Texas Liberal

I’ve recently read, or am in the process of reading, three books about being Black in America in the years leading up to and following 1900.

A book I’ve finished is Sport Of The Gods by Paul Laurence Dunbar. (Drawing above.) This is a novel. It is the story of a black family in New York City at the beginning of the last century. It is bleak.

Sport was published in 1902.

The book is short and reads like the history of a time and place. It is worth the reading.  

Here is information about Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Here is an excerpt from this profile–  ”Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American to gain national eminence as a poet. Born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, he was the son of ex-slaves and classmate to Orville Wright of aviation fame.  Although he lived to be only 33 years old, Dunbar was prolific, writing short stories, novels, librettos, plays, songs and essays as well as the poetry for which he became well known. He was popular with black and white readers of his day, and his works are celebrated today by scholars and school children alike. His style encompasses two distinct voices — the standard English of the classical poet and the evocative dialect of the turn-of-the-century black community in America. He was gifted in poetry — the way that Mark Twain was in prose — in using dialect to convey character. ” 

I’ve also been reading Unforgivable Blackness by Geoffrey Ward. This is a life of Jack Johnson. Johnson was the first black heavyweight champion.  

Here is a review of Unforgivable Blackness.

It was published in 2004.

From an ESPN article about Johnson—

“He transformed himself from the docks of Galveston, Texas, to early 20th-century glitterati. He had his own jazz band, owned a Chicago nightclub, acted on stage, drove flashy yellow sports cars, reputedly walked his pet leopard while sipping champagne, flaunted gold teeth that went with his gold-handled walking stick and boasted of his conquests of whites — both in and out of the ring.

Johnson was also a fugitive for seven years, having been accused of violating a white slavery act with a woman who would become his third wife. ”

I’m about a third of the way through this book. I feel it could be shorter. Once you get the idea that white champions were reluctant to fight Mr. Johnson, you don’t need to read about every detail of that resistance.

Still, the book is holding my interest well enough and I enjoyed learning about Mr. Johnson’s youth in Galveston.

Everybody should should visit Galveston, Texas.  

The last title is The Souls Of Black Folk by W.E.B Du Bois.

Souls was written in 1903.

Here is a little bit about Mr. Du Bois—

“William Edward Burghardt DuBois, to his admirers, was by spirited devotion and scholarly dedication, an attacker of injustice and a defender of freedom. A harbinger of Black nationalism and Pan-Africanism, he died in self-imposed exile in his home away from home with his ancestors of a glorious past—Africa.

Labeled as a “radical,” he was ignored by those who hoped that his massive contributions would be buried along side of him. But, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “history cannot ignore W.E.B. DuBois because history has to reflect truth and Dr. DuBois was a tireless explorer and a gifted discoverer of social truths. His singular greatness lay in his quest for truth about his own people. There were very few scholars who concerned themselves with honest study of the black man and he sought to fill this immense void. The degree to which he succeeded disclosed the great dimensions of the man.”

I’ve only reached up to chapter three in Souls. In chapter three, Du Bois is going to discuss Booker T. Washington and others.

The famous line from the book—”The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line”–is the first sentence and the last sentence of chapter two.

Du Bois says this ongoing issue is a “phase” of the same issue that was the cause of the Civil War.

Isn’t a bottom line of our 2008 campaign the question of will America elect a Black man named Barack Obama President?

The “race question” goes on and on.

At least so far.

Chapter two is in full a history of the Civil War years and Reconstruction efforts up until 1872.

Du Bois talks about the way the Freedman’s Bureau was doomed to fail from the start in the effort to help Black Americans gain some measure of equality after the Civil War.

I look forward to making it past chapter two and writing more blog posts on this great work of our American history. 

A new ad produced by the Democratic National Committee rightly criticizes Senator John McCain for his support of endless war.

You can see the ad by clicking here.

However, the commercial misses the mark in an important regard.

A graphic in the spot references “Over 4000 dead.”

Just over 4000 U.S. troops have died in the war.

What’s left out is the number of Iraqi civilians who have been killed. 

Iraq Body Count suggests that number is over 85,000.

Without forgetting that Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator, it’s clear that the number of innocent Iraqis who have died is high.

Every life has equal value. One person does not have more value than another person because of where they were born or where they live. 

This is a value that should be reflected by our party of the left.

This unwillingness to give equal value to all persons is consistent with the lack of conversation by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama about the ongoing world food crisis.    

