# \*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:** 9
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/161 "2008-04-02T15:30:45Z")
[QUOTE=Lightnin’] In my opinion, the only ones whose opinions of Obama were harmed by Wright’s statements were those who weren’t going to vote for Obama in the first place. This was just another example of Fox-brand Manufactured Outrage ™, and most of us didn’t buy it. [/quote] In order to win as President, you don’t need only the votes of “most of us” who were already in his camp. You need the votes of those who waiver between camps. It is there that the whole affair has done damage. > [@](#): > > Luckily, Reverend Wright isn’t running for president. I agree, as you would see if you read my responses upthread. My point is not that I, personally, think Obama is racist, or paranoid, or in any way thinks in the manner that the Rev. does - I believe his own expressed views. My point is that the affair has damaged his chances of election. Moreover, my point is that those _defending those views as understandable and indeed somewhat inevitable_ reactions to a history of racism are, if you will, _amplifying that damage_. The reason is as follows: assume for the moment that the views of those in this thread are all true; it would follow that a Black person running for POTUS is as a matter of fact ‘unable to escape (racial) history’ [my paraphrase] and thus likely to be filled with _entirely justified_ rage, hatred and paranoia - of the sort that the Rev. expressed. Is this the sort of person one would want in charge of the country? Now, I imagine that some people would say “yes, certainly” - because such a person, having dealt with and overcome such emotions in his or her own life, would be best suited to deal with healing the divisions of the country. However, a more likely reaction on the part of those not already committed to his cause would be “we don’t need that sort of risk”. Why vote for someone who has good reason to resent you or be paranoid about you? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/162 "2008-04-02T15:34:58Z")
Who is your mentor.? Who really has a mentor ? Wright does not speak for Obama. A premise that Wright is a mentor allows you to dicsect Wrifghts life and claim it can be used to defame Obama. Wright is not Obama. ---
**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 2, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/163 "2008-04-02T15:40:06Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] Who is your mentor.? Who really has a mentor ? [/quote] So, it’s your contention that no such thing as a “mentor” exists"? That’s a nifty way to win an argument-- define away the term. > [@](#): > > Wright does not speak for Obama. Who said he does? A mentor is not a spokesperson. > [@](#): > > A premise that Wright is a mentor allows you to dicsect Wrifghts life and claim it can be used to defame Obama. Perhaps. But just because a premise can be used for some negative purpose does not invalidate the premise. > [@](#): > > Wright is not Obama. Congrats. You got that fact correct! Of course, no one is making that claim, so that would be a strawman. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/164 "2008-04-02T15:50:54Z")
The premise is an attempt to damn Obama with connecting him to people who the Repubs don’t like. Feel free to attack Wright. But the implication is that obama is the same is dishonest. Come here young Mr. Obama . Sit on my knee and I will teach you how to hate whitey. Obama is not Wright. The continued attention to Wright is to diminish Obama to the people who are afraid of blacks. It is race baiting. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/165 "2008-04-02T15:54:47Z")
[QUOTE=magellan01] I know this is the accepted wisdom, but I ask, why? Why can’t we just ignore it? \ It seems to me that whatever racism still exists in our society would end most quickly by taking this tack. [/QUOTE] Doubtful. You would still have the socioeconomic conditions and informal race-caste hierarchy that both result from racism and perpetuate it. Fixing that is possible but not easy or cheap. Suggest you reread post #21, especially the third quote block. ---
**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 2, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/166 "2008-04-02T15:59:33Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] The premise is an attempt to damn Obama with connecting him to people who the Repubs don’t like. [/quote] No. The premise is a fact. Obama connected himself to Wright. Just because someone might try to use that connection dishonestly doesn’t negate the connection. > [@](#): > > Feel free to attack Wright. But the implication is that obama is the same is dishonest. Who in this thread is saying that they are the same? Why do you keep coming up with these strawman arguments. > [@](#): > > Come here young Mr. Obama . Sit on my knee and I will teach you how to hate whitey. Obama is not Wright. The continued attention to Wright is to diminish Obama to the people who are afraid of blacks. It is race baiting. In some cases, yes. But you’re still wrong about the other stuff. Please make your case without stating things that are factually incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/167 "2008-04-02T16:01:21Z")
[Oooh, this editorial hits the bullseye!](http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3596/is_wright_right_about_racism/) > [@](#): > > Why is it “controversial” for one pastor to address the black community, racism and blowback, but OK for another pastor to slander an