That Conversation on Race

[rdolan]

Rev. Wright took Obama up on his offer, and is doing his part to start a conversation on race. I'm glad Wright is speaking out although it seems the Obama campaign isn't. Did they really think Wright was just going to get his name run through the mud and not offer a rebuttal?

I've read some of Wright's remarks (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/us/politics/28text-wright.html?ex=1367121600&en=9006ae46c9766e8b&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink) from his speech at the National Press Club, and I agree with what I've read so far.

Maybe now, as an honest dialogue about race in this country begins, a dialogue called for by Senator Obama and a dialogue to begin in the United Church of Christ among 5,700 congregations in just a few weeks, maybe now, as that dialogue begins, the religious tradition that has kept hope alive for people struggling to survive in countless hopeless situation, maybe that religious tradition will be understood, celebrated, and even embraced by a nation that seems not to have noticed why 11 o'clock on Sunday morning has been called the most segregated hour in America.

Maybe this dialogue on race, an honest dialogue that does not engage in denial or superficial platitudes, maybe this dialogue on race can move the people of faith in this country from various stages of alienation and marginalization to the exciting possibility of reconciliation.

Of course, all the press seems concerned about and is focusing on is that Obama is doomed if Wright chooses to speak out. Somehow the collective wisdom of a few political bloggers and columnists have already determined how America is going to react to an intelligent discussion on race. The pundits have been so accurate so far, I'm sure they're polishing Hillary's crown they bestowed on her last summer and fall, when they said she was the "inevitable" democratic candidate.

[hixx]

I'll admit I have not read or heard every word in Rev. Wright's speeches the past few days, but I will say this:

He's kinda cracking me up, and not in a bad way.

At first I was thinking "SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP", this is your chance to see a black man in the highest office in practically the whole world, SHUT UP.

But now, I see it going a couple of different ways, alot of the media is almost starting to feel sorry for Obes, and this polarizes Rev. Wright from him even more.

Also, could it be that Rev. Wright will pull in even more of the black voters for Obama?

And is Rev. Wright so wrong? I'm not sure, he's obviously a passionate man who sometimes says things a little...over the top, but he's pretty fascinating to listen to and I'm starting to wonder if Obama doesn't know EXACTLY what's going on here, and isn't a "victim" of Wright's at all...

I'm very curious to see how this plays out...

Hixx

[Edison]

Last night The Daily Show did a nice piece on Wright's braving the media frenzy and speaking his mind.
TDS did have some fun with his tendency to be somewhat of a colorful character, but it was a nice turn how they showed Wright's recent speaking appearances then compared it with an Obama interview also held this week ("Yes, the man actually campaigning for President. Not his former pastor").
In contrast to the bombastic Wright, Obama was shown eloquent and intelligently addressing the questions asked and issues raised in the interview. But what story does the mass media, FoxNews, CNBC and CNN cover?

That wacky reverend Wright; "Oh Boy! What will he say next?!"

TDS nailed it. It's the kind of joke you want every voter to really 'get'.

Where is that all-pervasive left-wing elitist media that tools like Bill O'Reilly complain about?

[Shey]

I've read some of Wright's remarks (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/us/politics/28text-wright.html?ex=1367121600&en=9006ae46c9766e8b&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink) from his speech at the National Press Club, and I agree with what I've read so far.

Thank you for posting this article. Recently I have been googling to try and figure out where the word 'GeeChee' came from. This is the one spelling I never tried. I just googled it and I got a plethora of information, that explains a whole lot about my family.

My Grandmother uses the term and often in the Black community there are terms from the older generation that the younger generation has discovered are linguistic transformations.

Knowing where these words come from is instrumental to decendants of US slavery in figuring out your ethnicity or racial background or simply put figuring out what your 'recipe' is.

See I have an uncle who is light complected, with light eyes that change between hazel, green and grey with the seasons and his hair is wavy kinky and a bronze/blond color. He doesn't look like any of the other children from my great-grandmother's ('Mu') first or second husband. I asked Granny (my grandmother, Mu's daughter) why doesn't Uncle Melvin look like everyone else?

Here's what Granny said: "Well, your people were sharecroppers and when I was a girl we stayed on a white man's 'land' and your Granddaddy Jimmy had a deal with 'Mister' to get food, housing and a certain percentage of yield from the crop sales and 'Mister' had withheld the money from the last two yields claiming there wasn't enough profit.

