I grew up on the south side of Chicago in the 1970s and 1980s so I have a bit of local interest in Senator Barack Obama’s race for the White House.
Obama and his family live in my old neighborhood, Hyde Park. My siblings and I all attended our local public high school – Kenwood Academy. Obama’s wife Michelle went to Whitney Young High School. The city swimming championship was always held there. My older brothers were members of Kenwood’s swim team. Aside from its swimming pool, I never saw much of Whitney Young. It was a magnet school. But my parents always said that didn’t mean much. All of Chicago’s public schools were basically horrible.
Kenwood was reclassified an academy rather than a regular high school sometime in the 1970s. It was the principal’s way of expelling the gang members from the school. In the Chicago public school system, if you attended an academy and weren’t passing your classes you could be expelled. I understand that the distinction was removed a couple of years after I graduated in 1987, and the school rapidly declined to its previous status as a gang and drug infested flophouse for adolescents. The year after I graduated, in a sign of what was happening, the school authorities installed metal detectors at all the entrances.
When I went to Kenwood, the school was 85 percent black and 15 percent other. The others were mainly white with a sprinkling of Asians and Latinos. Going to school there probably gave me a somewhat skewed view of the reality of race relations in America, because the only bigotry I experienced was black bigotry against whites.
I was one of the only white girls on the track team and my coach was quite a black bigot. She made every white girl on the team run the mile and two mile. Only the black girls could sprint. It didn’t matter to her that I was better at the 200 than the mile. When I asked to run sprints, she just said, “No, that’s not for you girl.” So I quit.
I was in 9th grade in the lead-up to the 1984 presidential elections. Most of the kids in the school were fired up about Jesse Jackson’s candidacy. I was personally offended by their support for a man who referred to New York as a “hymietown,” and I let my feelings be known. I don’t think that anyone thought worse of me for saying I didn’t support a man who was anti-Jewish. But then, it never occurred to me to care. If they had thought worse of me for standing up for my rights as a Jew, then that was their problem, not mine.
At any rate, I remembered my exchanges with my classmates about Jackson today as I read Obama’s speech about race and his pastor Jeremiah White. It was an excellent speech as far as it goes. But it left me feeling very uneasy about the quality of Obama’s character.
I was 13 years old when I stood up alone to all my classmates and told them that I thought they should be ashamed of themselves for supporting an anti-Semite for president. I was a child. But Obama came to Wright as an adult. And as an adult, he sat through 20 years of Wright’s anti-white, anti-Jewish, and anti-American vitriol and said nothing. Indeed, until just a few months ago, he was honoring him as his spiritual mentor. What does that say about him?
As a child, I thought that my track coach was discriminating against me because I was white and so I got up and left. When he — as an adult — heard his pastor spewing poison, he never said anything and he didn’t quit.
It can be argued that there is a difference between how I reacted to black bigotry and how he reacted to black bigotry because I was an outsider and he was an insider. I wasn’t trying to become a member of the black community. I was simply demanding to be treated with respect as a non-black by blacks who happened to be the vast majority of my classmates and teachers.
But then, here’s another example.
In January, I spoke at an anti-jihad conference in Dallas, TX. It was organized by a group called the America Truth Forum. Basically, it was a conclave of an anti-jihad public with anti-jihad speakers. That is, we were all members of the same ideological community – or so I thought when I agreed to attend.
One of the speakers on my panel was an older man named Paul Williams. I had never heard his name before. He approached me before the panel and flattered me, saying that I was the best writer around. So it goes without saying that I was not ill-disposed to him.
But then he began to speak; and pure poison came out. He began his remarks by telling the audience of mainly religious Christians that some woman had told him that he is a prophet. That already had me questioning his character. But then he went on, giving incorrect statements about Muslims. Rather than provide information about jihadist doctrine or infiltration of American mosques, he simply began demonizing Muslims as a group. They became this amorphous “other” incapable of individual choices or actions. It was bigotry pure and simple.
And so, I walked off the stage and out of the hall. I didn’t return until he finished speaking and when I returned, I refused to shake his hand or have anything to do with him.
I saw that the audience had given him a standing ovation and so I began to wonder if I shouldn’t simply return the check I had received from the organizers and leave. But I decided to stay and to challenge him.
And that is what I did. I quietly and forcefully explained why what Williams said was wrong, un-American, and in defiance of both Christian and Jewish values and approaches to human beings. And, as luck would have it, I received an even larger standing ovation than Williams did.
The point here is that I didn’t nod my head to fit in, or treat him politely simply because we sat on a stage together. And I didn’t surrender the floor to him. We were supposedly on “the same side,” but his statements were so contrary to what I believe that it occurred to me that I’d rather be shopping with Nancy Pelosi than sitting through his hateful nastiness.
And I write all of this not to puff myself up. I don’t think I did anything extraordinary by standing up to Williams or to my classmates and teachers in high school. I think that it is how people should behave particularly if they are smart enough to understand that ideas are important. And Obama is certainly smart enough to understand that ideas are important.
Obama’s denunciation of Wright’s bigotry amounts to too little too late. The time to stand up to him wasn’t now, when his association with Wright is sinking his hopes for the White House. The time to have stood up to Wright was when Obama was just another member of his church. If he truly believes in what he says he believes, he should have walked out of Wright’s church or grabbed Wright’s microphone and told his fellow churchgoers that Wright was wrong and that they mustn’t hate. In twenty years of attending Wright’s church, why didn’t Obama once stand before his fellow church members and tell them that they mustn’t hate their country and their fellow Americans?
The fact that he didn’t, and the fact that he upheld this man until just a few months ago as his spiritual mentor and still refuses to condemn him and his deeply flawed character tells me everything I need to know about Barack Obama. I think that he is an opportunistic, weak man. I hope and pray that he doesn’t become President.
so do all freedom loving americans! he’s unfit for public office. but someone today mentioned that they’d heard that a poll of israealis indicates they favor Hillary for pres. over Mccain and that’s not exactly encouraging news either. what is she other than a clueless lib and an appeaser?
re your comments about islam Caroline, is it your position that the practice of islam is compatible with western style democracy? Could you, at some point, clarify your position on this issue? and what exactly did Paul Williams say that you found so offensive? Thank you as always for your moral courage!
In November, American voters will be given a clear choice between two candidates with stark differences. The Democratic nominee will try to convince Americans to cut and run from Iraq. And the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain will urge America to stay the course in Iraq, and complete the mission. Who would Americans and the free world rather have as the next U.S. President: a genuine war hero who paid the price as a POW or a Democrat who never served in war?
Spoken from the heart, simple words, simple argument, therefore quite unassailable.
So do I. There’s the old, true and trite saying to be recalled here. It says everything about your thoughts in a few words: “One is judged by the company one keeps.”
Thank you for having troubled yourself to write this clear assessment. Thank you also for the other good work via the written word that you do.
God I love this woman!!!
Ow. That’s gonna leave a mark.
Well, it’s just that simple really. Isn’t it?
That was just excellent, Caroline.
The reason people like myself don’t sometimes speak up, is not because you agree with what is being said that is wrong, but you know you don’t have the intellectual clout to counter people are intellectual bullies, and you fear being made a fool of. All the more reason why people with Caroline’s ability must speak up when the situation arises.
Rather than expose Obama as someone who embraces racists, the media have taken his speech, and concentrated on his great oratory skills and painted him as a healer. Caroline as always washes away the airbrushed gobeldegook.
Samuel Johnson says
First marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence,
A second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.
Lets hope America Stays single
Well said, Ms Glick. I don’t remember the woman who, back in 1903, said America needed people who would call things by their right names. You have done that about Obama with this article.
you are absolutely (w)right. Obama is just another politician, using the Rev. Wright for political gain and ditching him when he became a liability. The “real” Obama is no where to be found. He disappeared 20 years earlier when he bought into the bigotry, anti-American, anti-Jew filth at the TUCC. PS.. Caroline, you can puff some if you like, it is your site. 🙂
Caroline is outstanding. I wish to goodness we could clone her and have her hold every seat in the Senate and every seat in the Knesset too.
You wrote:
“If he truly believes in what he says he believes, he should have walked out of Wright’s church or grabbed Wright’s microphone and told his fellow churchgoers that Wright was wrong and that they mustn’t hate.”
Well, that is the problem, isn’t it? History and present actions would not support the argument that he believes what he said in the speech (i.e., denouncing Wright’s statements as divisive and inflammatory). Remember, Obama had taped sermons of this man as spiritual and intellectual fuel while at Harvard Law. He imbibed this man’s hate and vitriol and “Black Liberation Theology” through to his core in order to prove his “blackness”. He steeped his children in this man’s toxic, vitriolic, bigoted brew–his children.
And then his speech yesterday was the ultimate of red herrings. He made the speech (a deeply flawed one if you read it rather than listen) on race in America. It was an answer to a question no one had posed. The question was why he spent 20 years in the wings of a lunatic anti-Semite and anti-American.
And to posit that Wright’s statements were taken out of context? I have tried and I cannot find one context where “God Damn America” or “USKKKA” or “I said that dirty word again, Israel” or, to paraphrase, “The white-man run government created AIDS to kill the black man” would be acceptable. Out of context…almost always used as a defense of the untenable.
One of the saddest and most intellectually dishonest portions of his speech was when he made the implicit comparison of his dead grandmother to Pastor Wright. His grandmother’s fear of being alone with a black man approaching and rare off-color comment were equivalent to “God Damn America” and “USKKKA”? Not to mention that he sought Wright, approved of him, took quarter with him; he was born with that grandmother whether he liked it or not. Last I checked, it was the Reverend Jesse Jackson who was also afraid of having black males approach him.
Needless to say, I find him nothing more than a Leftist demagogue selling the same old tired wares.
Thank you for sharing this compelling personal story.
Of course, we’ll rarely find a politician with character as good as yours. Associating with Wright was probably mostly opportunism on Obama’s part. He moved across the country to an area where he thought he could get elected then associated himself with whatever ‘community leaders’ could help him in his pursuit of power.
But Obama may be worse than a opportunist, he may be a dumb opportunist. A smart opportunist would have started disassociating himself from Wright 3 years ago. Even once this controversy erupted 2 weeks ago he could have handled it much better.
Of course, there is another possibility – deep down he may actually with Wright racist, anti-american rants.
Many blogs have pointed out the New Blank Panther Party logo on Obama’s campaign website. He may claim Wright is a character from his past, but with whom is he voluntarily associating himself with now?
http://tinyurl.com/2xwr4e
Marc Handelsman,
Interesting the right has finally come to respect war veterans over non-serving politicians. Too bad you couldn’t reach that level of maturity 3+ years ago. Do you understand how hypocritical your comments are? Or is that another advanced concept you’re trying to master?
Here we have Obama’s website listing an endorsement by the Black Panthers:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/gGrXCt
Wonderful post. Thanks for this.
I grew up in East New York, Brooklyn at a time when the neighborhood changed from mixed to 95% black and 4% Puerto Rican and 1% white (that’s me). When I finished the 5th grade (PS 76) I was the only white kid in the entire elementary school. But my family didn’t move. My parents sent me to the local YMCA day camp (Highland Park) and that too went from mixed to me being the only white kid. The apartment building we lived also changed. This was the early-mid 70’s. While I didn’t have problems at PS 76, at the YMCA I was picked on mercilessly. During the ever popular tenant association meetings the building had, I heard horrible things about Jews.
I too have been a victim of black racism because I was white and because I was Jewish.
“In twenty years of attending Wright’s church, why didn’t Obama once stand before his fellow church members and tell them that they mustn’t hate their country and their fellow Americans?”
True. Even more to the point, why didn’t the supposedly Christian preacher of a supposedly Christian church say this in the first place instead of what he actually said?
o.k., but you are speaking in the past tense asking “…why didn’t Obama…?” when there is still reason to ask “why doesn’t Obama?” since Obama still is a member of that same TUCC church that still is supporting Wright’s nonsense
I’m a Conservative and grew up in Bridgeport in Chicago.. I knew the day would come when the fraud that is Obama would be exposed and I am so glad it has finally arrived.
Obama has done one thing that has utterly surprised me… he has me looking forward to McCain winning the election.
I was totally ambivient in the wake of McCain’s primary victory. But with all that has come from the Obamas’ mouths the past two months there is absolutely no way that I can withhold support from McCain no matter how lacklusterly I view him.
Our military people deserve a honorable Commander in Chief and McCain would be that. Obama as CinC would be like giving the middle finger to every serviceman/woman.
I think what Obama was making clear was that he hates the sin, but loves the sinner. Some may disagree with this, but it is clearly within religious teachings. It does not make him political operative, or a weak man, it means he accepts the flawed nature of the people he knows.
I have a set of cousins who are extremely religious, to the point of discrimination towards the non-religious. I find this deeply offensive, but I know I will not change their views no matter how much I scream. I have accepted to love them very much, even with a deep flaw that I cannot ignore. It does not keep me from understanding them as fundamentally good people. Wright brought Obama into Christianity, officiated his wedding, baptized his children — he is family in that larger sense of the word. You can hate Obama for plenty of other reasons, such as his total lack of specificity in how he would actually lead, but this one seems misguided.
He understand this friend to be flawed, human, and sometimes overcome with resentment, but still a fundamentally a good person. I know these people too. Obama’s actions seem a pretty courageous thing to do when the more politically expedient thing would be to simply disown him entirely. I imagine if you were predisposed to hating Obama, then you can easily just decide to pile this on, but attempting to look at it objectively, I think he handled a difficult situation quite well.
Well said. You have astutely seen through the political charade that is the Obama campaign. Yet you and I both know that no matter what outrageous facts emerge about Obama (or Hillary, for that matter), on election day Jewish voters will mindlessly get in line to vote for whoever has the (D) after their name, in spite of the fact that the Democratic party contain far more anti-Semites than does the GOP.
“I wasn’t’t trying to become a member of the black community.” C. Glick
The corollary to Caroline’s statement is that Obama WAS trying to become a member of the black community. Obama was an outsider trying to be a member of Chicago’s most insular black community. He spent 20 years studying at the feet of Rev. Wright to become a member of that black community. He courted and married one of Rev. Wright’s followers. He brought his children to Rev. Wright to be baptized. Rev. Wright became the only spiritual leader these children ever had. For Obama to disavow his connection to Rev. Wright now is the height of hypocrisy. He cannot erase twenty years of close affiliation and apprenticeship to an anti-American, anti-white, anti-semitic, anti-Israel bigot.
I have been discriminated against three times in my life. I’m a white male. I was discriminated by blacks in the Navy. I got pushed down some concrete steps by a redneck black and then had charges filed against me by the liberal officers on the USS Canopus. They had just finished some affirmative action sensetivity training. On the Canopus the white guy was always wrong.
I was descriminated by a feminist woman who’s brother in law ran the company. I eventually quit because of it. I gave the owner an earful and he was sypathetic but said he could do nothing.
I was also descriminated by a Iraeli/Jewish company for giving one of my customers a bible. I was fired for “cause”.
All those nonsense black descrimination stories don’t mean squat to me. I’ve been descriminated against more than most of them.
I think what Obama was making clear was that he hates the sin, but loves the sinner.
Funny way he has of hating the sin, accepting it without quibble (as far as we know) and immersing his family, including the next generation, in it.
No, I don’t believe that interpretation, either.
To equate Kerry’s misrepresentation of himself as an honorable veteran who honored veterans, with McCain’s service and honor of the military, is to completely ignore Kerry’s history as an anti-military Vietnam era protester who promulgated false testimony (Winter Soldier fables). Swift Boating is not a term of derision unless you think telling the truth about a liar is something to deride.
Obama sat in a racist church for 20 years because he thought it was “politically advantageous” to do so. He knew what it took to be elected in the district he represented. Now that he is seeking national office his (former) connections come back to haunt him. He’s just another politician, nothing more. Just don’t trust him.
You guys have a nice little community here. I bet this is what the echo chamber that is the oval office sounds like right now. Time for a dissenting opinion.
Granted I don’t know anything about you, so I’m just going to take your story at face value.
1). It doesn’t say a whole lot about your character that you quit track when faced with hardship and bigotry. I know you were 13 and the going was tough, but it would’ve been a much more inspiring story had you pressed on and demonstrated that you were able to sprint despite the obstacles. Instead you walked away.
2). You have demonstrated the fundamental difference between you and Obama. You are unable to tolerate someone with ideas that you consider wrong. Instead of listening to them, you dismiss them outright and then walk away. Nobody likes bigots, racists, anti-semites, but it makes it much more likely that you will effect change if you listen to them and then address them as the human beings that they are. I’m guessing that when you stood up in your class and denounced racism, that no one actually listened to you and you subsequently quit.
3). You make an attack on Obama’s character because he didn’t walk away from a situation like this. I would argue that it takes a much stronger character to stay and try to change the institution quietly, peacefully and politically than to stand up and walk away.
The world is not black and white. There are as many shades of grey as there are people on this planet.
This was an excellent column. Your writing is right up there with Ann Coulter, and she is the best IMHO. Also you are apparently just as gutsy!
Flightfire,
Where is there any evidence that Obama tried to change the situation in Wright’s church “quietly, peacefully and politically” at any time over the last 20 years before his speach this week? There is plenty of evidence that Obama used his name, position, family, and connections to support Rev. Wright and his disloyal bigotted hate speech.
I know of very few white folks who don’t cross the street when approaching a group of black male youths (I can’t speak for blacks, but suspect some of them would do the same thing). It’s not a racial prejudice thing, it’s based on fact. Last time I checked, approx. 80% to 90% of prison inmates were black males.
There can be no serious attempt to reconcile America’s racial differences until blacks are willing to give up their cherished anti-european bigotry and take responsibility for the conditions they find themselves in, largely as a result of choices they have made and that no one forced upon them. I will never take blacks seriously as long as they continue to make excuses for bigots like Wright. Nothing that has happened in the past excuses his hatred. Blacks simply must stop using race as a club with which to to threaten others to get what they want. I will not listen to anyone who uses code words like “oppression”, “history of racism”, etc. This is not dialogue, it is demagoguery. Politicians will never speak for me on this issue, and I believe many european-americans agree with me that politicians are not to be trusted with our lives. For generations, politicians have made excuses for, and enabled, black on white violence, rape, and crime, because they are cowards terrified by the black riots, burnings, and lootings of the 60s. America’s political class cannot be trusted as honest brokers in any discussion of race relations, and especially not Democrat politicians.
In response to Fightfire, I think the point is that he didn’t do anything at all to “try to change the institution quietly”. He just went along with it all for his own political gain, and now that it’s a political detriment he’s gotten suddenly critical.
This is the first time I have been honored to read something by you and I found it amazing. great job.
As for Obama’s reaction, It is very simple really…silence means approval.
Some people are followers and some are leaders, and you dear person are a leader.
I also have a problem with someone becoming the Commander in Chief when they have never served their country in any way through the military. On what basis do these people think they can come in and lead our nation and protect us when they haven’t a clue as to what it is all about.
It is surprising how true Barrack’s comments about latent racism are.
“You are unable to tolerate someone with ideas that you consider wrong.”
Okay, by that standard we should be willing to discuss what’s good about Nazism. I mean, apart from all the racial-supremacy theory, the genocide, the totalitarian oppression, and the drive for world conquest. Right?
Obama isn’t even really much of a Christian. According to scripture, if a Church elder is wayward, the proper thing to do is to speak with him in private [which he may have done with Wright, granted] but if he doesn’t mend his ways, one is to speak with him again, either with others or in front of the Church. Finally, if the elder refuses to change, a Christian is to treat that elder “as if a pagan or a tax collector”.
The sad state of affairs in this country is that the autor of the article has to qualify her anti-O’Bama message with multiple paragraphs of explanations of why she is quaified to criticize a black man. Enough with the white guilt! It’s okay to say you don’t like Obama without the ridiculously long winded argument of you being a minority etc.
Wow, this was one hell of a read, even as speaking as someone who has an intellectual crush on you.
I’m a Chicago guy as well, and you have to admit that those of us from here appreciate personal honesty and integrity more than most. It’s part of our blue-collar hardworking nature. Obama showed his integrity by sitting silent for 20 years while hatred and bigotry were preached. He shows his personal honesty when he wraps himself in racial issues when necessary. Obama’s not even honest with himself on the issue of patriotism. If he can’t be honest about simple issues, what hope do we have of him being honest to the public?
It’s not about race or religion. It’s about a man who isn’t honest with himself. That’s not a man I want leading this amazing country.
What about the BLACK PANTHERS and the NATION OF ISLAM how come we never hear about their radical ideas and the fact that the BLACK PANTHERS were terrorists
As to why Obama deserves censure for never having rejected Jeremiah Wright, I submit the following.
Jeremiah Wright venomously demonizes the white America that provided affirmative action all these years of my adult life. Jeremiah Wright spews his choicest venom on Israel, and the Jewish people I am a Jew, and I know damn well that a vast majority of blacks hate us insanely. Jeremiah Wright demonizes and dehumanizes us.
His demonization and dehumanization of Jews first, and the rest of White America closely thereafter, fits the template used by Pol Pot, and Hitler, and the Hutu militia and all other genocidal maniacs.
It is possible that Wright and his fellow travelers preparing the masses for the eventual liquidation of all peoples whom he hates.
Yep, from what I hear, the same goes on at Black churches all over America. It is a very short walkway from demonization, and dehumaniztion, to overt incitement, and then to genocide.
I beleive that Sharpton. Jackson, all the race hustlers are involved in the process. Senator Obama, whether he intends to or not, lends his imprimateur to the process of dehumanization in preparation for mass murder. In doing so, he has betrayed his self stated goal of healing.us. Unfortunately, many otherwise decent black people have a blind spot when it comes to Barak Obama
Hopefully, the long time that Obama spent at Wright’s church will persist as a issue in the American public’s mind during this election cycle. Hopefully, McCain, a genuine hero, will be America’s next president. May God Bless America and our ally, Israel.
I love the wonderful passion and thoughtful responses to your Obama Character Article…I pray for people as lost as Obama…he wants to belong so badly, he will Lie, and obfuscate anyway he can to fool the sheeple…so sad
Wright has opened the forum to Black Hate and Bigotry…Self Esteem Righteousness has keep so many blacks on a Get Even Reparations Track that has nothing to do with today’s White Americans… I am a WASP…now jump on me, we are so, so strong we can carry the worlds evil forever, and still pay more taxes than we will ever receive in direct benefit…I thank the Lord he has given me forgiveness, and Love for all people… McCain is the only choice for me this election, I will Pray for America, and work for his Election to the Presidency, and I know he will address this Hate on the left…
Caroline,
Sorry you had to put up with such a schmendrick at the anti-Jihad conference in Dallas.
I live for your update.Like a cool breeze off the lake your wit refreshes me.I’m so grateful for you.The blind shall see again.You are terrific.May
God bless your every breath.(Ardent admirer).You are cute, too.
I read this article and listened to Ms. Glick’s comments on NPR. I am of the opinion that Ms. Glick is extrapolating her world view and some bad experiences too far. This extrapolation has intersected the x-axis and has gone into the negative plane. Obviously some negative childhood experiences should not create a dominant adult world-view.
I am sure there have been many black people who have been in similar situations where they were the minority. The hope is that we as people can appeal to greater human and moral nature and not see the different person as the “enemy”.
One must realize that very likely all of the previous American presidents grew up in Segregated Schools. One of the current candidates voted against the Martin Luther King holiday.
Barack Obama is one of the first candidates whose platform is one that strives to take Americans beyond the politics of division. The comments today on the radio from Ms. Glick are an extrapolation of a bad experience projected onto someone else. Such extrapolations are unhealthy and not sound nor rational.
How we HARDLY SEE any dissenting views on this discussion board IS WHAT IS REALLY TROUBLING !
In fact, it is scary !!! Let me leave you with a quote from an American founding father:
“Everyone is a slave of his/her own past experiences.” You can talk all you want, but the fact is that WHAT BLACKS HAVE BEEN THROUGH IN THIS GREAT COUNTRY IS UNCONSCIONABLE….and I am NOT talking about some slavery that occurred some seven thousand years ago that “they need to get over.” !!!
Alan Dinno