Rev. Joseph E. Lowery Benediction Angers Some

Submitted by zurui on January 21, 2009 – 3:40 am36 Comments

I thought my ears played a trick on me when I heard Rev. Lowery open his benediction with words from the Black (Negro) National Anthem, “God of our weary years, God of our silent tears….” Although many that are not Black may not know the words to James Weldon Johnsons’ song, Lift Every Voice and Sing, it seems that some have misunderstood the meaning of the rhyme at the very last part of Reverand Lowery’s benediction: “We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right.” When I was a kid we use to say:

If you’re white, you’re right

If you’re yellow, you’re mellow

If you’re red, your dead

If you’re brown, stick around

And if you’re black, get back.

What Lowery is talking about is institutional racism and the color preferences that existed in America, especially during his time. He is not talking to or about White people per se. To break this down further:

Blacks getting in back refers to having to sit in the back of the bus and not having equal rights in America.

Browns sticking around is the solidarity that was forming when Hispanics began to join with Blacks during the “revolution” of Black Power.

Reds being dead refers to the slaughter of the Native American and the plight they face in “their” land.

Yellow being mellow means that Asians were pacified especially after WWII (internment of Japanese-Americans and other Asians being lumped into the “Jap” category).

And finally, white being right refers to the preference and power that whites (as deemed by various Jim Crow laws and US government city, state and certain federal institutions) had/have in America.

Listen to Big Bill Broonzy‘s song “Black, Brown and White” to hear the origin of Rev. Lowery’s poem. So please, before you slam Reverand Lowery try to understand where he and we (Americans) came from, ask somebody, do some research or just shut the hell up before you start bitching online! You’re messing up my groove! By the way, today’s inaugural speech is the first time a president has ever explicitly acknowledged “Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus” but non-believers as well. If that is not a good path to inclusion, I do not know what is! GOD (or whom/whatever you follow) BLESS US ALL!

lowery

Here is an explanation from another poster at USA Today. I will add additional commentary later if necessary:

“Try keeping in mind the message of peace and unity he had the entire prayer, and maybe try to understand that perhaps you’re misunderstanding the last few words of a man of peace.

The REAL racist rhyme was the original that has been used forever and ever. The rhyme he reworded is old as dirt and very ugly. You have to understand that context to understand where he is coming from. Lowery took the original and reworded it into something far better.

Because the racial group in power – whites (doesn’t mean all of you) embraced what was morally right, Black people could vote without a race war. Because white people embraced the right, Martin Luther King marched side by side with some of you to promote his message. The difference it makes to have white people, as the powerful racial group, take the hard road and say ‘Hey you know what? We AREN’T any more superior to any other racial group.’ – I give alot of respect to every white person who has done this. It is not easy for people in power to let that power go, or even share it.

Lowery is saying that thanks to that, we are where we are today. All races need to work hard and grow together – we all have different challenges. Remember again – who did Black people have to go to in order to have any rights in this country – whether by violent means or by peaceful means – we needed the white people in charge to allow that quite frankly. Fortunately, most of us Black folk chose peace. And white people embraced the right thing and chose peace with us. Lowery is simply saying we all need to keep that up. We got where we are today because of a joint effort, but we have to always be aware of the white people who embraced the right thing. Black people fought for years to show you guys the right thing. And eventually enough white people joined up together to help us make it happen. So we all need to embrace the right thing, but if the people in power don’t do it, then the going is that much tougher. Thanks white people!!

rofl I am sorry you guys didn’t see the inspiration in what Lowery had to say, but then again, I guess most decent white people would not have heard those kind of sayings like other racial groups have had to hear for generations, and therefore you couldn’t quite grasp it the same way.

There are also things about your culture that is misunderstood because people like me have not lived it and have no exposure to it. Trust me, racism is real and it hurts. However, with more communication between us all, I believe we can overcome hurdles like this. If Lowery sat at a card game with you, yall would come to an understanding and not hate each other’s guts at all. If nothing else, keep in mind all the peaceful, unifying things he said before the rhyme at the end. The rhyme at the end was supposed to help wrap it all together. If that didn’t work for you, fine. Ignore that part and try to understand what he meant later. The man is talking about crushing tanks to make tractors. That’s a man of peace, not a man behind racists words.”

Half-breed “White” Hillbillly Boy

Thanks for your response Zurui. Indeed I am familiar with Malcolm X through reading of his life, not through movies.

I believe that the very concept of race is the problem, and as you point out, we are still a long way from relinquishing this crutch to understand and relate to one another, in all our individual differences and in all our cultural and linguistic affinities.

