Wright caught in undeserved political glare
Whites don't get it, blacks do -- and it's time to move on
We get it. A lot of white people were offended by snippets of sermons by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.
But frankly, critics and those who are supporting a candidate other than Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination have gotten all of the mileage they can out of this debate.
The aftermath of this racially polarizing incident is predictable. Instead of rising to the challenge to move away from the racial rhetoric that Obama talked about in his historic speech, we the media will continue to fan its flames.
Next, you'll be bombarded with polling data that purport to show that Obama is losing ground with the white vote.
And, of course, the vote in Pennsylvania, where that state's governor, Ed Rendell, has already said "conservative" whites will not vote for Obama because he is black, will be dissected to prove that Obama's relationship with Wright cost him white votes.
At this point, Obama has done all he can do to put this matter to rest.
He has condemned Wright's controversial sermons as "wrong" and "divisive," even though he knows as well as I do that after 9/11, you could have walked into several activist churches in Chicago and heard a similar sermon delivered from the pulpit.
And he has given many black people reason to pause by distancing himself from a man he once introduced to the world as his spiritual leader.
But the one thing he has not done is give his critics the satisfaction of seeing him "disown" Wright by leaving Trinity and letting stand the false notion that Trinity is the "separatist" and "racist" institution it has been made out to be.
For many blacks, such an act would have been seen as a betrayal.
As it is, the political warfare has thrust Wright, a man with a charismatic leadership style, a big-hearted nature, and grass-roots organizing skills, into an undeserved spotlight.
Yes, undeserved.
Where was that spotlight when Wright, whose church was no less Afro-centric than it is now, led Trinity to be among the first in the nation to take the fight against South Africa's former racist government to the streets?
Where was that spotlight when Wright took a small but devout membership and grew it to an estimated 8 ,000 members that include some of the most respected citizens in Chicago?
Where was that spotlight when Wright launched one of the earliest responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the black community right here in Chicago?
Where were we?
We were nowhere to be found.
I have not spoken to Wright, who will retire in June as the church's senior pastor, but I imagine his heart is broken.
After all, he didn't labor in the vineyard for 36 years among the mighty and the low to be demonized by white people who not only don't have a grasp of the black church experience, but apparently don't have a desire to understand why that experience is rife with emotions.
Despite all the hoopla, Wright is revered on the South Side of Chicago and is treated as a gifted theologian across the country.
Indeed, many would consider it a great honor to be nurtured spiritually at the feet of a man like Jeremiah Wright.
He has two master's degrees, including one from the University of Chicago Divinity School, and earned his doctorate from the United Theological Seminary.
Besides his four earned degrees, Wright has received eight honorary doctorates from acclaimed universities and colleges.
Abraham Lincoln once said: "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
But in this case, those who have held their peace about Wright aren't cowards. They are politically astute enough to know that this battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers.
As for Obama and his wife, Michelle, this episode must have been devastating.
There are few places in this world that one can find the kind of peace and camaraderie that is found among those of the same faith.
Yet at a time when Obama and his family needed it most, their sacred relationship with their church was tossed adrift by people who couldn't care less.
Like I said, we get it.
Now let's move on.
