The Wright Stuff: Jeremiad from Jeremiah
posted at 7:21 am on April 28, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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Barack Obama told Chris Wallace during their Fox News interview that his former pastor was “a legitimate political issue,” and hours later, Jeremiah Wright proved him prophetic. Later that evening in Detroit, Wright gave a strange speech to the NAACP, providing more fodder for those who wonder how Obama could have sat in his church for 20 years and not understood how large a liability Wright could be. He suggested that differences in brain structure accounted for differences between blacks and whites, a speech that turned around would have generated shrieks of racism from the same audience:
The bulk of his remarks addressed, however, different groups seeing each other as deficient. He acted out the differences between marching bands at predominantly black and predominantly white colleges. “Africans have a different meter, and Africans have a different tonality,” he said. Europeans have seven tones, Africans have five. White people clap differently than black people. “Africans and African-Americans are right-brained, subject-oriented in their learning style,” he said. “They have a different way of learning.” And so on.
After jokingly mocking the Boston accents of former Presidents John F. and Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., Wright said, “nobody says to a Kennedy, ‘You speak bad English,’ only to a black child was that said.”
Wright said that he believes “a change is going to come, ’cause many of us are committed to change how we see others who are different.”Earlier in the day, Wright delivered two sermons at the Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, referring to his “public crucifixion,” according to the Houston Chronicle. Wright will address the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Monday morning.
Nobody says it to a Kennedy because the Kennedys speak English correctly, but plenty of white kids speak English badly, too. A language doesn’t have different rules for different ethnicities, although it certainly can have different dialects; American English is a different dialect than British English, but it still has rules of grammar, syntax, and spelling. Those rules don’t rest on the color of the skin of the speaker — and to claim that they do is racist in and of itself.
The marching-band explanation is particularly laughable. When people join marching bands, they don’t bring their own style into the group, as anyone who has ever participated in a marching band knows. They learn the discipline from whomever leads the band. The individuality gets drummed out of the players in all marching bands, and each member has to do what the entire unit does. That’s true in marching bands at predominantly African-American colleges just as it is at other schools, which also have black students well represented in their ranks. The stylistic differences come from the band’s leadership, not from physiological differences between the races.
The same can be said for the harebrained right/left brain explanation Wright gave as an organic difference between blacks and whites. The only physiological difference between blacks and whites come from the melanin content of their skin. All of the other differences are strictly cultural. Claiming that brain structures differ between the two feeds into every racist notion over the last four hundred years in this country, especially when it’s offered by a racial demagogue like Wright. Where did he learn his neurology? What papers has he published about brain structure?
This racial demagoguery can easily be seen in his choice of “European” for whites in the US. We’re not European; we’re American. My family stopped being European when my great-great-great grandfather stepped off the ship about 160 years ago. “European” didn’t really describe us even then; my family came from Ireland, Italy, and what is now Poland over a period of 60 years. Nobody I know considers themselves “European”, and the only time I hear this applied is when racial divisionists use the term.
Wright just made himself an even bigger political liability to Obama. Not only does he come across as someone who hates America, but now he sounds like a typical racist, conjuring up supposed physiological differences where none exist in order to explain his latent hatred. Team Obama has to be beating its head against the wall today, wondering how they can keep Jeremiah Wright retired.
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Wtf are you doing up this early, Ed?
Well, blogging, obviously. But still. Way to get a jump on things.
Savage on April 28, 2008 at 7:28 AM
Well, I’ve been known to occasionally check off “Other” on forms that ask for ethnic background and write in “European-American” just to annoy bureaucrats.
If “Black” isn’t offered as an option on the form, why should “White” be there?
flipflop on April 28, 2008 at 7:29 AM
Obama doesn’t see Wright as a liability. He has to be told that by advisers who understand it.
rockhauler on April 28, 2008 at 7:32 AM
It was simply appalling, wasn’t it?
“European” was code word for white.
Also, remember the BIG controversy over the book “The Bell Curve?” that suggested that blacks and whites were different physically and so on???
