that's what is happening now. It was anticipated and planned.
“If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me,” Mr. Wright said with a shrug. “I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.”
The American voters will have to decide if the response to Wright's sermons will serve as "chickens coming home to roost" for the Obama candidacy. Can Senator Obama continue to walk this fine line of portraying himself to black voters as a candidate familiar with their problems and the experiences that makes so many in Reverend Wright's congregation nod along when the reverend blames America for violence perpetrated against Americans while convincing white Americans that he is the bridge between the races that can heal such deeply felt wounds?Labels: Obama
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In all the outrage and commentary about Barack Obama's minister, the part of the story I keep coming back to is Reverend Wright's sermon on 9/16/2001, five days after 9/11.
I keep returning to that phrase "America's chickens are coming home to roost." It's a famous phrase in civil rights history because it was what Malcolm X said when asked by a news reporter for a comment on President Kennedy's assassination, Malcolm X said that the assassination was an instance of "the chickens coming home to roost" for President Diem's recent assassination in South Vietnam. He said that "he never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roost so soon." And he added "Chickens coming home to roost never made me sad. It only made me glad." He went on to connect the violence against President Kennedy with the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the murder of Medgar Evers, the bombing of the church in Birmingham which killed three black girls which were all "other chickens coming home to roost." All of these comments by Malcolm X were, as the New York Times reported at the time, received with the same type of raucous acceptance that you see in Reverend Wright's congregation. It seems doubtful that it was a coincidence that Reverend Wright used such a historically-weighted phrase in what he must have known would be an eagerly-awaited sermon right after 9/11. The message seems clear to me: violence against America is just because of our nation's sins of the past. It's an incendiary message more likely to be cheered in Gaza than in political rallies for a presidential candidate today.
Barack Obama is trying to portray himself as a new candidate of a post-racial America. He has responded to the criticisms of his pastor by blaming the era in which the Wright grew up. But it is clear that this sermon was no anomaly. As Mark Steyn writes, Obama can't portray himself as the uniter and healer of America's racial divide if he's also willingly part of a congregation who nods along when the pastor blames 9/11 on "America's chickens coming home to roost."
The American voters will have to decide if the response to Wright's sermons will serve as "chickens coming home to roost" for the Obama candidacy. Can Senator Obama continue to walk this fine line of portraying himself to black voters as a candidate familiar with their problems and the experiences that makes so many in Reverend Wright's congregation nod along when the reverend blames America for violence perpetrated against Americans while convincing white Americans that he is the bridge between the races that can heal such deeply felt wounds?
0 comments
In all the outrage and commentary about Barack Obama's minister, the part of the story I keep coming back to is Reverend Wright's sermon on 9/16/2001, five days after 9/11.
"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001.Watch the congregation when Wright makes these sorts of incendiary statements that have been broadcast now on news networks. They aren't surprised; they're nodding and praising right along with their pastor. Senator Obama says that he was not in church the Sunday after 9/11 and didn't hear those comments. But the congregation had clearly heard those sorts of comments before because they aren't shocked to hear them in the post-9/11 sermon. The church sells DVDs of those sermons which is how ABC and Fox News got the video that they showed on TV. Imagine if these sorts of comments were brand new to the congregation. Wouldn't you expect a different reaction if, five days after 9/11, the pastor suddenly said these sorts of things?
"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost," he told his congregation.
I keep returning to that phrase "America's chickens are coming home to roost." It's a famous phrase in civil rights history because it was what Malcolm X said when asked by a news reporter for a comment on President Kennedy's assassination, Malcolm X said that the assassination was an instance of "the chickens coming home to roost" for President Diem's recent assassination in South Vietnam. He said that "he never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roost so soon." And he added "Chickens coming home to roost never made me sad. It only made me glad." He went on to connect the violence against President Kennedy with the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the murder of Medgar Evers, the bombing of the church in Birmingham which killed three black girls which were all "other chickens coming home to roost." All of these comments by Malcolm X were, as the New York Times reported at the time, received with the same type of raucous acceptance that you see in Reverend Wright's congregation. It seems doubtful that it was a coincidence that Reverend Wright used such a historically-weighted phrase in what he must have known would be an eagerly-awaited sermon right after 9/11. The message seems clear to me: violence against America is just because of our nation's sins of the past. It's an incendiary message more likely to be cheered in Gaza than in political rallies for a presidential candidate today.
