Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Rev. Wright speaks up
Reverend Jeremiah Wright is in Hampton, Virginia, this week for Hampton University's 95th Annual Minister's Conference. A local newspaper reporter caught up with him and asked him several questions:
"Asked if he had spoken to the President, Wright said: 'Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter, that he'll talk to me in five years when he's a lame duck, or in eight years when he's out of office...First of all, an educated man such as Rev. Wright should know that it is "those Jews" and not "them Jews," though if he is specifically referring to President Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, as can reasonably be inferred (since the Chief of Staff largely controls access to the President), Rev. Wright could say, "that Jew." Second, either I don't understand what the term "ethnic cleansing" means, or Rev. Wright is misusing it. Palestinian Arabs comprise roughly one-fifth of Israel's population, so perhaps the Israelis are just not that good at cleaning.
"'They will not let him to talk to somebody who calls a spade what it is...I said from the beginning: He's a politician; I'm a pastor. He's got to do what politicians do.'
"Wright also said Obama should have sent a U.S. delegation to the World Conference on Racism held recently in Geneva, Switzerland, but that the president did not do so for fear of offending Jews and Israel.
"'Ethic cleansing is going on in Gaza. Ethnic cleansing of the Zionist is a sin and a crime against humanity, and they don't want Barack talking like that because that's anti-Israel,' Wright said."
While the Rev. Wright issue is apparently long settled -- Americans by and large do not hold President Obama responsible for his utterances, and understand that the Obama family's membership in and donations to Rev. Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ was at least in part to assist in the development of Obama's local political career -- the White House must view these remarks as notably unhelpful.
CWCID: Ace
22 Comments:
By 
Aegon01, at
Wed Jun 10, 02:02:00 PM:
Also, of course, Palestinians are a national group, not an ethnic one anyway. I think words like "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" are getting more and more misused. I heard the Israeli action in Gaza referred to as "genocide" before.
By Christopher Chambers, at
Wed Jun 10, 02:07:00 PM:
Hmmmm...so we're splitting hairs over the use of the word "genocide?" Ok, pick another word, then. The key here seems to be let's not "misuse" the word = let's minimize the issue. In other words, yet again it's not really aout right and wrong, but power, or politics, or hype. How about this: apartheid. Or armed Jim Crow? or is that overstating things?
As for Wright himself, you're right. Obama should address this. One of my old coworkers just left a church in Mississippi (which Gov. Barbour would visit occasionally) where the pastor was making remarks about gays, about Obama ("praying for him" b/c he's angered so many righteous people)himself, about it being unGodly to restrict the Second Amendment, they quit the church. I've heard this guy on Janet Parshall's show on our local Christian radio station WAVA and he's hard core. A lot of local folk who know better still haven't distanced themselves from this guy, including politicians.
Breaking News FYI I am covering the play by Janet Langhart Cohen (with ex Sec of Def William Cohen) called Anne & Emmett--about Anne Frank and Emmett Till (I'm sure many TH don't know who he was) which was supposed to debut ina gala at the Holocaust Museum tonight. Members of Congress, AG Holder, Bill Clinton, Jewish leaders, old Civil Rights leaders etc were going to be in attendance. Needless to say, we don't know if this thing's cancelled. No idea who this shooter is.
By Christopher Chambers, at
Wed Jun 10, 02:35:00 PM:
Shooter is an 89 year old man named James Van Brum (sp?). Okey dokey. Wonder if he knows the guy who shot Tiller?
By Christopher Chambers, at
Wed Jun 10, 02:45:00 PM:
Yep. A Rush Limbaugh fan. native of the eastern shore of Maryland. Web site has all kinds of anti-Obama, anti-govt, anti Semitic, racist crap and it's great he can't tell time, b/c now it's clear he was triggered by this event. Phew.
Pls. tell TH there are scarier things out their than rev. Wright, escort81...and the percolate from the far end of YOUR side of the field.
By 
space commando, at
Wed Jun 10, 03:05:00 PM:
Christopher, let's hear you unload on Abdulhakim Muhammad and whose end he percolates from.
By Georg Felis, at
Wed Jun 10, 03:31:00 PM:
Ah, once again, proof positive that 99% of us should limit ourselves to two words when speaking to the Kings of the Fourth Estate. "No comment."
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Wed Jun 10, 03:33:00 PM:
Re: "Emmett Till"
In the early 1970s one of my good friends was a white, brilliant, 29-year-old antipovery executive. His name was Robert A. Aleshire. He was executive director of the National Association for Community Development.
