The Wake

The Good Ol’ Rev. Jeremiah Wright

It’s easy for any white person to call Jeremiah Wright’s recent actions egotistical. For whites, Wright is an easy Black target, as media coverage has proved this past week. Wednesday’s New York Times editorial claimed Wright’s recent statements were full of “racism” and “paranoia.” Both it and a Star Tribune editorial praised Sen. Obama’s moves to distance himself from his former pastor as much as he could. Steve Perry at Minnesota Monitor called Wright’s media tour a “selfish move.” In fact, I’ve only seen one positive commentary of Wright, which was published in Insight News, the Black community newspaper of the Twin Cities. Something’s not right with this picture.

While most of the press continues to play the Jesse Jackson card against Wright, I’ll offer yet another critique of the situation. Most mainstream commentary has put Wright’s statements on a political level, noting that it’s negatively affecting Obama’s campaign – which is true. But let’s not forget that Wright is a pastor and that his reason for stepping back into the spotlight was to defend the Black Church, which goes beyond traditional politics. After Wright saw his 30-plus years of preaching summed up in 30-second sound bites, who could blame him for re-addressing the issue publicly? More importantly, how many Americans were under the impression that these 30-second sound bites summed up the Black Church?

Whether he was being selfish or not, Wright’s decision to come back into the public sphere was motivated by the still-fractured race relations that exist within the U.S. We all know it’s an issue that’s going to outlast Obama’s campaign and potential presidency. And while the media moguls have repeatedly underlined Wright’s recent statements concerning AIDS, Farrakhan and U.S. terrorism, if you watch his appearances at the National Press Club or on the Bill Moyers show, you’ll see that these pseudo-controversial comments are buried underneath his main concern, which is clearing the name of the Black Church. The fact that the press focused only on these statements proves they have overtly sensational, and yes, sometimes racist tendencies.

I’d argue that Wright’s recent actions are wrongly justified not by his political views, but by his unconditional faith in God. In a Q & A at the National Press Club, Wright said (at the 3 minute mark of the video):

“If God intends for Mr. Obama to be the President, then no white racist, no political pundit, no speech can get in the way, because God will do what God wants to do.”

This type of justification assumes that God is guiding this election rather than the delegates, the superdelegates and (to a much smaller extent) the voters. Although I’m not qualified to make psychological assumptions, this is where I think Wright is blindsided. He assumes that no matter what is done or said, God will decide the overall outcome of the election. It’s not that Wright should care about Obama’s campaign, but he should at least be aware of the repercussions of his statements. But perhaps they couldn’t wait.

Tags: Media, Obama, Rev. Jeremiah Wright