Bill O’Wright
It is good to see a serious, fair and interesting profile of Reverend Jeremiah Wright on Bill Moyers’ PBS Journal program. Moyers looks at the person and his politics, discussing Obama, history, theology, race and his faith. I found it thoughtful and inspiring—well worth your time.
See also:
- Rev Wright’s electric address to the National Press Club in Washington on Monday 28th April — transcript here, and his prior NAACP address in Detroit on the 27th April — transcript here.
- The Audacity of Hope sermon mp3
Also check out Monte Asbury’s posts Priest stands up to reporter on Jeremiah Wright (video clip below, with thanks to 99 and Homey) and Is Jeremiah Wright mostly right? The video clip below is also available to listen to as an mp3 (55 mins): Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.pbs.org posted with vodpod *** Father Mike Pfleger and Fox News: 10 minutes
Thanks for posting this Ann. I am convinced that if people really listen to these men they will realize they are being smeared horribly, and for really filthily nefarious reasons.
From this whole mess I have gleaned that Wright, Pfleger, Farrakhan and Ambassador Peck are men we should be heeding if we want a decent world.
Definitely. What Rev Wright said about Farrakhan at the end was pause for thought for me, and a much needed corrective.
Fr. Pfleger, addressing a crowd trying to shut down a lawful firearms business, called on the crowd to “snuff out” the dealer using his surname. I hardly think we should heed calls for mob violence and killing another if we want a decent world. Pfleger was rebuked by his Bishop for this conduct, but I can find no evidence that he has expressed the slightest remourse for calling on a crowd to commit homicide in violation of both the law of God and of the state or that he has apologized to the object of his hate speech. Pfleger tries to justify his remarks saying he was not urging homicide, but how would you like to be someone with a crowd of several hundred near you and someone calling for them to snuff you out? Pfleger’s conduct would put a reasonable person in the dealer’s position in fear of death or serious bodily harm.
Thank you for your comment, William. It prompted me to investigate this incident for myself, since it happened a whole year ago. Father Pleger’s exact words were:
“We’re going to keep coming back, and like Reverend Jackson says, it takes civil disobedience, if it takes whatever it takes … we’re going to snuff out John Riggio, we’re going to snuff out legislators that are voting … and we are coming for you because we are not going to sit idly. Keep on fighting, people. Keep on fighting, keep on fighting.”
To be sure, it was a careless choice of idiom — though I and others do not definitively accept such a sinister interpretation of “snuff out” — which also means to expose — as you evidently do, particularly coming from a practising priest who advocates non-violence. I accept that the phrase could be interpreted this way and that Father Pfleger should have been more careful in his choice of words in said campaign.
Above all, I certainly think we should be avoiding the same vilification-by-soundbite the corporate MSM is applying towards Reverend Wright.