Father Mike Pfleger Rocks!
Thanks to Hafidha, whose blog brought this amazing ten-minute argument to my attention! I haven’t heard such a powerful anti-racist statement in years. Those of you who are not in the USA may not understand the whole argument–and you don’t need to understand the whole argument. The core of what this priest says is simply obvious to anyone who looks closely at what passes for dissent in the USA: when a white person criticizes the U.S. government, it’s “criticism”; when a Black person criticizes the U.S. government, it’s “hate.” The hate-mongering Fox News interviewer is utterly out of his depth with this man, and it is a thrill to see how powerfully Father Pfleger re-frames the discussion in terms of poverty, class, race, and history, and away from the interviewer’s intention of fanning hatred, bigotry, and ignorance by means of kneejerk soft-headed opinion and out-of-context sound-bites . Father Pfleger speaks with clarity, force, and sharp intelligence. Anyone who has not seen this video, please drop everything else in your life and watch it now. Or as soon as you possibly can.
Tags: Blogs and Blogging, Father Pfleger, Jeremiah Wright, Politics, What does it mean?
Kendall
Hello Kendall — I watched the video you suggested. Thank you for that opportunity. I have also watched in total (not sound bites) three of the videos of Rev. Wright’s most outrageous sermons plus the OPB unedited videos from his “lecture tour” last week. I agree with Father Pfleger’s view of the issues as presented, not because he is white but because, while he expressed his view passionately, he did so without hate or over the top anger. His words challenged us to look more fairly at the prophetic preacher Wright which I have tried to do for over a month. Unfortunately, Pfleger’s explanation of what the Rev. Wright means doesn’t fit at all with the words of the Reverend. From my perspective there was not even one word or phrase from the three sermons and recent interviews I watched that did not ooze with self-aggrandizement, hatred of whites and belief that this country has no redeeming history to speak of. It is way too simplistic (again in my view) to accuse those of us who disagree to be guilty of: “when whites criticize they are dissenters and when blacks critcize they are racist and un-American.” (paraphrase) I tried but I cannot perceive the Rev. Wright to be dissenting at all. I feel his hatred. I think it is just possible that in the past 40 years since MLK this country would have seen a little more progress in our race relations as well as improvements in the advancement of African-American’s in our society if there had been a few less Rev. Wrights preaching victimization, paranoia and hatred and a few more Pfleger’s (dark skinned of course) who had preached forgiveness, love, and personal responsibility. As you know I am a student of Christ’s teachings and Rev. Wright’s message relating to the ills of our government (and there are many to contemplate daily), bears little if any resemblance to those teachings. It is always a risk (if you are white) to express you opinion on the subject of race unless you are agreeing with what has been the PC position since I was in my 20’s @ 40 years ago. I obviously didn’t do that in this comment, sorry. But every once and awhile I just want to shed the culpabilty of history and feel like I can be white and not guilty. Mari
Very thoughtful response, Mari. I’m glad you’re speaking out as a white person of conscience and not feeling guilt. Clearly you gave a great deal of thought to your response, and I respect your clarity. It is a measure of how much perception shapes meaning that when I hear Wright (uncut) I hear passion, love, and righteous (and justified) anger. Not hate. I just can’t see or hear any hate in the man. I agree with most of what Wright says about “race” in the USA, although as you know I am not a Christian. But we each have our own lenses and filters. Thank you for your depth of thought and your strong voice. It’s important for all of us to speak what we honestly feel, think, and hear, and our different opinions help to sharpen our listening.