Just to keep up to date, the noxious Rev. Jeremiah Wright will speak at the Detroit branch of the NAACP 53rd Annual Fight for Freedom Fund dinner. I would have jumped on this one yesterday, but given that NAACP chair Julian Bond has compared the GOP to the Taliban, given an award to someone who called Condoleeza Rice a murderer, and engaged in bizarre conspiracy theories about Hurricane Katrina, it is far more predictable than outrageous (though it is that also).
On a lighter note (because of the honkiness), I learned a little more about the relationship betweeen Wright and Oprah Winfrey. Recently, there had been a report that Oprah had left Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ several years ago, over some of his more militant sermons.ÂÂ
However, in a piece on Oprah’s “spirituality” by Jesse Walker at Reason’s Hit & Run blog, there is a link to a 2002 article from Christianity Today, in which Wright is quoted as saying, “Somebody who makes $100 a week has no problem tithing. But start making $35 million a year, and you’ll want to renegotiate the contract. You don’t want to be a part of ‘organized religion’ at that point.”  Oprah might have more credibility than the guy who thinks the US created the AIDS virus, though one cannot dismiss the possibility that Team Oprah was trying to undo some of the damage she has suffered from hitching her star to the Obamamobile.
Update: Insta-lanche!
Comment by Tom the Redhunter on 4/11 @ 5:48 am #
And to think that we’re constantly told by groups like the NAACP that we need a national “conversation on race”
Well I’m sorry but I see no point in having a conversation with people like Jeremiah Wright or Julian Bond.
Comment by Carin on 4/11 @ 5:50 am #
Wright is JUST what Detroit needs; a man who is prolly gonna blame a white man for all Detroit’s troubles - INCLUDING Kwame’s. The white suburbanites are just trying to keep a brother DOWN, you know. Detroit is ground zero for blame whitey, because if it’s NOT his fault (crime, crumbling schools, decaying neighborhoods) then Bill Cosby may be right.
Comment by K T Cat on 4/11 @ 5:52 am #
Why all the fuss about Rev. Wright? It’s not like this is anything new. The folks at the NAACP are allowed to say absolutely anything while people like Sen. Allen have their careers terminated because they called some jerk who was hounding them endlessly a macaca. The NAACP and their ilk are essentially the nation’s indulged children. They’re not held up to the standards one sets for adults.
Comment by Dan Collins on 4/11 @ 6:14 am #
Instalanche, you macacaroons!
Comment by Dave on 4/11 @ 6:22 am #
To Comment by Carin… “prolly gonna blame” what the hell is prolly? Is it a verbal short for professional folly? Or is it a sarcastic, wink wink, nod to hip-hop speak that when translated means probably. I hope for the sake of the english language you really meant “probably”.
PS I totally agree with your sentiments
Comment by Carin on 4/11 @ 6:26 am #
I probably meant “probably”. Dave, can I introduce you to nishi? If you have issues with my “prolly” you’re gonna have a HECK of time with her.
Comment by alppuccino on 4/11 @ 6:49 am #
Yeah Carin,
And what is “gonna”? Is it short for an STD, and thereby implies that all blacks have some kind of VD? Or is it some deranged send up of an old Hank Williams Jr. lyric. Either way, that’ll be $75.00.
Comment by McGehee on 4/11 @ 7:04 am #
I dunno.
Comment by alppuccino on 4/11 @ 7:06 am #
Alaska
Comment by Pablo on 4/11 @ 7:07 am #
That’s ’cause you’re stoopid. Or not.
Comment by Carin on 4/11 @ 7:09 am #
Do you take checks, Al? Third-party, out-of-state checks?
Comment by Jeffersonian on 4/11 @ 7:10 am #
I’m tired of being blamed for the HIV virus. Can we get the CIA to invent something else?
Comment by alppuccino on 4/11 @ 7:14 am #
Do you take checks, Al? Third-party, out-of-state checks?
I’d prefer it, since there prolly aren’t many banks that are liquid in Michigan?
Comment by nishi's doppleganger on 4/11 @ 7:17 am #
eyem confoosd bye alz these engluch werdz n eyem gunna jest sayz itz cux uv xtian snak handlrz n id wakos lulz
btw caren iz theoconetez n wantz al stoodenz lokd upz untilz theye beleevz in id lol
Comment by DoDoGuRu on 4/11 @ 7:21 am #
And to think that we’re constantly told by groups like the NAACP that we need a national “conversation on raceâ€Â
9 times out of 10, any group making noise about a “conversation” on race really means they want to give a “sermon” on race, to which you should be listening.
Comment by BJTexs TW/BP on 4/11 @ 7:30 am #
The obvious conclusion is that Wright really is “mainstream” in race politics and that his more eggregious proclamations are acceptable to a “mainstream” African American organization.
You know, while we’re “conversing” about it.
