05/3/08: Outspoken preacher gives NAACP talk
Outspoken preacher gives NAACP talk
Saturday, 05.03.2008, 10:45am
DETROIT Rev. Jeremiah Wright spoke in Detroit to a crowd of 10,000 at an annual NAACP dinner on April 27, one of a series of outspoken public appearances that eventually prompted presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama to denounce his former pastor "very clearly and unequivocally" on April 29.
Obama, after a particularly controversial appearance by Wright on
April 30 at the National Press Club, angrily criticized the retiring
minister for implying that the U.S. government was involved in the
spread of AIDS, for praising Minister Louis Farrakhan and for equating
U.S. military efforts with terrorism.
The retiring minister first became an issue in the presidential
race in March after the circulation of videos of old sermons in which he
accused the U.S. government of racism, of flooding black neighborhoods
with drugs and implied that the U.S. was partly to blame for the
September 11 attacks in 2001.
Obama initially made statements that he disagreed with some of
his pastor's beliefs, stopping short of denouncing his friend of 20
years. But after the pastor's latest string of appearances, and as Obama
struggles to gain support among white working-class voters in Indiana
and North Carolina for upcoming primary elections, the Illinois Senator
severed his ties with Wright, saying he was "outraged" and "saddened" by
his "divisive" and "destructive" words.
NAACP Detroit branch President Rev. Wendell Anthony introduced
Wright at the group's 53rd annual Fight For Freedom Fund dinner at the
Cobo Conference Center, bashing his fist on the podium and saying "This
is bigger that Barack Obama! This is bigger than Hillary Rodham
Clinton! This is bigger than John McCain! This is about the African
American church and our right to speak truth to power!"
In his keynote address, Wright described himself as not a "divisive" figure, but a "descriptive" figure.
"I describe the conditions in this country. Conditions divide, not my descriptions."
Wright's message focused on tolerance and acceptance between
people of different faiths and lifestyles. In a section of his speech
highlighting the importance of how we treat each other, Wright made
special mention of the need to change how heterosexuals treat
homosexuals.
He went on to discuss treatment of Arabs.
"Please run and tell my stuck-on-stupid friends that Arabic is a language, it's not a religion. 'Barack Hussein Obama. Barack Hussein Obama. Barack Hussein Obama!' There are Arabic-speaking Christians, Arabic-speaking Jews, and Arabic-speaking atheists. Arabic is a language. It's not a religion. Stop trying to scare folks by giving them an Arabic name as if it's some sort of a disease."
Earlier on, Wright had expressed "a special shukran [thank you] to Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights for his courgage, his conviction and his support."
Elahi called for support for Wright in a statement on April 25,
criticizing what he said has been unfair treatment of the pastor "by
some media members who are ignoring this faith leader's decades of
dedication and services to this country."
Wright said that at one time, it was Irish Americans who
experienced the sort of prejudice now faced by Arab Americans and
American Muslims, citing the names O'Malley, Shaughnessy, and O'Reilly.
He then mused that perhaps "they might have been right" with respect to
the last name, a thinly veiled jab at conservative Fox News presenter,
Bill O'Reilly.
The speech was not entirely focused on politics and the backlash that Wright and Obama have faced as a result of the pastor's past statements.
The theme of his address was "different is not deficient," a
statement he repeated many times, often with assistance from the
audience.
He spoke about education and the need to recognize differences in the ways in which children of different ethnic groups learn.
He said that according to some studies, white children are more
likely to learn from books, videos and toys, while black children are
more likely to learn from people and stories.
Wright also discussed the importance of recognizing cultural
differences in the interest of tolerance. He said an example of inherent
differences between groups is that people of African descent hear and
feel music differently from white people, emphasizing beats two and four
of a four-beat phrase, as opposed to beats one and three, which white
people are more likely to stress.