Finally: Rev. Wright In Context

From Rev. Wright's speech yesterday at the NAACP, Jake Tapper reports:

The bulk of his remarks addressed, however, different groups seeing each other as deficient. He acted out the differences between marching bands at predominantly black and predominantly white colleges. “Africans have a different meter, and Africans have a different tonality,” he said. Europeans have seven tones, Africans have five. White people clap differently than black people. “Africans and African-Americans are right-brained, subject-oriented in their learning style,” he said. “They have a different way of learning.” And so on.

From another document:

Just as plants and animals are of different types, so, too, are people. Each of these types inherits certain characteristics, which distinguish it from all other types, from all other races. Racial differences are physical, spiritual, and intellectual. The most important differences are in the spiritual and intellectual areas, in life styles.

It continues:

Genetics tells us that characteristics are passed unaltered from generation to generation, and that spiritual and other characteristics are inherited along with physical ones. The environment can only influence what is already present in the genes. Unlike animals, a person does not have a single environment, but also lives in the cultural world of his race and people. This too determines the development of his inherited traits. His culture comes from his inheritance.

Please forgive me --- did you think those last two quotes were from Wright?

WRONG.

Sorry to go all Godwin on you, but the quotes come from this pamphlet, "Racial Policy," aka Der Reichsführer SS/SS-Hauptamt, Rassenpolitik (Berlin, 1943).

UPDATE: Welcome, Ace and Malkin readers. FYI, the link to the pamphlet is safe to click --- it's a college archive, not Stormfront...or Trinity.

UPDATE: Jim Geraghty senses that Wright's latest comments give Obama the chance to launch an Ultimate Sister Souljah repudiation (thanks for linking, Jim!). Campaign Spot now has text from the actual transcript:

African and African-American children have a different way of learning.

Those children can say every word from every song on every hip hop radio station half of who's words the average adult here tonight cannot understand. Why? Because they come from a right-brained creative oral culture like the (greos) in Africa who can go for two or three days as oral repositories of a people's history and like the oral tradition which passed down the first five book in our Jewish bible, our Christian Bible, our Hebrew bible long before there was a written Hebrew script or alphabet.

Reiterating Himmler's pamphlet: "His culture comes from his inheritance."

Comments

[Veeshir]

Blair's Law in action.

[Christoph]

Prediction: With notable exceptions, the media will call Wright on this. They have to.

[jdog]

Wow! Cuffy your the next AllahPundit! http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/ Linked by Gerhaty! Not bad.

[Carol McFarlane]

We can all pick what we want from statements and then build a thesis - so we don't have to take a particular argument and think it's gospel.

Just to say that I watch Dr. Wright as well last night, and the day before, and this a.m., and find he is consistent in pointing out that there is a culture around African American 'religion' which is based on history and emanated from their history in this country. Although that is not my background, I also am a minority and yes, an immigrant, like all other immigrants, whether they came yesterday or 21 years ago like me, or 300-400 years ago. The difference of course is whether the immigrant was white, as to whether they arrived on 'A' deck, 'B' deck, 'C' deck or the bowels of the ship - the hold. Such history predisposes a community to success or, if not failure, to a great deal of difficulty, obviously. The African American community, let's not lose sight of the fact in all this back and forth, came to America totally shackled, and breaking out of those very real shackles has been almost impossible, despite all we say and sing about in this country. This is a terrible indictment, and while we want to zero in on one individual, who is both too brilliant and artistic for us to fathom, let's remember our terrible history, when we enslaved, nay, bought and sold human beings.

[CJ]

"Prediction: With notable exceptions, the media will call Wright on this. They have to."

It's not looking promising that the Associated Press won't even mention it:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g1Qr-L0EeMgyfelWgKLbSVBZlZdwD90B0ACO0

[CJ]

"This is a terrible indictment, and while we want to zero in on one individual, who is both too brilliant and artistic for us to fathom, let's remember our terrible history, when we enslaved, nay, bought and sold human beings."

Miss, this is one reason why African Americans remain mired in so many troubles. Wright is not "brilliant and artistic." He is a deluded racist, whose brand of advocacy - tolerated for too long by ignorant white liberals - is causing serious harm to black Americans.

[geoff]

Such history predisposes a community to success or, if not failure, to a great deal of difficulty, obviously.

Not in this country.

breaking out of those very real shackles has been almost impossible

Since they reshackled themselves shortly after the Civil Rights Movement.

who is both too brilliant and artistic for us to fathom

Snort.

let's remember our terrible history, when we enslaved, nay, bought and sold human beings

If you're from Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, or South America, you can join with us in remembering that terrible history.

[S. Weasel]

Waaaait a second. I saw Titanic. Those Irishmen in the hold looked pretty darned white to me.

[Dave in Texas]

let's remember our terrible history

Yes, let's do that shall we? Reparations were made for this crime, paid with the blood of a half a million men, from 1861 to 1865.

[John Schuh]

Yes, let's do that shall we? Reparations were made for this crime, paid with the blood of a half a million men, from 1861 to 1865.

If one is a Southerner, and old enough, one remembers that the war wrecked the economy, killed or maimed one white man in four, and left the region in relative poverty for a hundred years.

[Doug Ross]

Excellent find.

But, remember, don't attack Wright's lunatic, extremist ravings, because that would be an attack on the entire Black Church!

Look for Wright, I mean Sharpton v2.0, on all the talk shows shortly.

[Kerry]

If you find yourself using the word "nay" in a non-ironic way, you might want to take a step back and wonder if you're being pompous.

One of my ancestors was a Scottish rebel who came to this country in the hold of a ship and was sold into slavery. Oddly enough, this circumstance has not seemed to affect my ability to get an education or a job.

[Ricardo]

". . .let's remember our terrible history, when we enslaved, nay, bought and sold human beings."

What do you mean "we"? Is there a white person currently alive in this country who had anything whatsoever to do with the slave trade?

Is there a black person currently alive in this country who was ever a slave?

I'll pass the guilt trip meditation session, thanks. I'm innocent.

[Andrew the Noisy]

The suggestion that previous status of servitude prevents descendants from attaining excellence flies in the face of all history, or even all logic. It is a determinist con sold by whores wrapped in holy chintz, and the life-support-system of racism in this country.

If there were any justice, Wright would be ridden out of town on a rail.

[peter p. romano jr.]

SO..the black community...the black church is a monolithic group..lined up in total ,directly behind what ever is said , believed, etc. by Rev. Wright? I don't believe that is right or even possible...buy Rev. Wright says it is so. To make any comments about what He says or believes or to critic them is an attack on the "black church" in total. That should bother anybody of color, in fact He is telling all , I am so far above all of you...my intellect is so superior, my view on the world cannot be questioned as to its correctness. When is everyone going to get it?