Just because you don't agree or they cause discomfort, Wright's sermons aren't "hate speech"

EffieBlack

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Sat Mar-15-08 07:33 AM
Original message

Just because you don't agree or they cause discomfort, Wright's sermons aren't "hate speech"

Jeremaiah Wright's comments have been in recent days frequently described as "hate speech." They are not. He has not encouraged that anyone hate anyone or anything. He is expressing anger, but anger is not the same as hate.

Many people in our community, whether you agree with them or not, feel frustration, anger and hurt about the history and current conditions of this country. It is especially frustrating that this perspective is consistently either ignored or mischaracterized as "hate" whenever we are actually heard.

Instead of lashing out at Wright and wrongly accusing him of "hate speech," why aren't people actually listening to what he is saying and trying to learn from it. You don't have to agree with him or think he is right to try to empathize with the sentiment, which is not limited to Rev. Wright.

Trust me, most black Americans do NOT hate this country. One of the reasons so many of us are so angry is that we LOVE this country so much. This is our home. This is part of our heritage. It is our progeny because we BUILT this country and are as much a part of it as anyone else. Yet to this day, we are marginalized, discounted and purposely misunderstood at every turn. And in those rare instance in which it looks like we might be coming close to catching up, we are smacked down again hard. And no matter how hard we try, we are ALWAYS reminded that we are black, that we are different, that we aren't quite full-blown Americans.

My father is about Wright's age. He grew up in a time when he was discriminated against, not only by his fellow white Americans, but by his government. He was beaten up for trying to swim in a public pool. He fought for this country in World War II in an Army that didn't think he was good enough to sleep, eat or live in the same quarters as white soldiers. He was refused service in restaurants, barber shops, hotels from coast to coast (not just in the South) even though he was a high level government official. And to this day, despite his enormous accomplishments and prestige, is still often treated as a second-class citizens by people who should know better. He is asked by building guards whom he is chauffering when he pulls up to garages in his elegant car.

He can't count how many times, while awaiting his own car in front of hotels or restaurants, he has been asked to go fetch someone else's vehicle, as recently as a month ago - one of America's dirty little secrets is that there are still countless white people who continue to assume that a 70-year-old black man standing in front of a hotel in a tuxedo must be there to serve THEM and not there to accept the Lifetime Achievement award that he is holding in his hands. And they believe that it's perfectly acceptable to walk past the 10 similarly dressed white men to approach the distinguished black man IN FRONT OF HIS WIFE, CHILDREN and GRANDCHILDREN and tell him "Five to the West Side - we'll need two cabs."

My father's reactions to such insults and slights is to feel sorry for those who inflict them, shake his head and walk away. But everyone doesn't react in the same way. Some of us react in the way that Rev. Wright does.

This is enormously frustrating, but we keep on trying. And we keep hoping that the majority will eventually "get it." Some of us try by quietly working within the system, patiently and calmly. But some of us yell at the top of our lungs hoping that will get someone's attention. But it all comes from the same place.

So, this is NOT about hate. This is about LOVE - unrequited love. The love of a country that hasn't lived up to it, but maybe, if we push hard enough, will eventually come to deserve the love, devotion and yes, PATRIOTISM my people have shown it - whether it deserves it or not - for centuries.