In Philadelphia, a number of police officers recently beat three drug suspects in an excessive manner.

Here is a story about the beating. Above is a picture.

Being a police officer is a hard job.

Yet uniformed officers must have discipline.

My feeling about police officers is that you always respect them, you call them when needed, and you avoid them otherwise.

Police officers can be very helpful. If they help you they deserve your thanks. 

We should never forget that police are human just like anybody else. 

At the same time, police officers can get away with a lot.

They can mess you up if they choose.

When confronted with the facts about bad deeds that they or other officers may have committed, they do not always tell the truth.

Police officers should be well paid and receive good benefits.

They should also be under strong civilian control and always be respectful of that civilian authority.

People with weapons and the authority of the state behind them need strong personal discipline.

The Philadelphia police officers in this case seem to have failed the public, the profession and themselves. 

I took this picture of the Mississippi River last week from the window of an airplane.

The picture came out hazy.

Looking at the Mississppi River got me thinking about the Mark Twain biography I’m currently reading.

While Twain’s riverboat days were only a small portion of his life, I find them interesting. 

I think part of that comes from my years living in Cincinnati along the shores of the Ohio River.

I’ve wondered what it must have been like when Cincinnati was a river town.

I’ve thought I might have been able to function in a frontier society that placed a value on self-creation. ( At least if you were white.)

When I read about Twain’s time on the river, I get an ill-defined longing for a different place and a different time. 

It’s a hazy notion that well compliments this hazy photo. 

I think we all have half-formed ideas in our minds of places we would like to visit and times we wish we could go back and see.

It’s a good thing we have books and imaginations that can partially take us to places we wish we could visit or recreate.   

With two more primaries completed, I want to restate my view that I’ll support the nominee of the Democratic Party.

People who have voted for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama are good people.  

I also support moving on to the next step—Whatever that next step may be.

If it is a battle to the convention, that is fine.

I’m not afraid of democracy and of people voting.

I also feel though that if Hillary Clinton is unable to win a majority of delegates, she may then wish to consider quitting the race.

Senator Clinton and Barack Obama should hold a joint press conference and pledge support for the ultimate nominee. This is the bottom line.    

I’m for Barack Obama for President.

I feel the gas tax issue is an example of why Senator Obama is the better candidate.

Senator Clinton has exploited people’s legitimate fear over the price of gas instead of offering an honest discussion of the issue. 

Senator Obama has told the more difficult truth on the gas tax.  

Still, she is much better than John McCain.

Again—I have regard for all Democratic primary voters, I am ready for whatever the process brings, and I support the candidate who I believe will be the next President—Barack Obama.

Some political notes and thoughts from Texas and Harris County—

(Above is the harbor at Palacios in Matagorda County. George Bush won 65% of the nearly 12,500 votes cast in Matagorda in 2004. But I’m certain that four years of calm seaside reflection has given the good folks of Matagorda a new view of things for 2008.) 

Noriega Senate Race

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega of Houston is polled by Rasmussen as running only 4 points behind far-right incumbent John Cornyn. In this polling snapshot, the race is seen as 47% for Mr. Cornyn and 43% for Mr. Noriega.  

Mr. Noriega is a Texas State representative.

I recall early numbers from 2002 that had former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk running ahead of then Texas Attorney General Cornyn. At the time, Mr. Kirk’s favorable name recognition in the Dallas metroplex was a source of his strength.  

Mr. Cornyn won that race 55% -43% in a Republican year. 

This time around, it may be that some Texans are reconsidering allegiance to Republican party ( As well they should.) and that demographic changes in this majority-minority state are finally catching up to the ballot box.

Mr. Noriega’s 51% showing in the Texas Democratic primary was not impressive. Yet, Mr. Noriega will no doubt establish himself among Texas Democrats as November approaches. If the broader climate in Texas is moving towards Democrats, than Mr. Noriega may have a shot.  

Here is Mr. Noriega’s campaign web home.   

Harris County Races

Recent reports on racial disparities in application of the death penalty in Harris County, and reports from Dallas county about long-term inmates being set free after being proved innocent show the importance of a new justice team in Harris County.   

The new Democratic District Attorney in Dallas County has made such a positive difference in that part of Texas.   

Electing C.O. Bradford as District Attorney and Adrian Garcia as County Sheriff would be a good start towards the more fair practice of justice in Harris County.   

The Harris County Democratic coordinated campaign will be led by Bill Kelly.

I’ve seen Democratic coordinated campaigns in other parts of the country that involved walking around money for local pastors and others, and mailings into minority communities featuring white politicians linked up with black politicians.

These mailings were meant to aid white politicians by associating them with black candidates in areas where many black voters live. Yet it never seemed to work the other way of mailings into mostly white areas as a way to boost black candidates.    

One of the many reasons I’m glad to hear about the appointment of Mr. Kelly is that I know it portends real change in Harris County.    

Change for the Harris County Democratic Party as it moves to full inclusion of the voters who are the backbone of its local support, and, after success at the ballot box, changes in public policy such as the immediate need for a better justice system.  

In addition to the $500 breakfast listed on the web page of the Harris County Democratic Party, I look forward to a more broad based campaign kick-off event to generate excitement about the November ticket. 

This post is also at my Houston Chronicle blog where I’m one of eight featured political bloggers.

(The Houston Ship Channel is a big deal in Harris County. Harris County voted 54% -46 % for George Bush in 2004. There were just over 1.05 million votes cast. 2008 may be a more successful year for Harris County Democrats. ) 

Cyclone Nargis has killed at least 22,000 people in Burma. There is fear the death toll will reach 50,000.

5/9/08–The death toll is rising and aid efforts have been resisted by the Burmese government.

The country is also known as Myanmar.

(The photo is from the Agence French Presse.) 

A cyclone is the same as a hurricane. Here are many cyclone questions and answers.

The storm did the greatest damage in the Irrawaddy Delta area of Burma. Here is extensive information on that region. It is one of the most highly populated areas of Burma. 

The capital, Rangoon, has received extensive damage.

Here is video of the destruction. 

The Times of London writes about an added crisis from the storm—

The features that made the stricken area vulnerable to this disaster — its low-lying geography and proximity to water — also made it Burma’s rice bowl. The cyclone has undoubtedly wrought terrible damage on the country’s agriculture. World rice prices are at a record high already, provoking food riots in more than 30 countries. Burma is a net exporter of rice, and the destruction of crops in the Irrawaddy delta will only add to upward pressure on international prices. The country may be unable to keep its promise to sell rice to other needy countries such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

There is concern the repressive goverment of Burma will obstruct foriegn-based relief efforts.

This BBC article discusses what aid workers in Burma will be looking for and trying to accomplish.

Here are three Burmese bloggers on the cyclone and the repression in Burma.  

Here is Burmese Bloggers Without Borders.

Here is Burma Digest.

Here is ko hitke’s prosaic collection.

This Saturday, a so-called referendum is planned by the government to help cement their dictatorial rule.

Hopefully this vote will be canceled and the cyclone will help open Burmese society. The Chinese government could help by pressuring its Burmese allies to move towards freedom.

Here is the most recent Reporters Without Borders update on Burma. 

Here are some basic facts and recent history of Burma.

Below is a BBC map of the path of the storm.  

 

What identity could Barack Obama choose that would be both sincere and successful?

Not long ago, people were asking if Mr. Obama was “Black enough.” Somehow maybe even Bill Clinton was more Black than Senator Obama.

Once Senator Obama established his color, he then had to figure out how to present himself as a candidate who is also a Black man in a nation with a rough racial history.

He’s not a self-styled centrist like former U.S. Representative Harold Ford of Tennessee.

He’s not a careerist in a safe district like Representative Charles Rangel of New York.

He’s not an old-style activist like Jesse Jackson.     

So who and what will Senator Obama be?

He is, like all of us, a work in progress.

My hope is that Senator Obama continues up a curve of personal maturity as he comes to fully understand how important his campaign is to the nation, and to people who never thought they’d see someone like Barack Obama running for President.    

Some heat and gravity where Senator Obama is currently cool and light might help.

Still, Senator Obama is doing well so far. He is the favorite to win the Democratic nomination and leads John McCain in polls. 

Senator Obama is at this point successfully navigating uncharted waters.

May 4 is Rhode Island Independence Day.

If you were a school kid in Rhode Island in 1976, you got the day off as a holiday as part of Bicentennial observances that year. 

What a good day that was!

Below is a little history ( Click here for the full link) —

Rhode Island was a leader in the American Revolutionary movement. Having the greatest degree of self-rule, it had the most to lose from the efforts of England after 1763 to increase her supervision and control over her American colonies. In addition, Rhode Island had a long tradition of evading the poorly enforced navigation acts, and smuggling was commonplace.

