Sunday, November 9, 2008

Response to Racism

Thanks again for the many comments on my last post.  I would like to make a couple of remarks in response.

The comparison I made of myself attending Liberty University and Obama attending Jeremiah Wright's church was only meant to serve as an example of how the conservative media was not using sound logic when accusing Obama of being a racist or supporting racist causes.  I do not think that Jerry Falwell and Jeremiah Wright are in the same category of preacher.  I also do not think that Dr. Falwell was homophobic.  My point was that the media and popular commentators accused Dr. Falwell of being homophobic despite the fact that he did preach love the sinner and hate the sin.  Once the media had the soundbite, they didn't want to hear the real context of what Jerry Falwell was saying.  In fact, my real complaint is that the conservative media has made the the same type of accusations about Barack Obama that the liberal media was making of Jerry Falwell in 1999.  Our conservative base has become too comfortable repeating these uninformed accusations and that hypocrisy is part of the proof (in my humble opinion) that we conservatives have lost our direction.

Speaking of proof.  The evidence that Barack Obama has sat in the pews and not been influenced by some outlandish racial preacher was made available to us during the Presidential primary season.  Anyone who is truly scared that President Elect Obama doesn't have a sound and strong stance on racial equality in this country needs to listen to the speech he wrote and delivered on March 18th, 2008.  On that day as I heard this speech, it was clear to me that Barack Obama has clear judgment despite the fact that he attended Rev. Wright's church.  If you don't have a full half hour to burn... then spend at least 5 minutes beginning at minute 6.  




P.S. I've promised posts on issues with which I disagree with Barack Obama and I intend on writing those soon.  Erin and I are moving across Worcester to my Dad's condo, which is available for us, and is much cheaper than our place off of Grafton St.  We've been packing and chasing Mitchell around and it has kept me from forming my thoughts on these important issues.  Anyway... continue to challenge me with your comments... I enjoy the debate.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm really not happy that Obama is going to be our leader. I have expressed that to a friend and she called ME a racist. Why don't people forget color? I just don't get it! The color of his skin has nothing to do with why I didn't vote for him. It's 2008 people get over it.

Anonymous said...

i too had an 'experience' before the election that was troubling. Not too many people know about it because, contrary to popular belief, i'm not an alarmist-expressive.

It was my 11 year old daughter that actually had the experience. A classmate of hers who also rides her bus and lives in the neighborhood called her a racist because she supported McCain. What made it especially disturbing was that this boy is black.

i can't speak for his house, but i know for certain that race and skin color are not issues in my home. My daughter supported McCain because i did (sort of). Yes, she heard me say all kind of things about both candidates - none of which had anything to do with race.

We'll never know for certain this side of heaven just how race factored into the election of Obama. Anecdotally, i should say, "much".

As for the Rev. Wright v. Rev. Falwell issue... You are self-deluded if you think the comments made by both of these men are on equal par. You are equally deceived if you think a person can participate for such a long time in an environment with which they profess to be in vehement disagreement.

Rebecca said...

I just skimmed through some of your posts and reader's comments, and..wow, my friend! You have quite the conversation going.

Should we address the issue being touched on here...the one of forgetting color? Getting over the race issue? Pretending like the color of someone's skin doesn't matter? People...please. To say you don't notice or that we should forget the color of other people's skin is nothing if not naive. Color is there for a reason and should not be ignored, glazed over or made into a huge deal. It is what it is. It makes us who we are. It's an ingrained part of each of us. Let us not forget the color that surrounds us, let us embrace it, learn about it, talk about it, allow it to color our worlds and our viewpoints...to the end that we can become more intuitive and empathetic human beings who respect, care for and hold high the differences between us.

To "forget color" is to piss on the One who created it.

And that's about all I have to say about that.