There was an interesting segment on Meet the Press last weekend where they had Dr. Michael Eric Dyson , an author who wrote a book on MLK, and Ambassador Andrew Young (a former aide to MLK) on the show to talk about MLK. They got into Wright and African American churches, how churches are still basically segregated, and how different black churches are from white churches. The author said MLK gave many speeches that were similar in tone and topic to Wright’s sermons. In fact he was scheduled to give a sermon a few days after he was killed that was something along the lines of “Why America Can Go to Hell“… The segment was amazingly insightful.
The only difference (in my mind) is MLK was seen as an activist – an agent of change. Someone who was speaking out and leading a movement against the terrible injustice, prejudice, and racism of the time (and our history)… no chance for him or anyone like him to become President or even run for public office. It was safe for white America to support him, follow him and his cause, since it was so obviously wrong to so many AND in the end, they didn’t have to worry about MLK or any other African American leading them or having much of an effect on their personal lives. A generalization, I know, but more true than not, I bet.
Nowadays, it’s easy (and a cop out) to paint Wright as a radical cleric. It’s not that simple, when racism (and race) is conveniently brushed under the mat. It’s an uncomfortable subject, since the general consensus is racism and racial prejudice is a thing of the past. We solved that already, didn’t we? Unfortunately it isn’t true. It (racism) is a lot more transparent and built into the framing of society. It isn’t obvious at first glance, but it’s there (kind of like the framing of a house – it’s easy to glance over and pretend the problems aren’t there – when there’s mold inside your walls that you’ll never see unless you take the difficult step to investigate and solve the problem)… because of that, I really loved Obama’s race speech. Please check it out, if you haven’t already.
Whether it is inner city schools, inequality in schools/education in general, inner cities in general, or disenfranchisement… all those issues (and more – I know my list was pretty general) have a serious racial undertone. Poverty is the glue that keeps us from looking behind the walls and solving those problems. Poverty keeps these issues as a never ending cycle for those that have to endure, which leads to other attitudinal problems that become more ingrained with every generation. Why try when nothing ever changes? (And I am talking about trying to fix the problem systemically, not just in personal lives.)
And because of this, I think the only person (of the three left) that can lead us past poverty and racism is Obama. Hilary or McCain certainly can’t truly understand these problems. Obama isn’t poor by any means, but his experience and background are better suited to lead us to where we need to go. He understands we *need* to change as well – it’s incredibly important for our country to move forward and become more just, more democratic, a better partner and example to the world… given what we’ve gone through the last 8 years.
Anyway, something to think about.
Related posts:
- Obama reponds to Wright
- On Obama and Religion
- Is that all they could come up with?
- Obama: "All of us are in this together."
- President Obama?
Tags: meet the press, MLK, racism, wright
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