Rise Above Your Troubles

Rev Jeremiah Wright really pissed off a lot of people today for stuff he said five years ago. I'm going to defend him because it's revolting how the media has taken his words out of context.

He said that said that blacks should condemn the US for it's past actions toward Africans.

"God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human!"

I would hope Mr. Wright would preach forgiveness, but if you disagree about America's treatment toward blacks, what about native Americans? Now there's an interesting history. We took a page from the Europeans colonizing Latin America on that one.

But taken out of context, the words are shocking... but more so than what passes for entertainment these days on TV or Radio or in video games? Not really. I'm not going to vote for Obama for other reasons, but this seems to me like a tactic to play on the fears of the white man.

His comments from seven years ago, the Sunday after 9/11, if poorly timed, seem to echo my own which is this: You can be shocked, you can be angry, you can be afraid... but you can't be surprised. Here's how he said it:

"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards.

"America's chickens are coming home to roost."

That's the whole quote, again, being taken out of context today. Lest you think I'm anti-Israel, I'm sure Jesus (and Mr. Wright) would have wanted Israel to exist from peaceful origins, even if it would have taken longer than our lifetimes to do that. Instead we created it from force so that we could have it in our lifetime... but wouldn't it be more likely to exist in the future if it was created from peace?

Finally, not everything Mr. Wright says is controversial. Some of it is downright uplifting and inspiring! Have a listen to this excerpt of his from a song I heard while clubbing in London. Give it a minute (literally) before the speech begins!

Riiiiise, above your troubles! Do I have a witness?