Perhaps the NAACP will offer a scholarship in race baiting, Wright style for which Obama can then declare his support for a college education even if he distances himself from the more odious aspects of said education.
What a carnival this is. The only things missing are the three headed calf and Hoo-Ha, The Hairy Man. And midget clowns ;-D
Comment by Ardsgaine on 4/11 @ 7:56 am #
9 times out of 10, any group making noise about a “conversation†on race really means they want to give a “sermon†on race, to which you should be listening.
It’s like when I tell my kids “we need to talk,” and what I really mean is that they need to listen while I fuss at them.
Except that I’m a grown man, and I’m not going to listen while someone fusses at me, especially when that someone is full of crap.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 4/11 @ 8:04 am #
Lord Ickenham: “I’ve just been seeing her off on the boat at Southampton. She is taking a trip to the West Indies.”
Bill Oakshott: “Jamaica?”
Lord Ickenham: “No, she went of her own free will.”
Comment by MarkD on 4/11 @ 8:24 am #
I don’t have a problem with race. I don’t see any benefit to listening to someone with a bad attitude and worse manners trying to tell me that I do.
Comment by Karl on 4/11 @ 8:26 am #
Ardsgaine,
That is a great analogy. I will do my best to remember to credit you in the event that I steal it. ;-)
Comment by memomachine on 4/11 @ 9:04 am #
Hmmmmm.
So Wright, who screams about the pursuit of Middleclassness, wanted 10% of Oprah’s gross income?
Comment by Tood on 4/11 @ 9:12 am #
Is it just me, or is Reverend Wright not actually dark enough to call himself black?
Comment by BJTexs TW/BP on 4/11 @ 9:23 am #
Heh! Who do you think said the following?
Hint: Think limo-liberal and faux-intellectual (the latter should be apparent by the mind numbing stupidity of the above.)
Don’t worry, it’s just part of that new “conversation.”
Comment by BJTexs TW/BP on 4/11 @ 9:37 am #
memomachine:
He’s pushing a literalist’s view of biblical titheing but the “middleclassness” thing has some additional reasoning.
Ya see, Wright wants Blacks to aspire to “middleincomeness” while eschewing “middleclassness.” In Wright world (where every silver lining is trapped and flayed by a white tornado) Ray and Yvonne TMIBC (Typical Middle Income Black couple) would be “hypnotized” into assimilating into the “middle classness” that is run by Whitey O’Pressor and, thus, will be fooled into trading their Liberation bona fides for backyard barbeques with Robert and Sally MacRacists and a quick 18 holes with Fritz, Bubba and Jethro. “Middleclassness” becomes the oppressors way to mind control successful TMIBC’s into thinking that they are a part of the classless community while Robert, Sally, Fritz, Bubba and Jethro continue to beat the African American down.
Us white folks are incidious that way.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 4/11 @ 9:40 am #
would be “hypnotized†into assimilating into the “middle classnessâ€Â
Sounds like Bourdieu.
If Bourdieu had had a serious crystal meth habit, that is.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 4/11 @ 9:41 am #
Well, he’s got nothing against upperclassness.
Comment by Ardsgaine on 4/11 @ 10:35 am #
Karl,
Feel free. Just remember to send me 10% of all the money you make from it. ;)
Comment by Richard of Oregon on 4/11 @ 12:15 pm #
Call me a right-wing conspiracy nutcase, but it almost looks like Rev. Wright, Julian Bond, etc., are determined to alienate the majority white voters and thus assure Obama’s defeat. What might they gain if he wins the presidency? Others will certainly gain, but will they? They may lose the security of their positions, if Obama were to unite all Americans as he promises to do somehow. So much of the leadership in the Black community draw their power, fame and income from being confrontive to Whites in general.
Comment by TmjUtah on 4/11 @ 12:36 pm #
I thought that Wright had been safely tucked away someplace where his anti-American rants and visceral race hatred wouldn’t distract from Obama’s intended campaign propa… message?
Wasn’t he studying in Qom, trying to buff his credentials?
Oops. Sorry.
Wrong American hating firebrand.
Comment by MC on 4/11 @ 12:36 pm #
Oprah makes far more than $35M a year - good thing she’s (apparently) not a TUCC tither…hmmm “TUCC tither” - Dan could write a song…
Karl, when you take a small break from excellent work, you’ve got mail…
Comment by McGehee on 4/11 @ 1:08 pm #
Here she comes
Here comes TUCC Tither
She’s a demon on wheels…
Comment by MC on 4/11 @ 1:36 pm #
McGehee! Ha!
Comment by Karl on 4/11 @ 1:45 pm #
MC,
Glad to hear about the mail, but accessing it via the web is dodgy proposition (BAD AOL!) I look fwd to checking it this evening.
Comment by Karl on 4/11 @ 1:50 pm #
BJTexs,
The video may still be up.
Trackback by lyric lyric on 4/25 @ 11:49 pm #
lyric lyric
What can I say, it’s new for me, but very interesting.