On his way home to see his wife and two daughters after work, he was murdered in cold blood by a young African-American man in Washington, DC.
Before the murder, the killer and his victim exchanged no words.
Later, the killer told cops he had wanted to shoot the first white man he had seen that afternoon.
A U.S. Congressman inserted a piece I wrote about the victim in the Congressional Record.
Why don't you write a play about Bob Aleshire, Mr. Chambers?
By , at
Wed Jun 10, 03:50:00 PM:
Damn, Affirmative Action Prof. You should feel right at home reading the shooter's website. Sounds like you & him are kindred souls.
By Escort81, at
Wed Jun 10, 03:50:00 PM:
Christopher -
Rev. Wright's words an attitudes are certainly nowhere near as scary as an old, demented Neo-Nazi carrying a shotgun into a museum, or a Muslim convert shooting soldiers in front of a recruiting office, or any other kind of physical violence. Sticks and stones, etc.
Not to defend Rush (I don't listen to him and I am not up to speed on all of his views), but from what I know, isn't he considered to be very much pro-Israel? How does that square with this shooter's clear anti-Semitism?
No mainstream conservative would say anything positive about this nut, even before today's events. The excommunication of the Bircher wing happened a long time ago, which is why you saw no love for Ron Paul on the larger righty blogs last year, thank goodness.
However, before the Press Club event that you attended, when even you thought that Rev. Wright might cost Senator Obama the election with his remarks, there were many mainstream liberal talking heads "contextualizing" Rev. Wright's looped "greatest hits" statements, saying that such attitudes weren't that unusual in Black churches (which, by the way, was contrary to my admittedly limited experience indside such places of worship, which had always been uplifting). Wright was on PBS with Bill Moyers a few days before the Press Club event, appearing calm and rational and not at all out of the lefty mainstream. Later that week, he was under the bus.
Agreed that it is good this whacko evidently can't tell time, although query whether he would have even made it near the outside entrance tonight, carrying a shotgun.
Ever think about getting a carry permit? I bet you'd be a better shot than an octogenarian cracker, though he certainly has an element of surprise on his side.
Lastly, is there really any question as to which parts of the political spectrum have higher incidences of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism?
By , at
Wed Jun 10, 03:59:00 PM:
Lest there be any doubt, this vicious nut was strongly anti-Christian. Please read this piece that he wrote: http://www.antichrist.net/vonbrunn.html
(Hat tip to Francis Beckwith at Southern Appeal.)
Ron Kerridge
By , at
Wed Jun 10, 04:04:00 PM:
All of CC's verbiage is an attempt to try to hide the obvious: that the man who was Obama's minister for 20 years is, among other things, an anti-Semitic @#R$#$@ who should not be given the time of day. Wright has been spewing that and other nonsense for decades, and anyone who had been a member of that church for 20 years and claims that until the last year or so he was not aware of that is lying through his teeth. Either that or a pretty good at sleeping through sermons. Take your pick.Given the praise that Obama has given Wright in his books...
BTW, I recommend that others check out CC's website. While he presents himself on TH as an unthinking verbiage spewing troll in order to provoke the wingnuts, on his own site he has some things to say that even wingnuts can agree with. IOW, he isn't as stupid as he presents himself on TH.
By JPMcT, at
Wed Jun 10, 06:15:00 PM:
Well, I see Mr. Chambers is at it again.
A loony extremist kills someone or ruins their life.
That's very tragic.
A loony extremist becomes president of the United States and fails to defend us and/or ruins our lives.
That's Armageddon!
By , at
Wed Jun 10, 07:21:00 PM:
IF CERTAIN OF THOSE AMONG US MADE THAT COMMENT ABOUT "CALLING A SPADE A SPADE" WE'D BE IN REAL TROUBLE.
By Dawnfire82, at
Wed Jun 10, 07:32:00 PM:
"IOW, he isn't as stupid as he presents himself on TH."
Just a juvenile troll.
