God Damn America??? Rev. Says..., Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11 Options

[Jim]

Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11

Sen. Barack Obama's pastor says blacks should not sing "God Bless America" but "God damn America."

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor for the last 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's south side, has a long history of what even Obama's campaign aides concede is "inflammatory rhetoric," including the assertion that the United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own "terrorism."

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4443788




hmmmmm... This guy wasn't a Muslim. He is a Baptist Minister.

[Haq al lugi]

hmmmmm... This guy wasn't a Muslim. He is a Baptist Minister.

Baptist? What is this, an attempt to stir up controversy?

Here, let me help... This guy is an example of what you get when people who believe in god are given microphones. Moslem, Christian, Black Liberation Theologian - wazza dif? All these guys are bad news.

[Jim]

Baptist? What is this, an attempt to stir up controversy?

Always good to have discussion on a discussion board

[Rhoda]

I read where he held 3 hour services. I bet when he was goddamning the US of A many of his parishioners where goddamning the very Rev Wright and praying that he would have to go to the bathroom.

I agree entirely with Haq about religious people with microphones.

As for Baptists, they came in all degrees of fundamentalism. I attended a Baptist college but the church services were not long, loud, or even compulsory.

It's not always that Ole Time Religion.

[Rhoda]

I happened upon this explanation of how the Rev. Wright has been rewarded for his showmanship.

In retirement, Wright will continue a life of privilege that dates back to
Central High. As a retirement gift, Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ is
building him a million-dollar home abutting Odyssey Country Club and Golf Course
in the nearly all-white Chicago suburb of Tinley Park. The home sits on land the
pastor purchased in 2004 for $345,000. In December 2006, Wright sold the land to
his church, which took out a $1.6 million mortgage on the property.

In April 2007, the church applied for a building permit for the brick and
stone structure.
Wright’s new home has 10,340 square feet of space, about
four times the size of a typical suburban house. It includes four bedrooms, an
elevator, an exercise room, and a four-car garage.

[Geshtinnanna]

He's an old black man raised in an era where his people were abused and treated like dogs...legally it seemed to be. I ain't mad at him for being pissed off about that. But he's got no right to bring his hate to church.

[Saif Ali Khan Fa...]

I can see how some of his comments were offensive to some. What I don't understand is why so many people were shocked or surprised by his comments. He isn't the only black minister or the only black person making these statements. Basically, the shock at his comments shows, imo, an ignorance of black theology by the mainstream. Blacks have always used the church to voice their concerns about social issues and more importantly, social justice. The Civil Rights Movement was very connected to the Black Church and the Black Church is still connected to social causes in the black community. Black theology in general has always been about much more than having black people go to church or the mosque and then sit at home for the rest of the week. So what Wright did wasn't out of the ordinary. Just my two cents.

[HoЯus™]

Obama's Pastor: God *** America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11

Sen. Barack Obama's pastor says blacks should not sing "God Bless America" but "God *** America."

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor for the last 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's south side, has a long history of what even Obama's campaign aides concede is "inflammatory rhetoric," including the assertion that the United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own "terrorism."

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4443788




hmmmmm... This guy wasn't a Muslim. He is a Baptist Minister.

United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own "terrorism

I agree on that.

President Bush has authorized continued bombing of innocent people in Iraq. President Clinton bombed innocent people in the Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Serbia. President Bush Senior invaded Iraq and Panama. President Reagan bombed innocent people in Libya and invaded Grenada. And on and on it goes.

It was only a matter of time until Americans would have to suffer personally for it. It is a terrible tragedy of life that the innocent so often have to suffer for the sins of the guilty.

[Rhoda]

OBAMA'S PASTOR RAISED IN PRIVILEGE, NOT POVERTY

How do I know?

It happens that, as a Philadelphian, I attended Central High School – the same public school Jeremiah Wright attended from 1955 to 1959. He could have gone to an integrated neighborhood school, but he chose to go to Central, a virtually all-white school. Central is the second oldest public high school in the country, which attracts the most serious academic students in the city. The school then was about 80% Jewish and 95% white. The African-American students, like all the others, were there on merit. Generally speaking, we came from lower/middle class backgrounds. Many of our parents had not received a formal education and we tended to live in row houses. In short, economically, we were roughly on par.

I attended Central a few years after Rev. Wright, so I did not know him personally. But I knew of him and I know where he used to live – in a tree-lined neighborhood of large stone houses in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. This is a lovely neighborhood to this day. Moreover, Rev. Wright's father was a prominent pastor and his mother was a teacher and later vice-principal and disciplinarian of the Philadelphia High School for Girls, also a distinguished academic high school. Two of my acquaintances remember her as an intimidating and strict disciplinarian and excellent math teacher. In short, Rev. Wright had a comfortable upper-middle class upbringing. It was hardly the scene of poverty and indignity suggested by Senator Obama to explain what he calls Wright's anger and what I describe as his hatred.

From The New Republic

[Geshtinnanna]

being in high school from 55-59 and being black. That's got to be hard money or not. I remember watching Chris Rock and he was talking about the old white janitor in the building. He said if he asked if the janitor wanted to stay a white janitor or a rich black man he would ride the white thing out for a while.

[Rhoda]

No argument there. Wright and I attended high school at exactly the same time, as a matter of fact. This was the time when Eisenhower called out the National Guard to integrate some Southern schools.

My first trip south was earlier, during the Korean War, when my father was stationed briefly in Georgia. I literally didn't know about Jim Crow. What I saw shocked me so badly that I am to this day uncomfortable around a Southern accent. Unreasonable, but aren't most prejudices?

