I am not offended by Jeremiah Wright. In fact, Wright is actually one of the reasons I have always liked Obama. And no, that is not because I am religious (I'm not) or that I actually liked the comments that have caused a controversy about Wright (I don't). Instead, Obama's upbringing, including the church he attends, provides him with a perspective on a large segment of America that is rarely represented either in popular American culture or in the executive branches of state and federal governments. If you live in a large American city, but not in one of the expensive / gentrified areas of those cities, you know that there is absolutely nothing shocking or even unusual about Jeremiah Wright. For example, in West Philly, where I live, anarachists are still common, Republicans receive less than 10% of the vote, the median annual income is only $24,000, and whites are only 20% of the population. Wright would fit in perfectly with my neighborhood.
Before the media and Republicans get themselves all in a tizzy over someone like Jeremiah Wright, maybe they should actually learn about places such as the South Side or West Philly. Quite frankly to be "shocked" or "offended" by Wright is to be shocked or offended by places like West Philadelphia. It is all perfectly normal here:
Rev. Wright has not said anything that has not been said or is not being said in bars, poolrooms, barber shops, hair salons or anywhere else more than three black people gather.
And don't fool yourself. It's not just the black urban poor, those without jobs, education or hope, who express these comments. Many members of the black middle class have the same sense of history; the same sense of anger.
And it ain't illegal to be angry.
Since the beginning of time, large numbers of poor people and cultural minorities have been angry at their governments. One of the reasons of this is that they are compartively shut out of the national power structure. Rarely, if ever, does someone from a poor neighborhood and / or from a cultural minority group rise to become a head of state. While Obama's rhetoric marginalizing progressives ("anti-military, 70's love-in"), that he comes from a, urban, community organizing, African-American religious left background is a clear indication that he understands areas of the country like West Philly better than any other major Presidential candidate in history.
Some of our past presidents have come from modest backgrounds, but places like the South Side and West Philly have never produced Presidents. In fact, David Paterson is one of very few Governors who represent a comparable area (Harlem). While clearly it is not helping Obama on the electoral front all that much, that perspective is a huge net positive for how he will perform as President, not a negative. There is, after all, a reason why people who live in the South Side, or Harlem, or West Philly sometimes get pretty pissed off at their country. One of those reasons is that the people who have always led the country have not governed in a way that includes places like the South Side, Harlem or West Philly. Personally, I think it would be a big step forward to finally have a President who does understand those parts of the country, which might in turn lead to the future generations in those neighborhoods being a lot less angry at America.
Obama's "major speech" on race in America tomorrow morning should be worht a listen.
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