Rev. Joseph E. Lowery Benediction Angers Some
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!
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.”
Yes, yes,yes, I remember the rhyme well. The Rev words , his speech was right on and was NOT AT ALL racist! This post is RIGHT ON!
I don’t have any problem with it at all plus I like the bit about mellow is yellow – it makes me think of Donovan! I thought he was an excellent speaker. Unlike that other weird church guy who is highly controversial and has all kinds of right wing issues about things. he should not have been there! someone with such bigoted views about gays.
I think its far worse that as a child in the UK we used rhymes in the playground which were changed words from original extremely racist rhymes used during the segregation periods of America. We were never educated about this in school and still find it shocking. We never knew the true meaning of its uses later!
It made me chuckle in the face of seriousness. Spiced with equal parts of humor, compassion, and sincerity. Hopefully we can all move forward my brothers, and sisters of the human race. Today, January 20th, 2009 brought us closer together than we have ever been. May we continue to be inspired, and focused.
Thank you Mr. Obama and Rev. Lowery.
I loved it so much, I made it into a t-shirt:
The quote that you included was the comment over on the USA Today article (I assume that was your source?) that helped me to start to understand the context of Lowery’s comments. Unfortunately, without that context it’s too easily misunderstood. At first it felt even to my very pro-Obama ears like a kick in the stomach instead of an acknowledgment of how far we have come as a nation. It was a risky choice to include those words without context. I get it now, mostly, I think, but I definitely didn’t at first, and plenty will not choose to make the effort to find out more and will just feel stung. I just wish he’d have either put it in context or said it in a way that didn’t lend itself to such misunderstanding. Just my $0.02.
A whole lotta justifyin’ goin on in this blog.
Face it, Rev. Lowery’s closing lines were racism, pure and simple.
They were laughed off as a kind of Poetic Affirmative Action, but racism nonetheless.
Rev. Lowery’s “color quatrain” probably discomfited President Obama more than anything Rev. Warren said.
Anyone who would like to discuss this is invited to do so as a guest on my blog.
@ 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!
JOSEPH LOWERY IS A POLITICAL WHORE WHO HAS MADE HIS LIVING OFF THE EMOTIONS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN PEOPLE. THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME HE HAS MADE INFLAMATORY REMARKS TOWARD WHITE PEOPLE. HE DOES IT ALL THE TIME. I LIVE IN THE SAME CITY HE DOES . I HEAR IT ALL THE TIME. HE LOVES TO KEEP THINGS STIRRED UP. THAT GIVES HIM JOB SECURITY. I CAN’T WAIT TILL ALL THESE OLD CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS ARE GONE. THEN AND ONLY THEN WILL WE AS AMERICANS BEGIN TO ENJOY TRUE RACIAL HARMONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ 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?
@ 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.
Reverend Lowery deftly reworded a very old and very terrible rhyme that is widely-known in the Black community, which went:
“If you’re white, you’re alright
If you’re brown, stick around
If you’re yellow (a reference to light-complexioned Black people, generally of mixed race, who were perceived more favorably), you’re mellow
But if you’re black, get back”.
It, essentially, hearkened to a color-based system of privilege that existed in the United States until well into the 70′s and 80′s and was immortalized in song! This system of color-based privilege exists in southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland) today where clearly coded messages were obvious to even the most casual observer.
What Reverend Lowery actually said was
“We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back (most white listeners heard ‘get in 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.”
You misunderstood. Ask some of your older Black friends. They or their even older family members will remember it.
It may explain why so many people in the audience today were laughing at Lowery’s gibe, marking the death rattle to color-based privilege.
[...] BLACK TOKYO » Blog Archive » Rev. Joseph E. Lowery Benediction … [...]
@ 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.
I think a lot of people (well, mostly white people) want to believe that Obama’s election has “proven” that we’ve crossed over a threshold when it comes to racism and therefore it’s unnecessary to keep rubbing salt in the wound. It could be that raising the issue in any way during the inauguration cast a shadow on the event for some people. They didn’t want to think about white guilt, but rather about the progress America has made as evidenced by the fact that Obama got elected.
I can see both sides of this as I can see where people who have grown up with “white guilt” that they have done nothing in their lifetime to earn are tired of having the responsibility for things others have done heaped at their feet and they didn’t want to hear it again on this day. On the other hand, America has crossed a threshold, but it hasn’t conquered the problem, particularly in the South, so I can see why the benediction was appropriate. It’s a little harder for minorities to “forget” or stop talking about inequality when they still live with it everyday, if not on a personal level, then as a result of what their ancestors were denied which may have resulted in their current lot being less than it should be.