entire religion? Why is it news that one candidate knows a sometimes-impolitic clergyman, but not news that his opponent associates with an anti-Semite? Does the double standard prove the dominant culture despises a black man confronting taboos, but accepts whites spewing hate? Does the very reaction to Wright show he’s right about racism? > > Clinton seems to think so. Her aides have been calling the states they believe Obama will lose their political “firewall.” That’s campaign-speak for “race wall” — one built with bricks like Pennsylvania and Indiana. These aren’t the near-purely white states where racial politics is often muted (and Obama won). They are the slightly diverse states where racial politics simmers and where the black vote is too small to offset a motivated racist vote. This race wall is now being fortified. > > ABC News reports that Clinton’s campaign is “pushing the Wright story” ahead of the Pennsylvania and Indiana primaries. The crass tactic is designed to motivate the racist vote by reminding whites of Obama’s connection to the African-American community. Put another way, Clinton’s message has become simply: Obama Is Black. > > Wright probably expected this brouhaha. He says our government is “controlled by rich white people” and our culture afflicted by racism. Though these statements are also deemed distasteful by the Establishment, they are truisms. You can see their veracity in the collected portraits of white millionaires commonly called the congressional photo directory. Or, just turn on your television and watch the mob continue stoking the Wright “controversy.” ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/168 "2008-04-02T16:16:49Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] Yeah, well the vestiges of Italian oppression of the Southern peasantry and the vestiges of the oppression of Welsh coal miners are pretty clear as well - these both drove my ancestors to this country, and are responsible for my being here. [/quote] Do you still live in Italy? Do you still live in Wales? Do those still effect your life? > [@Mr. Moto](#): > > And for the first few generations, the families on both sides didn’t have money or country club invitations. My grandfather came over from Caserta in 1915 and made a living most of his life in petty crime - the stuff that feeds stereotypes seen on the Sopranos. His kids all did considerably better, and most of his grandchildren are reasonably successful. Congratulations. > [@Mr. Moto](#): > > So I’m not willing to dismiss racism at all, nor am I willing to disregard history. But if racism disappeared tomorrow, the black community would still have problems. Good thing nobody said any different. > [@Mr. moto](#): > > With no significant racism going against them, whites in places like Appalachia or the Mon Valley where I grew up have a hard time. And with no great love for them from any established group here, people like the Koreans and the Vietnamese have managed to do pretty well. Good for them too. Everybody’s winning!!! > [@Mr. Moto](#): > > So let’s call things what they are. One of the things I agreed with Obama with in his Philadelphia speech is that people can develop resentments even though they committed no racist acts themselves. Transitioning to a class- ot income-based affirmative action, as I have long advocated, could alleviate this. I agree. It would be a step. > [@Mr. Moto](#): > > I see no reason why the daughters of Barack and Michelle Obama should be given any break the white son of a West Virginia coal miner can’t get, or the daughter of a Filipino janitor. That can’t be considered fair anymore. I understand that you have a problem with affirmative action. You see, your response is a great example of why discussions of race are so rough in this country, because almost everybody gets so defensive and everybody sees racism against themselves. And that means every kind of person. Liberals. Conservatives. Moderates. Blacks. Whites. Irish. That one guy sitting in the corner table at Applebees having a lousy steak. Too many members of the “black community” have a victimization mindset. The exact same thing is going on with this entire Wright thing, with so many members of the “white community” crying Racism! and showing their fear that they will be victimized if a “black” man is elected President. My post pointed out that racism, and vestiges of racist policies, still exist in America. And I advocated open discussion of the issue of racism. And I thank you for responding respectfully. But, as usual, instead of talking about racism still existing or any attempt to understand the other side, your post turned into “affirmative action is bad and racist.” It’s stuff like that, the nigh but automatic responses of claims of racism by the other guy, that make it so difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/169 "2008-04-02T16:26:34Z")
