This from Tom Maguire’s place:
Really, he’s just pissed off all the white and black people who consider themselves further along the road of racial reconciliation than Obama himself is.
I hadn’t considered it that way, but it certainly strikes home. One of the reasons the Wright/Obama issue really ticked me off was because Wright’s sermons smacked to me of stirring up anti-white bigotry among a generation that doesn’t profit from it (and a generation beyond them, even, considering Obama takes his children to that church). Look, I live in the deep South, and I’m from even farther South. Racial divisions of the sort Wright clamors about every Sunday just don’t exist in a large scale fashion the way they did in the 1960’s or 1970’s…take it from a white guy, married to a black woman, who lived in Macon, GA for quite some years, and lives far enough North of Atlanta today to be outside the protective bubble of it’s liberal influence.
Surely, if race relations are as bad as Wright and Obama would have them, they’d manifest themselves much more brutally here in the part of America that still takes pride in the Rebel flag than they do in mega-liberal Chicago. That’s not my experience, nor is it my observation…and believe me, with kids who are just as subject to the “one-drop rule” as Obama himself is, I’m a keen observer.
Maguire link via Glenn Reynolds
Update: Welcome, Instapundit readers, and Thanks, Glenn, for linking. I had reluctantly imposed a moratorium on Wright posts around these parts after Obama’s speech, but given the Obama campaign’s shopping a photo of Wright with Bill Clinton to the NYT, I’ve lifted the moratorium this morning.
Update II: Speaking of Macon, look who is slated to preach there, again:
Reichert compared Wright’s preaching to the Socratic method, which involves extensive questioning of the facts of an issue.
“But do you remember what happened to Socrates?” Reichert asked.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Socrates was condemned to death by an Athenian court for charges of “corruption of the young” and “neglect of the gods whom the city worships.”
“Because he kept asking questions,” Reichert said. “So when people say, ‘the United States is the greatest country in the world’ – why do you think that the United States is so great? Sometimes the fiercest patriot can be misconstrued as un-American by raising some of these issues.”
That’s the white mayor of a mostly black city, commenting on Jeremiah Wright. Devil of a race problem they have there in Macon, eh?
Filed under: Barack Obama, Democrats, Election 2008, Politics, Race
I think your premise is flawed, because you’ve missed an essential point – race relations are farther along in the South than they are in the Northeast, particularly in the big northern and Northeastern cities.
No matter how you cast it or what lens through which you view it, Rev. Wright’s sermons smack of racism and lies, and the purpose is to promote and perpetuate racial hatred. The fact that the intended audience is young Blacks and the likely effect is to draw them further from the mainstream of American life is deeply, disturbingly, dissappointing. America has made tremendous progress in race relations, in how we view race, in our respect for people of all races. Yet some, like Rev. Wright, still stand for racial hatred and bigotry. How long will we continue to excuse, justify, or just wink at vicious racial prejudice? How long do we have to wait for a color blind society? How long must we wait for a society where all people are judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin? How long? How long?
spool32: Never having lived in a big Northern or Northeastern city, I have no basis for comparison :-)
My experience as well. When my wife and I moved to SC from CA in the early 80s (a Navy move), we expected a throwback to yesteryear (we were from SD and MT, and knew little of the South). We expected backwardness and, I guess, Smokie and the Bandit.
Good grief.
First time in a grocery store: “What’re those scanner things?” Way ahead of CA. The people? So hard to find racism that when we did see it (maybe twice in 5 years), it was especially shocking.
So we learned a thing or two about the South.
Then we moved to Chicago.
:-\
From conservative SC to liberal IL. And from good race relations to, basically, absurdidity. Of course, it didn’t help that we unwittingly moved to Cicero, where Republicans were the wanna-be equivalent of the Chicago machine — only more laughable and openly corrupt about it. But I digress.
Yes, Chicago has a lot more racism — mostly among Blacks and European minorities, IMO — than the South. I don’t see it among folk I know personally — but then I don’t often get into the west or south sides, at least not for social reasons where I get to meet people and see whether it’s there.
