Legal Commentary

The Unrepresentative Rev. Wright

I have written several times (such as here and, most recently, here) that Rev. Wright was wrong to say, in effect, ?The Black Church, c?est moi!?

Now Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom have made that point much better than I did.

In his recent incendiary remarks, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. claimed that criticism of his views is nothing less ?an attack on the black church launched by people who know nothing about the African-American religious tradition.? Can it really be that millions of black Americans regularly choose to listen to viciously anti-white and anti-American rants on Sunday mornings?

Happily, Chicago?s Trinity Church is an outlier in that regard....

Clearly, Rev. Wright does not speak for mainstream black churches-and he has done them a gross disservice by claiming to do so. He shares neither their vision nor their values. Why their relative silence in the face of Rev. Wright?s rants? Perhaps they believe they are protecting Sen. Obama, but if Wright convinces white Americans that his hateful speeches reflect the ways African-American churchgoers think and worship, the quest for racial equality will be set back decades.

Full post as published by Discriminations on May 06, 2008 (boomark / email).