Beginning with strong opposition in Newport to the Sugar Act (1764), with its restrictions on the molasses trade, the colony engaged in repeated measures of open defiance, such as the scuttling and torching of the British customs sloop Liberty in Newport harbor in July 1769, the burning of British revenue schooner Gaspee on Warwick’s Namquit Point in 1772, and Providence’s own “Tea Party” in March 1775. Gradually the factions of Ward and Hopkins put aside their local differences and united by endorsing a series of political responses to alleged British injustices. On May 17, 1774, after parliamentary passage of the Coercive Acts (Americans called them “Intolerable”), the Providence Town Meeting became the first governmental assemblage to issue a call for a general congress of colonies to resist British policy. On June 15 the General Assembly made the colony the first to appoint delegates (Ward and Hopkins) to the anticipated Continental Congress.

In April 1775, a week after the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, the colonial legislature authorized raising a 1,500-man ”army of observation” with Nathanael Greene as its commander. Finally, on May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first colony to renounce allegiance to King George III. Ten weeks later, on July 18, the Assembly ratified the Declaration of Independence.

Here are some basic facts about Rhode Island.

Pop open a tall cold Narragansett and celebrate 232 years of Rhode Island Independence. 

I rarely put anything fully personal on this blog. I don’t imagine my personal life is of interest to anybody.

But I would ask the reader’s indulgence as I post a picture of three longstanding friends. I took this picture last week in Cincinnati.

As you can see, these are people drawn from the lower orders of society.

Still, they boost my stature by allowing me their company.

I’ve known each of these three for at least 20 years.

You could say I’m lucky to have such longstanding friends.

You’d be right.

Yet it is also so that I work to maintain my relationships.

I would suggest to anybody that you work hard to maintain strong friendships even across distances of many miles and many years.

Be both imaginative and disciplined in navigating your friendships and you’ll be well rewarded. 

Here is a short poem I wrote after visiting the Library of Congress a few years back—

In the main reading room

Of the Library of Congress

Tourists gawk

At the magnificent architecture

And at the odd sight

Of people reading books.

Here are other Texas Liberal poetry posts. 

I want to thank five good blogs that have recently added me to their blogrolls. 

PoliSci@UST is the blog of the political science department of the University of St. Thomas in Houston. It is a bipartisan blog. I think they added me because I’m a political science graduate of a Jesuit university ( Xavier U. in Cincinnati) and they wanted to give me a plug. (Though they had no way of knowing this until I wrote it here.)

Queer In The Cincy is a fine blog about being gay in Cincinnati and living in Cincinnati. Let it be known I was a Stonewall Cincinnati endorsed candidate for the Cincinnati Board of Education in 1997. 

 The Old Eighteen is a good new liberal blog in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. I found this blog after its owner was nice enough to leave a comment at my shop. I look forward to getting to know The Old Eighteen better and I hope it gets a lot of traffic.

Two blogs I’ve mentioned recently, but want to mention again are There…Already and Dallas South. There…Already is a fellow Houston-based blog and you might be able to guess where Dallas South is located.

If you link to Texas Liberal, Texas Liberal will link to you. All blogs that post regularly are created equal.

I used the picture above a few month ago. Yet I enjoy it so much I must use it again.

The cave people are not hunting that creature. Rather, it is the creature’s birthday and the cave people have planned a surprise party. 

The creature is a Glyptodon. 

There is hope in Harris County, Texas that Democrats will defeat Republicans in county races this November.

A step was taken in this direction by the appointment of Bill Kelly as General Campaign Manager for the countywide Democratic coordinated campaign.

Here is some information about Mr. Kelly from the party web page —

BILL KELLY has been named General Campaign Manager for the Harris County Democratic Party 2008 Coordinated Campaign. Bill’s campaign experience includes his having served as Campaign Manger for State Representative Ellen Cohen’s successful campaign for Texas Legislature in 2006, resulting in the unseating of the Republican incumbent in a district which had voted heavily for Republican candidates in the past, Campaign Manager for Council Member Peter Brown’s successful citywide campaign for city council at large position 1 in 2005, Field Director for State Representative Hubert Vo’s historic and victorious campaign for the Texas Legislature against an entrenched Republican incumbent House committee chair in 2004, and Deputy Field Director for Houston Mayor Bill White’s campaign for mayor of the City of Houston in 2003.

I notice that under news of Mr. Kelly’s appointment is information about a $500 a person Democratic breakfast designed in part to help fund the coordinated campaign. I guess these things are part of the political reality. 

