SubscribeObama’s Other Pastor Problem - Rev. Meeks
This revelation is a few days old, but in the rush of events it seems to have slipped by without much attention.
From Chicago’s CBS-2 (and YouTube):
Obama Camp Rejects Supporter’s Past Use Of N Word
Mar 19, 2008
It’s Third Time Campaign Is Forced To Denounce Controversial Comments
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Sen. Barack Obama is target for critics again Wednesday night in another incident involving a minister and race.
Without permission from CBS 2, the Fox News Channel ran Wednesday evening parts of a 2- year-old story by CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery on language used by State Sen. James Meeks, who is now a delegate pledged to Obama.
“We don’t have slave masters, we got mayors,” Meeks said then while preaching. “But they are still the same white people who are presiding over systems where black people are not able to be educated. You got some preachers that are house n——. You got some elected officials that are house n——. Rather than them try and break this up, they’re gonna fight you to protect that white man.”
When confronted in 2006 about his divisive language, Meeks initially defended it.
“The word n—– is not, in the African American community, a bad word,” Meeks said. “It’s a term of endearment and I don’t see it as derogatory or offensive.”
“No one will be offended by it, except an individual it applies to,” he added.
An important part of the truth that Fox News did not report Wednesday night is this: Shortly after Flannery’s story aired two years ago, Rev. Jesse Jackson said it was time to stop using the N-word. And Rev. Meeks announced from his South Side pulpit that he was “retiring” the N-word from his vocabulary.
Although Meeks was never very close to Obama, last month he was elected as a delegate pledged to Obama.
Look for Obama’s critics to repeat this tactic in the weeks and months to come. Sen. Hillary Clinton demanded he denounce Louis Farrakhan. Obama did. Tuesday, it was his longtime pastor.
An Obama spokesperson told CBS 2 Wednesday night: “Sen. Obama has appeared at hundreds of churches and served with scores of colleagues and can hardly be expected to be held responsible for all that they say.” …
How’s that for unbiased reporting. The real crime here is Fox News reporting what Mr. Meeks said using this local station’s footage. For shame.
Note too that the the Chicago TV station does not seem to have any problem with the content of Mr. Meeks remarks, or his anti-white sentiments. They just objected to his use of the “N word.”
Moreover, according to CBS 2, Mr. Obama was lying about his close relationship with Mr. Meeks in this lengthy interview with the Chicago Sun-Times back on April 5, 2004:
Obama: I have a deep faith
Barack Obama credits his multicultural upbringing for his theological point of view.
April 5, 2004
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI Sun-Times Columnist
Casually straightening his tie with one hand as he holds the door for a stranger with the other, the young politician strides into the cafe, greeting an employee by name and flashing a big grin at the rest of the room.
He grabs a bottled protein shake from the cooler at the back of Cafe Baci on South Michigan Avenue, and settles into a table near the soft-drink dispenser, doffing his suit jacket along the way.
Barack Obama is alone on this Saturday afternoon in the city, his press secretary nowhere in sight. He’s not carrying anything with him. Not even notes.
If an hourlong conversation about his faith unnerves him, Obama’s not letting on…
The first question he fields without hesitation: What does he believe?
“I am a Christian,” the 42-year-old Illinois state senator and Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate says, as one of the nearby customers interrupts to congratulate him on his recent primary win. Obama shakes the man’s hand and says, “Thank you very much. I appreciate that,” before turning his attention directly back to the question.
“So, I have a deep faith,” Obama continues. “I’m rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.
“That there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and there’s an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived.” …
When he was 6 years old, after his parents divorced, Obama moved with his mother and her new husband — a non-practicing Muslim — to Indonesia, where he lived until he was 10 and attended a Roman Catholic school.
“I went to a Catholic school in a Muslim country, so I was studying the Bible and catechisms by day, and, at night, you’d hear the Muslim prayer call,” Obama recalls…
Those experiences, as much as his multireligious childhood, affect how he expresses his faith, Obama says.
“Alongside my own deep personal faith, I am a follower, as well, of our civic religion,” he says. “I am a big believer in the separation of church and state. I am a big believer in our constitutional structure. I mean, I’m a law professor at the University of Chicago teaching constitutional law.
“I am a great admirer of our founding charter and its resolve to prevent theocracies from forming and its resolve to prevent disruptive strains of fundamentalism from taking root in this country.
“I think there is an enormous danger on the part of public figures to rationalize or justify their actions by claiming God’s mandate. I don’t think it’s healthy for public figures to wear religion on their sleeve as a means to insulate themselves from criticism, or dialogue with people who disagree with them.”
