There’s not much I can add to the remarks regarding Rev. Wright’s “Take Down Obama ‘08” tour, currently playing to packed houses everywhere. However, one of his comments seems to have slipped by without analysis. In speaking of one of his dearest friends, Rev. Wright said, “Louis Farrakhan is not my enemy. He did not put me in chains, he did not put me in slavery, and he didn’t make me this color.” Taking the latter part of the quote first: Unless the Honorable Minister Farrakhan was his father, I don’t think anyone would ever believe he had anything to do with Rev. Wright’s skin color. Certainly they share a worldview — angry, narrow-minded, racist — but that’s not necessarily genetic. And about that chains and slavery business — Rev. Wright looks like a free man to me. Free enough to spout nasty things about the land of his birth that, in some countries, would land him behind bars. In fact, I believe it’s Rev. Wright who’s made himself a slave — to publicity — and kept himself chained to television cameras. And in doing so, he’s gone from obscure motormouth to front-page news almost overnight, treated as a celebrity by Bill Moyers, CNN and the National Press Club. To paraphrase the good reverend, God bless America!