This is so much worse. Ugh.
Wright is so full of himself. He would rather take this opportunity to spout his racist speech than to defer to obama.It’s disgusting.
Rightwingsparkle on April 28, 2008 at 7:37 AM
“Nobody says to a Kennedy, ‘You speak bad English,’ only to a black child was that said.” said the Rev. Wright. Oh, silly me. I always thought there was a difference between an accent and horrible English. But hey, I went to school when English and diagramming of sentences were taught, so what do I know. He’s a few years older than me and went to school in Philly, so he knows better also. What a charlatan! And Mr. Obama either has insufficient powers of judgment to be president if he doesn’t know it or is just a plain ordinary politician who says what he needs to say to achieve office; neither show he is nor can be an honest agent of change and leader.
amr on April 28, 2008 at 7:43 AM
No one ever told Martin Luther King, Jr. or Malcolm X that they spoke poor English, either.
fusionaddict on April 28, 2008 at 7:45 AM
Wow. Does this mean people of both African and European ancestry have twelve tones? Whatever a “tone” is…
forest on April 28, 2008 at 7:57 AM
I’ll say it to a Kennedy if he won’t.
Ted, you speak bad English. There.
As for the golden-tongued Wright, he reminds us of the things liberals cling to when they get bitter, one of which is racial segregation.
whitetop on April 28, 2008 at 8:01 AM
Just … wow. At first he seemed like a cranky Gift-that-keeps-on-Giving, but now he seems really crazy/dangerous.
In that same stretch Obama has gone from a poseur/empty suit to a radical Manchurian candidate. Whoever has been calling him that is right. He is a Trojan Horse full of nasty little leftist haters.
Jaibones on April 28, 2008 at 8:05 AM
Sigh. I thought that Wright was just pandering to the pews, but it looks like he really believes this stuff.
Ellen on April 28, 2008 at 8:11 AM
I’m getting really sick and angry of the Racism that is rampant on the Left, particularly from our Black Liberation Theology student, the Obamaphenoma.
davecatbone on April 28, 2008 at 8:17 AM
But, of course, there are a lot of people operating under the common belief that at a certain level of melanin content, bigotry becomes physically impossible.
The primary side effect of this is severe brain cramping at predictable times (like now). And apparently, a complete brain lock, causing the sufferer to fall over and twitch uncontrollably, is often mistaken for an epileptic event, thus not widely covered by the media…
Wind Rider on April 28, 2008 at 8:21 AM
One has to wonder what “Reverend” Wright’s “unified day” will look like.
And I have to say, the comments thread over at Political Punch is one of the more bizarre I’ve read (although granted, I don’t hang out much at Kos or HuffPo).
Quisp on April 28, 2008 at 8:24 AM
Kennedy has a goof accent. That’s very different from ebonics or whatever stupid name you want to give it. Just like my friends in Brooklyn with the “hey youse guys” sound like idiots. Deal with it jackass. And this is classic:
Ha. Amazing.
Dash on April 28, 2008 at 8:27 AM
This is the final break with the last remnents of the Pro-Defense/Scoop Jackson to Joe Lieberman wing of the Democrat Party. By dissing the Pro-Defense Democrat icon John F. Kennedy, Rev. Wright has broken that link with the past. Let’s hope that the final “John F. Kennedy Democrats” left in the Party will now work their way to the GOP.
An appeal to JFK Dems to make the switch at Libertarian Republican blog.
ericdondero on April 28, 2008 at 8:40 AM
Agreed. Genetically and physiologically there is only one “race” of people. We are all descended from the same and contain that same DNA within us.
Simply put, Jeremiah Wright has no interest in seeing black people in America treated as equals. He is a racist. He desires nothing less than to see superiority by those he claims to lead. That is not the message of Martin Luther King, Jr. It is the message of evil.
pecan pie on April 28, 2008 at 8:44 AM
Hmmm, that brain structure thing that Wright speaks of sounds uncomfortably like the Nazis’ Aryan superiority and measuring people’s features to see how Aryan they really are.
