REACTION TO OBAMA'S SPEECH A WEEK AFTER IT WAS GIVEN

Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes wrote in huffingtonpost about sen.Barack Obama's speech a week after it was given and explores its deeper meaning.


What a difference a week makes.....

The Friday before Good Friday, I began my weekend with a sick feeling in my stomach that returned every time I switched on the news. Barack Obama's pastor, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, was everywhere. The pastor's incendiary remarks were being played and replayed, and I knew instantly that of all the threats to Barack Obama's candidacy thus far, none had been so potent--nor so utterly personal.

What was Obama to do? Having attended black churches myself (and having been raised by civil rights activists), I understood the cultural context of his pastor's remarks--even those I did not agree with. Having read Obama's memoir, Dreams from My Father, I had some knowledge of Wright's place in Obama's heart. Wright had guided Obama's path to Christianity. How can that relationship be put into words? How can you convincingly disavow someone who, despite his flaws, has meant so much to you?
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