Still, I don't want anyone to believe that Wright was personally downtrodden and abused.

[Haq al lugi]

Nor Obama, but that is the way they are selling him - beaten down black man who has a right to be bitter. Yet he grew up in Hawaii, went to Harvard, and lives in a mansion in Chicago with lots of surrounding land. I wish I had a "friend" like Tony Rezco dropping big bucks on me.

[Dragon]

The sad part is that Obama is no less different him. He makes infalmmitory remarks on lower class persons who do not agree with him and acts like he is the better man.(talking about Obama's recent remarks)

This Wright guy is no better then a KKK memeber making these type of remarks, MLK is probably rolling in his grave...

[Rhoda]

President Bush has authorized continued bombing of innocent people in Iraq. President Clinton bombed innocent people in the Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Serbia. President Bush Senior invaded Iraq and Panama. President Reagan bombed innocent people in Libya and invaded Grenada. And on and on it goes.

Will you admit that just a few of these people might have been guilty?

[Saif Ali Khan Fa...]

Wright and Obama are upper class, yes. However, does that completely negate the racism that both men encounter in the US? I'm not saying that Obama or Wright aren't privileged. They most certainly are. That being said, they still will encounter a lot of racism because of their skin color, no matter how much money and education they have. The fact that Obama has to talk about race at all yet still walk this fine line and not be the "black candidate" for fear of alienating white voters still shows how much race affects him. McCain will never have his race or his gender ever be an issue for him. He can talk about "issues" without having to talk about his identity as a white man. That shows how much privilege he has over Obama, Wright, Clinton and everyone else who isn't a well off white male.

I feel like people think Obama has it made but the fact of the matter is that he is still black and no amount of money or Ivy League education will change that. Period.

ETA: Central is an excellent school but it's still a public school. There are poor people who attend. Also, I'm curious what part of Germantown Wright is from. Most of Germantown is lower income and "inner city". As for neighborhood schools being integrated, they were and are not more integrated than Central or Girls High.

As for Obama's comments, they weren't elitist at all. A lot of "small town" Americans do vote based on guns and God and not real issues. There's a lot of reasons for that. But frankly, a lot of lower class Republicans or borderline Republican vote against their own interests because of their fear. May sound snobbish but "small town Americans" would be wise to look at what voting for Bush and Republicans got them.

This post has been edited by Saif Ali Khan Fan: Apr 17 2008, 06:38 PM

[Rhoda]

Yes, it does sound snobbish. Some of the people you are denigrating are just as smart as you, even.

[HoЯus™]

Will you admit that just a few of these people might have been guilty?

When will they learn that violence always begets violence?

Do you think people who lost their families and friends and properties in all that destruction would love America for what happened?

This post has been edited by HoЯus™: Apr 17 2008, 08:02 PM

[LadyGarnetRose]

When will they learn that violence always begets violence?

Do you think people who lost their families and friends and properties in all that destruction would love America for what happened?

Which innocents is Bush saying to shoot?

The ones that plant IDE's?

The ones killing their fellow countrymen?

The ones harboring those who are coming from other countries to "help" in the fight against the Evil Americans when in reality what they are doing is killing innocents.

The ones who would strap a bomb to a mentally handicap 14 year old and send him out to blow up a public place...yet tell said child that all he was doing is delivering a package and he would come to no harm?

I mean, if those are innocents, I'd be fearful to see what you call one that is jaded.

[HoЯus™]

Which innocents is Bush saying to shoot?

The ones that plant IDE's?

The ones killing their fellow countrymen?

The ones harboring those who are coming from other countries to "help" in the fight against the Evil Americans when in reality what they are doing is killing innocents.

The ones who would strap a bomb to a mentally handicap 14 year old and send him out to blow up a public place...yet tell said child that all he was doing is delivering a package and he would come to no harm?

I mean, if those are innocents, I'd be fearful to see what you call one that is jaded.

<edited - BrJimC>

[Haq al lugi]

Wright and Obama are upper class, yes. However, does that completely negate the racism that both men encounter in the US? I'm not saying that Obama or Wright aren't privileged. They most certainly are. That being said, they still will encounter a lot of racism because of their skin color, no matter how much money and education they have. The fact that Obama has to talk about race at all yet still walk this fine line and not be the "black candidate" for fear of alienating white voters still shows how much race affects him. McCain will never have his race or his gender ever be an issue for him. He can talk about "issues" without having to talk about his identity as a white man. That shows how much privilege he has over Obama, Wright, Clinton and everyone else who isn't a well off white male.

Obama was given a scholorship BECAUSE he was 1/2 black. He was defeated in his first run for public office because his opponent was able to define him as not black enough for his constituents. The only person who stops Obama from discussing issues is Obama. He is asked about the issues every day, and he calls for change and hope.

McCain has to walk just as fine a line. He can't be the "white candidate" for fear of alienating non-whites and being painted as a racist in every forum on the planet. He is ridiculed regularly on TV as an old man- the jokes flow like the Mississippi. Are his detracters called out for their insults?

As for Obama's comments, they weren't elitist at all. A lot of "small town" Americans do vote based on guns and God and not real issues. There's a lot of reasons for that. But frankly, a lot of lower class Republicans or borderline Republican vote against their own interests because of their fear. May sound snobbish but "small town Americans" would be wise to look at what voting for Bush and Republicans got them.

THIS is the definition of elitism. I hope the Dems continue to push this line of thinking, because I saw where it got them with John Kerry.