I would suggest to Obama that he needs to tell Rev. Wright to shut the heck up because the more the good Rev. talks, the more stupid prejudiced crap he says.
mjk on April 28, 2008 at 8:57 AM
Wonder what the Kos/Huffpo have to say about all that Diversity Crap that Rev Wrong/NCAAP are so sure is the path to Racial Healing…jeez, these Black Liberation must be scaring the pants off the cowardly Left!
el Vaquero on April 28, 2008 at 8:57 AM
The problem right now with Wrong Way Wright is that the guy seriously needs a piping hot cup of SHUT THE HELL UP! B.O. has to be cringing every time this guy opens his mouth.
pilamaye on April 28, 2008 at 9:02 AM
The real question is, how many blacks agree, generally, with what Wright says?
exhelodrvr on April 28, 2008 at 9:15 AM
bad english.
they were a good band.
Midas on April 28, 2008 at 9:16 AM
I’m watching Wright on TV right now, and after reading this post, I “looked” at him for the first time, really. Is it just me, or does the man look more than half ‘white’? I’ve never analyzed ethnicity before, so maybe I just suck at it, but WTF?
Guess he just does it for the money, you think?
shibumiglass on April 28, 2008 at 9:17 AM
Another real question is how do the other races feel about this Reverend and his “blacks are superior” theology?
I’m guessing that’s gonna backfire for the good Reverend.
mjk on April 28, 2008 at 9:19 AM
Perhaps, in the interest of unity, Mr. Wright could explain why African-Americans are so welcoming to their African brethren.
Quisp on April 28, 2008 at 9:21 AM
Wright: Early-Onset-Alzheimer’s/Tourette’s brought on by a lifetime of victimhood and hatred.
With Chris Wallace yesterday, Obama kept calling Wright his ‘former pastor’. Hey Barack - Jerimiah Wright, by your own words, is your MENTOR, your SPIRITUAL ADVISER, and your GOOD FRIEND FOR ~18 YEARS.
Are you that bad of a judge of what people are really about?
rockbend on April 28, 2008 at 9:32 AM
You speak English badly. OR You do a bad job of speaking English. Bad has to modify speak(ing) not English.
talking_mouse on April 28, 2008 at 9:34 AM
rockbend on April 28, 2008 at 9:32 AM
By former pastor, BO is referring to Wright’s retirement, not because BO left the church.
swami on April 28, 2008 at 9:36 AM
There are actually quite a few genetic differences between peoples of African descent and those of northern European descent, resulting in differences in hair form, body shape (depending on region), blood chemistry, etc., for example, the well-known ’sickle-cell’ gene from some regions of Africa, which is fatal when homozygous but confers some immunity to malaria in heterozygous expression.
Such variation is true of all populations of the world (compare body shape of Eskimos and Nilotes), but there is only one ‘race’: homo sapiens sapiens. What we think of as ‘race’ is a cultural construct that has nothing to do with biology.
The big question is whether the loose lips of Rev. Wrong can sink the ship of Obambi. Keep your fingers crossed.
MrLynn on April 28, 2008 at 9:43 AM
I should add that differences in language, musical heritage, etc. (pentatonic scales are quite common in traditional musics around the world), are entirely cultural. Rev. Wrong is like a meat grinder: throw in whatever comes to mind that might be in his twisted mind attributable to ‘white’ versus ‘black’ and spew out the resulting irrational and illogical mess upon his unsuspecting flock.
The danger, of course, is that some of them will swallow it all and believe it—not excluding Obambi and his wife?
MrLynn on April 28, 2008 at 9:50 AM
My thoughts exactly as I watched Wright’s speech to the NAACP. When he went on and on about how blacks were going to take what was theirs I remember thinking “ouch, that’s going to leave a mark on Obama’s chances!”
