sick and tired

as you can see i have been MIA as it relates to posting about the presidential campaign. i predicted it would be a long and arduous process but i had no idea it would take such a nasty turn.

by now i'm sure everyone has heard the sound bites from rev. wright a million times. personally i think the way the media is going about reporting this is all wrong. however, its the media so i can't really expect them to not chance after the ambulance. i am a former member of Trinity in chicago (i moved to maryland) and i was in attendance for the sept 2001 sermon that the news keep showing. i don't recall rev. wright saying anything that was extreme on that day. if you take into account how ppl were feeling in the aftermath, then listen to the entire sermon it was one of upliftment and not of hate.


i remember there were over a 100 people that joined and many more that came up for the altar call. there were many workers from the airline industry in attendance and he did a special prayer for them. i also had my good friend from graduate school call me the night before and ask if her sister could attend service with me. her sister was a flight attendant with united and loss colleagues and was in need of inspiration. she drove all the way from their o'hare base to attend Trinity on the south side of chicago. she was overcome with joy to be in the house of the Lord and to hear rev. wright's sermon. she still talks about how much that visit helped her get through a difficult time.

with all that said and with all rev. wright has done for the community i think its interesting how all that can be overlook from a few soundbites. don't get me wrong, rev. wright has some strong views when it comes to politics. he's frank and tells it how he sees it. you might not agree with his stance on everything but he's definitely not the evil perons people are making him out to be. when i moved to maryland, i would email him for advice on finding a church home and other question. he would personally respond to emails and provide advice. he has over 6,000 members but he would take to the time to personally respond to emails. that says a lot about a man's character and his priorities.

in any event, i ran across this commentary from roland s. martin and i thought it would give you all some other things to consider before making up your mind about obama. i think people have the right to vote for who they want. i just hope people look at the facts and see through all the smoke. if you look at the real issues and set aside all the foolishness that has surrounded the democratic candidates in the last couple of months then i think people can make informed decisions when voting in the primaries.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/21/the-full-story-behind-rev-jeremiah-wrights-911-sermon/


The full story behind Rev. Jeremiah Wright's 9/11 sermon
Posted: 10:09 AM ET
As this whole sordid episode regarding the sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has played out over the last week, I wanted to understand what he ACTUALLY said in this speech. I've been saying all week on CNN that context is important, and I just wanted to know what the heck is going on.

I have now actually listened to the sermon Rev. Wright gave after September 11 titled, "The Day of Jerusalem's Fall." It was delivered on Sept. 16, 2001.


One of the most controversial statements in this sermon was when he mentioned "chickens coming home to roost." He was actually quoting Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President Reagan's terrorism task force, who was speaking on FOX News. That's what he told the congregation.

He was quoting Peck as saying that America's foreign policy has put the nation in peril:

"We took this country by terror away from the Sioux, the Apache, Arikara, the Comanche, the Arapaho, the Navajo. Terrorism.

"We took Africans away from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism.

"We bombed Grenada and killed innocent civilians, babies, non-military personnel.

"We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with stealth bombers and killed unarmed teenage and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hard working fathers.

"We bombed Qaddafi's home, and killed his child. Blessed are they who bash your children's head against the rock.

"We bombed Iraq. We killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed a plant in Sudan to pay back for the attack on our embassy, killed hundreds of hard working people, mothers and fathers who left home to go that day not knowing that they'd never get back home.

"We bombed Hiroshima. We bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye.

"Kids playing in the playground. Mothers picking up children after school. Civilians, not soldiers, people just trying to make it day by day.

"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff that we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost.

"Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred. And terrorism begets terrorism. A white ambassador said that y'all, not a black militant. Not a reverend who preaches about racism. An ambassador whose eyes are wide open and who is trying to get us to wake up and move away from this dangerous precipice upon which we are now poised. The ambassador said the people we have wounded don't have the military capability we have. But they do have individuals who are willing to die and take thousands with them. And we need to come to grips with that."

He went on to describe seeing the photos of the aftermath of 9/11 because he was in Newark, N.J., when the planes struck. After turning on the TV and seeing the second plane slam into one of the twin towers, he spoke passionately about what if you never got a chance to say hello to your family again.

"What is the state of your family?" he asked.

And then he told his congregation that he loved them and asked the church to tell each other they loved themselves.

His sermon thesis:

1. This is a time for self-examination of ourselves and our families.

2. This is a time for social transformation (then he went on to say they won't put me on PBS or national cable for what I'm about to say. Talk about prophetic!)

"We have got to change the way we have been doing things as a society," he said.

Wright then said we can't stop messing over people and thinking they can't touch us. He said we may need to declare war on racism, injustice, and greed, instead of war on other countries.

"Maybe we need to declare war on AIDS. In five minutes the Congress found $40 billion to rebuild New York and the families that died in sudden death, do you think we can find the money to make medicine available for people who are dying a slow death? Maybe we need to declare war on the nation's healthcare system that leaves the nation's poor with no health coverage? Maybe we need to declare war on the mishandled educational system and provide quality education for everybody, every citizen, based on their ability to learn, not their ability to pay. This is a time for social transformation."

3. This is time to tell God thank you for all that he has provided and that he gave him and others another chance to do His will.

By the way, nowhere in this sermon did he said "God damn America." I'm not sure which sermon that came from.

This doesn't explain anything away, nor does it absolve Wright of using the N-word, but what it does do is add an accurate perspective to this conversation.

The point that I have always made as a journalist is that our job is to seek the truth, and not the partial truth.

I am also listening to the other sermons delivered by Rev. Wright that have been the subject of controversy.

And let me be clear: Where I believe he was wrong and not justified in what he said based upon the facts, I will say so. But where the facts support his argument, that will also be said.

So stay tuned.

- Roland S. Martin, CNN Contributor