Rev. Wright is Right

Have you noticed that, except for a couple of right-wing African-American pundits, 100 percent of the criticism of Rev. Jeremiah Wright has come from white Americans? Is it reverse racism that has kept the black community silent during this controversy? I don’t think so. Rather, I think that African-Americans understand the prophetic tradition and context of Rev. Wright’s sermons.

Over the years, I often have said things in my sermons that offended people, especially if they left in the middle or stopped listening before I was finished. It is a prophetic technique that is frequently used in the Bible. African-American preachers weave a sermon, and snippets played out of context have almost no value at all. For example, the most egregious of Rev. Wright’s statements that is being played over and over has been his statement that God should damn America, not bless America.

In the full sermon, Rev. Wright provides a careful word study and a thoroughly compelling Biblical context for that statement. In the tradition of Hebrew prophets, Rev. Wright explains that the Bible says when a people violate their covenant with God and abandon the poor and the principles of peace and justice God damns that nation until they repent and return again to God’s ways. Now, it is completely fair to disagree with Rev. Wright’s positions or values, but what is completely unfair is to make a caricature of a man of God who has done more good with his life than any pundit like Rush Limbaugh will do if he lives to be 1,000.

If you REALLY want to know what Rev. Wright said and MEANT, you should listen to this excellent interview with Rev. James Cone, the founder of black liberation theology, from National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air.” The host, Terry Gross, did a great job.

Friday marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In some places when his death was announced there was applause. Today, of course, everyone regards him as a true American hero. His “I Have a Dream” speech has become a ubiquitous cultural presence. We assimilated him into the status quo of mainstream culture, and, in so doing, we have rendered his prophetic words so tame that they mean the antithesis of what he intended. We have completely forgotten that he alienated the White House by opposing the war in Vietnam long before it became unpopular. How would Fox News, et al, take the words of Dr. King’s speeches out of context were he alive today? Have you ever read Letters from a Birmingham Jail?

I have listened to Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s sermons for many years. Several years ago, I wrote to tell him that his sermon on the war in Iraq was the most powerful and brilliant that I had ever heard. I invited him to preach at the Cathedral of Hope, but we were never able to schedule it. He is a man I greatly admire, because I have listened to what he said, understood what he meant, and appreciated what he’s done.

Let me ask you, how would your life be judged if someone based their opinion of you on two or three thirty-second recordings of you taken out of context? The other question worth pondering is what would life be like if we silenced prophets like Susan B. Anthony, Desmond Tutu, César Chávez, Harvey Milk, or countless others who dared to speak out against oppression? Rosalynn Carter once said, “Good leaders take people where they want to go. Great leaders take them where they NEED to go.” Prophets like Rev. Wright try to take us where they believe God wants us to go.

Blessings,

Michael Piazza
President, Hope for Peace & Justice

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