Comments on: Obama’s Preacher Flap Evokes Memories

By: Odie

Odie — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:38:25 +0000

Yes, Jose, we know Obama is done. You’ve been saying that for months now and the guy keeps on ticking, for better or worse.
Looks to me like he’s something of a teflon man. His supposed gaffe on small town America is thus far making no dents in his support or in the polls, and even one of Hill’s biggest supporters, Penn Gov Rendell, said the Obama comments won’t lead to “a sea change” in his support.
And just yesterday, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, one of the more beloved figures in Pennsylvania representing the state’s most loved sports team, endorsed Obama.
Yes, Obama is `cooked.’

By: Jose

Jose — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 23:03:07 +0000

Whoa there fellas, especially George Lopez, in your haste to smear me and cleanse Obama you have made several mistakes in Logic. First, making a sermon that a higher authority was going to bring damnation down on America for its sins and inequities by tolerating gays and abortions IS NOTHING like saying that white people made and then distributed the AIDS virus to kill people of color. There is no comparison in the two comments. Second, at no time have I ever heard Jimmy Swaggart, Pat Robertson or any high profile preacher for that matter, say that abortionists or homosexuals needed to be killed. And add the “God Damn the United States ” statements, and Obama sat there for 20 + years, I think your Liberal goose is cooked. Better switch this weekend to Hillary, because your boy Obama is…cooooked! He is done!

By: Joaquin

Joaquin — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:48:07 +0000

Whoa, truly deep. I grew up in a Baptist church made up almost entirely of Mexican-Americans, with both languages used in instruction and conversation. Bibles in both languages were read and used. We enjoyed each other’s company. The young people saw their church elders as being role models fully deserving of respect.
That’s not ethnocentrism, Lou Dobbs.
That’s part of growing up religious in America, just like white evangelicals enjoying their churches, African-Americans enjoying theirs, etc., and some churches having peoples of all backgrounds.
It’s all good and all American.
I know it gives a lot of righties the creeps for other Americans to enjoy some elements of their ethnic heritage since they have none of their own. Nothing wrong with that, but one size does not fit all. Like the USA Today columnist said, “America is bigger than my tribe or yours.”

By: Typical White Person

Typical White Person — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:13:25 +0000

Hemmingway was the master at symbolism and metaphorical charectors, thanks, although I sense some condescention in your response. Most of Hemmignway’s symbolism as you know was Biblical in its Genisis, although in 2008 many of his charectors would be panned as racial sterotypes and probably be misunderstood, jsut like you misunderstand me. With that said, we still have not gotten to the root of why it is so difficult to understand each other, it is Ethnocentrism.
Ethnocentrism is the Belief in the superiority of one’s own ethnic group or an Overriding concern with race. Now when you look at most of the above comments they all have some elements of Ethnocentrism.
Racism is not much of a stretch from Ethnocentrism.
The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
Discrimination or prejudice based on race. Think about it, is Darkness the absence of Light, or is Light the absence of Darkness, is there Good without Evil, is there Evil with out Good. Is Ethnocentrism part of human nature or is learned behavior, I think it is learned behavior, and in some cases, learned Sunday mourning.

By: George Lopez

George Lopez — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:53:24 +0000

Hey, Jose, you would have been right at home in the Joe McCarthy 1950s where every other person was accused of being a commie.
No, Jose Joe, if Sen. McCain went to a Phoenix church where a white evangelical preacher regularly warned that the higher authority was going to bring damnation down on America for its sins and inequities of tolerating gays and abortions, there wouldn’t be a ripple of news media attention, especially on Fox and talk radio.
It’s OK if a Jimmy Swaggart or Pat Robertson say the higher authority will damn America for its sins, but not OK when a black preacher says the same sort of wrath will come down on America for its past history of discrimination.
Personally, I think God has far greater things to worry about. But you righties always have to be agitated about something.

By: Joaquin

Joaquin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:29:02 +0000

How silly, having a so-called `ethnic experience’ does not equate into `soft racism.’ I’ve yet to see any evidence that anything you could write could help me or anyone else grow as a person, Hemingway.
On the other hand, one can learn from others who are more thoughtful and logical, less ideological and judging.
From March 24 issue of USA Today, a guest column by Oliver `Buzz’ Thomas:
“Here’s what white folk like me are missing. The black church experience is different - and not just a little. I’ve had the privilege of being in the pulpits and pews of African-American churches on numerous occasions, and it’s nothing like the experience of most white churches.
“What some white commentators were describing as hysterical in Obama’s church was just good black preaching. My guess is that most of these commentators have never been inside of a black church.
“Candidates can’t be expected to vouch for all that their ministers say, and one segment of America’s religious community has no business imposing its views as normative on another. I’m a white Southern Baptist, but America is bigger than my tribe or yours.”
Those words you can really learn from, maybe grow a little, bub.

By: Typical White Person

Typical White Person — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:04:31 +0000

Joaquin, nice try although I think that you are digging your hole a little deeper everytime you try and justify either your ethnic experiance or Obama’s, as something other than soft racism. As I stated it is a good thing that this is getting out in the open. I in no way would justify the rantings of the so called White Hate spewers, they are just as bad. It must be difficult for you to realize that you may harbour some of the same racist tendencies that were echoed as you say in the halls after or before church. Keep the garbage flowing Jack, you are growing as a person.

By: Typical American of Mexican descent

Typical American of Mexican descent — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:17:52 +0000

Typical right-wingers always believe that if an American who retains some of his or her family’s ethnic heritage is not being sufficiently American. Just read some of the above posts to get that spin.
If one grows up in a Catholic church in South Texas where some Masses are said in Spanish, does that make someone less American than say a fellow American who grew up going a southern Baptist church in Georgia?
No, of course, not, but don’t expect the mind of a right winger to grasp that concept.
Ethnocentrism? Tell that to our brave U.S. soldiers of Hispanic descent, some of whom are the sons and daughters of immigrants, and who serve their country proudly.
Some of us are quite capable of being both authentically American and enjoying elements of our ethnic heritage. There’s over 300 million people living in this fine country. How many listen to right-wing radio or watch Fox News? It ain’t more than 10-20 million. Now there’s a real minority.

By: Joaquin

Joaquin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:08:09 +0000

White evangelical preachers have long been warning that the wrath of God will come down on America - and saying it in quite animated terms for some years now. Their rationales focus on homosexuality and abortion, for the most part.
Black preachers have long been criticial of this country for injustices they see that revolve around discrimination and oppression against the African-American community.
Whether any of the above is true or not, men and women of the clergy have voiced those views for many years. It’s now new. When Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson said, essentially, after 9/11 that America had it coming because of its tolerance of gays and abortions, there wasn’t much of a whimper about it from talk radio and the right-leaning media.
If a black preacher says something along those lines then, predictably, it’s branded as being unpatrotic.
In my column, TWB, I recounted my upbringing under a sometimes fiery Baptist preacher. How that somehow means I harbor racist views is strange, the logic of which I don’t follow.
I wouldn’t know where all of this takes Obama’s campaign. Latest Gallup numbers show Obama back on something of an upward trend, so the speech he made of last week may have left a positive impact as far as his candidacy.

By: Typical White Person

Typical White Person — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 02:30:24 +0000

I am glad to see that this is all being brought out in the open. Maybe now we can understand that racism is not just a White only phenomenon. Racisim is the fruit of ethnocentrism, anyone that does not want to believe that it is not is naive or just plain fooling themselves. I have some close friends that were very excited about Obama’s run for the Presidency and I now fear that they are going to be very disapointed. It looks like what we have is just a slicker Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton.