Obama-Wright story falls flat in Baton Rouge
Ed Pratt
Posted: 03.25.2008 / 3:14 PM EDT
If you’re looking for raw street-level commentary on race, sex, politics, religion or sports, Webb’s Barbershop in downtown Baton Rouge is the place to be.
Occasionally, the local media will drop by to ask barbers and patrons about the hot topic of the day. Politicians running for office have Webb’s on their list of campaign stops.
Webb’s cadre of commentators ranges from CEOs, to politicians, to crack heads, to ministers to cops and robbers. NBA star Shaquille O’Neal stops by for a cut and a chat when he’s in town.
I thought it would be the perfect place to hear a conversation about the Barack Obama – Rev. Jeremiah Wright drama being played out in the national media. But, alas, not a word was spoken on the matter in the 90 minutes I was there.
Hoping to start a debate, I leaned over and asked a shop patron what he thought about the Obama-Wright brouhaha and he said, “That’s a lot of bull—-” and then he returned to reading his newspaper. No one took the bait.
Earlier in the day, co-hosts of the most popular local drive-time conservative radio talk show tried to use the controversy as a chance to draw callers on an otherwise slow morning. Few called.
Maybe there was something to the barbershop patron’s comment.
What has driven national political commentators into a frenzy in the past week or so appears to have raised little interest in the land of cotton, especially in the African-American community.
And, Baton Rouge is no backwater, uneducated community. Besides being the state capital of Louisiana, Baton Rouge is home to two four-year colleges and a community college. Politics here is as spicy as the boiled crawfish now in season.
Still there is no loud debate on the matter on local radio, local television or in the letters to the editor section of the local newspaper.
The root of the controversy – that Obama would not leave or challenge his pastor after the Rev. Wright make some outrageous and presumed anti-America comments – does not rise to the level of a big deal in the black community.
For as long as I can remember, black pastors have attacked racism and the government-sanctioned atrocities that America has dumped on the backs of black people. Sometimes the sermons are mixed with anger, hyperbole and, yes, some alarming claims. But its source is usually from the wellspring of pain that white America has never felt nor can fully understand.
Few, if any, of these pastors are anti-American. Trust me, black people know the difference.
If all black churchgoers were judged by the Obama rules, then hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of black people would have to leave their places of worship every week. Not only that, black folk would have to pretty much give up domino games, card games, cookouts and some social events where there is public speaking because some outrageous stuff is said there, too.
The controversy is much ado about nothing and a story driven by a media looking for the next big “gotcha” story on the campaign trail. The news media is supposed to present the news, instead they are starting to manage events.
As a former newspaper reporter and columnist, I am appalled by the new journalism. And as a person looking for issues of substance that will help me determine who will get my vote, this is not one.
Apparently, folks in my community and those at Webb’s Barbershop see this for what it is – nitpicking blather.
The black community understands what ministers like the Rev. Wright are talking about when they preach about the black experience in America. Yes, sometimes the Rev. Wrights of the world go overboard sometimes describing 400 years of bad road for African Americans, but African Americans don’t get as excited about those things as other people do.
On this issue, the black community here turned the page a long time ago. ###
March 25th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
This was a really interesting commentary. I learned a lot from reading it.
The distance between white and black America is not well understood, but this entry helps us to understand just how wide that gulf is.
March 25th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
It doesn’t strike me as fair that the reverend, and others like him, get to say these outrageous things and then shut down anyone who questions it. I have friends who believe that stuff–that the government created AIDS to kill African-Americans and so forth. They don’t think these statements are church theater, they think these statements are truth, and no amount of logic can shake their belief. It’s just wrong to make these statements and, under questioning, say, “it doesn’t concern you.” Do you somehow think that the past 400 years were a drive in the country for anybody? And do you think that laying these lies onto children every Sunday is going to make their lives better or easier? No. It’s going to drum into them the same lies and attitudes that would keep anybody from being successful or happy. After all, the whole system is stacked against me because of who I am, why bother with school or anything? And let’s just ignore all the African Americans who are successful and happy because they don’t fit the mold the pastor is selling. Please. If the church is the backbone of the community, then that backbone ought to be straight and strong, not twisted and sick.