Still, Obama is unapologetic in saying he has a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” As a sign of that relationship, he says, he walked down the aisle of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ in response to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s altar call one Sunday morning about 16 years ago.
The politician could have ended his spiritual tale right there, at the point some people might assume his life changed, when he got “saved,” transformed, washed in the blood. But Obama wants to clarify what truly happened.
“It wasn’t an epiphany,” he says of that public profession of faith. “It was much more of a gradual process for me. I know there are some people who fall out. Which is wonderful. God bless them…. I think it was just a moment to certify or publicly affirm a growing faith in me.”
These days, he says, he attends the 11 a.m. Sunday service at Trinity in the Brainerd neighborhood every week — or at least as many weeks as he is able. His pastor, Wright, has become a close confidant.
So how did he become a churchgoer?
It began in 1985, when he came to Chicago as a $13,000-a-year community organizer, working with a number of African-American churches in the Roseland, West Pullman and Altgeld Gardens neighborhoods that were trying to deal with the devastation caused by shuttered steel plants.
“I started working with both the ministers and the lay people in these churches on issues like creating job-training programs, or after-school programs for youth, or making sure that city services were fairly allocated to underserved communities,” he says. “And it was in those places where I think what had been more of an intellectual view of religion deepened.
“I became much more familiar with the ongoing tradition of the historic black church and its importance in the community. And the power of that culture to give people strength in very difficult circumstances, and the power of that church to give people courage against great odds. And it moved me deeply.”
Obama says he reads the Bible, though not as regularly as he’d like, now that he’s on the campaign trail. But he does find time to pray.
“It’s not formal, me getting on my knees,” he says. “I think I have an ongoing conversation with God…. I’m constantly asking myself questions about what I’m doing, why I am doing it.
“The biggest challenge, I think, is always maintaining your moral compass.”
Friends and advisers, such as the Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church in the Auburn-Gresham community on the South Side, who has known Obama for the better part of 20 years, help him keep that compass set, he says.
“I always have felt in him this consciousness that, at the end of the day, with all of us, you’ve got to face God,” Pfleger says of Obama. “Faith is key to his life, no question about it. It is central to who he is, and not just in his work in the political field, but as a man, as a black man, as a husband, as a father…. I don’t think he could easily divorce his faith from who he is.”
Another person Obama says he seeks out for spiritual counsel is state Sen. James Meeks, who is also the pastor of Chicago’s Salem Baptist Church. The day after Obama won the primary in March, he stopped by Salem for Wednesday-night Bible study.
“I know that he’s a person of prayer,” Meeks says. “The night after the election, he was the hottest thing going from Galesburg to Rockford. He did all the TV shows, and all the morning news, but his last stop at night was for church. He came by to say thank you, and he came by for prayer.”
Obama admits it’s not easy for politicians to talk about faith.
“Part of the reason I think it’s always difficult for public figures to talk about this is that the nature of politics is that you want to have everybody like you and project the best possible traits onto you,” he says. “Oftentimes, that’s by being as vague as possible, or appealing to the lowest common denominators. The more specific and detailed you are on issues as personal and fundamental as your faith, the more potentially dangerous it is.” …
Mr. Obama is finding out the truth of that last observation.
Still, we must remember that it is more important to have good judgment than experience. It’s more important to have a moral compass, than to have accomplished anything.
For the record, Mr. Meeks is still proudly listed on the Obama campaign site as an endorser. At least as of this hour.
Indeed, since Mr. Meeks is a superdelegate, there is very little chance of Mr. Obama denouncing him or his racism.
32 Responses to “Obama’s Other Pastor Problem - Rev. Meeks”
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March 26th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
As I’ve been trying to tell many of you what was and continues to be said at TUCC is not that unusual for a Black church. Especially as it pertains to how Whites in power are viewed by people of color. The only differece is that this was Obama’s church.
March 26th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Yeah…and the Pope is a klansman.
If that’s how “whites in power” are viewed, maybe the people spilling this bilge deserve what they get back in return. I happen to think that hate is un-Christian, but, hey…if they’re going to hate me simply because I’m white, then maybe I should wish them a happy eternity in Hell.
There’s a verse that seems to be ignored by these bigoted pieces of filth: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” That’s Galatians 3:28…I’d advise you to take it to heart before you start trying to explain away what any person with a pair of ears can hear and understand. If hatred is what’s taught in “the black church” then y’all must be reading a different Bible than the rest of us…and you’ll have something to answer to when He comes back.