The bottom line is that people are always going to find something in politics to pick at and they’re always going to view things in a lop-sided or partisan way. You can’t reason with people who are strident and who view things only in a polarized manner.
“Rev.” Lowery:
It was white people who, for the first time in the history of the world said, “We are strong enough to enslave other people, but it is wrong, and we are not going to do it any more.”
It was white people who then pressed the rest of the (non-white) world to give up slavery. It was legal in parts of the Arab world until the 20th century.
It was white people who set up a government of laws guaranteeing them freedom. But that freedom presumed and required that individuals “embrace right” by regulating their own behavior, providing for their families, obeying the laws, respecting the property of others, and being productive.
It was white people who kept that system going and productive, and created a country which has given more freedom and prosperity to its citizens — of all colors — than any other country in the world.
It was white people who passed the civil rights laws that gave Obama and other minorities advantages that they could never have gotten on their own merits.
It is tens of millions of white people who have worked hard and paid the taxes that have supported millions of non-whites. I, personally, have had enough of my income confiscated each year to support the spawn of a couple of skanks who can’t keep their knees together, and who are being raised to think I owe them even more.
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.”
Damn you, you nasty old race baiter. Shame on you.
And no, it is not the color of your skin that gets you judged. It is the content of your character. Millions of Americans – many of whom are white – just voted Obama into the highest office in the land.
Thank you for posting the original rhyme! I saw it, chuckled, but didn’t really get it… I didn’t mind it per se, but I wondered. I’m 25, and I grew up in an area where I was a white minority, so I never heard that stuff (different generation, different perspective).
Thanks again for publishing this! I bet it’s the only place we’ll see it.
@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.
@ M: no problem! thanks for the feedback.
Couple of things: I think it was James Weldon Johnson who wrote “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” not L. Hughes.
Also I’m surprised that Big Bill Broonzy’s song, “Black, Brown and White Blues” has not yet been referenced. The phrases may have been in the common vernacular for some time, but Bill’s song is where they were published and popularized.
Just came back to thank Lalita for explaining even more directly. Again, context is everything. This was almost like an inside joke that too many of us just didn’t get, or at least I didn’t get. I’m grateful for those willing to explain.
@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
A racist is a racist, whether white or black. To defend such behavior is despicable… If people want equality, then they can’t just take the good and leave the bad. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. It is too bad there isn’t a white al sharpton or jesse jackson to demand a public apology for such blatant race baiting. If Lowery were white, and he was talking about black people in such a derogatory way, there would be no end to the complaints…
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!
I find it sad and amazing that, an insult to people of color for years was taken and used as a statement for peace and understanding in a “light” context.
Even though explained to some here who did not “get it,” it is still held as a major insult to a minority of haters. Are your hearts still filled with such deep hate or fear, which ever, that you cannot see with humanity and compassion, or even forgiveness for a misunderstanding of words?
A Christian view of this would be the devil has a hold of your heart and you need to pray to let love in. This is not about tit for tat, and eye for and eye. It is about getting past the BS and being one People. WTF! Grow Up!
“Be the change you want for the world”
Aloha, Zurui,
Mahalo for responding to my post.
I was addressing what I was reading beginning with the heading, “Rev. Joseph E. Lowery Benediction Angers Some”.
Please understand I was not ANGERED by Reverend Lowery’s prejudiced remarks, I just found them in appropriate to, indeed, antithetical to, the spirit the occasion.
My invitation is to discuss further whether Reverend Lowery’s poetics were racist or not did not mean to do so at my blog, but on my Television Program.
If it was you who wrote, “…it seems that some have misunderstood the meaning of the rhyme at the very last part of Reverend Lowery’s benediction…” then I extend to you my hand in brotherhood, and invite you to be my Special Guest on IndyInAsia Television.
Aloha nui loa,
Indy
WTF. The orgins of his statement are spelled out clearly in this post, and people STILL are deliberately “not getting it.” This is what happens when uchi jokes are told in mixed company. >.>
THE POEM REFERS TO THE INSTITUTION OF RACISM, NOT WHITE PEOPLE.
He took a very ugly (and unfortunately truthful at times) poem and changed the words so it reflects the positive of ALL people, and what we as Americans should aspire to be. IT’S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT YOU.
