Obama and Reverend Wright

When I first saw the news clips of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama’s pastor, denouncing America and White people, I was outraged. I asked how Senator Obama could sit in that church for 20 years and not condemn the sermons of this virulent racist and black separatist? Then I saw the speech of Senator Obama on March 18, 2008, and was deeply moved. As a supporter of Hillary Clinton, I reevaluated my feelings about Barack Obama. Words can change history, and the words of this brilliant, gifted, eloquent man might just change America.

Senator Obama could have cringed under the wrath of White opponents. Instead, he stood up like a man and rebuked the words of Reverend Wright while refusing to denounce his pastor. He placed those words in their historical context. He defined the relationship between Black and White in America and clarified the relationship he had with this outspoken minister. He told a story of his first visit to the church:

“People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend’s voice up into the rafters….And in that single note – hope! – I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones. Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world.”

Reverend Wright’s words, in the news clips we have seen, were inflammatory and unacceptable, but they also reflect the anger of generations of African Americans who have lived through a hell of contempt and discrimination. As Senator Obama said, these words could be heard in African American churches across America. I believe that there is an anger that seethes just below the surface of Black America. Our power structure has kept and continues to keep poor Black people down through perpetuation of inadequate schools, discrimination in real estate, denial of loans, and exclusion from unions, police forces, fire departments, and every other kind of job. The truth is that African Americans are disrespected by Whites every day.

But in his speech, Senator Obama explained why, in spite of White prejudice, Reverend Wright was wrong:

“The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black, Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen – is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.”

Barack Obama understands that not only Whites, but African Americans have to change their way of thinking. He says:

“For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man who's been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.”

Senator Obama knows that he cannot solve all of the festering problems of race in America. But perhaps if he is elected president, he can inspire young Black men and women with hope where once there was despair. Perhaps with the dignity, wisdom, and the power of his speech, Barack Obama can lead America and the world to greater tolerance, peace, and understanding.