Beyond that, isn’t it great that the guy to beat for the Dems is self-exterminating his chances? It even gives me pause to think a cranky old rat bastard traitor like McCain might win by default. The nation’s screwed no matter what so we might as well make our destruction as entertaining as possible until 2012 when (hopefully) the nation will nominate somebody responsible.
highhopes on April 28, 2008 at 9:53 AM
This is not a man of God.
This is not someone interested in peace.
Wright is a firebrand interested in not less, but more division.
A man of God preaches the gospel, but the gospel is not intended to foment hate and further suspicion.
Basically, he’s full of shit.
drjohn on April 28, 2008 at 9:55 AM
It’s just a small thing that Barry considers this jagoff to be his spiritual advisor.
No, we needed, in the past, to worry about Newt’s Mom calling Hillary a name, and Nancy Reagan maybe visiting an astrologer.
But a full on psycho racist who viscerally loathes the country being a spiritual advisor to a President?
Not really a big thing.
benrand on April 28, 2008 at 10:02 AM
They were just “acting white.”
/what?
funky chicken on April 28, 2008 at 10:16 AM
Ok, I’m confused, or perhaps paranoid, did this quote bother anyone else?
4shoes on April 28, 2008 at 10:16 AM
In my opinion, Conservatives (as their history includes) would do well in the future also to champion the “one race” mentality in America…because it’s true. We all know Democrats have no interest in this truth because it does not serve their political agenda.
pecan pie on April 28, 2008 at 10:17 AM
The more this guy opens his mouth, the more I think how
foolishdumb it would be to elect as president anyone for whom he was his “spiritual advisor.”JayVee on April 28, 2008 at 10:18 AM
Sigh - why does it seem that all the true racists are a) screaming RACIST every five seconds, b) behaving like racists and c) Leftists?
This is all so tedious.
Obama’s race is an irrelevance. The fact that he is totally out of his depth is an issue - one that his mixed race background will probably not be enough to cover for.
He’s just not a strong candidate. It’s sad that we live in a world where people can’t accept that and have to cry ‘Racist’ as if it were some kind of talisman for incompetents.
Ares on April 28, 2008 at 10:24 AM
It isn’t because it isn’t groundbreaking. Jesse Jackson was “spiritual advisor” to Bill Clinton during the impeachment proceedings (nevermind that at the time Jackson was shelling out money from his charity to keep the mother of his bastard child quiet).
Last night was a sample of Wright as presidential spritual advisor. A President Obama would most certainly keep Wright around and dismiss any criticism of his racist dogma as not understanding how blacks view the world.
highhopes on April 28, 2008 at 10:26 AM
This guy is beginning to disgust me in ways I never thought imaginable — I couldn’t stand him at first, now I’m beginning to loathe him.
He is a race-baiting, qausi-religious fool.
Richard Romano on April 28, 2008 at 10:33 AM
Wright: “a change is going to come, ’cause many of us are committed to change how we see others who are different.”
Barack Obama talks a lot about change, and said that the bitter small-people cling to religion and don’t accept people who are different from themselves. Anyone see a pattern here? And is THIS the religion that Obama clings to?
It’s no wonder that Barack Obama compared Wright to his white grandmother. They have both said things that made him cringe.
Wright’s hatred and idiocy is outdone only by his ego–he probably doesn’t even know that he has become Barack Obama’s worst nightmare! But he’s enjoying his moment of fame SO much, HE couldn’t care less!
Keep talking, “Reverend” Wright!!! Keep on screeching in our “European” ears in your five dissonant tones–and we’ll remember in November!
To paraphrase John the Baptist, Wright must increase and Obama must decrease…
Steve Z on April 28, 2008 at 10:36 AM
What the heck is a tone and how do I count my tones to see how many I have?
Keli on April 28, 2008 at 10:36 AM
I liked the way he went on CBS News and presented himself as a soft-spoken subdued pastor who had been misquoted. Then, last night, to see Wright in front of blacks in the full-fledged racist mode! Trent Lott was crucified for being nice to a 100-year-old man and Obama gets a pass on this??????? Just goes to show you can’t trust the media to be fair.
highhopes on April 28, 2008 at 10:39 AM
Here we have the same problem as we had with Wright’s “chickens coming home to roost” 9/11 comments. Those 9/11 comments that Wright made were actually quotations of Edward Peck, a Reagan Republican. Wright quoted Peck and was demonized for it. Peck, however, who happens to be a McCain delegate, was not even mentioned.
In this thread Mr. Morrissey brings up Wright’s “hairbrained right/left brain explanation,” but Wright was not offering his own thoughts here, but was talking about the work of Janice E. Hale, an educator with a PhD in early childhood education who taught at Yale for 16 years. Specifically, he was talking about her book titled “Black Children: Their Roots, Culture and Learning Styles.”
Neither Wright nor Hale makes any claims about differing brain structures. The word “brain” only comes up one time in Hale’s book, and in a different context. Wright’s hemispherical description of Hale’s work may be simplistic, but he is not claiming that there are any “organic differences” in brain structures. What Wright and Hale are both talking about is learning styles, and the cultural differences that influence learning styles. One blurb on the back of Hale’s book says “I have encountered no other single work that emphasizes the significance of cultural and cultural experiences upon the development and educational advancement of African-American children in the US. Hale takes an important step in trying to find ways of improving the effectiveness of educational programs geared to black children.” They are both talking about cultural differences, not brain structures.
Since the issues brought up are not Wright’s, but Hale’s, it is Hale’s education that is relevant. She has not published much in neurology or brain structure, but that is not what either was talking about. She has, however, published a lot relating to education.
dave742 on April 28, 2008 at 10:58 AM
I have been beyond the point where I wouldn’t mind seeing Rev. Dr. in a ring with Kimbo Slice.
I wouldn’t mid him getting a Code Red.
What a complete a$$hole. Honestly, I can’t remember seeing a more foul piece of human debris.
A friend’s Mom is a minister for another UCC church, she is a left wing nut too.
benrand on April 28, 2008 at 11:18 AM
Will the Wright torpedo be the end of the SS Obama?
I R A Darth Aggie on April 28, 2008 at 11:50 AM
And the worst thing is that he is playing the typical victim game: you don’t like what I say, must be because you hate the black church. What complete and utter nonsense — how about judging your teachings against reality, Rev. Wright?
Richard Romano on April 28, 2008 at 12:00 PM
In one of the comment threads, some moron lib referred to her husband as ‘jazz musician, european-american’. I guess next they have to invent some victimhood for european-americans to fit nicely into Identity Politics.
p0s3r on April 28, 2008 at 12:00 PM
One of the conclusions of the Human Genome project was that there was no genetic basis for the concept of “race.” We are all one people who are shaped by their culture and environment.
Rev. Wright is perpetuating the myth of race in an effort to end racial divisions. That makes sense if you are a liberal, I guess.
Mallard T. Drake on April 28, 2008 at 12:01 PM
Precisely. Separatists spew their message in direct opposition to the beliefs of MLK, Jr. Separatism has become financially profitable. Not just for individuals like Wright, but for all such groups. The only way to encourage assimilation (America, the melting pot) is to remove all tax breaks, grants, and other outside sources of funding.
Connie on April 28, 2008 at 12:50 PM
Wasn’t this the kind of talk that got Reggie White into trouble when he spoke to the Wisconsin Legislature a few years back?
Dudley Smith on April 28, 2008 at 12:57 PM
Do tan people have six tones?
cthulhu on April 28, 2008 at 1:35 PM
Jeremiah Wright is confusing dialect with grammer. Ebonics anyone?
DANEgerus on April 28, 2008 at 2:21 PM
Sorry Captain Ed. What Rev. Wright said is PC Multiculturalist orthodoxy. All animals are equal, but some more equal than others. All “groups” are special and different and have tribal-group loyalty, except “typical white persons” who should just “shut up and die already” (to quote Elaine from Seinfeld, regarding something else).
