Law School Discussion

How Reverend Wright was wronged

Rev. Wright's words were twisted by the media to portray him as a crackpotRev. Wright's words were twisted by the media to portray him as a crackpot

LAST WEEK, the three cops who murdered Sean Bell in a hail of 50 bullets on the night before he was to be married were acquitted of all charges. The media, led by the New York Times, called on everyone to respect the verdict. The Times even lectured, "Anger and disappointment are understandable now, but New York's leadership has changed, and community activists need to absorb that fact before they attempt to heat up reaction."

Barack Obama had a similar message when he was asked for his reaction to the shocking verdict.

The senator responded, "Well, look, obviously there was a tragedy in New York. I said at the time, without benefit of all the facts before me, that it looked like a possible case of excessive force. The judge has made his ruling, and we're a nation of laws, so we respect the verdict that came down."

"The most important thing for people who are concerned about that shooting is to figure out how do we come together and assure those kinds of tragedies don't happen again," he continued. "Resorting to violence to express displeasure over a verdict is something that is completely unacceptable and counterproductive."

Politicians and pundits were wringing their hands out of fear that Black outrage over another case of the NYPD getting away with murder might tumble into angry protests and put race back at the center of the presidential campaign.

But days later, the corporate media did just that in their hysterical coverage of several public appearances by Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

While the acquittal of Sean Bell's lynch mob was greeted with pleas for calm and reflection, Jeremiah Wright got front-paged from coast to coast, and dominated the national news for days. Even Obama, who in a speech on race in March had mildly admonished Wright, called a press conference to attack Wright's "rant" as "appalling and offensive."

The New York Times denounced Wright as "racist" and "paranoid." Liberal Times columnist Bob Herbert, an African American, piled on, calling Wright a "narcissist." Even Chicago Sun-Times film critic Richard Roeper got to chime in, sneering at Wright for "soaking up his 15 minutes of fame."

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WHAT EXACTLY did Wright say to cause such a crazed reaction, anyway?

After more than a month of media denunciations and racist abuse, Wright came out swinging. He framed the attacks against him as an attack on the Black church and Black religiosity, pointing to a long list of Black religious figures targeted for media and state vitriol--among them, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

Moreover, Wright continued to challenge the hypocrisy of the U.S. government. He talked about U.S. support for the apartheid regime in South Africa and for the murderous right-wing contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s; he complained about the U.S. government spending billions on the war in Iraq while people are going hungry in the U.S.; he decried the U.S. sending 4,000 "boys and girls to die for a lie"; and he denounced unfair sentencing in drug cases that has resulted in 1 million African Americans being imprisoned.

Media pundits picked out two portions of the question-and-answer segment of his appearance at the National Press Club as the basis for declaring that Wright is racist and paranoid.

First, Wright refused to attack Louis Farrakhan, saying, "Louis Farrakhan is not my enemy. He did not put me in chains. He did not put me in slavery. And he didn't make me this color."

Second, while the Times claimed Wright accused the U.S. government of creating AIDS, what he actually said was more damning:

    Based on this Tuskegee experiment and based on what has happened to Africans in this country, I believe our government is capable of doing anything. In fact, in fact, in fact, one of the--one of the responses to what Saddam Hussein had in terms of biological warfare was a non-question, because all we had to do was check the sales records. We sold him those biological weapons that he was using against his own people. So any time a government can put together biological warfare to kill people, and then get angry when those people use what we sold them, yes, I believe we are capable.

Finally, Wright refused to back away from statements comparing Israeli treatment of Palestinians as apartheid--as former President Jimmy Carter has, and anti-apartheid leader Desmond Tutu as well.

Of course, the media are incapable of engaging and debating Wright's ideas. Instead, like petulant brats, they resort to name-calling.

how naive do u think i am? good lord.. i'm well aware of when b ball players were admitted str8 from hs.. and i know bryant was the first guard admitted... it isn't "natural" for  them to be misguided..but i already know that you can't handle that debate so i'll keep it light for the sake of this bs thread..

It wasnt until the 90's that players started entering the draft straight out of high school. So it's only natural for these young males to be misguided. They were basically boys taking on a man's role. Many of them were 17 coming into the NBA. Therefore they had no education and poor guidance. I agree, the 80's cats were better role models. The new role prohibits them from leaving straight out of high school. But every era has it's bad guys....

hmm just wondering.. in contrast to the players of the 80s and 90s..which set of players had more education? which players spoke more articulately thus inspiring young boys both on and off the court?

and hands down the players of the 80s and 90s outshine these new cats anyday.. kobe is definitely a beast on the court..i'll give him that.. but he couldn't outshine jordan in his prime... jordan knew what it was like to be part of a team...

these days it's whatever team v bryant.. period..

of all of the things that are going on right now in the world.. you make your return post about sports.. how surprising...

like i said..they're already @ it http://youtube.com/watch?v=6qX1SBgBg-E&feature=user