Jeremiah Wright ' s Words Hauntingly Relevant Today Jacksonville , Florida February 2016
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..................................................................................................····:;;;··............····,:::···................................................................ . Jeren1iah Wright " s Words Hauntingly Relevant Today
By Rev . Dr . Susan K . Smith Guest Columnist
In 2008 , the presence of then-Senator Barack Obama in the race for the White House became troubling , it seems , to a nation which had always been wracked and ruled by racism . There seemed to be a growing panic that this African-American might just win the Democratic nomination and worse , the presidency . A move was put in place to try to upend Obama ' s campaign by using what strategists was sure would work -- racism . How best to do that than to use a couple of soundbites by Obama ' s then-pastor , the Rev . Dr . Jeremiah Wright , Jr .? The soundbites showing Wright preaching were chosen precisely because his words and his presentation would feed into the fear of black people that racists know well . Surely , the strategists thought , if they could show that Obama was listening to an angry black man who appeared not to buy into the myth of American exceptionalism , the country would be swayed , Obama would lose the election , and things would go back to normal . The plan did not work , and although Obama distanced himself from Rev . Wright in order to help his chances of winning the election , the fact of the matter is that Wright ' s message of the pervasiveness of racism was spot on ... and it still is . America ' s refusal to deal with its racism is eating away at its very core , but nobody wants to talk about it .
Today , however , we see racism in rare form . The shootings of black people by white officers with no accountability , the massacre of the nine innocent people in Charleston , South Carolina , and the burnings of black churches gives the actions of racism front and center stage once again . Jeremiah Wright ' s ministry was about addressing racism in the context of theological expectations on how to handle it . The power of Wright ' s ministry was that he was able to talk and teach about the reality of racial oppression . Black people in America , if the truth be told , really do not want to talk about or hear about racism ; the church experience has been , too often , one that celebrates and pushes personal piety in a relationship with Jesus the Christ . Politics and history , and their impact on black people have historically been largely ignored .
In spite of the fact that racism finds its way into every aspect of American life , blacks and whites have been reluctant to talk about it . The sentiment has seemed to be that if America ignores her racist history , that history will dissipate and disappear . So many black families have refused to talk about the painful experiences due to racism their ancestors have endured , and of course , white America has insisted that racism was " back then " and has complained that black people bring it up too often . To talk about or to acknowledge that something happening is due to racism only draws wrath and impatience from white Americans , and many blacks , who charge that any mention of race is playing " the race card ." Nobody wants to be blamed for doing that and too often , remain silent even when the effects of racism are causing horrific emotional pain and societal ruination .
Wright , however , refused to be silent . Before him sat people who constantly lived lives of racial discrimination . They were American veterans who had been deemed good enough to fight for America in her wars , but who were discriminated against and often times lynched when they returned home , still in uniform and were refused loans to buy homes . They were the ones who were passed over for jobs or for promotions on those jobs . They were the ones whose children were stuck in second and third rate public schools , or the ones whose children were being arrested and killed in this nation by those who were supposed to protect them , with scarcely a mention in the news . They were , in effect , suffering because of their race , but were not supposed to admit it or talk about it . They were strangers in a land whose economy they helped build . They were in the Midwest , the north , and west , because they had fled being lynched in the South ... and they were bruised . The only thing they had to hold onto was God .
Wright ' s messages made their relationship with God different , stronger , and empowering . He gave the history of what had been happening , related it to the oppression which happened throughout the Bible , and even taught that Jesus himself had been a Palestinian Jew , oppressed as they had been , yet forever faithful to Yahweh . Wright had to preach a message that helped African-Americans keep their heads above and out of the putrid waters of racism , so that they could keep on pushing through the oppression to freedom , dignity , and some semblance of success . He was angry , as are most African-Americans and others who read about and study what racism has done in this nation . It is a righteous anger , a righteous indignation , no less justified than the anger of Jewish people who were brutalized by Nazism . Any people , or group of people , who are marginalized by their government are angry ; the earliest Americans were angry at the British . The anger of African-Americans , however , has been consistently criticized as being unfounded . That being the case , many African-Americans have tried to hide that anger , but that effort has not erased the ugliness of the experiences they have endured .
The brilliance ofWright ' s ministry was that he addressed that anger . He put it in historical , sociological and theological context , and in so doing , freed African Americans to acknowledge the anger and move past it . Wright ' s ministry was ( and is ) one which empowers a people who have endured much and who have kept on beating against the gates of oppression . Wright did not preach hatred . He preached liberation and empowerment . Black people were strangers in a land they helped build ; the oppressors required of them a song , and they wondered how they could sing the Lord ' s song ... regardless .
Wright ' message was that one responds to oppression by following the Gospel -- to love one another , to forgive one another , and above all , to love and trust God above all else , in spite of the oppression . Being oppressed did not give anyone a ticket to hate ; being a Christian demanded that even and perhaps most especially , the oppressed were to show that God is real and that the Gospel , observed and practiced , is the only effective way to fight racism .
Nobody asks the Jewish people to forget the Holocaust . Wright ' s ministry reminds us that nobody should ask African Americans to forget what racism has done to them in this land . As Obama ' s presidency draws to its end , Wright ' s words are still reaching those who are smarting under white supremacy , giving people the strength to fight against the ostensible and less ostensible evidence of racial oppression .
In the end , Wright would say , it is only God who can beat the forces of racism ; his job , it seems , has been to elucidate and expose racism and get people to stop hiding behind a message of personal piety . He has been and is effective in getting the oppressed to realize that their misery is not imagined or invalid , and in so doing , he has made The Good News " good " to and for those whom American society has marginalized and oppressed for far too long .