If what Rev. Jeremiah Wright preaches really is mainstream thought in black churches and the black community, as Adam Clark (April 8, 2008) and Nicholas Kristoff have suggested, then perhaps it would be wiser to change those thoughts than try to justify them. Letting them simmer would seems to be counterproductive.
The rage reflected in Reverend Wright’s preaching reminds me of an interview with an elderly veteran in Ken Burns’ WWII documentary The War. The vet recounts how it took thirty years to realize the hatred he had for what the Japanese had done to him in a prison camp was hurting no one but himself. The Japanese he so despised certainly weren’t being hurt by it, but it had ruined his career, relationships and life. Only when he realized that truth was he was able to retake control of his own life.
Is it possible that the same dynamic is taking place in parts of the African-American community? Whatever injustices blacks have faced past (many) and present (far fewer), is it possible that the fury that boils within some is more damaging than the injustices themselves? That would appear to be especially true when it comes to the false injustices regarding the origins of AIDS and crack cocaine espoused by the Rev. Wright.
Rather than justify such claims as conventional wisdom, wouldn’t it be better to repudiate them, lest a large swath of the black population find their lives consumed with pointless rage like the WWII vet?
No comments:
Post a Comment