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A while back when Obama characterized his pastor (Rev. Jerehmiah Wright) as his “crazy Uncle”, to me the description did not fit for several reasons:

#Nobody would let their crazy uncle marry them

#Nobody would give roughly $200k to their crazy uncle–unless they themselves were crazy

#Nobody would pull from the inspiration from their crazy uncle for a title of a book unless it was comedic in nature

#and lastly, nobody would spend 20 years under the spiritual tutelage of their crazy uncle.

When some of this stuff came out earlier in the presidential race, this is what when through my mind, but I left it alone because like at that time, to me this was a non-issue. And in many ways it still is.

I have oftentimes thought that members of the clergy can hardly be considered true representatives of either political party (or should they). Yet anytime a member of the clergy who supports the Republican party says or does something controversial, MSM as well as many liberal Democrats are quick to play the association game.

Bush’s Pat Robertson Problem

At Bob Jones U., A Disturbing Lesson About The Real George W.

Here, MSNBC ran to get Dr. James Dobson’s reaction to the Iowa caucuses: James Dobson’s Reaction to Last Night

John Hagee

Loathed by liberals, Falwell was force among right-wing

But now in Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s case, all of a sudden the same association game that has been played regularly by liberal Democrats is now defined as an attack. Now all of a sudden we need to focus on the issues. Now all of a sudden, we are to dismiss Wright as a crazy old man who says things from time to time we may/may not agree with, but his heart is in the right place.

What this pastor has put out there is far from being considered as hate speech by many Black Americans. In fact, spend some time reading some of our own blogs and you will see many variations of this same sentiment by our very own. The response that we are seeing from many Black Democrats is not one of shock and rebuke, but of embarrassment that this widely accepted dogma on the left has revealed its 20 year old linkage to our “everything Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson isn’t” candidate. Let’s break some of it down and tell me that these are so-called fringe viewpoints in the Black community.

“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’

Remember Maxine Waters quest to link the CIA to the crack epidemic in Watts? I do. and for many who like me were old enough to remember this issue, it was widely accepted as truth (do a simple google search and you will still find folks out there who still believe it). In the meantime, read this. You can also read the following article. Here, I’ll give you an excerpt.

Almost half of all African-Americans believe that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is man-made, more than a quarter believe it was produced in a government laboratory and one in eight thinks it was created and spread by the CIA, according to a study released by the Rand Corporation and the University of Oregon. (source)

and this.

Study: Many Blacks Cite AIDS Conspiracy

Ever heard the statement “America is warehousing our Black men” or something like it? It usually comes up in a conversation when discussing the disproportional amount of Black men we have in our prisons. The suggestion behind such a statement is that White America has a conspiracy against our Black men and the Black family. Say this in just about any barbershop or just about any open black forum (formal and informal) and I assure you that no one will correct you or throw statistics in your face that prove the contrary. Now, are there Black men in prison who have been convicted for crimes they did not commit? You bet. However, to suggest that this is the case for every or most Black man in prison is wishful thinking at best.

As far as the three strike law goes, I believe that it is a legitimate gripe in that users of powder cocaine are treated differently than those who use crack cocaine. What I’m sure Wright left out of his sermon was the fact that Democrats were the ones who pushed heavily for this bill in the first place.

“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost,” he told his congregation.

Back in 2004, Zogby did a poll of New Yorkers to see who believed the United States “knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act”. Guess which ethnic was one of those that scored the highest in the belief of that theory?

The charge found very high support among adults under 30 (62.8%), African-Americans (62.5%), Hispanics (60.1%), Asians (59.4%)…

The call for a deeper probe was especially strong from Hispanics (75.6%), African-Americans (75.3%)…(source)

Here are some more random quotes from the Rev. Wright.

“Fact No. 1: We’ve got more black men in prison than there are in college. Racism is alive and well. Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run. No black man will ever be considered for president, no matter how hard you run Jesse [Jackson] and no black woman can ever be considered for anything outside what she can give with her body.”

Despite the truth that the amount of Black men in college actually OUTNUMBER the amount of Black men in prison, I cannot tell you the amount of times I still come across folk shooting off this inaccurate statement as if it were true.

As far as the belief that no Black man will never be considered for president, up until Iowa many Blacks held this same sentiment. And despite Obama’s popularity, many still do (just wait and see the “I knew he wasn’t going to get it” responses you will read and hear if Obama does not get the nomination or win the general election).

I could go on and on breaking down the excerpts of Wright’s sermons out there while showing you that much of it is not foreign rhetoric in the Black community, but I think the case has already been made.

Now do I think that Obama and his wife hate America by their close association with Rev. Wright? Certainly not. In fact I think that they are like most Black Americans who on one hand recognize that despite its shortcomings, America is still the greatest place for opportunity on earth while at the same time tend to be more to the left politically (And this kind of talk is standard fare on the left. So why are liberal Democrats wanting to dismiss it as just the babblings of an old man when MSM jumps on it?). Obama knew full well of this pastor’s feelings about Whites and America, yet he and his wife chose to receive their spiritual guidance from this man for 20 years. Although they may not agreed with Wright on every issue, his viewpoints apparently did not make them uncomfortable enough to leave, let alone expose their children to that environment.

I think about my own life when years ago my family and I were members of a mostly White church. Everything seemed okay up until the pastor began to use his pulpit to attack Blacks in the congregation. I can tell you that we did not see him as a crazy old uncle. Instead we left and found another church. Other Black families did the same.