And yes, the fact that Mr. Obama continues to attend that church–which has changed pastors but not message–is very important. We are trying to figure out who he is. We see that he’s handsome and we can hear his eloquence, but so far, he’s a cardboard cut-out. There is no “there” there. He’s all emotion and no sense, and that gives us nothing to hold onto. Right now, honestly, he reminds me of a multi-level marketing guy my brother once fell prey to. John would come home from the meetings just raving about this guy, and I’d say, what did you learn? And he’d say, I can’t tell you. And I’d say, is it a secret? And he’d say, I don’t remember exactly what Bill said, but it was fantastic!
Mr. Obama wants to be president, I can see that. What I can’t see is what kind of man he is beyond his ambition and his charisma. We–I–want to see what’s behind the cardboard cutout, and I’ll look at whatever clues reveal themselves. We already know Clinton and McCain; now we want to know Obama.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:28 am
I’ll make a one word change to a paragraph above for accuracy:
“If all black churchgoers were judged by the “white” rules, then hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of black people would have to leave their places of worship every week. Not only that, black folk would have to pretty much give up domino games, card games, cookouts and some social events where there is public speaking because some outrageous stuff is said there, too.”
There, now that statement is realistic. Double standards must not be ignored.
Paul White
March 26th, 2008 at 11:11 am
What is said in church is supposed to be of a higher standard than what is said in other places. And, truly, if the discourse in church is of a higher order, it influences all other discourse.
I understand the urge to pin a halo on the candidate of your choice. It’s only human; I do not yet have a candidate of my choice. I repeat: I am trying to get to know this one. I know the others. This one is an enigma and seems to want to stay that way. Obviously, it is quite possible to run a campaign on euphoria. I don’t think it’ll run the country for very long, though.
March 26th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
What’s going on in Baton Rouge is not an accurate reflection of what’s happening nationally. The media is not giving this situation any coverage because they love their Obama. But, the voter’s are paying attention. That fact that Obama has not distanced himself from Wright speaks volumes .. he must agree with him. He’s been sitting under Wright’s teaching for twenty years? And is still there? Then he’s not the guy I want for President. This turn of events has taken the wind out of his sails.. from now on he’ll be sailing alright, but not in the direction that he wanted to go. He was pulling ahead of Clinton, but now they’re even and she is becoming more attractive (to Democrats). I’ll vote for McCain simply because he has the background for the job — the other two are not prepared.
March 26th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
He’s handsome, yeah. But when he speaks I remember the America of JFK. Of when America wanted to help not save the World.
Of an America where both I and the Country wanted to be better. Then we shot our leaders (Black and White) and descended into the **** of Vietnam/Watergate.
America needs ideas and ideals again and of the candidates Obama is the only one I hear expressing them. Obama is the only one saying we need White, Black, Chinese, Hispanic people to step up and remember that they are now Americans and have a responsibility to contribute, to participate and to share.
As to experience, I image I could hear Clinton and McCain complaining that Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Adams have a “gross lack of experience” in governing or government suffice to disqualify them from office.
Government comes from the governed. Leadership comes from the heart and spirit but sometimes it comes without fancy credentials except that it is a voice to be heard.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
We must understand that the church must be seperated from the state. College students generally comprehend this notion and thats partially why the pastors relevance has been undermined even around Baton Rouge. Obama is definitely not a religious zealot. I bet he doesnt even care what religion can really do for the people. He cares about what everyone needs to do for everybody else to even the playing field for our future generations that will then project a more salient national front on the global arena.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Lynda, your assertion that somehow Obama has no substance is incorrect and nothing more than a talking point used by the same mainstream media junk that we try to escape by reading the CS Monitor. One need expend very little effort to learn all of his policies (do you have a computer?), most of which he has expounded upon in speeches deemed too “boring” for public consumption–you know, real speeches. In everything from US-Cuba relations to the housing crisis to racial problems, he has fully developed ideas, policies, and opinions. If you don’t like them, fine–but don’t puppet the falsehood that they aren’t there. It’s a citizen’s responsibility to learn about his/her options, and you won’t get there through the evening news and USA Today. This idea that he is all charisma and no policy has no grounding in truth and is simply an erroneous extrapolation of the fact that he has less experience on the federal level than many other candidates. Just because you appear to have bought into the media’s two-dimensional portrayal of Obama–an honor they bestow upon ALL candidates for the sake of profits–doesn’t mean he’s a cardboard cutout.