Zurui, thanks for the explanation of Lowery’s speech; also, you have a well-designed website. Perhaps Rev Lowery should have done some explaining for what he said. The ‘when white will embrace what is right’ is too easily misunderstood as further accusation and judgement of the white race. It is derogatory, in spite of whatever Lowery’s intentions were. When Americans stop obsessing over racial issues, and stop going on and on about discussions concerning race and ‘diversity’, America can finally heal. The laws in America have made racial discrimination illegal. Continueing to live in the 1960s mindset, telling whites to embrace what is right, only stokes the flames of distrust. What Lowery’s speech makes me wonder, is whether he and Obama want some kind of financial reparations for slavery and racial discrimination. I also wonder how Lowery’s words just reinforce anger and hatred towards whites. So, it really does not matter what Lowery intended, his words will be (according to your explanation) misunderstood. Lowery had better elaborate or many people will continue to think he’s being a judgemental prig.
this is crazy people , … some of the remarks here are a little suspect (smile) like saying ” I’m not a racist, my best friend is Black” …come on nothing has changed yet, its going to take time , but we have taken a giant step
just my opinion
60 year old Male
Statements that villify ‘whites’ as a class of people do not promote diversity, and are NOT good PR.
Take out the ‘white=evil’ message created by the implication that ‘whites continue to embrace wrong’ resulting from the phrase “when white will embrace what is right” and you’ve got a totally different rhetoric.
The fact that it is poetic form, and not simply some off-the-cuff comment tossed in shows that, this speaker gave considerable thought to making this statement and to precisely how it was crafted. In short, the message that ‘white=evil’ is in my view not a coincidental one but a quite intentional one.
There are definitely racist people in America, and people who, whether they are conscious of it or not, suffer from a variety of biased or prejudicial thinking. I hypothesize that one’s so-called ‘racial identity’ exhibits virtually zero association with their degree of racism or other forms of social-identity bias.
Indeed, I am afraid to say that, because of the continuation of resentful, and vindictive if not hateful philosophies of racial conflict (e.g., Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan) and the insinuation, if not mainstreamization of ideas from these philosophies into everyday contemporary American culture (particularly African American pop cultures), the degree of association between ‘race’ and ‘racism’ seems to be as likely to be associated with ‘black’ identity as it is with ‘white’ identity.
A lot of us ‘whites’ already embraced what is ‘right’ in our view, and we are alienated, and indeed disappointed when African American rhetoric falses attributes us with bias, racism or ‘wrong’ simply because we are ‘white’ in their eyes.
Or perhaps some of these folks think they know our minds, our behavior, and our lifes better than we know our own, simply because they are ‘black’ and they got us ‘whites’ all figured out? Now if that is not a reversal of bias portraying itself as the correction/removal of bias, I don’t know what is.
I voted for the man, I have high hopes that he will do a lot of good, and I would LIKE to believe in him. But if this is the sort of thing that will be tolerated in Obamaland I cannot say I am impressed whatsoever. I guess I should not be surprised given his 20 years in Wright’s church.
Implying that all whities are racists is simply not implying something that is likely to be empirically true, much less socially progressive and useful.
In all honesty, it offends me when someone just calls me WHITE, much less that they infer that I am a racist based on their perception of my belonging in some particular social category that they erroneously and ignorantly think is validly labeled ‘race.’
I am of mixed ancestry, and I am from a disadvantaged background; I would say at least as disadvantaged as our ‘black’ President. But by virtue of labeling me white and him black, I am automatically placed stereotypically into a historically dominant, more powerful, oppressive social group, which I would tell is simply not the case.
I look down at my arm . . . I see no white here! Beige, tan, pink, even some greenish in the veins . . . “WHITE” is simply a useless term, just as is “BLACK” “YELLOW” “RED,” and all the other nonsensical terms to divide humanity into racial clumps.
We should be working to ELIMINATE these concepts from our minds, and from life on Earth. We are all HUMANS, PEOPLE, PERSONS, FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES, NEIGHBORS, etc. When we automatically think of one another, talk to one another, and refer to one another with these non-segmentary conceptions of joint membership instead of those tired and frankly evil racial typologies, THEN we will be making real progress toward the world that Dr. King and others dreamed about.
I have no doubt that Lowery was a hero in his day, and fought the good fight for Civil Rights. But the Civil Rights movement is over, we are in a new phase of the evolution of true liberty and equality in our society, and to burden ourselves with unnecessary references, and false attributions to past divisions among us is simply not helpful.
Very bad idea to have Lowery give your benediction Bama, or at least very bad idea not to have a look over his speech before you let him say it. But then, you did smile when he said it, so maybe you agree with the idea that you and I really are different because you are ‘black’ and I am ‘white’ and that those labels really do adequately describe our life experiences, our views, and our predispositions.
Given your membership in Wright’s church for so long, I really do fear that this is what you believe, and I fear for what this means for our nation and the world, not to mention for your safety and well-being.
