black…MYstory

For a while now, I have stayed away from the whole Rev. Jeremiah Wright fiasco. Trust me, it’s not that I’m afraid to talk about it. It’s because that, on its face, this is more “contrived” than “controversy”.

What do I mean? I see this as not so much people being offended by what he said. I believe that people are offended that a black person would have the audacity to say such things. You see, if you’re a white minister and you blame 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina on gays, even though you’re tied into presidents and political parties, it’s no big deal. But, if you’re a black minister and you call out the country you served for as a Marine over its foreign policy, that’s just unacceptable and you become public enemy #1.

Now, how deep does this racial acrimony go with some critics? Well, we have seen media pundits, specifically Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Pat Buchanan go after both Rev. Wright and Sen. Barack Obama over Wright’s remarks for what has been weeks, now. They go so far as to say that Obama should have denounced Wright long ago and walked away from that church. You see, despite a 30-year track record of service in the south side of Chicago that has seen him help people of all colors, genders, sexual orientations and health statuses (including an AIDS ministry), the body of Wright’s work should be invalidated by what amounts to about 5-10 minutes of statements, much of which, if argued on their merits, could be construed as true or at least in need of deeper discussion.

Now, I point out O’Reilly, Hannity and Buchanan because, as I said, they criticize Obama for not walking away from his church. Now, why do I call them out? You see, all three are Catholics. Now, if you remember, the big thing in the news a few years back was how the Catholic church in America, from the top down, had covered up rampant pedophilia among its clergy, primarily priests.

You see, we are not talking about a few statements by one person in one church. We are talking about the actions of the leadership of the Catholic Church in this country knowingly allowing molesting clergy to continue to move from parish to parish, only to molest other children. This went on for decades. Furthermore, when finally having to answer for this cover-up, the church ended up spending millions in hush money and court settlements, of which I’m sure included donation money from Mr. O’Reilly, Mr. Hannity and Mr. Buchanan. However, this was not enough to drive these three out of the Catholic Church.

So, my question to these three is why didn’t they denounce the Catholic Church in this country when they found out about these rampant abuses? How could they have walked into a Catholic church or let their children or grandchildren be involved in a church when the possibility of being molested by a priest existed? Isn’t this a question of character?

In the end, in their upside-down existences, a few “bad” words outweigh many good deeds. In their world, black people should be silent or, at least when speaking, should only express gratitude for the the white people who “have done so much for them”. In their world, to paraphrase Chris Rock, “if it’s all-white, then it’s all right”, meaning, in this case, that it’s only bad if a person who is not of their color, political views or sexual persuasion does it (you can choose their order of preference).

In the end, to them, words speak louder than actions and it’s okay to live in a glass house and throw stones.

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