Think Carefully before You Condemn Anyone

Senator Hillary Clinton said that if her pastor spoke the type of hate speech that came from Rev Jememiah Wright that he would no longer be her pastor. She could be right or she could be wrong. Would she even recognize hate speech if she heard it in her own church, I wonder if her pastor ever said anything about the crime rate if she took that as hate speech from her pastor. After all most people in the jails of New York City right now are African American. One has to give this issue careful thought and consideration before you condemn Senator Barack Obama for not walking away from a church that would allow their spiritual leader to give these types of talks.

Some people are so filled with hate and angry about the past that if you do not acknowledge those feeling then the person you are talking with will not even begin to hear what you have to say to them. Rev Wright is said to be a thoughtful man who is trying to reach out to people from a community which has dealt with race issues all of their lives. Chicago’s south side communities have been divided for a very long time. The young people in that area of Chicago are not from middle class neighborhoods where the race divide has become a hidden factor of life. The young people of that community are filled with hate and anger from their environment. Until you can relate to someone on a day to day bases then what hope do you have of them trusting you enough to care about your views on issues that matter to them. Rev. Wright would have not hope of passing along his views to people if he all he every preached was sunshine and flowers to those young people. Hope is difficult for people to understand when they have never had it in their life. Culture can be both a strength and yet a weakness when trying to move up the economic ladder in this country. I get the feeling that Rev Wright was trying to walk on the edge of a blade as is Senator Obama and as I am by even trying to write about this issue.

I came from a small southern New England town that was mostly Republican. In my mother’s time African Americans were not treated as equals. The language my parents used to describe them was not kind nor gentle if viewed from today’s standard. My mother thought herself progressive because she could allow herself to be friends with people of color. But she like some African Americans of today did not want families of mixed race. She tried and failed to instill that belief in her children. I may not be able to begin to understand what it is like to be an African American in today’s world but I do count some African Americans among my friends. In my youth I dated African American men. One of those young men would hide his white girlfriends from his mother because he understood her strong hate of the idea of interracial relationships. I myself never told my mother that I dated interracially for fear of her reaction. I understood the hate and fear that came from both races by what I did in dating those young men. Hate and anger are not something held by only one race toward another in this country. Misunderstanding about race can happen between any two cultures that are forced to live together. Just look at world history to find example for the past.

People should be more careful before they condemn someone of another culture for speech meant to be heard by only one cultural group. I don’t support the language Rev. Wright used but I can understand why he used it as I did not support the language my parents used to describe African Americans but I understand why they spoke that way. I am sure that Rev. Wright would have not chosen those speeches to be made public to the whole world. I am also sure that he would have chosen different words had he known he would be speaking to the whole world. Sometimes hard words are required to get young people’s attention so that they are willing to hear a message of hope for the future. In the end we mush all teach understanding and acceptance of other cultures if not for us then for our children.