Barack Obama is trying to portray himself as a new candidate of a post-racial America. He has responded to the criticisms of his pastor by blaming the era in which the Wright grew up. But it is clear that this sermon was no anomaly. As Mark Steyn writes, Obama can't portray himself as the uniter and healer of America's racial divide if he's also willingly part of a congregation who nods along when the pastor blames 9/11 on "America's chickens coming home to roost."
All Sen. Obama will say is that "I don't think my church is actually particularly controversial." And in that he may be correct. There are many preachers who would be happy to tell their congregations "God damn America." But Barack Obama is not supposed to be the candidate of the America-damners: He's not the Rev. Al Sharpton or the Rev. Jesse Jackson or the rest of the racial grievance-mongers. Obama is meant to be the man who transcends the divisions of race, the candidate who doesn't damn America but "heals" it – if you believe, as many Democrats do, that America needs healing.A year ago the New York Times asked Obama about those post 9/11 comments and he said he disagreed with them and gave out his "blaming the 60s" excuse for Reverend Wright.
Yet since his early twenties he's sat week after week, listening to the ravings of just another cookie-cutter race-huckster.
What is Barack Obama for? It's not his "policies," such as they are. Rather, Sen. Obama embodies an idea: He's a symbol of redemption and renewal, and a lot of other airy-fairy abstractions that don't boil down to much except making upscale white liberals feel good about themselves and get even more of a frisson out of white liberal guilt than they usually do. I assume that's what Geraldine Ferraro was getting at when she said Obama wouldn't be where he was today (i.e., leading the race for the Democratic nomination) if he was white. For her infelicity, the first woman on a presidential ticket got bounced from the Clinton campaign and denounced by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann for her "insidious racism" indistinguishable from "the vocabulary of David Duke."
Oh, for cryin' out loud. Enjoyable as it is to watch previously expert tossers of identity-politics hand grenades blow their own fingers off, if Geraldine Ferraro's an "insidious racist", who isn't?
“The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without justification,” he said in a recent interview. He was not at Trinity the day Mr. Wright delivered his remarks shortly after the attacks, Mr. Obama said, but “it sounds like he was trying to be provocative.”Reverend Wright knew a year ago that this moment would come and he also knew how Obama would respond.
“Reverend Wright is a child of the 60s, and he often expresses himself in that language of concern with institutional racism and the struggles the African-American community has gone through,” Mr. Obama said. “He analyzes public events in the context of race. I tend to look at them through the context of social justice and inequality.”
Despite the canceled invocation, Mr. Wright prayed with the Obama family just before his presidential announcement. Asked later about the incident, the Obama campaign said in a statement, “Senator Obama is proud of his pastor and his church.”
Mr. Wright, who has long prided himself on criticizing the establishment, said he knew that he may not play well in Mr. Obama’s audition for the ultimate establishment job.So that's what is happening now. It was anticipated and planned.
“If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me,” Mr. Wright said with a shrug. “I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.”
The American voters will have to decide if the response to Wright's sermons will serve as "chickens coming home to roost" for the Obama candidacy. Can Senator Obama continue to walk this fine line of portraying himself to black voters as a candidate familiar with their problems and the experiences that makes so many in Reverend Wright's congregation nod along when the reverend blames America for violence perpetrated against Americans while convincing white Americans that he is the bridge between the races that can heal such deeply felt wounds?
Labels: Obama
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