Are you Listening?

Several people supporters and opponents of Obama have asked my opinion of the inflammatory comments made by Obama’s former pastor (Rev. Wright) and Obama’s speech confronting racism.

On the comments from Wright?

I can’t say I am surprised to hear the statements, but I can say I was surprised to hear them from the pulpit. Being from the South, I guess socioeconomically we are doing better as a race, so most of the preaching we hear is what is coined as “Prosperity Preaching.” I imagine in areas like Chicago that just does not sell. You can’t tell a congregation of people that don’t even have a car to pray to God they get a new Cadillac Escalade.

The biggest surprise to me is that Obama attended this kind of church. Not so much because of the comments from Rev. Wright, but just how he said it. My wife and I have said that, “the days of the jumping and hollering preachers are over!” This is as we left a similar church we had attended for years. We left because we had issue with the Pastor and the Church message was becoming less Bible-centric, but even he would have never spoke words like these from the pulpit.

I never considered Obama a deeply religious man. This shows that he was really just “going to church just to be going.” This Church in Chicago like most large churches is a pillar in the community, and Rev. Wright was wildly popular as an advocate for improvements in quality of life for Blacks. It is apparent as you see how well decorated he is, even making an appearance in Fort Worth to get yet another award from Texas Christian University (TCU). Obama attended this Church because it was en vogue to say among Black People that he was a member.

I think what this brings in to question more than anything is the sincerity of his Christian faith. As the saying goes, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian, any more than sitting in the garage makes you a car.”

On Obama’s Speech?

My thoughts are simple, his entire point was to say, “Do not allow yourself to marginalize ME based on race." The point WAS NOT to defend Wright. It was to recognize and appreciate racism exists. Hate is rampant in the U.S. and everyone that hates sees themselves as right.

So I will just say, anyone that makes the point of this speech a defense of Wright misses the entire point of the speech.

To continually ostracize every single person that has a position that opposes someone else's is just not progressive. It was why racially and socioeconomically Americans are more divided today than ever before. The past generations have failed miserably to bring us together. The H-O-P-E is in our generation and future generations to strive for more progressive thinking.

I think his speech was a little Black-centric because he was trying to offer some insight and understanding on the Black experience in America. What he needs to realize is that White people DO NOT want to understand Blacks. He should have been more focused on listing out all of the White people that have been labeled as "racists" for making remarks of what are essentially commonly held beliefs by a large segment of the population, and explained why this is wrong. Blacks suffer from the same problem, they DO NOT want to understand.

At the end of the day it is not racism that we suffer from so much as it is selfishness. The problem is that selfishness breeds resentment, which breeds hate, and that hate lashes out on whoever appears to be the obstacle.

White people want to live the American Dream, Black people want their 40 acres and a mule. Funny thing is all of us have more than we will ever need, we just get stuck on wanting what somebody else has and end up fighting each other.

What is even more funny is that the person you are fighting has no more than you do, so in winning that fight you gain nothing!!!