Rev. Wright Has His Say, Speaking On the Black Church, His Sermons – and Barack Obama

By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com

Just as many critics and pundits who have attacked his remarks based on excerpts of a sermon have not listened to the entire sermon, neither has Sen. Barack Obama, who distanced himself from the remarks, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright said Monday.

Wright delivered a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. that was partly a brief tutorial on the prophetic tradition of the black church and an attempt to clarify remarks in his sermons that he said have been taken out of context.

Asked during a question-and-answer period after the speech why he waited nearly a month before responding to charges that he was bigoted, unpatriotic and inflammatory, Wright said he felt the need to speak out now because the characterization of his critics' remarks were less about him and more about a faulty definition of the black church.

“This is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright; this is an attack on the black church,” Wright said.

Television pundits suggested that Wright came off as flippant, even petulant at times, but Richard Prince, author of Journal-isms, a regular e-column about the journalism industry, said Wright found a receptive audience at the Press Club.

“I have to say that the sentiment in the room -- black clergy, divinity school types, bishops, etc. -- was entirely in Wright's favor,” Prince told BlackAmericaWeb.com in an e-mail interview. “As he said, he does not see himself in relation to Obama's campaign. He will be a pastor on Nov. 5 and Jan. 21 and has his own reputation to protect and own work to do, he said. He saw himself as speaking for the black church, not for Obama.”

There were a number of non-journalists in the room, including clergy and such notables as Cornel West, who enjoyed some of the lines Wright delivered during the question-and-answer session, which seemed to highlight his earlier points about the mainstream media not understanding neither the black church nor his positions about a variety of issues.

“He could be called flippant,” Prince said, “but the audience was eating it up. He was among his own. ‘You on it! You on it!’ one woman near me said.”

“Dr. Wright's interview with Bill Moyers and today's speech at the NPC were very beneficial in fleshing out who Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright is as a person and pastor, in addition to putting into context the sound bites looped repeatedly through various mediums,” said the Rev. Susan Newman, PhD, adjunct minister at Peoples Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington.

“The two-day ‘Teach-In on the Theology of the Black Church’ held in D.C. today and tomorrow is sponsored by The Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference, Howard University Divinity School and the United Church of Christ. For these two days, our nation’s leading black theologians, historians and sociologists are gathering to discuss the prophetic tradition of the black church and how it is viewed by society today. As Jeremiah has pointed out, what we have witnessed recently has not been an attack on Pastor Wright, but an attack on the black church,” Newman said in an e-mail interview from Kansas City, where she is attending another conference.

“The black church has always spoken truth to injustices in our society -- wherever it shows up -- racist people, systems, policies, government, private clubs, education, housing, employment, sports, media, entertainment and even in the church. The degree of heightened awareness and reaction to Jeremiah Wright only happened because he was the pastor of a man running for the president of the United States,” Newman added.

“For me, it didn’t detract from Obama’s perspective on race in this country,” said Maria Garriott, author of “A Thousand Resurrections,” which chronicles her and her minister husband’s assignment to build a multicultural ministry in Baltimore.

Garriott, who is white, also lectures about racial reconciliation in the church. She said that while she is able to put Wright’s remarks in context, it may not be so easy for others.

“I think these remarks are more difficult for those who work in a mono-cultural setting,” Garriott told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

She relayed the story of a close relative who believed she had demonstrated sensitivity to black co-workers and who felt wounded by Wright’s remarks.

“She was kind of hurt, and she said, ‘It made me wonder if that’s what my African American co-workers think of me,’” Garriott said. “I would hope people would see the whole controversy as an opportunity to have an honest discussion about race.”

Garriott added that she wished that Obama’s speech on race had gotten as much play as the original excerpts of Wright’s sermon because it was illustrative of Obama’s ability to build bridges between different communities.

“That’s the harder work, to be a bridge builder,” Garriott said.

While Wright spoke, a small group of protestors outside the National Press Club marched with picket signs that read “Wright Wrong” and “God Damn Wright,” and some media and political observers say the minister’s public remarks made things worse instead of better.

“Wright's recent appearances will continue to hurt the candidate, because the reverend is the radical Obama never was, and he's close enough to give skeptical white voters an excuse,” St. Petersburg Times media critic Eric Deggans said in his blog, posted minutes after the conclusion of Wright’s remarks. “Right now, Wright is holding court before the world's TV cameras and an admiring audience at the Press Club. His dismissive attitude toward the moderator's questions -- which basically articulate the concerns many white voters have about Wright's public statements and positions -- are playing well in the room, but will likely stoke anger among the assembled press and probably among some white viewers.”

“If this man cares one whit about getting an African-American elected, he ought to get off the national stage,” David Gergen, a White House adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton and political analyst told CNN.

Author, columnist, radio host and CNN contributor Roland Martin agreed with Gergen and told CNN that Wright has created a distraction from the issues that voters are genuinely concerned about, such as the war, HIV/AIDS and the economy.

Denise Savage, a consultant based in Washington, is one such voter.

“Nobody follows anybody totally, and I wish the press would stop talking about it,” Savage told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

“If every Catholic were following all the tenets and all the dogma set forth by the pope, there would be trillions of Catholics because no one would be practicing birth control. So why are we holding Obama to such a higher standard? He does not follow every tenet of Wright, and no one follows every tenet of their pastors," said Savage, a former Clinton supporter who switched to Obama just before the D.C. primary in February.

In an effort to end on a light note, moderator Donna Leinwand, National Press Club vice president, repeated part of a joke originally told by Chris Rock about Wright.

“Of course, Rev. Wright’s an angry 75-year-old black man. All 75-year-old black men are angry,” Leinwand quoted from the joke.

Asked by Leinwand “Is that funny? Is that true? Is that unfortunate?” the 66-year-old Wright replied: “It’s just like the media. I’m not 75.”