This is a very annoying post. For years I have wanted to travel to the American South from where I live in Canada. I wanted to gawk at Graceland, at a few ante-bellum mansions, munch popcorn in some former slaves quarters and generally be an idiot tourist.
I haven’t because my younger son, adopted, is about 1/8 or maybe 1/16 or 1/4 black or African-American or African-Canadian or whatever the race baiters insist I call my own son.
I always assumed you hillbillies would lynch all of us for miscegenation, or letting the kid ride in the front seat, or similar. I know the American media are mostly liberal liars and yet (here it gets embarrassing) I believed them in their relentless attacks on the American people, particularly Southerners, as racists.
So what’s a good time of year to travel to your part of the world?
I gotta echo the comments above. Chicago is almost completely segregated. Period. has been for nearly 100 years (blacks started moving up in the ’20’s) and continues to be.
You’re white, you live on the north and northwest sides of town, except for an island of whites in Bridgeport (Daley’s South Side Irish) and Hyde Park (U of C profs and kids). You’re black, you live on the south side, except for a couple islands of projects left in Uptown and near the river. You’re Mexican/Hispanic, you live on the West Side. And never the twain shall meet.
from another, northern, mixed-family member: I don’t think our troubles have been a ‘race’ issue for quite some time, but perhaps a class/character or behavior issue.
I don’t know anyone who, even if they harbor racist sentiment, would be so crass as to treat any of us poorly, but I do know of many who would speak up if our behaviors or choices in life were bad.
These comments run the gamut from ‘too ghetto’ to ‘too white’, but at no time are these understood as racial, you know? Its just how you act, what you do.
“I haven’t because my younger son, adopted, is about 1/8 or maybe 1/16 or 1/4 black ”
He’d be mistaken for a local.
Having spent several years living very near Chicago and watching the politics very closely (I’ve been watching Obama since his first attempts) let me say that the very real segregation of Chicago is in very great part a result of the corrupt politics It is much, much easier to divide the boodle if the various races and ethnicities remain geographically separated. Whites elect whites, blacks elect blacks, Hispanics elect Hispanics and then the public funds cake gets divided. It both keeps down the political infighting and protects the crooks.
BlacquesJacquesShellacques: Great handle, but the Hillbillies are up in Tennessee (as is Graceland)…we’re rednecks down here in Georgia, if you please :-)
Charleston, South Carolina can’t be beat for antebellum plantations, complete with slave quarters. If you don’t like miserable heat, visit in the Spring or the Fall.
BlacquesJacquesShellacques – I love the handle, too. Unfortunately, every time I think of Chirac, that’s what I think of.
Charleston is lovely, and I’d also recommend Christmastime for visiting the South. Summer is a no-go. For a little northerly South, Virginia has some amazing historical touristy places.
As a former Maconite myself, I know the problems there. Ironically its worse now than it was when machine gun Ronnie was mayor. It took them 30 years to build a new HS because of racial politics for example.
spool32, on March 21st, 2008 at 10:11 am Said:
“I think your premise is flawed, because you’ve missed an essential point – race relations are farther along in the South than they are in the Northeast, particularly in the big northern and Northeastern cities.”
Or maybe you are missing the point… people like Wright are at the vanguard of preventing change and progress on the issue.
BlacquesJacquesShellacques:
Hope I spelled it correctly.
Can’t beat the South in the springtime–April/early May. Avoid summer months. The Blue Ridge mountains are spectacular in the fall (October). Doubt you’d experience any weather that would equate to “winter” during any months of the year, but places are prettier when the flowers are blooming.
[...] Or, to put it more bluntly: [...]
further along the road of racial reconciliation
There’s a common assumption among activists and ideologues on the Left which holds that it’s more racist to claim that the influence of racism has diminished than to exagerrate its prominence in American society. The latter is seen as necessary to motivate social change.
Racism among minorities is viewed similarly. It’s a necessary evil and understandable in light of the overwhelming material and psychological burden placed upon them by the racist American society.
Following these assumptions, the most authentic members of an oppressed minority are the most vitriolic, like Reverend Wright. Their anger and aggression demonstrates that they fully realize the oppression that they face and are striking back. They represent a more pure expression of their race.