Separatism is the default value in the West, not just America (look at Europe) so that’s a done deal. Moaning about it won’t change it. It is what it is.
The good news I suppose is that with tribalism the default values now in society, pushed by the media and Dems, the “tribe” of those who bitterly cling to their guns, religion, and antipathy to those not like them is the biggest demographic slice.
Perhaps Rev. Wright’s brain in particular is just not good at math. /sarcasm.
Yes, Dr. King understood the danger of separatism. But it was inevitable I think. We just have to accept it.
whiskey_199 on April 28, 2008 at 2:55 PM
Have to differ with you on two points on this one statement:
1) It’s not true. There are other physiological differences between blacks and whites.
2) It doesn’t matter, anyway. The important thing is not that we have to be just alike, but that we’re all human beings whether we’re different or not.
Of course, Wright is still a nutcase…
tom on April 28, 2008 at 2:58 PM
dave742
I admire your tenacity in the sisyphean task of cleaning up after Reverend Wright. Wright is quoting Peck. Do tell. Reverend Wright does a little happy chicken dance, turning a full 360 degrees when he says “chickens coming home to roost.” Did McCain delegate Peck shake his tail feather when he was delivering the original quote? I would be interested in seeing that. Then, Wright says “right brain” but he doesn’t mean it in the neurological sense.
I’m not sure what you’re motivation is in defending the fairly transparent Wright. It’s stupid to even try — it’s the equivalent or “Who you gonna believe? Me, or your lyin’ eyes?” — and whatever headway you make the guy will undo with his next doozy. The guy’s a loose cannon. When the good Reverend preaches that America invented AIDS and introduced drugs into the ghetto as a racial conspiracy, was he quoting Peck again, or maybe was it Thomas Jefferson?
shazbat on April 28, 2008 at 3:14 PM
shazbat:
I explained here on April 25, 2008 at 9:25 AM.
I don’t know. I was unable to find the original FOX News interview with Peck. I doubt that Peck did a dance. Quoting someone is only dependent on the words, however.
Just because Wright used a layman’s psychology term does not mean he was “claiming that brain structures differ between the two.” He did not make this claim. Wright was talking about Hale’s book, and she did not make the claim either. Both Hale and Wright were saying that cultural differences can influence learning styles. This is valid. Any other representation of what was said at this part of the speech is incorrect. I like to discuss what a person actually says, and not a distortion or misrepresentation of what a person says. It’s a thing I have.
I have not even looked into these quotes. If I were to try and keep up with every mangled quote from the MSM or this site I would have to quit my job. If you can show me the actual quotes (more than 3 words?), I would like to see them. Personally, I haven’t seen anything that Wright actually said that I disagree with, including Peck’s quote. I don’t disagree with this Peck quote either (from the thread linked to above):
dave742 on April 28, 2008 at 3:40 PM
No one ever said to a White person “Speak proper English”? I know of many Souterners who have had their accent mocked, or called a speech impediment. One boss told me I should not say “y’all” because it sounded dumb. I asked him what I should say, he suggested “you guys”. I said “Yes, that sounds REALLY intelligent, especially when said to a group of women”
Gatordoug on April 28, 2008 at 7:17 PM
Ed wrote:
I know it’s deeply, politically incorrect to say otherwise, but I think it’s pretty obvious that this is not so.
Do you really believe that 50% of the NFL and 80% of NBA are black simply because of a cultural difference? Or might it be because certain racial groups have certain physiological advantages?
The only reason we’re saying “The only difference is melanin” is because racially-oriented political correctness has stopped any research into differences between races. It’s too sensitive an issue to research, so no research is done — and it’s unlikely that any good would come out of such research in any case. But to say that the only differences are in color is to ignore observational evidence. There are other differences — not that Rev Wright with his race rage would be able to assess them clearly.
philwynk on April 28, 2008 at 9:12 PM