Barack Obama asked us to educate ourselves about our differences rather than focus on them. In that spirit, I think you should read rikyrah’s thoughts on the black church. Here’s a sample.
Black people do not change churches like they do purses. I am in my 30’s, and outside of school, I’ve had exactly 2 church homes in my life. It took nearly 2 years to find the second one, but I found it. Commitment to a church isn’t something that’s done fly-by-night. It’s not some fleeting commitment. It is a given that you will find something that you don’t like about any church you attend; which is why it is the general COMMUNITY that will ultimately make that decision.
The Black Church is the ONLY institution, in the history of The United States of America, which, from its conception,
Validated, Supported, Incubated, and Treasured.
BLACK HUMANITY.
Period.
Don’t think I’m correct, then name me another institution which has done so.
The attack on Trinity is seen as an attack on the Black Church, and thus, by extension, an attack on the Black Community as a whole.
During times of slavery and Jim Crow, the Black Church was what reinforced Community.
Post Civil Rights and Integration, the Black Church is now what brings Community together, considering that the Black Community, like the rest of America, is becoming more stratified along the lines of class. The Black Church is really the only place in Black America where you will consistently find the doctor and welfare mother in the same building, with the same purpose. It’s the place to break down those walls of class that are building up.
To disown Wright and Trinity would be to disown the Black Community itself, which is why Obama said in his speech he couldn’t. He understood that fundamentally about the Black Community, and he understood that political expediency would mean the doubting of the existence of his soul by the Black community. Obama would never be trusted again by Black folk if he had disowned Wright & Trinity. Even Black folk that don’t go to church understand that you don’t mess with the Black Church – it’s just not done.
Anyone that has spent any time at all doing political activism in the black community will understand this. Unfortunately, far too few white activists have worked in and with the black community. There is a cultural divide and it isn’t easy to bridge. But one thing I know is that Bill and Hillary Clinton (and their campaign manager, Maggie Williams) fully understand what they’re messing with. And they don’t care.
Also, see the Field Negro and Skeptical Brotha.
