The Media's Perpetuation of Racism

During last Sunday's sermon, Reverend Otis Moss III, who succeeded Rev. Wright at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, offered an intimate and perspicacious meditation on the media's obsession with Rev. Wright. Moss recalled the slave owner's practice of separating so called house slaves from field slaves to turn the two parties against one another. "There was a play that has been passed down to our people through the years," Moss preached.

"It has been written by Jim and Jane. I will not tell you their last names. And this script, this play that they have asked us to be a part of, is a play entitled Divide and Conquer." Moss illustrated the current controversy through this historical lens, indicating that the narrative contrived by today's media has pit two black allies against one another at the cost of their shared goals. Moss asked his congregation on Sunday not to submit to this storyline, but instead to embrace both men.

"We pray for our senior pastor," he said. "We pray for our member who is a public servant... We reject the spirit of divide and conquer. We reject the spirit of negativity."

After the sermon, The Real News spoke with Professor Dwight N. Hopkins from University of Chicago Divinity School -- a member of Rev. Moss' congregation.

While there is a substantive difference between both Wright and Obama on what it means to be a patriot and how to address racism, the support of one does not come at the illegitimacy of the other. Trinity United Church of Christ practices what it preaches, agreeing with the views of Wright while still supporting Obama's candidacy.

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Comments

[dadumdee]

If anyone can tell me who Richard Nixon, Johk Kennedy, Lydon Johson, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George HW or W Bush, or Bill Clinton's pastor is, then race has nothing to do with this Rev. Wright smokescreen. If not, than f-ck all of you racist SOBs who still mention Rev. Wright. Hell, people were worried that the Vatican would hold sway over JFK, and yet the media never obsessed over it like this. It's gut check time America. Let's not let our irrelevant differences distract us from the greater good of us all.

[SensibleAmerican]

Obama launched his IL senate candidacy at the door-step of Bill Ayers the underground terrorist
One of his best friends in the Chicago elite circle was a fella named Rashid, an Iraqi with Hamas connections
Wright ... well we all know his Farrakhan, Libyan/Gaddafi connections and his longstanding relationship with Obama. Not to forget his inflammatory, racist, bigoted and seperatist speeches
Michele Obama claims America is a mean Country and she never had any reason to be proud of the Nation she is clamoring to be the first lady of!
Lack of lapel pin as a protest against patriotism
Crotch salute to the flag during the rendering of the National Anthem!

Well, no wonder Obama is the hero of all the far-left-loons-America haters!!!

[sdskelton03]

Another "whitey is out to get us" sermon at Trinity. How shocking!

The more African Americans are led to believe there is a formidable racist enemy out there the more they need race hustlers like Sharpton, Jackson, Wright and whoever this Moss Character is.

[pad759]

Because of your ancestors AA have every reasons to not trust them. Ask the Indians how they feel about your ancestors. Ask the Jews how they feel about Hitller. So you need not even have an opinion until you walk in another person's shoesl. Believe me "vengance is mines saith the Lord". White America, you will rreap what you have sown, no question about.

[sdskelton03]

I have neither the power nor the inclination to opress anyone. I hate to break it to you, but I am not guilty of anything you accuse me of!

[robXdion]

Matt,

The media perpetuate racism because it is run mostly by whites that are obsessed with their ignorance of black culture and live in anxiety of what blacks might do in response to unprovoked hatred and years of denigration. POINT BLANK

[dadumdee]

Great post. I would also add the fear of all of the oppressed groups( women, Blacks, Hispanics, poor Whites [By the way White people- if you are paying on loans of ANY kind, you're in this category], etc.) uniting.

[erykah]

There is a reason why there is separation of church and state in this country. Religion and politics mix like oil and water. People are trying to fit the square peg of religion into the round hole of politics and it does not work. I believe as the founding fathers did that a politician should not be judged by his religion (read: what his pastor preaches). Leave Trinity alone. Let those people worship in peace for heaven's sake. Let it go; let it go.

[dogstar7]

Matthew,

Thank you for posting this video and for your column here.

I've had the pleasure to attend Trinity in the past and meeting Rev. Wright, as well as Sen. Obama there. I watched your series with Prof. Dwight Hopkins on YouTube and I'm glad that someone has FINALLY gone to Trinity themselves and seen what's what.

Here's wishing Rev. Moss the best of luck and an equally illustrious career.

[rachaelisacancer]

Moss' theory rings true - outside of any of the current controversy and beyond the lines of color.

Blacks against blacks, one minority against another, women against women and so on.

Good post - though you could elaborate on the media's role in the process. The people trust the media so much and yet recognize its power so little. Without a firm understanding of media ethics, the public truly fails to recognize the subtle-yet-sinister messages we are fed every day and have been fed since the creation of the free press.

Fortunately today we no longer see the blatant display of Sambo, but unfortunately that image and other equally misleading and detrimental images are all but permanent in the minds of many, and will continue to be as the media finds new ways to perpetuate stereotypes and fear of those unlike ourselves.

[CornellRedneck]

I'm so sick and tired of Obama's minions trying to ram another Christian zealot (Wright) down the American people's throat! We don't need a religious agenda in our government! Let it rest, for chrissakes!

[dadumdee]

Is this some sort of joke?

[jrockbg]

I wasn't there for the sermon, but I sense yet another conspiracy theory aimed at subjigating the "black man" arising. It would be a shame if that is what Rev. Moss is infering. There is no organized campaign to do so. And to say that is the case is misleading to blacks who believe it and adversarial to whites.

The truth: There is contention between Obama and Wright. Obama's candidacy should take precedence over Wright's legacy. Someone forgot to tell Wright that and he went on a press tour to attempt to shape his own legacy. But he did so at the expense of Obama's campaign and nearly turned the tide to Hillary's favor.

So it is all contrived that there is some divide and conquer scheme going on.

[Matthew Palevsky - Huffpost Blogger]

I suggest watching the video that I've embedded into this post. It has clips from Reverend Moss' sermon in which he does nothing akin to proposing "yet another conspiracy theory" (and I would suggest reflecting on the implications of your phrasing), but instead he draws an accurate historical parallel that I have described in this post.

[Breni]

"our people" - THAT says it all.

[egal]

How else could it have been said? Given a relatively homogeneous and slightly more homogenous group, unified by shared experience and varied cultural backgrounds all combined into the American way, it is sociologically correct (and necessary) to discuss that shared past using "our" as the adjective.

There's no malice, nor any attacking of other groups, merely the discussion of a history they all (more or less) experienced and its continuing effects. The only way to say that without giving a lengthy description of the situations they had in common is to say that inclusive, presumptive "our".

Or are you so unfamiliar with sentence semantics and syntax that would you find it negatively significant or exclusionary if two people talking with one another before you arrived referred to "our discussion"?

[VARIT00L]

Let's be honest OBAMA,WRIGHT, MOSS are all on the same team, they all agree with their Church's teaching in all 57 States.

[Herrington]

And what teachings would those be?

[egal]

Yes, they do; but as their church teaches giving a helping hand to those in need, accepting all even when not liking them, living in the model of Christ's life, not letting wrongdoers trample the powerless, and supporting the political and other needs of small organizations and families, an objective and informed human being would be uplifted by that recognition rather than be snide.

[camb94]

57 states? explain.