March 26th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Ok
March 26th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I don’t go to Meeks church but just reading what he said where is the “hate”? He is critical of other Black people and the Mayor Daley of Chicago. What hate are you talking about?? Oh is it hate to be critical of people in power who allow injustice to happen on their watch? Help me see what you see in that story. Would it be better if they said nothing? Would that make you more comfortable? I would assume most of the folks on S&L are decent people but if you were a politician who I thought was not doing enough in my community its my God given right to tell you that you are fcuking up. It is not hate speech if I point out that, assuming that you are a White politician, that if your White constituents are getting their snow removed while mine is not. It seems that pointing out inconsistences is considered hate speech by many of you. Its like people are saying that you, Black people, need to shut up and be happy with what you have. How dare you speak up!!! That paternalistic attitude is where alot of that anger comes from.
March 26th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Calling someone a house n***** sounds hateful to me.
March 26th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Doc says…“Its like people are saying that you, Black people, need to shut up and be happy with what you have. How dare you speak up!!! That paternalistic attitude is where alot of that anger comes from.”
I only here that from democrats. Shut up and vote for me.
Doc, who runs the city where your snow isn’t removed, but whites snow is? Who’s been running it forever? Who’s not listening to you? For us, we complain. Nothing gets done. We vote the bums out. You can’t imagine how many incumbent republicans I’ve voted against and McCain better take a hard swing right or he won’t get my vote either.
Oh. I almost forgot. It’s not that anybody wants you to shut up. We want you to stop blaming us for your problems. We didn’t cause them and I, for one, will not be made to feel guilty for them.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I moved to LA so I don’t have to worry about snow anymore but let me say this. It may come as a shock but White folks have been known, even today, to do things either through commission or ommission that adversely affect the Black community. I know many if you think that its all in our collective imagination but it does happen. Not all the time mind you but it still happens. When it happens it needs to be brought into the light so that it can be seen by everybody. Mayor Daley has done his share of crooked stuff, same machine that helped Obama win in Illinois. My point is that pointing out when White people in power do fcuked up stuff is not hate speech its letting people know what’s going on, call it NNN, Negro News Network. We know that when a person if color fcuks up the media will be all over it. Many of you need to realize that there is not just 1 America
March 26th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
You ever been called a nigger Dez? Doubt it so how can you even try and respond. I’m sure the person he was referring too didn’t appreciate the comment. Do you understand what was ment by that in the first place?
March 26th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Are we being condescending again doc.?
Do you suppose I have absolutely no education at all. That I have no knowledge of history?
Well correct me if I am wrong, But being called a house n*****, refers to the slaves that worked in the mansions instead of the fields, the masters favorites in other words.
And I can respond because I have had racial slurs hurled my way a few times.
I dont need to be in a plane crash to know I wouldnt like it.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Have you moved again doc? A few months ago you said you lived in the Houston area.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Doc , are you a house OBGYN ? Meaning a abortion doctor . Just curious . Seems to me all you do is bring up race , not what is right or wrong . Please clarify . Do you deliver life or destroy it ?
March 26th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
drdobgyn seems to be a man on the move. First Chicago, then Houston, now LA? Wow.
Ever been called a half breed, doc? Ever had anyone tell your dad that they would not serve his kid, not him, but his kid because that kid was a half breed?
You really seem to think that black Americans are the only ones who have ever experienced discrimination. I guess that is par for the course with the victim mentality. Never look at your own history (African tribalists who sold other tribes into slavery, black slave ship owners who transported those Africans to their destinations, black plantation owners in the South who owned other black human beings, slaves). Instead, you, like the Rev. Mr. Wright, would dump all the problems of the black community on others because to be honest, it is so much easier than being responsible. It is not the fault of the white community that 70% of black children are born out of wed lock. It is not the fault of the white community that black kids would rather try to be a big man in the hood by joining a gang or dealing drugs instead of getting an education and going so far as to harrass black children who do care about their education as “acting white”. It is not the fault of the white community that black men are deserting their children, left to be raised on the tax payer dollar, in record numbers. It is not a racial thing that creates these problems, it is cultural. A culture cancer that eats at the black community. And until the black community accepts it as such, it will continue.
Some black Americans see the cancer and call it for what it is: Thomas Sowell, Dr. Bill Cosby, LaShaun Barber, Starr Parker and Juan Willians, who wrote how he is called an Uncle Tom because he places the blame for the cancer in black communities squarely where it belongs, on the black community itself.
I never owned a slave. No one in my family ever owned a slave. But I have had ancestors killed by black soldiers commanded by a black officer. The Indians called them “Buffalo” soldiers because of their ways. Why do we never hear people like Rev. Wright talk about that? Or you for that matter? Is is that just not convenient?