By , at
Wed Jun 10, 07:33:00 PM:
TigerHawk....my man! you brought along your old roomie from Nassau...only I had no idea ( or an idee fixe , if you would )his real name is Dieudonne? So, let's see ...given Obama's actually a "real" African ( Kenyan coast/Na'Pali coast-no matter)and knows of American ghetto life thru his middle class wife "Michelle" - note:not "Taniqua " and , he's Christian (ask Cairo)-although, he's not, he says too!- could Robespierre/Chambers please flesh-out the reality of the excreable Nation of Islam...which is anything but? That is , if he's got time between tracking down the environs of a demented philo-Nazi like the 89 yrs.old shooter in DC and , oh say , the authenticated religious bone fides of Al( NYFats)Sharpton or Jesse ( I wannabe MLK)Jackson or Laughable Farrahkan?I submit Chambers is suffering from a virulent case of writer's block - exhibit A: his written excrescence herein.It's clearly a blockage...yo! Chrissy: your collections of words are a long line non-sequiture,hence, zero connectivity with a soupcon of racism for a touch of piquante.You write like a boy , not a man.
By Viking Kaj, at
Wed Jun 10, 07:37:00 PM:
You the comments about the Jews remind me of that debacle with Jesse Jackson and the "heebies" a few years back.
I guess the lion doesn't lie down with the lamb, or vice versa.
But you would think with this administration that there is enough pork for all the predators.
By Whiskey, at
Wed Jun 10, 09:45:00 PM:
Let's be honest. Obama shares nearly all of Wright's opinions.
Wright, Obama, and pretty much most Blacks are White-hating, Jew-hating, raving racists.
That is who they are. It's certainly Obama and Wright.
Wright shares most of his anti-semitic views (the Black community is rabidly anti-Semitic) with that of the Neo-Nazis. He did pick this day of all days to speak his mind about his hatred for Jews and how he's sure Obama shares it (which is true).
By narciso, at
Wed Jun 10, 10:28:00 PM:
He was a violent ex con Neo Nazi truther, guards should have blown him away, DHS didn't have a record on him, or Roeder, or Hakim Mohammed tied to the Columbus mosque. Instead it was practicing
sociology without a license
By TigerHawk, at
Wed Jun 10, 10:39:00 PM:
Wright, Obama, and pretty much most Blacks are White-hating, Jew-hating, raving racists.
That is just not true. Any clown can get attention by saying something attention-getting, and there are as many clowns among blacks as among any other ethnicity. But the loudmouths are never representative. Not in my experience.
By Escort81, at
Wed Jun 10, 10:41:00 PM:
the Black community is rabidly anti-Semitic
Whiskey, I know a fair number of Black folks, and have never heard an anti-Semitic remark from any of them in person, though I've heard a few from Gentile white folks.
No doubt some anti-Semitism exists in all races, both here and abroad.
Is there a link somewhere that provides polling data that includes a difference between means test with respect to anti-Semitism across racial lines in th U.S.?
I hope you are wrong, because the real cruelty of that possibly being true is that quite a few American Jews were very giving of their voices, financial support and in some cases, lives in the early days of the Civil Rights struggle in the 1950s and 1960s. Even before that era, 5,000 Rosenwald Schools were established in the South to help to begin to educate African-Americans in that part of the country. Julius Rosenwald's father was a Jew born in Germany, and Julius was instrumental in the early growth of Sears, becoming its president in 1908 and serving as chairman until he died in 1932.
By , at
Wed Jun 10, 11:11:00 PM:
Here are the results from a survey of Anti-Semitism in 2007
29% of foreign-born Hispanics living in America hold hardcore anti-Semitic beliefs, as opposed to 15% of Hispanics born in the U.S.
32% of African-Americans hold strong anti-Semitic beliefs, which is three times more than the 10% for whites.
21% of those with a high school degree or less hold strong anti-Semitic views, compared to 10% of college graduates and 8% of those who hold post-graduate degrees.
18% of men hold strong anti-Semitic views, compared to 13% of women.
Here are the numbers. Make of them what you will. In support of the numbers: I have come across much more extreme expressions of anti-Semitism in Latin America than I have in the US.
By Gary Rosen, at
Thu Jun 11, 12:17:00 AM:
"Hmmmm...so we're splitting hairs over the use of the word "genocide?" "
Sure, Chrissy, what's happening to the Palestinians is exactly what happened to the Jews under the Nazis, except the Jews had it coming, right?
"..and the [sic] percolate from the far end of YOUR side of the field."
Yeah, who can forget when Klansman Lemmy Nelson led a savage lynch mob of white suprecmacists to slaughter an innocent Jew (oops, forgot, Jews are never "innocent") in Crown Heights, egged on by Kleagles Dinkins, Brown, Sharpton, Jackson and Farakhan.
Escort81:
" is there really any question as to which parts of the political spectrum have higher incidences of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism?"
No doubt whatseover, just check this link:
http://tinyurl.com/ce9bf2
Answer that Chrissy if you have the balls, which you don't.
