A family friend recently sent me an e-mail with a story called The Barack Obama Double Standard written by Doug Patton. What I read shocked me and, in response, I took the time to really look at what Reverend Wright had to say in his sermons. Read on:
Imagine in 1999, that a videotape had come to light showing the pastor of Texas Gov. George W. Bush’s church making vicious, hateful comments about America and cruel, racist statements about Americans of color. Suppose this preacher had given a lifetime achievement award to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, and had traveled to Europewith Duke to meet with neo-Nazi terrorists. Now try to envision that the candidate’s family had attended this church for more than twenty years, that George and Laura Bush had been married there, by this pastor, and that the Bush daughters had been baptized by him. Picture George Bush titling his autobiography after a phrase in one of this minister’s sermons, writing that the man was his mentor, and then putting him on the presidential campaign staff as a trusted advisor and confidant. Say it came to light that for several years George W. Bush had been friends with Eric Rudolph, the notorious Olympic Park bomber and anti-abortion terrorist .. Furthermore, let’s suppose that Bush had remained friends with Rudolph over the years and still considered him a colleague today. Now imagine Laura Bush, on the campaign trail for her husband, telling supporters and the national media that America is “mean” and that for the first time in her adult life she was proud of her country. Is there a doubt that Republican officeholders would have run from the Bush campaign like rats from a burning barn, that he would have become the political leper of the 2000 campaign? And what about the media? They virtually crucified candidate Bush that year for daring to give a speech at Bob Jones University, which had once banned interracial dating. I cannot imagine the field day they would have had with something like this.
And yet excuses are made for Barack Obama, who now finds himself in exactly this situation. Obama’s pastor of more than two decades - the man who married Barack and Michelle Obama, who christened their daughters, who inspired the title of the candidate’s book, “The Audacity of Hope,” - is now at the center of a storm that would have destroyed the candidacy of any Republican the day the story broke. Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago for the last 36 years, has been caught on tape denouncing the United States and the white race in terms that should shock and disgust every thinking American. Wright and the church swear allegiance to the “mother country” - Africa. (Presumably this includes the Obama family.)
Rather than trying to infuse his congregation with hope and encouragement, Wright poisons them with vitriol about how the U.S. government has tried to commit genocide against the black community using drugs and the AIDS virus as weapons of choice. “Don’t say God bless America,” Wright screams in one sermon. “God damn America! ” Wright, representing the church, bestowed a lifetime achievement award on Louis Farrakhan, the racist leader of the Nation of Islam. In the 1980s, Wright traveled to Libya with Farrakhan to meet with Muammar Gaddafi.
If Barack Obama has not been paying attention in church, it is apparent that his wife, Michelle, has. Campaigning for her husband recently, she said that for the first time in her adult life, she is finally proud of her country. In a separate speech, she said America is “a mean country.”
Obama is friends with William Ayers, an admitted domestic terrorist with the Weather Underground, which declared war on the United States and claimed responsibility for bombing several government buildings, including the Pentagon and the State Department building, in the 1970s. In an interview with The New York Times, ironically published on the morning of September 11, 2001, Ayers was quoted as saying, “I don’t regret setting bombs; I feel we didn’t do enough. ” Now a tenured professor at the University of Chicago (only inAmerica!), Ayers met Barack Obama in the 1990s. They have remained friends ever since.
We are judged not just by our words, but by the company we keep. The litmus test should not be whether or not everyone a candidate knows is ideal. That is an impossible standard. The true measure of a man is in his ability to choose friends with which he can be proud to stand shoulder to shoulder, not those about whom he must equivocate and for whom he must apologize.
This is one of the worst perversions of context I’ve ever seen. Did Doug Patton even take the time to listen to Rev. Wright’s entire sermon? Evidently not. Otherwise, he would have understood exactly what Rev. Wright was talking about. Seriously, take some time out and listen to his sermons. Videos of both the most controversial ones can be seen here:
Lies of Omission: Rev. Wright in Context
Here’s a few articles about the sermons as well:
The full story behind Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s 9/11 sermon
The full story behind Wright’s ‘God Damn America’ sermon
So, after seeing and listening to the sermons, after reviewing what others have observed from a non-biased point of view, ask yourself: Is Rev. Wright a racist? Personally, I do not think he is. Sure, his sermons are controversial from a certain context, but does anything he say in his sermon strike you as bullshit? Absolutely not. In fact, what he says is very honest.
Now, you could say that he’s un-American. But patriotism isn’t about wearing a flag on your lapel. It’s not about putting your hand over your heart when you say the pledge. Those are just symbols and do not reflect a man’s (or woman’s) patriotism in and of themselves. No, true patriotism comes from someone who loves their country and wants to help improve it so much that they are willing to question their leaders and sacrifice themselves to do so. That’s what our founding fathers did when they wrote the Declaration of Independence proclaiming their independence from England. Why is it un-American for someone to question our leaders now?
And, no, we are not always judged by the company we keep. Think about some of the friends and family you have. Do you agree with them on everything? Do some of them piss you off because of what they believe in? Do you sometimes want to slap them silly? What makes Barack Obama or anyone else any different? No, people should be judged on their character and actions above anything else.
Double standard? Best look in the other direction. You want to talk about racism? Best look in the mirror, buddy. The only thing I can imagine is a world filled with people like you who continue to pervert things, distort the truth, and somehow justify it to make yourself seem more right.
Evidently folks like Pat Buchanan don’t get it either (A Brief for Whitey). The things Pat Buchanan says are far more racially charged than both Reverend Wright and Barack Obama combined:
..No people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.
Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks — with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas — to advance black applicants over white applicants.
Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.
We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?
Gratitude? Grievances? What? Is he kidding? Somehow welfare, food stamps, a such are enough? Holy shit if that ever wasn’t a racist, “slap in the face” series of statements!
The hypocrisy of all this is just mind blowing! And the crazy thing is that it isn’t just right-wing conservatives spewing this nonsense either. There are plenty of left-wing liberals in the mix who are pulling all the stops to preach more lies and propaganda to mask the truth. It’s time the American public opened their eyes and realize that this kind of politics must stop!
Recently, I went back and started reading some old Iron Man comics in preparation for the new movie. In the process, I stumbled across a Captain America story that I think has great relevance to today. Written in 1987, the story is about a time when the United States government put together a commission to investigate the contract of Captain America. In a nutshell, they mandated that Captain America abide by the terms of his contract. In the end, Steve Rogers (aka Captain America) refused.