See now, when Daddy Jimmy met with the men folk after church on Sunday he found out from a friend staying on the 'land' next to where we stayed that 'Mister' was cheating your granddaddy. He told Daddy Jimmy all about it. See Shénan the white folks didn't know that we had community gatherings in the basement of the church so we could talk about what was happening from 'land' to 'land' and try out best to keep up with what the white man was doing. Remember that baby, wherever you go in this country, find a church home and you'll be ok.

We also found out there was a new white man in town from the north buying up land and folks was saying he was fair. That he delivered on what he promised, he didn't want us to work for free. Daddy Jimmy snuck up to meet the 'Northener' and made a deal that our family would come work on his farm. When something like this happened you had to move in the middle of the night because white folks didn't take kindly to you leaving. Daddy Jimmy met after church that next Sunday and got help from the men folk.

We went about our days as normal and then when we came in from the fields one evening, Mother said ya'll stay close. We waited until the lights went out at the big house and then the church folk came and helped us walk all our stuff out to the big top road, cuz we couldn't have nobody pulling up to the house or 'Mister' would have heard us and the white man gets mighty upset when you try to move your family off the 'land'. They often told us that because we were uneducated we didn't understand that leaving was like stealing because we was contracted workers. Let me ask you Shénan, you more educated than old Granny, didn't the white man break the contract first when he didn't pay Daddy Jimmy for two yields? Anyway baby, we made it Shane bay! We had our stuff and was on our way.

Once we made it the new farm, Farmer Johnson would protect us. He told Daddy Jimmy, he couldn't come get us because 'Mister' would want some money from him and he didn't feel it was right to have to pay for us, but if Daddy Jimmy could make it to his farm on his own, that once we was there, we were his workers and it was nothing 'Mister' could do about it. That night after we got there, Daddy Jimmy said he had to go 'see a man about a dog'. Mother sat up most the night worrying. The next morning the police came, Daddy Jimmy was put in jail.

Daddy Jimmy went back to get that old cow. We had an old cow 'Mister' had given us. Wasn't worth much, worst in the cattle, but that's how it was, whatever the white man didn't want is what we got. Mother told Daddy Jimmy to leave that cow, it would make too much noise. But, he got it in his mind Shane that, that cow was the only thing we had and he was going to get it. He got a pretty bad beat down and sentenced to 5 years in jail for stealing a white man's cow.

During the time Daddy Jimmy was in jail was when Mother became pregnant with Melvin.
We always knew Melvin looked a little different and one day, an old nosey Aunt asked, 'Rosie, why dat chile look so strange?'
Mother said, 'His Daddy was a GeeChee man that came through these parts, he spotted me at the church and helped us through for a spell while Jimmy was locked up. God sent him to me, cause had he not come through, I woulda had to move the family back to 'Mister's' land. He was a good worker, helped me keep our spot here on Farmer Johnson's til Jimmy got outta jail.'
Auntee said, 'Mmmhmmm, Rosie what a blessing. You know them GeeChee men got special powers and a way wit the Lord.'
Mu, 'Yes'm, when Jimmy got out first thang he wanted to do was kiss Melvin and thank God. He says Melvin is the evidence that the Lord took care of his family while the white man had him.'

And Shane bay, that's all Granny can tell you about my brother Melvin's daddy and why he look they way he look."

-Shey ;)

[rdolan]

You know what I like best about Rev. Wright is that he's intelligent and thoughtful on some things, and random and discombobulated on other things....kinda like most of us in a conversation...you know when you're really hitting a point home and then get sidetracked and some of what you said made sense, but later on you think of some of the other things and you're like "what the heck was I saying?"

I actually think this kind of makes him more human, and that some people will chill out about it. Not the press, of course, but other people.

[hixx]

I watched Obes' press conference last night and thought he was great. I can't even put an honest adjective on it because he just...he seemed so regular. Like just a regular angry guy who felt hurt and let down. He was so normal, no posturing, no preaching, no smiling, no "messages of hope", just an honest reaction.

So the gild is coming off the lilly for Obes, and just like it does in any kind of relationship, we start to see the real person underneath, and I still support him with every ounce of my being.

Nope, he's no Messiah....nope, he's still got skeletons and things to explain and fights he's going to have to fight.

Now what I want is for my boy to get his legs back. I want to see that wicked smile again. I want to see Hillary's attacks roll of his back like they are drops of water. I want him to find his strength again and end this thing once and for all.

C'mon North Carolina, help us out.

Hixx