| Trinity UCC is about empowerment. It is not full of 'radicals'. It's full of 'Strivers' like Barack and Michelle Obama. It is full of what has to be called ' The Talented Tenth'. These folks are not radicals; they are the most connected to 'The System' within the Black community.
Dr. Wright is an old-fashioned Black preacher; not one of these Prosperity Gospel Sellout Hustlers. His Jesus is the one that helps the sick, the poor, the least amongst us. In fact, I believe, with conviction, if Wright WERE a Prosperity Gospel Hustler, then Faux News and Others wouldn't be saying JACK about him.
Wright demanded of his congregation that they have an active part in the world in which they live. Trinity is one of the most affluent congregations, regardless of race, in the entire state. That they show some self-respect; that Dr. Wright, and now Rev. Moss challenge them to give back - how is that a bad thing?
They are about self-reliance; doing for one's self. Not expecting anyone else do to for you what you won't do for yourself. Sounds like pretty conservative values to me.
When they were building their new multi-million sanctuary, they could have gone anywhere in the city or suburbs - they would have been welcome. THEY CHOSE to locate, literally across the railroad tracks, from a housing project. This was a display of their commitment to the community. Jews send their children to Hebrew School on a weekly basis; what is the purpose of that, if not to reinforce a sense of pride, values, history and tradition in their children.
That is what Trinity provides for its members - a sense of community, and pride. A source of religious inspiration that reinforces the conservative values that many of the parents are attempting to raise their children with, despite being surrounded by a BET/Hip Hop culture. A church that reinforces to their children that respect for family and community and education are not, nor have they ever been, the exclusive pervue of Whites. To surround their children with living and breathing examples of Black professionals who have 'achieved' doing something other than dribbling/carrying some sort of ball, or shuffling in front of a microphone degrading themselves. That success in America is quite attainable, through education and hard work. For Black children to SEE those examples up close, on a consistent basis, is invaluable. To have a sense of self-worth and pride be instilled in them will make them more productive citizens as they grow up in this society. Part of the development of that self-worth is to provide those children for a context about the world in which they live. Only by admitting and confronting White Supremacy and all the traps that it can set for their children, will their children be provided with the armor to go forth and succeed in this world. It's the time honored lesson of ' how to get over' that has been passed from generation to generation in the Black community. Jeremiah Wright just wrapped it up in a bow of Pan-Africanism.
When I see the 'reports' on Faux News and elsewhere, it's obvious that they are getting their information from people who have never been to Trinity, spoken to members from Trinity, and are getting their gross mischaracterizations from people who obviously have nothing but ill-intentions towards Senator Obama. The members of Trinity are not unlike the professional African-Americans in your office. The same middle-class, upper middle-class folks that you work with......do you really believe that THOSE folks leave the office and turn into the second coming of Angela Davis and Huey P. Newton on Sunday morning?
Puleeze.
No different with Barack & Michelle Obama and the nearly 10,000 members of Trinity UCC.
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As for Senator Obama denouncing the parts of Rev. Wright's sermon that he disagrees with, I'm not happy about it, but Black truthtellers have never been appreciated...we all know that.
I also wanted to add:
Obama spoke about what Wright SAID.
He did not and would not repudiate Wright himself and made that clear.
Hasn't been a Black religious agitator YET, in the history of A-MERRY-CA that hasn't been labeled as UNpatriotic....by a bunch of folks, that, if they'd had their say, my Black behind would STILL be the back of the bus.
The best discussion that I saw was on Anderson Cooper between Roland Martin and David Gergen. Roland Martin brought up that it was the Black tradition through religious acitivism to improve the life of the Black community. Bringing up Apartheid and the ANC, and how Dick Cheney justified his vote against cracking down on Apartheid because the ANC was a Communist organization, while refusing to acknowledge that it was OUR own CIA that helped the White South Africans imprison Nelson Mandela for 27 years. Black folk in America didn't give a rat's ass about the ANC being a Communist Organization - Apartheid was Jim Crow, South African Style, and that's the only lens with which we could view it as the complete injustice that it was. Martin brought up King's speech at Riverside where he took on the wrongness of the Vietnam War, and was villified for it. Make no mistake; the Prosperity Gospel Hustler is NOT the Black Christian tradition. Jeremiah Wright and his social activist agitation IS.
It was GERGEN that brought up that Blacks and Whites see the attack on Wright completely differently, because they hear totally different things when they listen to Wright.
It was stunning to hear just how deeply Gergen GETS IT.
When he brought up the July 4th Speech by Fredrick Douglass in 1852, when he told his White hosts that Black folk see July 4th ENTIRELY DIFFERENT FROM THEM. That it is no day of celebration for them. And, then, brought it full circle by talking about students of his - Black students - who tell them that TODAY - their families do not celebrate July 4th, because of the history of Blacks in America, my mouth was open....for he actually went THAT DEEP. And, then, to add that you cannot attack Dr. Wright's patriotism because it was as deep as anyone else's and only wanted America to fulfill up to its promise, I was like, ' Wow - he gets it'.
Questioning Black folks' patriotism is one of oldest slanders in the book, and it's not something that I tolerate. Unlike many of his critics, Jeremiah Wright actually put his life on the line in service to this country as a member of its Armed Services - the Marines. YA THINK that seeing war, and the effects of what couldn't be considered as anything BUT an unjust war, might color his view as a minister? Ya think? Ya think, spending his life working with those that this country scorns and discards - poor Black folk - might color his views as a mininster? Ya think?
My father was FORTY-THREE YEARS OLD before he was afforded his FULL CITIZENSHIP LEGALLY in this country. And, this was AFTER he had put his life on the line for this country in 2 military conflicts. So, I have little patience with folks who wrap themselves in flags and slogans, and think they're going to cast aspersions on someone's patriotism because they want to challenge these myths and feel-good notions that you have about America.
They hate the Dr. Wrights of the world because they put up a Mirror and say, ' slow your roll...this country isn't what it should be. ' |