Honestly, I think all the hoopla about Obama has made me just a tad bit depressed. No joke; while all you people have been having the time of your life cheering and shouting, and passing through waves of ideo-politic-ecstascy, I have been progressively cringing more tightly and worriedly with each CNN video and each blogosphere scan I endure.
It is so discouraging to be so poignantly reminded of how simple, emotive, and pliable people are. I’m not saying he is ‘the Anti-Christ,’ but I would like to point out that: the cult of personality which has steadily grown, and most recently erupted into Krakatoa proportions is disturbingly similar in some basic social psychological dimensions to those which surrounded some very sketchy past leaders. For example, Hitler and Mussolini . . . yes, yes I know, ‘good guys’ have also had massive cult followings too (JFK comes to mind, but beyond that . . . hmmmm, can’t actually think of any others) . . . but there is just something that is honestly [to me] rather creepy about how people feel about Obama.
He strikes me as a very smart, very capable, respectful and thoughtful man who will surround himself with people who are highly knowledgeable in their chosen disciplines. I also do not doubt that he really is a visionary with an inspired mission to ‘make the world better,’ who has an incredible charismatic ability to inspire people that whatever the specifics of that ‘mission,’ they believe in it, and are devoted to it.
With the exception of every single one of those descriptors except respectful and to a certain degree thoughtful, you could use the paragraph above to describe Adolf Hilter. He was very smart, very capable, ‘thoughtful’ depending on exactly how you want to deploy that word. He surrounded himself with people who are highly knowledgeable, and he clearly was a real visionary with an inspired mission to ‘make the world better,’ and who had an incredible charismatic ability to inspire people that whatever the specifics of that mission, they believed in it, and were devoted to it.
I am NOT saying that Barack Obama is the latest incarnation of a genocidal maniac despot who is going to usher in a period of massive bloodshed, suffering and catastrophe. I am simply pointing out that, many of the dynamics of a Great Leader with the capacity to inspire people are not mutually exclusive with megalomania, prejudice, vindictiveness, even callous inhumanity and hatred.
I guess if he had been in the Senate for 20 years, and we had more of a history of how he actually thinks and feels, how he tends to vote, and what he really believes in, I might feel differently.
But we don’t have that. What we have is a past that is hard to pin down with any particular term except ‘ambitious, tending to be liberal, populist, litigiously-competent and eloquent.’
How many times is it that he voted ‘Present’ during his legislative days?
Add to this the whole Rev Wright connection, some comments he has made during his campaign, his response to the Lowery benediction . . .
‘Uneasiness’ sincerely describes how I feel about this man at this point, and I am DEFINITELY not a ‘conservative.’ I am pro-Gay Marriage, I voted for Clinton, Gore, and Obama, and I tend to think that socialized medicine is a good thing.
Understand, I am not saying that I am dead-set against Obama; I am not firmly convinced that he is malignant force, and I am not [yet] opposed to him . . . but just uneasy, a bit wary, and very much skeptical.
This latest incident with Lowery’s Benediction is IMO, just the latest “blip” in a series of blips that indicate a kind of megalomaniacal elitism and vindictiveness as a person of color. Perhaps we are on blip #11 or 12, but we are not yet on blip #20.
Barack Obama still “IS MY PRESIDENT.” I voted for him. I hope for the best for him, and for us; and I very, VERY much _WANT_ to believe in him, and place my trust in him that he will always do what is right for the greater good of America and the world. After 8 years of Bushes general incomptence, bullheaded stubbornness and arrogance someone who really had the characteristics of diplomacy and skill which Obama seems to have would be a refreshing change.
But when I see repeated instances of his complicity if not agreement with what I consider to be racist views of Black-White relations in the U.S., I get very uneasy . . . VERY uneasy, and I am reminded of just how inspiring Adolf Hitler was to the German people.
In the present PC climate, in which reversal of bias is all too often portrayed as ‘leveling’ or ‘righting wrongs’ or as reforming bias, I am planning to keep my head down . . .
Stop and consider this: If McCain had won, and they got some aging born-again preacher from a holdout racially segregated white privilege district of the South. Say for example, a Jerry Falwell type of caricature.
What if, during his benediction, this joker gave some poetry something about like this . . .
Would you think that that was equally as ‘trivial?’
Or how about this, leave everything the same as in Lowery’s original transcript
[quote]
Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in 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. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.[quote]
But just change “when white will embrace what is right” to “when non-whites will embrace what is right.”
Would THAT be trivial?
No it would NOT be trivial, and neither is implying that “whites embrace what is wrong!!”
@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.
@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.
@ 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.
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.
@Half-breed “White” Hillbillly Boy – *Yawn*
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