Still, I’ll be looking forward to a people’s kick-off event that all can attend to promote the Democratic campaign in 2008.

I wonder if a direct e-mail might be set up to reach Mr. Kelly so he can have unfiltered contact with precinct execs., activists and others who might have ideas and thoughts on the campaign?

I could say right off that I had looked for some presence of Democratic candidates at the International Fest Downtown when I went the weekend before last. Just a few people waiving signs at the entrances would have been a cheap way to create some initial name recognition for the slate in front of a large and diverse crowd.

Maybe this was done and I missed it. But it is nothing I saw in the three hours I was there. 

Also, Mr. Kelly might consider an e-mail list of activists and others where he could offer a theme of the day, or a theme of the week, for people to talk about and blog about. I know I’d be open to that as we move ahead.

In any case, it is good that Mr. Kelly is on board. I’m sure he will be running a solid shop. He can take my advice as worth what he has paid for it.

( This is cross-posted at my space at the Houston Chronicle. I’m one of eight featured political bloggers at the Chronicle.)     

Last Thursday I took a plane trip from Houston to Cincinnati. I live in Houston. I lived in Cincinnati for 18 years.

When I woke up Thursday, I was with my wife and at home. I was in my most familiar surroundings. I could come and go as I pleased.  

On the airplane, I was with strangers and I literally had no idea where I was at any given moment. When I looked out the window, what I saw for the most part was clouds. I was trapped on the plane until it landed.

In Cincinnati, I was not at home. But I was somewhere I knew well. I was with friends and family, but also a guest rather than a resident. I was welcome, but I still had to go by other people’s rules. 

Being in Cincinnati was in-between waking up at home and flying on an airplane.

You could say I had three states of being last Thursday.  

There is a world food shortage due to high prices.

Yet the companies that supply food are making record profits.  

This Wall Street Journal story discusses high profits among companies that process grain. 

Here is a series of BBC stories and videos about rising world food prices.

Prices of rice, corn, wheat, soy and grain are way up over recent years. 

This issue has not been addressed in any meaningful way by either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

Here is a link to the United Nations World Food Program.

Below is a portion of a BBC report on the issue—

A silent tsunami which knows no borders sweeping the world”. That is how the head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) summed up the global food shortages. It is certainly a storm that has hit with little warning and has plunged an extra 100 million people into poverty. The crisis has triggered riots in Haiti, Cameroon, Indonesia and Egypt and is deemed a dangerous threat to stability. It is not so much famine that is the worry, it is widespread misery and malnutrition. The WFP’s biggest concern is for the people living on 50 cents a day who have nothing to fall back on.

This ongoing issue merits the attention of our political leaders and of all citizens.

A recent surprise immigration raid in Houston at a Shipley Do-Nuts facility is leading to the deportation of undocumented persons.

Will anyone from the company who hired these people be locked up?

What do you think?

It is the vulnerable we punish.

Do people in Houston want cheap doughnuts more than they care about immigration laws?

I bet it’s a close call in many cases. 

How about rounding up people in Houston who gain from the lower prices immigrant labor allows?

We could conduct surprise raids at malls, churches or at an Astros’ game.

We could arrest anybody who has benefited from undocumented immigrant labor.

To see if people are guilty, we could ask if they have purchased anything in the last 10 years.

Anyone saying yes would be detained. 

We could charge them with some kind of aiding and abetting.  

We could pump the stomachs of people who have been rounded up to see if they have been eating doughnuts.

Doughnut eaters would be forced to the border to help build the border fence and in so doing work off the calories from the doughnuts.

It’s time to get tough on the causes of undocumented labor. 

I was at first very open to Pastor Jeremiah Wright. 

I felt some of the clips playing over and over on TV made sense.   

I felt in some respects Pastor Wright was mirroring Martin Luther King in asking if America was in many ways a wicked nation that possibly merited judgement.

(Please click here for a Martin Luther King reading list.)

Beyond the public issues, Pastor Wright also reached me on a personal level.

At least according to family lore, I’m descended from people who were on the Mayflower.

People on the Mayflower were not at home with the society they were born into.   

In my late teens and and early 20’s, I was a 1980’s Midwestern hardcore punk rocker.

Without exaggerating the bent of people who—for the most part—lived as others do, this was a crowd that had little affection for the tone and temper of American society.

There was definitely a Puritan tendency among punk rockers—A rejection of what was taking place around them. 

