Reverend Joseph Lowery is being accused all over the web of being a black racist, for these closing remarks in the benediction at the Obama inauguration:
Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around, -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow, -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right." Let all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen. And Amen.To no surprise, Fox News and Glen Beck are leading the way. You can read even more nonsense in the comments sections of many a website or blog that ran the story, such as this one over at the Chicago Sun Times.
I find it shocking how uptight and ignorant many white Americans remain. Moreover, they can't handle what was obviously meant to be a light-hearted rhyme, quite possibly referencing an old blues song by Big Bill Broonzy (“Black, Brown, and White”).
If the average white person thinks they have embraced "what is right," then they should be outraged at the fact that those other folks with a certain skin pigmentation are mainly the ones who get pulled out of lines at airports for questioning -- or worse, "rendered" to places known and unknown to be tortured. The outcry from the average white person has been truly impressive -- not! How many white people have been rotting in such hellholes, courtesy the CIA and the Patriot Act?
I am not a determinist of any kind, but it is worth noting that a mainly white government has been waging a war of terror on brown and black people for almost eight years, on far away shores, the results often sanitized and hidden from view -- not unlike their previous wars against yellow people. Will electing a black president change all that? Certainly not. But one can hope -- to borrow that overused phrase -- that under watchful eyes, it may be a crucial first step to begin to reign in what Martin Luther King correctly labeled "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world -- my own government." No doubt America's countless innocent bystanders will welcome any degree of sanity in terms of US statecraft. It remains to be seen -- though early indications indicate business as usual.
Meanwhile, it is clear that much of white America still doesn't get it. Nor do you have to read far between the pixels to see that much of Red and Blue state America are still at war with each other, at least electronically. Fixing the culture war is just one more problem to tack onto Obama's gargantuan list.
Finally, I have a friend currently traveling and working in Africa, and here's what he has to say about how the Obama inauguration was received in Africa:
I am currently in Nairobi waiting for my travel documents for Southern Sudan to be processed.
Nairobi was absolutely wild last night. Big screens set up all over and free concerts to celebrate the inauguration of the native son.
Expectation and assertion that as a Kenyan he must take care of his people is rampant here. In fact since I was in Angola in November and recently Nigeria the furvor is shocking.
I thought you would like to know.
Chris
