# \*sigh\* Obama is not a "racist" (and neither is Rev. Wright, really) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 1, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547 "2008-04-01T16:38:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/221 "2008-04-28T21:50:09Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] Oh, he said a lot. Talking your way into black-means-white usually takes a lot of time. Regards, Shodan [/QUOTE] Well, I’ve only got about 2,000 posts right now but I’m sure I’ll get there. ---
**Author:** ![Ocean\_Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8797f3/32.png) [@Ocean\_Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ocean_Annie)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/222 "2008-04-28T21:54:41Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] This is why this discussion is pointless.Apparently “black” isn’t a race, and Christianity isn’t a theology. > [@](#): > > BILL MOYERS: So, when Trinity Church says it is unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian, is it embracing a race-based theology? > REVEREND WRIGHT: No, it is not. Well, [there’s glory for you.](http://www.sabian.org/Alice/lgchap06.htm) Regards, Shodan [/QUOTE] If the goal is to promote honest understanding, the quote should not be taken out of context. > [@](#): > > **REVEREND WRIGHT** : …Dr Reuben Sheares is my predecessor – he was the interim pastor at Trinity – coined the phrase " **unashamedly black," where blacks coming outta the '60s were no longer ashamed of being black people, nor did they have to apologize for being Christians. Because many persons in the African-American community were teasing us, Christians, of being a white man’s religion**. And no, we’re not ashamed of Christianity. And we don’t have to apologize for who we are as African-Americans. So that, I think, is what Marty was talking about. > > **BILL MOYERS** : So, when Trinity Church says it is unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian, is it embracing a race-based theology? > > **REVEREND WRIGHT** : **No, it is not. It is embracing Christianity without giving up Africanity. A lotta the missionaries were going to other countries assuming that our culture is superior, that you have no culture.** And to be a Christian, you must be like us. Right now, you can go to Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and see Christians in 140-degree weather. They have to have on a tie. Because that’s what it means to be a Christian. Well, it’s that kind of assuming that our culture, “We have the only sacred music. You must sing our music. You must use a pipe organ. You cannot use your instrument.” It’s that kind of assumption that in the field of missions, people say, “You know what? We’re doing this wrong. We need to take Christ and leave culture at home. We need to learn the culture of people into which we’re moving, and preach the methods of Jesus Christ using the culture that we are a part of.” Well, the same thing happened with Christians in this country when they said, “You know what? Because those same missionaries who went south, they didn’t let us sing gospel music.” That was not sacred– ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/223 "2008-04-28T22:04:35Z")
[QUOTE=Gangster Octopus] Geez, you’d think it was Wright himself who is running for President. The press is really playing this up as Obama = Wright, unless he can prove otherwise. [/QUOTE] I haven’t seen that at all. > [@](#): > > am so ridiculously fed up with this “issue”. Isn’t there a war? Isn’t rhere a credit crisi? Isn’t the country slipping into recession? Health care, anyone? This is driving me crazy, what is supposed to happen here. I mean the press talk about this Reverend Wright thing, woithout really ever saying what the issue is. It seems to boil donw to, “Obama has a problem” and “Obama needs to explain this”. It is sad, because I beleive the real question they want to ask is, “You are a angry black man, with angry black friends, please make us white folks feel comfortable that you aren’t really angry.” Well, the “issue” would’ve died down if the Reverend himself hadn’t put himself back in the spotlight. But I’d also add that folks here seem to be more interested in discussing this than the press does. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/224 "2008-04-28T23:09:43Z")
Is it racist for an Irish Catholic to be proude to be Catholic and proud to be Irish? The proper analogies to Blacvk" are specifc ethnicities like Irish, Italian, Polish, whatever. Black Americans have as much right to ethnic pride as anyone else. “White” is not a valid comp[arison, because no such ethnicity exists. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/225 "2008-04-28T23:19:29Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Is it racist for an Irish Catholic to be proude to be Catholic and proud to be Irish? [/quote] Yes, I think that’s an important point. I didn’t see anything racist in Wright’s remarks about his church. > [@](#): > > The proper analogies to Blacvk" are specifc ethnicities like Irish, Italian, Polish, whatever. Black Americans have as much right to ethnic pride as anyone else. “White” is not a valid comp[arison, because no such ethnicity exists. Not buying that, however. If “Black” can be an ethnic group, then “White” can, too. I think I represent a lot of White people who aren’t particularly associated with any Old World ethnic group. I’m a White American guy, and I probably share a lot in common with other White American guys. If Blacks from NYC, the rural south, and LA are connected in some meaningful way, then White are, too. We all are connected in various levels of subcultures. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/226 "2008-04-29T00:03:57Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Well, the “issue” would’ve died down if the Reverend himself hadn’t put himself back in the spotlight. [/QUOTE] You can’t seriously believe that. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/227 "2008-04-29T00:10:12Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] You can’t seriously believe that. [/QUOTE] McCain will probably bring it up again in the fall, but it was old news until this last week when Wright made himself an issue again. Now, he may have had a legitimate reason for doing so, but he was the cause nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/228 "2008-04-29T00:14:07Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] What did Wright say that was “racially insenitive?” [/QUOTE] How about his bullshit statement that white people use their brains to learn like this (logically) and black people use their brains to learn like this (creatively)? That is not an exact quote. ---
**Author:** ![RachelW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac8455/32.png) [@RachelW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelW)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/229 "2008-04-29T00:29:28Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] How about his bullshit statement that white people use their brains to learn like this (logically) and black people use their brains to learn like this (creatively)? That is not an exact quote. [/QUOTE] Wright also explains the difference between “White brains” and “Black brains.” Here’s the exact quote. This is last nights speech by Pastor Wright. The link goes to the transcript. This is only the stuff about brain differences. > **[Transcript of Jeremiah Wright's speech to NAACP - CNN.com](https://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/28/wright.transcript/index.html)** > > The NAACP has an incomparable record. It has the longest list of achievements in the history of this country as being the undisputed champion in the fight against discrimination, racial prejudice, and unjust public policies, which have caused people... > [@](#): > > \*\*…Dr. Hale’s research led her to stop comparing African-American children with European-American children and she started comparing the pedagogical methodologies of African-American children to African children and European-American children to European children. And bingo, she discovered that the two different worlds have two different ways of learning. European and European-American children have a left brained cognitive object oriented learning style and the entire educational learning system in the United States of America. Back in the early '70s, when Dr. Hale did her research was based on left brained cognitive object oriented learning style. Let me help you with fifty cent words. > > Left brain is logical and analytical. Object oriented means the student learns from an object. From the solitude of the cradle with objects being hung over his or her head to help them determine colors and shape to the solitude in a carol in a PhD program stuffed off somewhere in a corner in absolute quietness to absorb from the object. From a block to a book, an object. That is one way of learning, but it is only one way of learning. > African and African-American children have a different way of learning. > > They are right brained, subject oriented in their learning style. Right brain that means creative and intuitive. Subject oriented means they learn from a subject, not an object. They learn from a person. Some of you are old enough, I see your hair color, to remember when the NAACP won that tremendous desegregation case back in 1954 and when the schools were desegregated. They were never integrated. When they were desegregated in Philadelphia, several of the white teachers in my school freaked out. Why? Because black kids wouldn’t stay in their place. Over there behind the desk, black kids climbed up all on them. > > Because they learn from a subject, not from an object. Tell me a story. They have a different way of learning. Those same children who have difficulty reading from an object and who are labeled EMH, DMH and ADD. Those children can say every word from every song on every hip hop radio station half of who’s words the average adult here tonight cannot understand. Why? Because they come from a right-brained creative oral culture like the (greos) in Africa who can go for two or three days as oral repositories of a people’s history and like the oral tradition which passed down the first five book in our Jewish bible, our Christian Bible, our Hebrew bible long before there was a written Hebrew script or alphabet. And repeat incredulously long passages like Psalm 119 using mnemonic devices using eight line stanzas. Each stanza starting with a different letter of the alphabet. That is a different way of learning. It’s not deficient, it is just different. Somebody say different. I believe that a change is going to come because many of us are committed to changing how we see other people who are different.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/230 "2008-04-29T00:59:07Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] How about his bullshit statement that white people use their brains to learn like this (logically) and black people use their brains to learn like this (creatively)? That is not an exact quote. [/QUOTE] What was “bullshit” about it? ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/231 "2008-04-29T01:22:45Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] Oh, he said a lot. Talking your way into black-means-white usually takes a lot of time. Regards, Shodan [/QUOTE] It didn’t seem to take you much time at all. It appears your interpretation of Wrights words and what race based theology is serves your own preconceived notions. The fact that you avoided posting his very understandable explanation provides us the evidence. You should see the tax exempt forms at my store. A lot of churches include their ethnic background in the name of the church You must also be furious about the Southern Baptists who are unashamedly southern. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/232 "2008-04-29T01:24:22Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] What was “bullshit” about it? [/QUOTE] You think Whites and Blacks have brains that work differently, per the quote above? That sounds like nonsense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/233 "2008-04-29T01:26:46Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] What was “bullshit” about it? [/QUOTE] To start with the whole right brain/left brain thing: > **[Left brain Right brain](https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16321934-600-left-brain-right-brain/)** > > Many a myth has grown up around the brain's asymmetry. The left cerebral hemisphere is supposed to be the coldly logical, verbal and dominant half of the brain, while the right developed a reputation as the imaginative side, emotional, spatially... Has Dr. Hale’s research been confirmed? Her results go against the general consensus that there is not not a fundamental difference in neurological function between white people and black people (which is an imprecise and arbitrary biological classification for humans.) ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/234 "2008-04-29T01:30:30Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] You think Whites and Blacks have brains that work differently, per the quote above? That sounds like nonsense to me. [/QUOTE] There is apparently scientific evidence backing it up. Neither one of us is a neurologist or an expert on brain physiology, so neither one of us is in a position to say the study is “bullshit.” It actually makes a lot of sense to me. It explains why black people are better at music, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/235 "2008-04-29T01:30:31Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] McCain will probably bring it up again in the fall, but it was old news until this last week when Wright made himself an issue again. Now, he may have had a legitimate reason for doing so, but he was the cause nonetheless. [/QUOTE] I saw a bit of Sean Hannity jumping on the subject again as soon as Wright gave an interview. I couldn’t watch much because I was going to throw up if I did. I’m hoping that they hammer the issue enough to have more people see their dishonest BS for what it is and their master plan will backfire. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/236 "2008-04-29T01:32:15Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] Has Dr. Hale’s research been confirmed? [/quote] Has it been refuted? What qualifies you to say that it’s bullshit? Even if her conclusions prove inaccurate, how does it make Wright a racist for believing it? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/237 "2008-04-29T01:33:27Z")
[QUOTE=cosmosdan] I saw a bit of Sean Hannity jumping on the subject again as soon as Wright gave an interview. I couldn’t watch much because I was going to throw up if I did. I’m hoping that they hammer the issue enough to have more people see their dishonest BS for what it is and their master plan will backfire. [/QUOTE] Sean Hannity once supported a neo-nazi for Congress. I wish people would throw that in his smarmy, racist face every time he tries to bring up Wright. ---
**Author:** ![RachelW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac8455/32.png) [@RachelW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelW)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/238 "2008-04-29T01:35:16Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] There is apparently scientific evidence backing it up. Neither one of us is a neurologist or an expert on brain physiology, so neither one of us is in a position to say the study is “bullshit.” It actually makes a lot of sense to me. It explains why black people are better at music, for instance. [/QUOTE] It also explains the 15 point difference in IQ scores – since the White brained people are more logical. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/239 "2008-04-29T01:35:30Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] What was “bullshit” about it? [/QUOTE] What’s bullshit about the idea that “black” brains are different than “white” brains? [Everything.](http://lizditz.typepad.com/i_speak_of_dreams/2008/03/learning-styles.html) When I was in HS the black students didn’t have any cultural luggage to haul around. There wasn’t a racial grade disparity and none of the black kids were crawling over chairs as the Reverend Wright suggests. In short, you could not see a difference among the students. This is isn’t just bullshit, It’s pure bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/240 "2008-04-29T01:35:55Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] It explains why black people are better at music, for instance. [/QUOTE] And why white people are better lawyers. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547.md?page=13)