Simply Sad

For weeks now I have been reticent regarding Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama, and the allegedly "honest dialogue" on race in the United States. I have had many reasons for being quiet, for suspending judgment, but I will keep those reasons to myself, at least for now.

I just watched, live on CSPAN2, Reverend Wright's speech and Q&A session at the National Press Club breakfast. Last night, I watched a significant portion of his speech to the NAACP. All I can say is that Reverend Wright's opinions, at least to me, are an unmitigated social, cultural, religious, theological, and political disaster. Rev. Wright is wrong in so many ways it is impossible to reply to him in one short blog post. I am simply stunned, to be honest. In fact, I am almost stunned right back to reticence.

Reverend Wright appears to be intentionally fomenting racial hatreds. I am tempted to think he is even provoking assassination. Sorry. I am speaking solely from my heart. The sort of message and the manner in which that message has been presented by Reverend Wright almost seem to be an invitation to raise hostilities to their most feverish heights; to incite even an attack on not only "the black church," which Rev. Wright proclaims the media have undertaken, but an attack on a black leader. I am left feeling -- FEELING -- that Rev. Wright's prophetic message may indeed be naught but a self-fulfilling prophecy: Incited violence and hatred will prove that America is GUILTY, UNREPENTANT and RACIST.

Forgive me. I DON'T WANT these feelings. But I am deeply saddened by a demonstration of a self-righteousness and an arrogance so stunning as to be almost a scripted caricature. One would think this is more like a Hollywood depiction of a crude stereotype of arrogance and self-righteousness than it is a representation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It even feels like Reverend Wright wants to sabotage Barack Obama's candidacy. Seriously, this man is NO PASTOR to Barack Obama.

(I would urge you all to find replays on CSPAN or online of Reverend Wright's complete speeches. Watch them in their entirety. Listen carefully. Be discerning.)

It would be foolish of me to make predictions, so I won't. But I can't imagine that the Reverend's speeches to the NAACP and the National Press Club can be good for Barack Obama, OR race relations in America. I can tell you this: they were not good for me.

Honestly, I admit that I've been jaded by politics in the past, though such hardening was perhaps skin deep. But I would say that this particular narrative, playing out mainly in the Democratic Party's primaries, has jaded me close to the core: I may be jaded all the way through.

Peace.

©Bill Gnade 2008/Contratimes. All Rights Reserved.