Also, comparing the white immigrant experience to the slavery/emancipation experience as proof of the black community’s problems seriously underestimate the difference in the things being compared. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/170 "2008-04-02T16:34:03Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Once again, **gonzo** , you have the facts wrong. Rev Wright was Obama’s (spiritual) mentor for years. He wasn’t just the pastor of the church that Obama went to. They had a strong personal relationship, and the guy was his religious adviser for his campaign. He officiated at his wedding, baptized his children and inspired the title of his book: _The Audacity of Hope_. Obama identified Wright as the person who connected him with Christianity. Remember, Obama grew up in a more or less secular household-- one not tied to any particular religion. It wasn’t until he was an adult that he found Christianity, with the help of Wright. When you start with a false premise, you can prove just about anything. [/QUOTE] While I agree that Wright was a spiritual mentor to Obama, I also think that gonzo is right that the entire controversy is nothing more than veiled attempts to make the electorate afraid of voting for Obama. And they do that by attacking Wright. Wright helped bring Obama to his Christianity. But Obama is a big boy and has made it absolutely clear in no uncertain terms that he does not agree with many statements made by Wright. That should have been the end of it. But, because of who Obama is, the attack has continued for weeks, with the whole “Obama” meme becoming shorthand for “Obama’s pastor”. The thing is, the right (and HRC) can’t get Obama. He’s not a racist. He’s not a Muslim. He’s not a socialist, a terrorist or an anti-Semite. Since growing up and dealing with his issues, he’s been a community activist who has consistently worked for the betterment of all people. But the right (and HRC) have to get him somehow (because God knows we actually talk about issues). So, since they can’t dirty Obama, they dirty everyone around him and hope something sticks to Obama. So far, his pastor and his wife have born the brunt of this politics of personal destruction. But I doubt it will stop there. The very worst one could honestly say about Obama is that he showed poor judgment in not turning his back on the man who guided his spiritual life over a few minutes of rhetoric out of decades of service. That’s not going to carry the day, So, instead, the attacks become guilt by association with reliance on racial fears. Personally, I find the whole thing as reprehensible as I find Wright’s race baiting. ---
**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 2, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/171 "2008-04-02T16:55:27Z")
[QUOTE=Hamlet] While I agree that Wright was a spiritual mentor to Obama, I also think that gonzo is right that the entire controversy is nothing more than veiled attempts to make the electorate afraid of voting for Obama… [/QUOTE] Well, I pretty much already agreed with that last part, but you don’t win that argument by claiming there is no connection between Obama and Wright or that people are “pretending” that Wright was Obama’s spiritual mentor. If I come into a thread and say that Bush is a terrible president because he planned the 9/11 attacks, I hope those who agree with me about Bush will correct me where my facts are screwed up. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/172 "2008-04-02T17:15:41Z")
[QUOTE=Richard Parker] Also, comparing the white immigrant experience to the slavery/emancipation experience as proof of the black community’s problems seriously underestimate the difference in the things being compared. [/QUOTE] My point was that vestiges of lots of things exist, not just racism or slavery. And many of these things are pervasive as well - I don’t think anyone can argue that the folks in coal communities in West Virginia and Kentucky are similarly trapped by their history or economic circumstances - just as trapped in most cases as the residents of inner cities. And I wasn’t just comparing the white immigrant experience - I was comparing also the Asian immigrant experience. I think this is important to note - many Vietnamese refugees in this country after the Vietnam War spoke little English, lived in marginal neighborhoods, sent their kids to public schools in the city and took crappy jobs. In many cases their kids were denied affirmative action preferences, and had to compete for admission purely on merit. They seem to have been successful for the most part in doing so. A friend of mine born in the Philippines was told when he applied to college that he was considered a non-disadvantaged minority - never mind that his folks cleaned offices for a living. So yeah - vestiges of lots of things exist. And while I think there is an awful lot we have to do as a people to get over all of them, for the most part individuals have to decide how much history is going to hold them back. Because it is possible indeed to break out of the Mon Valley, or Appalachia, or Anacostia. But it will take a lot of work in any case, and governments can’t entirely change that. ---
**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 2, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/173 "2008-04-02T17:24:54Z")
I don’t have a problem accepting Wright as a mentor to Obama. I think the falsity lies in the characterization of Wright himself as evil or sinister or racist or that the few quotes being looped in conservative media outlets represent anything like an accurate picture of the man. The demonization of Wright has been over-the-top and ridiculous and – yes — racist. Barack Obama has no reason to be ashamed of being mentored by Jeremiah Wright and we, as voters, have no legitimate reason to be disturbed by it. I think we’ve pretty well established that the accusations of racism against Wright are without foundation, and Obama has consistently said that Wright’s influence on him lay in his preaching on social justice and on other non-political aspects of Christian faith. Obama and other members of Trinity have said that the vast majority of Wright’s sermons focused on the same kinds of things you’d see in any other church – love, equality, helping the poor, personal atonement for sins, etc. The media’s characterization of Reverend Wright as nothing but a raving radical is a gross distortion of the real person. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/174 "2008-04-02T17:31:21Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] So yeah - vestiges of lots of things exist. And while I think there is an awful lot we have to do as a people to get over all of them, for the most part individuals have to decide how much history is going to hold them back. Because it is possible indeed to break out of the Mon Valley, or Appalachia, or Anacostia. But it will take a lot of work in any case, and governments can’t entirely change that. [/QUOTE] I still think the black emancipation experience is qualitatively different from any of the immigrant experiences. But that’s verging on the topic of another thread. In general, I don’t think there’s a lot to object to in your above statements, but that’s because these arguments are insufficient to carry the larger point that color-blind policy is good or that black people just need to get over it. You’re right that this is partly about culture and mindset. And hope and hard work. There’s only so much that be done by government. I don’t think anyone disagrees with those things–including Obama, who talks about those things more than any politician in recent memory. But the possibility of breaking out of bad circumstances is not the same as a fair playing field free from those circumstances. The fact that there are many vestiges of history acting as obstacles does not mean we ought not try to remove them. And sometimes removing them, heck seeing them at all, requires race-based analysis. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/175 "2008-04-02T17:44:29Z")
So this is how its going to be, eh? McCain doesn’t know shit from Shia, Sunni from Shinola, he supports a needlessly aggressive political posture wrt Iran, he panders shamelessly to the worst public figures of our time, and his health care proposals ensucken dead donkey balls… “Well, yeah, but Jeremiah Wright!..” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/176 "2008-04-02T17:50:38Z")
[QUOTE=Richard Parker] But the possibility of breaking out of bad circumstances is not the same as a fair playing field free from those circumstances. The fact that there are many vestiges of history acting as obstacles does not mean we ought not try to remove them. And sometimes removing them, heck seeing them at all, requires race-based analysis. [/QUOTE] I don’t agree. Sorry. While race-based analysis may be appropriate sometimes, at this point in our history I believe it is inappropriate for affirmative action - and ought to be replaced by income considerations primarily. You agree that breaking out of bad circumstances is paramount here - yet there are plenty of people in those circumstances to whom affirmative action does not apply, and some prosperous people to whom it does. Affirmative action is now used to unsure diversity and not to give people a break. I can’t support it for that goal. Now, for small company contracting affirmative action for minority owned firms (and veteran owned firms) has a role, and I’d support that for a time. But for educational policy we ought to broaden affirmative action’s mission to get people into college who wouldn’t have had that opportunity in the past. That certainly includes black students, but it includes lots of others. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/177 "2008-04-02T17:58:49Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] While race-based analysis may be appropriate sometimes, at this point in our history I believe it is inappropriate for affirmative action - and ought to be replaced by income considerations primarily. [/QUOTE] Agreed. Just bear in mind that a class-based AA program would be even more far-reaching than the existing system, and probably more expensive. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/178 "2008-04-02T18:02:19Z")
[QUOTE=Richard Parker] I still think the black emancipation experience is qualitatively different from any of the immigrant experiences. [/QUOTE] In [_The New Americans: How the Melting Pot Can Work Again,_](http://www.amazon.com/New-Americans-Melting-Work-Again/dp/1596980265/ref=pd_bbs_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207159217&sr=8-7) conservative pundit Michael Barone characterizes African-Americans as in effect **recent** immigrants, who only began to leave the Old Country – which in their case is not Africa but the Old South – a few decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/179 "2008-04-02T19:38:10Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] I don’t agree. Sorry. While race-based analysis may be appropriate sometimes, at this point in our history I believe it is inappropriate for affirmative action - and ought to be replaced by income considerations primarily. [/QUOTE] I didn’t realize we were arguing over affirmative action specifically. Its a little hard to follow the tangent back to something that addresses the thread topic, but I thought we were discussing the general view that race matters and that politics needs to be discussed without colorblinders. FWIW, I tend to agree that income-based affirmative action is a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/180 "2008-04-25T16:55:55Z")
[Wright explains himself.](http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/religion/913847,wright042408.article) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547.md?page=10)