I have read that this litany of red-dead, yellow-mellow, etc., is a take on a traditional African American poem. This does NOT make it acceptable for use in the benediction of the inauguration of the United States of America. I could recount to you many ‘traditional white cracker’ aphorisms to which I was subjected in my hillbilly youth by my paternal kin, which are equally as ‘quaint’ if viewed as harmless from a racist ‘white’ person’s perspective. As I said, we should be striving to eliminate these conceptions of one another from our minds, our lives, and our societies, not reaffirming them by treating them as humorous glimpses into our traditions.

Something is never okay to say if it is not okay for anyone to say it at any time, that is my view on language which may have a racially or socially divisive nature.

I have no intent to become a regular here, but I hope my essay will provoke thought and will keep cheking back in for a while to engage in any dialogue. I was simply quite shaken by these events, and even more shaken to read how universally positive many Obama fans are about the Lowery benediction.

If that constitutes trolling, my apologies, but I appreciate your keeping my essay intact.
Keith

@Half-breed “White” Hillbillly Boy – *Yawn*
http://www.blacktokyo.com zurui

@ Maggie’s Mind: thank you for the post. the rev’s comment probably lost some of the listeners but this illustrates what i constantly talk about here on BT, separate and unequal systems. i say this because i have received some emails from my non-black friends expressing something short of outrage or as you stated: “a kick in the stomach instead of an acknowledgment of how far we have come as a nation.” hopefully in the days to come people of all colors will look more into the revs words in order to reach an understanding of where he was coming from and where we together are heading.

@ christian mendelsohn: thanks, the humor and compassion was great, especially after the obama/roberts dance. i think that people should take lowery’s words not as a WTF? but as a “what just happened?” and learn from it.

@ daniel: thanks for the comment on how things are/were in the UK.

@ Zen: i wonder what the take away is for most that heard obama’s and lowery’s speeches. one cnn commentator stated that obama’s speech had zero impact. maybe dude should move over to fox news!
http://www.blacktokyo.com zurui

@ john parson: thanks for your comment. please remember to turn off the caps locks. after reading the meaning behind the words, do you still feel that he is trying to be inflammatory? of course the CHANGE represents the youth in America but do the civil rights leaders of the 50s and 60s prevent progress?
http://www.blacktokyo.com zurui

@ indy in asia: have you actually read my blog or are you referring to this post? can you take a less simple approach and explain why you feel lowery’s rhyme was racist? you are invited to comment here on my blog.
http://www.blacktokyo.com zurui

@ Lalita: thanks for your comment. I grew up understanding that the “yellow” referred to asians (the yellow peril (ww2), the yellow race). the “e-lites” or “light-skinned” blacks were still considered black where i grew up, especially when wearing the afro. i have heard the term “high-yellow negro” from some older folks so maybe the differences are generational, i am not sure. btw, i do not understand what i misunderstood (outside of the “it”). i understood why there was laughter. it was the sound of a certain privilege flying away from 1600 pennsylvania avenue.
http://www.blacktokyo.com zurui

@TWP: thanks for the post but please post your source. It saves me some work!

re: “Any person of any color who “embraces right” in this country can get ahead. “Embracing right” means work before pleasure, paying rent before buying bling, marriage before children, and all the other daily choices that constitute “embracing right.””

this is the stereotypical rhetoric that lowery is talking about. there are many people (whites and people of color) that do right everyday, do their best to stick to a budget, get an education, get married and then have kids and still cannot get ahead due to factors outside their control. for example, if government institutions in a city are FUBAR, who do you blame? the citizen or the college-educated, six-figure earning politician (of any color) that lives in a more than adequate home? of course, certain citizens can be blamed but you also have to hold government at all levels responsible especially if you want your haves and have not to have confidence in not only the system but confidence that they are going to make it. president obama is calling for personal, corporate and government responsibility.

btw, if you think the skank remark was bad, try visiting a black baptist church and listen to the sermon of tough love. when rev. wright, said: “not God bless America, Goddamn (in the United Kingdom this term is not considered as blasphemous as in the USA and therefore is rarely censored) America,” a bunch a folks (probably Black folks judging by media and the “key” voting block reactions) understood what he was talking about. It certainly wasn’t God damning this great Country of ours but damning certain policies that caused Americans to lose various civil liberties and our stature in the international arena. americans made the first gut check, now it’s time to tighten our belts and see everything to the end.
http://www.blacktokyo.com zurui

@ M: no problem! thanks for the feedback.
http://www.blacktokyo.com zurui

@Chris: yes, many thanks for catching my error! Also insight on Black, Brown and White Blues:

