Casting the second stone

I agree I have had my personal fill of organised religion and the involvement of religion in American politics is mind-boggling: making Devine and O'Brien look like amateurs (OK, not quite).

However, having listened to some of the soundbites from Rev. Jeremiah Wright they are indeed intemperate, over-blown and provocative but at their core I can find little to disagree with. They are speeches that criticise American foreign policy but are not hate speeches. They point to deep and enduring racial divisions in American society but are not creating these divisions.

And I disagree with the criticisms of Obama's speech by Michael Meyer who makes the assertion that what is needed is colour and gender blindness to address the endemic racism and sexism in American society. This is at best naive and at worst dangerous. I do not believe that this 'blindness' in any society can benefit those who are right now being disadvantaged by structural and institutional racism and sexism. Yes, scientifically 'race' does not exist but that doesn't alter the fact that the colour of your skin correlates to your opportunities, health, income etc. The historical and present-day inequalities and injustices have to be acknowledged and labeled in order for them to be challenged. Colour and gender blindness is an endpoint, it is a desire and an aspiration; but it is not a mechanism for tackling the reality of every day injustices.

And as for looking "as far back as slavery" and what this has to do with the price of milk? The answer is; everything. For example, continuing ramifications of slavery and imperialism have everything to do with the cheap price of our food while millions around the world are starving and malnourished. The economic power of the West is built on the centuries of exploitation of the rest of the World. Social inequalities on the basis of income, 'race', gender and age both within and between countries have many and varied historical determinants. 200 years is nothing in the fight for equality, oppression and the fight against it have been going on a hell of a lot longer.

Hmm, yes, that was a lazy choice of link. I didn't mean to endorse Meyer's views, merely provide a reference to something that covered the original problem for Obama.

If we take Wright as expressing one view from the side of the exploited, it is at least interesting to me that Hillary should so closely be identified with the actual exploiters, and no-one in the MSM seems to have noticed.

Very good spot, even better than the also not very oxygenated fact that McCain's religious crutch is the zionist Pastor John Hagee, sample quotes:

"All Muslims are programmed to kill and we can thus never negotiate with any of them".

"I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that"

I heard that Obama's speech was Lincoln/Kennedy-esque, but I just gave up listening when he started slamming Wright on some of the key issues...."not Israel, but radical Islam at fault...". If ever there was any doubt