April 2008

The Arrow

Volume III, Issue 3

Welcome Spring!! I never followed the seasons while living in Arizona, probably because there are no seasons in Arizona. Here in New York, we mark the calendar for the end of winter. We are hopefully confident that good weather is just around the corner.

Shoutout

To the pastor and men of the Bethel Baptist Church in White Plains, NY. This church is located virtually in the middle of what is referred to as a low-income housing development. The men of the church have adopted one of the towers in the complex and are providing mentoring and other services to the young men of that tower. Praise God for men who recognize the call to do more than sit around the church and argue about insignificant church politics and policies.

THE SHOT

It was inevitable. It had to happen. The prophetic preaching of Dr. Jeremiah Wright has become an issue in the presidential campaign of his member, Barack Obama, who by necessity has undertaken the unenviable task of explaining the black church, and by extension the frustrations of the black community, to a skeptical white America. How he fares in this endeavor will be a test of both his political acumen and the ability of white America to confront its racist past and the enduring, residual consequences of that past.

From the beginning Sen. Obama has attempted a tightrope walk worthy of the best circus performer. On the one hand, in order to be successful he must make white people feel comfortable. On the other, he desires to maintain his identity as a black man, an identity that is not acceptable to many white Americans. Any of us who have worked in corporate America are familiar with this balancing act. We learn to move effortlessly between two cultures; our demeanor and conversation morph as we travel from the office to the barbershop. On a daily basis we make decisions, sometimes unconsciously and automatically, about what we will do and won’t do to make white folks comfortable.

But none of us has subjected ourselves to the level of scrutiny that Sen. Obama now endures. I am certain Pastor Wright is not the only person in the senator’s circle of friends and acquaintances who would make the average white person uncomfortable. Studies and surveys routinely reveal that most African-Americans harbor opinions about the current state of race relations in America that are vastly different than the opinions of the average white person. As Sen. Obama remains a member of our community, he naturally has association with people who are not as optimistic about the “goodness” of white people as he is. Yet, these people are viable and valuable members of the black community, and as he declared in his Philadelphia speech, he is not willing to dismiss them as unacceptable quacks.

Dr. Wright presents an extreme example of that portion of our community that does not share Sen. Obama’s optimism about the majority culture’s ability to treat people of color with dignity and respect. Extreme not so much in his belief, but in his intellect, passion, courage, and eloquence. Unlike his member, Dr. Wright is not campaigning for the acceptance of white America. Rather, he operates in the fashion of the Old Testament prophet, who stood outside the gates that protected the rulers of the day and defiantly declared their sins and shortcomings, damn the consequences. The prophet never sought the approval of the powerful; his mission was to expose their hypocrisy with the hope that they would confess their sins and change their ways.

Interestingly, Dr. King, whose assassination we commemorate this month, was a combination of Dr. Wright and Sen. Obama. While white America dwells on the soaring, uplifting, optimistic portions of Dr. King’s speeches (the echoes of which they hear in Sen. Obama’s speeches), they ignore his condemnations of white America that are just as prophetic as the declarations of Dr. Wright. Reread his letter from a Birmingham jail, where he chastised the white clergy for their complicity in maintaining the Jim Crow laws in the South. Read his speeches in the two years before his death, where he condemned America for ignoring the poor and prosecuting an unjust war. Quiet as it’s kept, Dr. King embodied both the frustrations of Dr. Wright and the optimism of Sen. Obama.

Can Sen. Obama convincingly explain to a skeptical America the pessimism in the black community and the role of the black church in our community? Now that it knows Sen. Obama is unwilling to “throw under the bus” a pillar of the black community who makes white people uncomfortable, will white America still be comfortable with the candidate? These are the challenges faced by the senator as he continues his campaign. His success or failure will say much about his political abilities; it will say much more about the true state, and the true heart, of white America.

WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON?

The next week I spoke twice at Bethel Baptist Church in White Plains, where Dr. Edward O. Williamson is the pastor. They seem to have a great relationship between pastor and men, and as noted above are doing a great work in their community.

WHAT'S COMING UP?