This little song that i’m singin’ about,
People you know it’s true
If you’re black and gotta work for a living,
This is what they will say to you,
They says, “if you was white, should be all right,
If you was brown, stick around,
But as you’s black, hmm brother, get back, get back, get back”
I was in a place one night
They was all having fun
They was all buyin’ beer and wine,
But they would not sell me none
They said, “if you was white, should be all right,
If you was brown, stick around,
But if you black, hmm brother, get back, get back, get back”
Me and a man was workin’ side by side
This is what it meant
They was paying him a dollar an hour,
And they was paying me fifty cent
They said, “if you was white, ‘t should be all right,
If you was brown, could stick around,
But as you black, hmm boy, get back, get back, get back”
I went to an employment office,
Got a number ‘n’ i got in line
They called everybody’s number,
But they never did call mine
They said, “if you was white, should be all right,
If you was brown, could stick around,
But as you black, hmm brother, get back, get back, get back”
I hope when sweet victory,
With my plough and hoe
Now i want you to tell me brother,
What you gonna do about the old jim crow?
Now if you was white, should be all right,
If you was brown, could stick around,
But if you black, whoa brother, get back, get back, get back
http://www.blacktokyo.com zurui

hi joe: thanks for your comment. talking about white people? a white al sharpton or jesse jackson? take the good and leave the bad? you lost me!

maybe it was something lost in the message but it’s about explaining “the rest of the story” not about defending rev. lowery. it is about acknowledging and not laying blame on “others” but holding people and institutions for the inequality in america that still exists partially due to the legacy of slavery and jim crow. if “you” think that this is no longer a problem then you missed some of the tactics of the last three elections. this election was not and is not about obama, it was about you (if you are american – it “seems” that you are emailing from germany and using the “hide me” email address), me and people like us that comprise this country no matter what political belief.

btw, i would be more than happy to put bill o’reilly, sean hannity, anne “poop stirrer” coulter, rush “poppin’” limbaugh and michelle malkin in a room together just to see who would emerge first with the truth. i do not care about jessie jackson or al sharpton’s views, i care about where America is heading. in order to get there people need to understand were we Americans started before fully comprehending the meaning of reaching the destination. i will keep things inclusive instead of exclusive!
http://www.blacktokyo.com zurui

@Half-breed “White” Hillbillly Boy: not sure if you are just trolling but in brief, if it is changed to “when non-whites will embrace what is right” you are basically asking people of color to embrace the institutional racism.

you need to do more research on malcolm x. it seems that you only know one aspect his life. you cannot watch the movie(s), you have to read the various books that have been written about him. malcolm x represented a leadership in the black community that was deemed dangerous to “those” in power. not comprehending the whole story allows one to settle and further spread half-truths and lies. even when certain people talk about the black panther party, you hear about the “unlawful” organization instead of some in the organization that broke laws. people fail to realize that the black panther party was established in response to what was lacking in black communities. some of their programs are still used to this day by the u.s. government. what we had for the past eight-years impacted all in america and people followed a man that used a grassroots campaign to mobilize people in many neighborhoods in response to what was wrong in america. rev. lowery spoke about what was wrong and asked for a divine and human solution in fixing those problems (institutions), not white people.

it is very lame to compare the earned love of president obama to hitler. hitler’s plan worked for his vision of a master race. obama’s vision works to race toward a master plan. a plan to restore faith and confidence in everything that is America. i guess that it is okay to be fanatic for a sports team but it is wrong to be fanatic for a person that represents a true change in America.

if you do not see or use the category of race, i salute you. however, the world does not see things that way. until humans and institutions change their ways, categories will exist. as one poster said, “it is not about always about YOU, it’s about changing the institution called america for the better. thanks for your reply.
http://www.blacktokyo.com zurui

@mike_q: thanks for the comment! america has a ways to go before it fully heals but i am happy that the wound continues to get treatment.

i’m not sure if rev. lowery will explain since he may believe that most understood where he’s coming from. he is of course two or three generations removed from the folks that do not know what it is like to not have a microwave, computer, Wii, or color tv.

the case for reparations has been kicking around for sometime. when the us government compensated japanese-americans for loss of property and internment during ww2, it felt like a slap in the face to native americans and african americans. some argue that native americans should be happy with the “perks” that come with them being allowed to build hotels and casinos, for example. hitting the jackpot does not replace the injustice that continues to exist in various nations (tribes) in america. many argue that african americans have received compensation for slavery in the form of laws that guarantee freedoms, affirmative active and other “programs.” the problem with that logic is that all in america have benefited from those and until you close the book on this “legal” issue, it will always come up. the only reparations i want are a better economy and a continuation of making america better for all americans.
http://www.blacktokyo.com zurui

@ steve silver: great reply!

@ kaonashi: good point on people not “deliberately” not getting it!

@ indy in asia: thanks for your reply and invitation. it is great that you are were not angered but as you see by this and other sites, there are those that are pretty ticked off. i cannot participate in your web tv show but my opinions are stated on my blog. i hope that i and others have sufficiently explained the “context” of rev. lowery’s benediction. whether they accept or come to grips with the explanation is a totally different story.