Opening up the old scabs

It seems that this Reverend Wright brou-ha-ha has brought out a lot of the anger and racial tensions that underlie America like the blood just below the surface of our skin. As I listen to the Reverend's sermons, I find myself sympathizing if not agreeing. I hear white people getting their panties in a bind over this, shocked-SHOCKED!- that a black man could be so angry in today's America. After all hasn't white America eliminated racism? These uppity negroes have a lot of gall daring to criticize a country that has done so much for them!

The idea that America has done so much for blacks is laughable on the face of it. And yet we have progressed as a nation; this is undeniable. And we are closer, though importantly we are not there, to being a nation where its minorities play an equal role in shaping its path, and are able to share more in the fruits of its labor. The thing about Reverend Wright is that much of his anger is righteous, but yet is also misdirected and destructive. You can appreciate his long experience with the injustices of this country and reasons for his anger while at the same time condemn the words and the wilder eyed manifestations of it.

It is important to remember we are deciding whether to vote for Obama, not his preacher. And the uproar over this speaks volumes about America. McCain has a minister with a HUGE following, who has condemned Catholicism as "the great whore", come out and endorse him (with the two sharing the same stage), and barely a peep. Another of McCain's minister supporters has said that America was created with the intent of destroying Islam; again crickets. But now, sweet Jesus, a friend of Obama's has criticized America, so Obama must be anti-American, never mind Obama has come out and repudiated him. How absurd indeed, and infantile. Bill Hicks once said that this country was on about an eighth grade level. Now I think that is too generous, more like Fourth Grade.

Andrew Sullivan today had a fantastic post on his blog about the internal conflicts of identity and how they relate to Obama; I highly recommend reading it.