March 26th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
C’mon Doc. stuff like that happens to everyone. It seems the rest of us don’t have an easy scapegoat though. I just see it as that person is an a**hole and move on.
My Uncle just got back from England and related a short story that shocked me a little. He mentioned to an Englishman at his hotel that his side of our family came from Wales. The guy informed him that he should keep that to himself while in England. The Welsh aren’t much appreciated there. They’re thought of as shiftless and untrustworthy by the English. Now I ask you, should I check to see everytime I’m offended by someone if they’re of English descent to make sure they aren’t being racist towards me? This stuff happens everyday to everyone. If some guy doesn’t hold the elevator door for me I just think he’s an a**hole, but you think he’s being racist. Open your eyes Doc. We’re all in the same boat.
This is like trying to tell a fish what wet means. He’ll never get it until he’s dry.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Dez I just learned to never assume anything. No insult intended.
1st I got married and moved to LA in October. Practiced in Houston area for 5 years.
Wire I just comment on the articles posted and no I don’t perform terminations. Steve posts an article about the use of the word nigger. I can assume most of you have never been called that. Some if you may have used the word, but I’m only guessing.
retire I can always count on you to bring up American Indians in any discussion regardless if it has anything g to do with the article. This was not about Rev Wright this us about Meeks and his use of the word nigger when referring to another Black man. A fcuking Black man dissing another Black man and you’re going into all that shit again. Its like its your only argument. Stay on point retire.
So let me get this straight….all you cinservative types are upset about a Bkack minister calling another Black man a nigger. In the words of my brotha’s Nigga Please!!!!!
March 26th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I could care less what he called his “brotha”. You can call each other that all day long. No skin off my nose, but when people lose their jobs for saying the same thing then I have a problem. Either it goes for everyone or no one. Should we allow some people to steal and not others? Should we condem one man for beating his wife and allow our sons to do it.
It’s the double standard Doc. D-O-U-B-L-E S-T-A-N-D-A-R-D!!!
March 27th, 2008 at 12:03 am
At one time or another , everybody has either been the ” bat ” or the ” ball ” . It’s the ones that continue
to choose to be the ” ball ” that galls me . Your race , creed , or color will not pull you out
of what you should do for yourself . The U.S. is the only place in the world where that can happen .
It has to be you !
March 27th, 2008 at 12:12 am
I agree completly with you noyz that there are a**holes in every ethnic group and when something doesn’t go my way its not because of Mr Charlie but thats me and my experience. Every 45 year old Black man has not been as fortunate as I have been. I grew up in a 2 parent family with a father working 7 days a week so I could go to private school away from the elements in my neighborhood. However I am not the norm but I understand the frustration that many Blacks feel. Do too many blame White people for their own short comings? Of course some do, but some are treated unfairly because of the color of their skin and anyone who claims that we live in a country with a level playing field for all is crazy. Frankly, I believe there is just as much classism as racism and sexism in this country. Face it the country IS run by a bunch of rich White guys who like to do business with other rich White guys. Is that I speech or is it the truth?
March 27th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Noyz yea you’re right it is a double standard. Do you feel the need to say that word in public without fear of getting fcuked up or fired?
March 27th, 2008 at 12:23 am
Tell me something Doc. How is you became successful despite the “vast white conspiracy” to hold all black people down? How did you slip through our fingers? I don’t understand. Is it as Black Liberation Theology explains that we allow a few useful blacks to get ahead so we can use them to easily manage the rest? Who’s bidding are you doing Doc and what are you doing to hold down the lesser of your race according to our orders?
I must have missed that meeting.
Tell me how you made it. Did you know the secret word and if so, who told you? I need to know so I can turn the traitor in.
Do you only practice medicine on blacks? If not, are your white patients at risk of you somehow harming them or mistreating them because of their race?
C’mon Doc. Now doesn’t all that sound preposterous to you? That’s how you sound to us.
Don’t lump all white people into a group that only consists of very, very few and that number dwindles everyday. If you teach your children that it’s everywhere they’ll see it everywhere and the vicious circle continues. My father had me go to public school to learn just that lesson. We all must live together and the only people wanting to continue this cycle are those making money off of it. Jackson, Sharpton, Wright, ect., ect……
Maybe if you’re nice to white folks they’ll return the favor. That’s been my experience, but those who aren’t…F*ck ‘em! Just don’t blame us all.
March 27th, 2008 at 12:26 am
In case you were not aware that word in the Black community can be a word of endearment, a noun or even a complete sentence.
March 27th, 2008 at 12:33 am
“Dez I just learned to never assume anything. No insult intended.”