It’s apparent that Obama’s perspectives on race derive from this school of thought. You have to consider that he is someone who was raised by communists ( yes, literal communists), and educated in left-liberal environments. He’s held state office uncontested in a very ‘progressive’ district. So it’s not surprising that he views his ideas and assumptions as moderate and uncontroversial. It doesn’t appear that he’s been exposed to much else.
I am an Asian American (parents from India). Let me comment on this issue as a neutral third party.
Immigrants who come from countries that actually do have poverty (like Mexico, China, India, VietNam, etc.) are amazed at how good Blacks have it in America – certainly better than blacks in any country where black people are the majority.
This, of course, is from the point of view of someone who immigrates to America voluntarily, fully expecting to work hard for every dollar earned.
The other question that quickly arises is that if blacks think America is so bad, why do we NEVER see any blacks leaving America to go to Canada, Britain, etc? Or back to Africa?
The true metric of any country is the net difference between how many want to get in, and how many want to get out. Period.
200 years ago, some freed US slaves did return to Africa, forming the country of Liberia. They did not create a successful society, and we don’t see anyone wanting to move from America (or anywhere else) to Liberia.
So as a neutral party, I see blacks as the ones who complain too much, and whites as the group, today in 2008, that are really being far more tolerant. This may not have been true 50 years ago, but it is true today.
I live in one of the few mixed-race neighborhoods in Chicago, the far South Loop. It basically serves as the downtown to folks living on the Southside looking to come up for restaurants and bars. The people who live in the neighborhood are very mixed racially (though mostly wealthy).
There are two main black sections of Chicago, the South Side and the near west side and they are completely different. The new west side is universally poor. The South Side is hope to some very wealthy people (even excluding non-blacks associated with the U of Chicago). The Kenwood neighborhood, north of Hyde Park is home to large stately mansions, a kind of black Bell Aire (and home to the Obamas, Farrakhan, the Johnson family [successful publishers], and I’d be Rev. Wright).
It’s hard to generalize the entire South Side, but I’ve found it to be a very parochial place, something that is true of various ethnic enclaves in Chicago. Wrights teachings reflect this inward looking, us against them mentality that is partially a product of South Side Chicago and which has a harder time finding traction in a wider world mutli-ethnic world that doesn’t consist of hyper-politicized ethnic enclaves.
The South, for all is terrible racial history has benefited from a much more intimate relation between black and white folks, a familiarity that never existed in the Northern cities where black immigrants were almost immediately shunted into set-aside neighborhoods. What’s interesting is that the national image of black life seems to be defined by that of northern urban life, when in fact the majority of black folk live in the South (and are moving back there [like everyone else).
BlackJack – Don’t go in the summer! Hot, humid, nasty. Spring and Fall are the way to go. Charleston is beautiful.
Thanks all for the advice. Being Canadian I find hot weather hard to take, so I’ll make it late fall or early spring.
My handle is stolen from one of the Warner Brothers Bugs Bunny villains. He is the Canadian version of Yosemite Sam.
As for being rednecks in Georgia, that’s good, because most of the rest of Canada calls us here in Alberta the same name and we have grown quite fond of it.
BlacquesJacquesShellacques , You could start in Memphis then go to Vicksburg and maybe New Orleans then head to Redneck Riviera in NW Florida.
And I thought that election time here in Australia was bad.
I can safely say that what we go through is nothing in comparison to the US.
I must admit that Wright’s sermons get my hackles up and I don’t even live in your country……………………………….
As an outside observer I would of thought that most true American’s would have have gotten past all of this – you, we and us mentality. Whilst I believe that there are still small pockets of resistance on both sides of the equation, that the US has come a long way in race relations setting a very good example to the rest of the world and in particular countries like Africa where you have inter tribal hatred, ethnic cleansing and genocide etc.
I have held a lifelong vision of visiting the southern areas of the United States and I’m 100% certain that things aren’t as bad as they made out to be on the race relations side of things – far from it.
Cheers.