Tuesday, April 29, 2008

We know, we know ...

... the melanin-challenged don't understand the "black church." They never have, don't expect them to start now. Rev. Jeremiah Wright threw Sen. Barack Obama under the bus yesterday. As much as he says he speaks only for himself and as much as Obama says Wright doesn't speak for him, it is quite clear that he does. Here's a newsflash for you, black folks have always been categorized and judged by the people who look like us. It's true, why do you think so many of us cringe when we hear our people use the word "nigga" and split verbs and butcher the English language? It's not because we're uppity, it's because no matter where we go, what we wear or who we associate ourselves with, we will always be looked at the same as the drug dealer, the high school drop out and just outright ignent! Am I saying that because we're educated we're better? Absolutely not. We're no better, we're no worse. What we are is fed up. We catch Hell from our lighter hued bretheren and our own people because "we think we're better." It's not that way at all. Since all of these snippets of Wright's sermons have surfaced and been taken out of context, all of Obama's naysayers, Clinton supporters and folks who just hate on him, he's been judged by what Wright says. My grandma told me a long time ago that people judge you by the company you keep and she was right. Eight years after her death, she's still right. Since these sermons have surfaced, black folks are being viewed as bitter, angry, belligerent and unpatriotic. While we certainly have a reason to be all that, the majority of us are not. If we're so damn unpatriotic why is it that the majority of the soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan are of color? I'll tell you why. All of these patriotic, red blooded Americans are quick to spill blood and have it spilled for their country as long as those bleeding don't look like them. This whole thing is really starting to piss me off because I was thinking earlier this morning about how white people are not judged by those who are less than intelligent who belong to their race. If we judged white folks the way they judged us, we would assume that all of them are prejudiced like Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms. We would assume that all of them are stupid like George W. Bush. But we don't do that, because they're all different and so are we. Don't judge Obama by Wright, they are two different people. Don't assume that Obama has had the same experiences Wright has, because he has not. I don't see anyone mowing down those leaders who are Catholic because their spiritual leaders molested children. So stop saying Obama and Wright are one in the same. But, it would help is Wright would go somewhere and sit down.

3 comments:

James Tubman said...

what wright said doesn't even warrant all of this press

they are just trying to distract us from this economic crisis

obama is playing it right though

it's so unfortunate that we have to waist so much airtime talking about the insignificant words of a two bit preacher

what else is going on in the world that we need to know about

Tiffany S. Jones said...

I disagree. I don't think Obama should have addressed it at all. I agree that all of this is a distraction but I find it hard to think anyone in the government teamed up with Wright to make this much of a spectacle of himself.
You know as well as I do that mainstream media tends to focus on the ignorant when it deals with people of color. I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying it happens. In this particular post, I am not agreeing or disagreeing with what he's said. I'm saying that he could have waited to say it or saved it for the pulpit.
And as far as them "distracting" us, they can try, but they won't succeed because everytime I look at my account balance or go to the gas station or the grocery store, I see the crisis and I don't even have kids to feed.
I, along with a lot of our counterparts, are up in arms because the guy who has the potential to help us rebound from this mess is being harassed and it looks like certain folks are trying to force him to quit.

Don said...

good post. i got the message. i too wish wright would go somewhere and sit down, cause he is killing obama. it's not that i don't agree with the things obama said concerning america. i do. i think he also has freddom of speech.

but why now? especially when barack obama is running for the highest elected office? smarty jones, you and i both know that regardless of how much we intellectualize the points, great points you made...this world has already decided what is and what isn't. feel me?