Jeremiah Wright, Please Stop Talking

Pastor Jeremiah Wright, former pastor for Barack Obama, spoke to the National Press Club on April 28th. It was quite the show to say the least. I will admit, I think the good doctor is a very likable man. I will even dare to agree with about sixty percent of what he says. He shows himself to be quite charismatic, intelligent, learned, witty, and at times comical as he plays to the crowds.

He says that he was breaking his silence because the media was "playing the dozens" so to speak and making an attack on the black church. He at many times during his question and answer session displayed exactly the type of tone and rhythm typically seen and experience from the pulpit in the black church. White America got a taste of the candor and sometimes brutal honesty that one can experience in the black church. At one point the moderator asked the question along the lines of, 'since Barack Obama hadn't heard many of Wright's sermons did that mean that he did not go to church often' to which Pastor Wright answered, 'He probably goes to church as much as you. Did you go to church last week? What was the sermon about?' and then he walked away from the microphone as the crowd roared and the moderator embarrassingly returned to ask the next question-- with point taken.

Pastor Wright served it raw to us watching via CNN and those in the audience. He told it like he saw it and did it unapologetically. I would even agree that he did a pretty good job sticking to the point that he was not there to defend Barack or to play political games but to defend the attack on the black church. At some points he even seemed to distance himself from Barack, or at least the notion that he was Obama's "spiritual advisor" even to the point of making fun of the term giving it a "spooky connotation." He asserted that his position was that he was speaking as a pastor, and Obama is no more than a member who happens to be a politician. He also says that Baracks says things solely because he speaks as a politician, and Wright boldly declares that whether or not Barack wins the campaign on November 5 and January 21 Wright would still have to answer to God for the things he himself had spoken and still hold his position as a pastor.

As a black man myself, I personally believe him. I believe Pastor Wright no more has a vested interest in whether or not Barack is in office or not as to if his words will change about how he feels about this country's policies. He even made it a point to mention that he told Barack that if he wins the presidency Obama will then turn into Wright's target because he becomes the representative of a nation that "grinds people under." I don't even view Mr. Wright as unpatriotic or unAmerican. I view him as a man with an opinion, which is in fact, his perogative. It's no different than much of what is said behind closed doors of every household in America, just a slightly different vantage point, and a more public stage. When asked whether Wright felt that he himself was anti-American, his response was that he served 6 years in the military for this country and then rebutted, "how many years did Dick Cheney serve?" to which the crowd ate it up, and Wright shrugged his shoulders and walked again away from the microphone.

My major gripe with the Pastor, however, is that if he in his heart of hearts believes that Barack Obama will be an improvement to the policies he so strongly disagrees with, then he should really keep his mouth closed. Even if his agenda was to defend the black church, honestly America is not interested in the "black church" especially at this point in time. If America had an agenda to slander the black church they could have easily done that at another time. I believe the attack is on Barack personally. I would even go on to say that it is a racist attack to further make people afraid of having a black man, who receives moral counsel from a fiery "anti- American" man, who has ties to Farrakhan, etc. Pastor Wright is hurting Barack Obama by his speaking. At times I even think that he is taking advantage of his 15 minutes of fame because when the elections are over and done, "America" will not care about the black church one way or another until the next election.

I guess by Pastor Jeremiah Wright's opinion, he is honestly defending what he says he is. When asked if he thought it was the will of God that Barack be the president, his response was that he was not running for the office of God and could not profess to know what the will of God is concerning that, however he felt that if God thought Obama should be president no media, speech, pundits, or anything else can stop the will of God. And he's right.