Is Wright Wrong?

The Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright has recently launched a pretty extensive media campaign to tell his side of the story surrounding the various sound bites and clips from his very controversial sermons. His campaign is in response to quite a number of punches that he has taken from the public as well as the political arena. Because of the past relationship with Senator Barack Obama, the question that is on the minds of many is whether or not Reverend Wright’s very boisterous and societally offensive comments will have any detriment to the Senator’s bid for the White House. You should find that this article has nothing to do with Reverend Wright’s connection with politics, but is much more focused on the man and his words.

It is imperative to talk about Reverend Wright’s comments as being “societally” offensive in order to add any merit to what he has and probably will continue to say in the public sphere. “Societally” in this context means that as an unsegmented culture, offense was taken in many of the words he spoke behind the pulpit. “Segmentally,” that may not have been the case. Stated differently, those who shared similar experiences with Reverend Wright may not have been offended (or as offended) by his comments.

I cannot speak from any personal experience at the level of hatred and disenfranchisement that I have seen and heard from Reverend Wright on television. However, regardless of the age gap that exists between the two of us, I can say that I sympathize with him. In no way do I condone the comments or the actions he made that “damns” America, blames the U.S. for the attacks on 9/11, or any other direct attack on individuals and the country.

Understanding that Reverend Wright experienced much of this hatred himself, again, I sympathize, but cannot empathize. My sympathy stems from conversations that I have had with my parents, particularly my father, a Vietnam veteran who has been told that he must relinquish his seat (fully dressed in army fatigues) and proceed to the window at the rear of the restaurant to be served. My father entered the restaurants with several other white soldiers that were not at all challenged to do the same. So, he refused to leave and was served at the counter with the other soldiers.

The fact is, society has its problems and many of them can only be verbalized by a minority of people within this country. Oftentimes when opportunities present themselves, the magnitude of experiences—particularly of discrimination and stigmatization—are realized that carries along with it a tendency to say whatever comes to mind despite the consequences. At the moment where there is an opportunity to process what has been said, who heard it, and the ramifications to come of it, realization sets in.

Some will assume this is some sort of defense for Reverend Wright, but that will be left to individual interpretation. Personally, I am not vying for a political office and therefore am ill-concerned with secular judgments that will be passed about my opinions. Much of what Reverend Wright has said is based on his experiences growing up as a child as well as those experienced in adulthood. I would find it hard to believe that any adult that is at least 18 years of age could not have seen any television depiction of the civil rights era. Likewise, I am fairly certain that there have been statements made in our respective religious or spiritual sanctuaries that we did not completely agreement with. As a black man in America, I see the historic images on television and find myself in complete and total disbelief considering I am completely void of any such experience.

Do I consider my father a hero? Absolutely! Has he made comments regarding the abovementioned situation and others in our home that I would not want him to verbalize publically? Absolutely! Would I ever dissociate myself from him for his expression of experiences that I hope to never experience myself? Absolutely Not! As many blacks in this country, particularly the Baby-boomers and earlier generations that still remain with us today, they will continue to have the lived experiences that will invoke a spirit of that time period. Quite honestly, some manage it better than others, but who are we to judge especially those of us who lack the experiences?

Based on television portrayals of Reverend Wright, he is a very animated and uncensored man. There may have been better ways to cope with feelings than those he has displayed in recent times. Some feel as if his public appearances are nothing more than plots to assist in personal gain. A seemingly smaller number believe that Reverend Wright genuinely wants the correct the inaccurate social perceptions that condemn him as an “Anti-American racist”. But to be a man with more than 30 years of service to the community and the collective society laced with his lived experiences of hatred, racial discrimination, disenfranchisement, and other social ails that I may be unaware of, I am in no position to deem him wrong. © Keydron Guinn 2008