Mary Mitchell joins Wright’s black liberation rant

Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell’s denunciation of Barack Obama’s denunciation of Rev. Wright’s denunciation of America has me feeling thoroughly denounced. It goes to show how pervasive the “Black America” vs. “White America” schtick has become in what Mitchell calls “the black church”. As if there is only one dogma preached in all of America’s “black” churches. As if Wright’s favorite black liberation theology is that dogma. As if blacks are a nation within the United States separate from everyone else — whites, latinos, asians and so forth. As if Mitchell and Wright are fighting to create a black Waco.

Writes Mitchell:

This is a sad day for Black America.

At a time when African Americans are on the cusp of watching a barrier come crashing down, up jumps a divisive issue that is being driven by those outside of the black community.

Say what? Driven by those outside of the black community? I see two people driving this issue: Wright and Obama. And as color-blind as I am, I don’t see anyone else in the game from “outside” the black community. Mitchell riffs on:

There is no institution in the black community more respected than the black church. And the notion that white pundits can dictate what constitutes unacceptable speech in the black church is repulsive to most black people.

I don’t think anyone — white, black or purple — is worried about what is merely said in a few black churches, unless of course they preach polygamy, in which case we’ll send in the Marines. What is a matter of concern is that Mr. Wright preaches hate and division that he means to turn into physical action, violence if you will. That is a problem. And if Wright really were the best that black Americans have to offer the country, I could see why it would be a sad day for black America.

Obama’s cross-cultural appeal, which, by the way, made some blacks suspicious of him early in his campaign, is largely because of his ability to make white people feel comfortable with his blackness.

It’s a pathology, folks. The only way that Obama gets votes is by “making white people feel comfortable with his blackness.” What this means, I have no idea. If Obama wants to be elected, he needs to persuade people that his judgment and loyalty to American ideals is not in doubt. So far, it ain’t a pretty picture.

But Wright speaks to a different audience, and that audience has been supportive throughout his ordeal.

On Monday, for instance, when Wright spoke at the National Press Club, the predominantly black crowd cheered, clapped and punctuated Wright’s speech with shouts of “amen.”

So, when Obama says America was “offended” by Wright’s harsh language, he isn’t speaking for or to Black America. He is speaking to White America.

As much as I want to see Obama make history by becoming the first black man to be elected president, I don’t want to see a warrior like Wright denigrated to prove to white voters that Obama is not a radical. . .

A “warrior like Wright”. A jihadi warrior in Christian drag. That makes everyone nervous, not just whites.

But really, what more should blacks have to sacrifice? Their dignity?

Blacks like Mitchell could start by sacrificing the illusion that white people don’t like black people and that their only way forward is over the dead bodies of white people who have literally no connection whatever to slavery that was practiced in America over a hundred years ago and is still practiced in black Africa. I have plenty of black friends. Or maybe Mitchell wouldn’t consider them black because “real blacks” don’t associate with whites? What a tangled web we weave. Ms. Mitchell, this is not a zero-sum game. Blacks and whites working peacefully and civilly with each other — away from the miasma of Wright-style propaganda — can grow the pie so that there is more for everyone.

Frankly, Obama and Wright risk becoming metaphors for the ongoing struggle of blacks to unite politically.

Where in the world do people consider it acceptable to “unite politically” on the basis of skin color or tribal affiliation? Hmm. I wonder. Kenya. Somalia. Ethiopia. Is that what America needs? Tribal warfare? Isn’t that where Wright is pushing his flock? How can Obama, a long-time member of that flock, suddenly remove this divisive dogma from his soul?