Our lives don’t exist in a vacuum

The strange reality of the Obama/Wright controversy is that there is no founding for controversy. [Though it did make Wikipedia already.]

For those that don’t know, Sen. Barack Obama has for a decade and a half attended Trinity United Church of Christ (Congregationalist) in Chicago. The UCC is a mainline protestant denomination that shares a great deal of theological territory with the traditional protestant churches such as the Presbyterian, Lutheran (ELCA), and Episcopal. Like Evangelicals, we believe that the grace of God saves humanity and like Roman Catholics, we believe that what we do makes a difference. We are much inline with what is often called a “social gospel”—that Jesus was on earth, not to save us from our sins (and all the myriad of definitions we have for this), but to help re-establish the Kingdom of God in the midst of us.

The chief pastor at Trinity, The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is clearly a member of this tradition. He is also African American. His father was a Baptist preacher. His congregation is urban and predominantly African American. Preaching in the midst of his community about the Kingdom of God has to be about the African American experience. He would be dishonest if he didn’t. He wouldn’t be serving his congregation with integrity if he didn’t.

So what is this controversy about? He had the audacity to suggest that some evil acts are retaliation due to instigating evil acts! Can you believe it? The horror! Cover your child’s ears! Shield him/her from the sight! What insidiousness is this? Evil begets evil? No! Say it isn’t so!

Let’s think about this for a second. The two startling statements that I’ve heard amount to this:

1. U.S. involvement in the Middle East, blatant support of Israel against Arab neighbors, and inconsistent relationships with nations that are predominantly Islamic inspired al-Qaeda’s 2001 response.
2. U.S. policy since the 1960s with regards to African American communities and urban communities has been one of abuse and is of violent nature.

Am I missing something here? Where’s the controversy? What is awful about pointing out that our government has been consistently racist? Didn’t we have this exposed with Katrina? Hasn’t the national conversation turned more productive than this?

It is the colorblind/vacuum hypothesis. It isn’t about the instigator, it’s about the actions. Like the Jena 6 trial inLouisiana. Who cares about the race-bating, the incidents of violence perpetrated by whites, or the noose hanging from the tree planted as a sign of racial integration—those black kids deserve the harshest of penalties. According to the District Attorney, these incidents must be treated as separate, as existing in a vacuum. Heaven forbid we recognize our own complicity!

Hopefully Obama’s speech tonight will address the blatant racism and irrational fear behind this non-issue. But then again, this is the politics of the 20^th Century that refuses to go away.