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Sen. Obama and the Rev.Dr. Jeremiah Wright

By Imani Williams

Voices from an Urban Bush Sista!

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama can worship with his family where they decide their spirits are best fed. I'll start by saying that I smell fear. I smell it in the media smear campaign being done to discredit Presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Some folk are so full of fear that they are going to all lengths and pulling out all stops.
As Americans we all reserve our right to worship as we see fit. How can it be that a man, a black man can belong to a church and attend faithfully growing in hope and tenacity with his community, to be a deliverer of faith by action and then be accused of being everything but.
The media is tripping. First you accuse Obama of being a terrorist with Muslim ties. Then when you couldn't make that one stick you try and take a solid family man attending and tithing in a traditional black church on the south side of Chicago and try and fill that righteousness with hate. You all are reaching real low here. In addition to fear this boils down to cultural differences. Anyone raised in or around the black church knows that since we were brought to this country against our will as enslaved Africans, it has been our faith in God and our church that has sustained us through lynching, KKK, burnings, and other acts of violence, open discrimination and oppression.
Any African American man of the cloth who doesn't note the atrocities blacks have felt and continue to feel in this country needs to turn in his pastoral card. Be he street or Atlanta University seminary trained. Said person has an obligation to inform his congregation of the wrongs being done so that survival of his/her parishioners remain a constant and not a happenstance thing.
Growing up in Detroit, I was baptized a the age of 14 at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church on the city's northwest side where Pastor Charles G. Adams presides over a flock of more than 10,000. A familiar occurrence was Trinity out of Chicago, where Dr. Jeremiah Wright pastored, coming in as our sister church to tear it up with their choir. What a delight to hear the combined choirs sing praises and to then hear the awesome Dr. Wright take the pulpit with the same hearty love and passion and, eloquence of my own beloved former Pastor.
Talking about keeping it real. These two strong black men preached but really talked to us on community and values and taking care of family as part of our charge and self respect. There was never any talk of holding your head down and quietly going along to get along. Oh no, the church was too full of young people for that type of self hating message to be perpetrated.
So I'm not surprised to learn that the media, made up of mostly white males who fear the thought of a black man running this country, feeling a bit off kilter when they learned that Obama was utilizing his right to worship with his family where he chose. Yeah, how many of those in the media smearing Obama and Dr. Wright electronically and in print have ventured to the southside of Chicago and even have an inkling of a clue as to what it takes to survive in an urban environment where black youth are three times as likely to end up in prison vs. college.
Not enough can be said from the media, as the Catholic Church deals with the ongoing list of people coming forth in adulthood who were molested and unprotected by priests who were supposed to lead them in their walk with the Creator.
My sister moved to Chicago to attend graduate school and stayed a number of years after receiving her MBA from Loyola University. When I visited on weekends our Sunday mornings started at Trinity. If Dr. Wright is strong in his opinions it crosses all cultures. I personally heard him ball out teenage girls who were polishing nails in the balcony and giggling, disrespecting themselves and the sanctity of the church. Oh he let them have it – stopping his sermon to do so. When he finished what he had to say to them I knew they would be model citizens in Trinity and beyond the walls of that church not only for the rest of the teens in the congregation, but for youth coming up behind them as well. That's the strength of the black church that fearful men and women in the media don't know about. It's a cultural thang baby. We have too much pride to let your lies tear us down. We also know how to train our young so that they respect the sacredness of the church, the community and themselves.
When we look at the disproportionate rate that African Americans are contracting AIDS it seems quite possible that the government has something to do with it. The same way the American government has something to do with the overall disparity and lack of quality health care and insurance for poor urban residents. Government has much to do with our schools falling apart and disparity in pay between the races and the poor quality of food found in less affluent and poor neighborhoods. Pay rates are disproportionate by design and opportunities to attend college to get that allusive good job are becoming tighter and tighter.
Any black pastor in charge of leading a black or even a diverse congregation better be telling all of this if he or she is being truthful to the Creator they serve. As my wise grandmother used to say, "Tell the truth and shame the devil."
Dr. Wright I thank you for being more than worth your salt as a black man, as a leader in the community and through the storm. May your retirement that was in effect before those who choose to smear and incite backbiting and fear be all that you imagine it to be.
Sen. President-Elect Obama, you have stood strong with the adversity coming at you from all sides. They fear you and what you represent for this country as we struggle to hold on and find faith in ourselves, families and communities. Know that we stand with you. And while their evil-hearted agenda is more than obvious, we see right through it and we see the possibilities in you and what you represent. You are a man blessed with greatness and the ability to get us over the many years of oppression that America has steeped on our backs. We will hold you accountable and know that you will step up to the challenge.
May God bless and keep you.

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Topics: Opinions
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