What would it have taken for Obama to leave Wright’s church?I have a few follow-ups.
To me, the biggest red flag is the belief, shared by something like 30% of all American blacks, that the government developed the AIDS virus to exterminate people of color. If that's not enough to make you get up and leave, what is? What would be the tipping point now that we've established that it wasn't that? There are very few things that can top germ warfare genocide. Writing this post right now, I can't think of any.
My follow up questions are these. If you can't stand up in your pivotal speech on race and say in plain English that whites are not carrying out biological mass murder, how can you expect to begin a conversation on race? Seriously, think about that. What kind of conversation are you going to have with someone who is convinced you are trying to kill each and every member of their race? That's not a difference of opinion or a minor fact that is still in question, it's a complete non-starter for the dialog. You can't go anywhere until that one is put to rest. Nothing else is even remotely significant.
Barack says his grandmother sometimes used racial epithets. His pastor is convinced that government labs created a monstrous virus so that an entire race could be obliterated. Barack tries to make the two equivalent. Words fail me. The juxtaposition of those two statements says all you need to know about the current state of the national conversation on race. Grandma is taken to task for using the N-word while Rev. Wright's AIDS conspiracies aren't even mentioned by name. That's not a conversation, that's one side screaming lunacies while the other side smiles and nods and has another muffin.
That's not a conversation, that's deliberately avoiding the subject.
*reaching* The Gov't is out to get you by putting totally innocent, hard-working, blue-collar blacks in jail just because they're "darkies" or something?
ReplyDeleteDan What's'name's Opus Dei is totally made up of CIA and sends albino assassins out to get folks who are too dark?
You're right, that's REALLY hard to top....
OTOH, Israel seems to be doing pretty well in making "dialog" with folks who think they're sub-human XYZ monsters.
No progress, but lots of dialog.
What would it have taken to leave the church, KT?
ReplyDeleteI think it would have taken courage - political courage to - perhaps - lose the votes that came from being seen with that church, lose the political clout that might have come from the pastor and his congregation.
And it would have taken full recognition of the undeniable goodness of this country that gave both Barack and his wife so much, not just more than many people we know, but astronomically more than they would have in many other countries.
But what's huting him is he who was supposed to be above race is now all about race and racism.
Am I close?
I'm not yet finished with my peeps and now were switching to muffins?
ReplyDeleteWe could spend all day ripping apart this guy's speech so I'm glad I/we/you/all of us are now focusing attention on what was his justification for hanging with this shameless opportunist/lunatic for 20 years.
Acta non Verba
That's strange. I thought the AIDS virus was developed by the US government to wipe out all the homosexuals.
ReplyDeleteDid I miss a memo?