P.S. The newest “scandal” about Hillary’s supposed lies in describing her Bosnia experience is another example, like that of the Wright ordeal, of a story that ought to have warranted little to no coverage, but instead is front page material. Add this to the variety of other inane media-darling stories, like when John Kerry’s wife told someone to “shove it,” and it’s not hard to see why people like Lynda say they can’t get a real picture of the candidates.
March 26th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
This is a wonderful article and gives Dr. Wright appropriate attention. It does not, however, do Obama justice. His speech is a masterpiece in both scholarly and rhetorical terms. Like allgreat speeches from Pericles to Lincoln, it will take a while for it to gain traction.
Severa; of the commentators above focus on the hyperbole of a Baptist Minister during speeches given when Obama was not even present. What they either did not hear, or were unable to hear, was Obama’s thoughtful, insightful and well reasoned response. It will appear in anthologies of great speeches in years to come.
Those of us who are Euro-descended just do not get it at first. If Lynda listened to Obama’s address and still finds him remote or a cardboard cut out, then she should read some of the great feminist historians or the work of some of the anti-racism theorists. Her comments strike me as coming from a bright person who, because of a subconcious predisposition, is unable to be informed.
I can think of no politician who “stood [more] naked under unknowing eyes.” Re-read his speach. He, although Afro-descended, does not wear the scars of Pastor Wright. Not only because of the generational difference, but also because he is only a second generation Black American. He is uniquely positioned to build the bridge so needed between those of us privileged to be inside a white skin and the fractured, conflicted, and often dysfunctional descendents of slaves.
As president he can mitigate their anger, help his white cousins speak their own despair, and bring politics finally to the point where we can all say on Sunday morning, “I have sinned”.
March 26th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
No, Adam, I don’t have a computer. I submit comments via a direct link from my tinfoil hat to the mother ship.
“Ideas, policies, and opinions” are words. Give me facts.
I was really high on Obama when he first appeared. I was just as taken as everyone else. Then, realization dawned and I saw how much of a salesman he was and began to wonder what he was selling.
And as a member of a very mixed race & culture family, I am offended at the idea that “it’s time for Chinese, Hispanics” and others to remember that they are now Americans and need to step up to it? Excuse me? Do you know how moving it is to see family members take the oath of citizenship? It’s thrilling, nothing short of thrilling. And these citizens-by-choice are not sitting on their duffs waiting for some machine politician from Chicago to give them permission to “step up.” They are working and raising their kids to be hard-working, too. We don’t need lectures. We need the government to stay out of our hair. Provide a level playing field–or don’t. Just let us know what the rules are and stick to them.
And in the words of that other well-known racist, “Don’t patronize me.” Let me just take off my tinfoil hat and slip into my pointed hood, Russ. Oh, rats! My hood is tangled up in my mainstream media puppet strings! Oh, woe is me. Give me that cool-aid.
March 26th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
When we approach those who are different, for whatever reason, we must avoid putting them into fearful compartments of old stereotypical thinking. We owe it to them and to ourselves to give them respect, a second look, as a way to expand our own consciousness. Everyone has a point of view worth looking at again with an open mind and a view to understanding.
There is a lot to be learned by studying Trinity United and the Rev Wright. I was even reminded of my own childhood experience in a white United Church of Christ here in California that I had moved away from long ago. I thought about how we are all out of Africa, according to genographic studies, and about the many journeys humans have taken including the experience of slavery and other forms of inhumane treatment, not only of blacks, but of Jews and women burned as witches to mention a few.
Most of all, we should have learned frome Obama who called us to rise above our wounds and create a new earth for our children. We all have opinions about why he said them, but their truth cannot be denied. Lets begin now.
March 26th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Excellent comment Sherry. I agree completely. Thanks for your gentle words.