Then none will be taken. ;-)
“So let me get this straight….all you cinservative types are upset about a Bkack minister calling another Black man a n*****”
Damn, You even type like a doctor writes. (That’s just a little jab doc.)
That’s not what bothers us doc, Its the idea that if a black man succeeds, His street creed is no longer valid, Tell me you have never felt that.
Name calling in church is never a good thing, A minister should know better.
I could care less what people call each other, I call my brothers names, And they return the favor.
We know when an insult is intended, And when its not.
March 27th, 2008 at 12:34 am
You have never read anything like that from me? All I have tried to do is to give you another view of things.
I tell my children judge people for who they are. Every Black person is not your friend and every White person is not your enemy. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Its that simple.
March 27th, 2008 at 12:35 am
No and I’m not going to fire myself for saying it. I hear it everyday at the supermarket, McDonalds, ect. Only I don’t hear it coming from whites. I’ve said it. Many, many times. I grew up hearing it in school and at work and %99 of the time it was coming from blacks.
Doc, when I was a lot younger and working as a carpenter I worked for the most racist person I have ever met in my life. He hated black people simply because of their skin color. He was in the KKK ( I didn’t know that until later) and he would just as soon shoot you than speak to you. He ranted and raved all day long about how useless blacks were. I quit that job as soon as I found another. That guy still lives near me. I don’t even wave to him on the street. He’s dying of cancer and I feel sorry for him. Not because he’s sick with cancer, but because he’s got another Cancer. Racism. And he’s going to be judged for it. People like that are dying off and one day they’ll be a footnote in history, but if you keep taeching your children that ALL whites are that way it will take longer for that breed to die out because they’ll have an excuse for it.
March 27th, 2008 at 12:37 am
This Country was founded by old ” white guys ” that set up the freedoms you now enjoy . Also providing
for the train wreck of the removal of slavery . What these wise men set into place was a road map to freedom for all , of any color . God only helps those that help themselves . Done with the blame game ,
Doc .
March 27th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Its hard typing on this I Phone sorry about the typing errors
March 27th, 2008 at 12:47 am
“Its hard typing on this I Phone sorry about the typing errors”
I was just having a little fun doc, Hey remember the good old days when you could see the numbers on a phone from 2 blocks away, My first cell phone was like that come to think of it. The keys were made of flint too I think.;-)
March 27th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Wire the old White guys were not thinking about the slaves. I believe slaves were not even considered people they were 2/3’s or 2/5’s a person. However I agree that success is available for anyone who puts in the time and effort to make it.
March 27th, 2008 at 12:48 am
I’m glad you’re raising your kids different Doc. That’s great. I wish you luck.
I know how blacks use the word Doc and most of the time you’re right. It’s a term of endearment, but not always and it’s still a double standard and it’s just as dirty either way.
Where I live is %65 black Doc. We don’t have many race problems because we don’t have trouble makers like Jackson around here. There isn’t enough money here for his type. Funny they don’t come here where the poorest blacks in this country live. I know families without indoor plumbing here Doc. Guys who’ve worked their whole lives to send their kids off to get some kind of an education so they won’t have to live like that.
Maybe you would like to volunteer to come here and help some of these people that don’t see doctors too often. Mostly the older, prouder people. the rest are on welfare and SSI and fill the ER for colds.
We only get docs every now and then here. They’re assigned here to as a payback for student loans and many don’t stay long. They don’t even want to help their own race. All talk and New York bound. I’ve seen it a hundred times.
March 27th, 2008 at 12:57 am
“Every Black person is not your friend and every White person is not your enemy.”
Damn good advice doc, Thats all I have to say about that.
March 27th, 2008 at 1:04 am
Well, it’s late here on the east coast guys and gals. I’m glad we solved all the worlds problems here tonight…LOL.
Doc, you seem like a likable guy and I would love to meet you someday. Sounds like you’re raising your kids to see America for what it is. Free! Free to do and be whatever you want. Even a racist preacher. And free not to vote for his protege’.
March 27th, 2008 at 1:53 am
Doc, B as in B , and S as in S , . Our founding fathers set this country on a collision course for freedom
for all . THEY knew that freedom is not ordained by government , but by God alone . This is the last time I will say this to you . Only dictators , politicians and tyrants , will grant you what you already own .
March 27th, 2008 at 8:51 am
That is something that Rev Wright says often usually at some point in a sermon about race. Its never just about “evil” White people. The parts that were not played deal with personal responsibility and the use of your God given abilities. He often is critical of the stars that retire so gleefully pointed out. Whatever is put in your way, be it racism, classism, sexism can be overcome with hard work.