THE WRIGHT FRAME

Or is it the Wright frame-up? As Paul Woodward says at The War in Context it is remarkable how little attention is actually paid to what Rev. Jeremiah Wright actually says at the National Press Conference in Washington or in pulpit. Everybody is supposed to be in awe of the way the right wing media circus will do with the latest opportunity. Snippets aplenty, and much like the Clinton campaign with motives as pure as snow. Their’s is not a racist campaign. But could any candidate run against the corporate media and win the election?

Paul Woodward quotes Wright extensively from his address to the National Press Conference, and here I think he is spot on, as he is in many of his other comments in my opinion:

Reconciliation, the years have taught me, is where the hardest work is found for those of us in the Christian faith, however, because it means some critical thinking and some re-examination of faulty assumptions when using the paradigm of Dr. William Augustus Jones.

Dr. Jones, in his book, God in the Ghetto, argues quite accurately that one’s theology, how I see God, determines one’s anthropology, how I see humans, and one’s anthropology then determines one’s sociology, how I order my society.

Now, the implications from the outside are obvious. If I see God as male, if I see God as white male, if I see God as superior, as God over us and not Immanuel, which means “God with us,” if I see God as mean, vengeful, authoritarian, sexist, or misogynist, then I see humans through that lens.

My theological lens shapes my anthropological lens. And as a result, white males are superior; all others are inferior.

And I order my society where I can worship God on Sunday morning wearing a black clergy robe and kill others on Sunday evening wearing a white Klan robe. I can have laws which favor whites over blacks in America or South Africa. I can construct a theology of apartheid in the Africana church (ph) and a theology of white supremacy in the North American or Germanic church.

The implications from the outset are obvious, but then the complicated work is left to be done, as you dig deeper into the constructs, which tradition, habit, and hermeneutics put on your plate.

To say “I am a Christian” is not enough. Why? Because the Christianity of the slaveholder is not the Christianity of the slave. The God to whom the slaveholders pray as they ride on the decks of the slave ship is not the God to whom the enslaved are praying as they ride beneath the decks on that slave ship.

How we are seeing God, our theology, is not the same. And what we both mean when we say “I am a Christian” is not the same thing. The prophetic theology of the black church has always seen and still sees all of God’s children as sisters and brothers, equals who need reconciliation, who need to be reconciled as equals in order for us to walk together into the future which God has prepared for us.

Reconciliation does not mean that blacks become whites or whites become blacks and Hispanics become Asian or that Asians become Europeans.

Reconciliation means we embrace our individual rich histories, all of them. We retain who we are as persons of different cultures, while acknowledging that those of other cultures are not superior or inferior to us. They are just different from us.

We root out any teaching of superiority, inferiority, hatred, or prejudice.

And we recognize for the first time in modern history in the West that the other who stands before us with a different color of skin, a different texture of hair, different music, different preaching styles, and different dance moves, that other is one of God’s children just as we are, no better, no worse, prone to error and in need of forgiveness, just as we are.

Only then will liberation, transformation, and reconciliation become realities and cease being ever elusive ideals.

Whatever the outcome of the election for the Democratic nomination it has brought out issues that otherwise would have remained hidden from view. The use of racist politics, although as American as apple pie, has never been in plainer view. Wright has brought to light the African-American story and the Native American story as an other dimension of the American story, but has brought out the genetic connection between supposedly different peoples that could not have existed had their respective ancestors stayed in Africa and Europe. The other element has been made transparent is the role of the media in the political and electoral process.

If the MSM loses this election then like the Wizard of Oz, their power will be exposed and broken. When the bully is confronted without fear, and he does his worst, that is the best he can ever do. In this election, the media have put themselves on trial, and they will not be the judge.

FOLLOW-UP

Here is the full Wright presentation at the NPC, followed by the question and answer process. The distinction that Wright makes that he is a pastor not a politician is valid. Obama is not going to stand up to the media bully, believing probably correctly that most or many people will not take time to get the facts first hand, and here is his response.

What we have to understand is that the media is not interested in truth, but in prosecuting the political and economic agenda of its owners. Don’t blame Obama.

ELSEWHERE:

Our ABC’s North American correspondent Michael Rowland dutifully plugs the Pravda line:

US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is moving to contain the political damage caused by the incendiary remarks of his former pastor.

Senator Obama says he is outraged and saddened by Jeremiah Wright’s assertions the US brought the 2001 terrorist attacks on itself and the US Government invented the AIDS virus to kill black people.

The comments and the Reverend Wright’s bizarre public appearances in recent days have overshadowed the Obama campaign in the lead-up to pivotal primaries next week in North Carolina and Indiana.

Halden at Inhabitatio Dei observes “Lingering: A Test of Theological Discourse”. It seems to me, and you don’t have to remind me I fail too often that “lingering” is a test of democratic discourse. In other words, rather than in engage in rapid-fire repartee – perhaps Rev Wright’s mistake – we might listen and consider carefully what the other person is saying, perhaps especially when it appears immediately to be ridiculous.

Glenn Greenwald at Salom.Com does irony – but I don’t think anyone will notice. Candide did I hear? Nah we are bloody marvelous mate and we can afford to have these irrelevant discussions, much like playing table tennis between lunch and afternoon tea.

All things considered, Kevin Drum and commenters do not seem too worked about it, which makes me wonder what would they be agitated about?

Still the key issue may well be what is happening on the ground with the punters. Truthdig quotes Political Wire that while the contest is still tied in Indiana there has been a sudden shift in support among white voters in North Carolina from Obama to Clinton.According to SurveyUSA polling:

“White voters are key. Since January, Clinton had led among Carolina whites by 14, 19, 17, 22 and 23 points. But today, suddenly: 31. In the Research Triangle, Clinton is up 9 points, week-on-week; Obama is down 3; a net swing of 12 points to Clinton.”

Race politics and the power of the corporate media apparently works, perhaps among some demographics more than others.