I have a measure of sympathy for homeschoolers and Black Muslims. 

They look around and are repulsed. Why wouldn’t they be?

So I welcomed Pastor Wright. I thought he might be a new voice. I thought he might have the discipline and personal austerity to reject the culture and add a new and needed dimension to the public discussion.

Nope.

Jeremiah Wright is just another Andy Warhol ( photo below) 15 minutes-of-fame media hog. He says he hates the culture, but really he loves it. He found himself in the glare of lights cast by the bigots and idiotic cable channels, and he could not resist the starring role.  

Not only that, he acted out of anger at Barack Obama instead of simply making his case for good or ill in a calm and disciplined way.  

Pastor Wright has no obligation to help Barack Obama. But it is hard to see how he is serving his God or anybody else with his current conduct.

Please see the picture of Pastor Wright at the top of this post with another man who lacks discipline and self-respect.

Below is Jeremiah Wright’s secular idol along with Jimmy Carter. After a rough Presidency and rejection at the polls, Jimmy Carter made a patient step-by-step case that he was in fact a man of decency and vision.   

Pastor Wright could still follow that better course–final judgement is not up to me–but he sure does not seem like a prophet or a leader of any kind at this point. 

Senator Hillary Clinton wants to repeal the federal gas tax for the summer.

This is a bad idea.

(Senator John McCain also supports this idea. But I expect nothing from Mr. McCain.)

I’ve advocated a Fonz-like cool as we select between Senator Clinton and Barack Obama. The bottom line is winning in November.

But this is a policy difference and a fair topic for discussion.  

The money collected from this tax goes into repairing roads and bridges.

Here is a story about last year’s Minneapolis bridge collapse. 

Senator Clinton says a windfall profits tax on oil companies could make up the lost revenue.

Do you see that idea getting 60 votes in the Senate?

Senator Obama correctly opposes this tax “holiday.”

This NPR blog post discussing the issue suggests this proposal might even increase gas prices.

If lower prices make for more summer driving, than supply will be restricted and prices will go up.

Here is a Portland Oregonian editorial against this proposal.

Paying taxes isn’t a penalty or even a burden. It’s the price we pay for living in a society.

With support of this gas tax holiday notion, Senator Clinton undermines the principles of the Democratic Party and, one supposes, her own principles.

Also, she risks taking away money for needed infrastructure programs.  

Barack Obama is the candidate showing leadership on this issue. 

In my trips back home to Cincinnati, which is where I’m writing this post from tonight, I’m lucky to have many friends I visit.

These are people who in many cases I’ve known for 20 years or longer.

My friends and I talk about how things are going and we discuss people we know.

Some are doing well, while others might be having a rough time for the moment.

I spoke with a friend today for the first time since he had gotten married.

I found out that someone I met a very long time ago had sold the business she had run for the last six years.

I spoke to the 82 year old aunt of a friend. The aunt now has Alzheimers.  She was sharp when I spoke with her often 15 years ago.

When you talk to these people and you hear the stories, you trust that people have responded to life as best they can, and you respect whatever circumstances, for good or ill, they now find themselves in.

You see that people’s circumstances in life all have meaning and merit equal respect and a full hearing.

Above you see a picture of Pastor Jeremiah Wright goofing around with Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. ( Pastor Wright is on the right and Mayor Kilpatrick is on the left.) 

This was at the Detroit NAACP Freedom Fund dinner last week.

I’m sympathetic to some of what Pastor Wright is saying.

One thing he is saying is what Martin Luther King often said—That America can at times be a wicked and sinful nation, and that if a transcendent moral power exists in the universe, he or she may wish to consider what judgement should be passed.

Fair enough.

But what is Pastor Wright doing playing around here with disgraced Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick? 

Mayor Kilpatrick had an affair with an aide, exchanged racy text-messages with her, lied about it, cost the City of Detroit nine million dollars in a whistle-blower suit resulting from his actions, and is under indictment. 

This is not what Detroit needs.

The Detroit City Council–majority Black and Democratic–has called on Mayor Kilpatrick to resign.

Pastor Wright had the opportunity to admonish Mayor Kilpatrick at the NAACP dinner. That would have been closer to a prophetic course.

Keeping company with a man of power and corruption is less than a prophetic course.

I want to believe Pastor Wright is a man of vision. I did have to wonder though when he canceled his guest sermons in my hometown of Houston a few weeks ago due to death threats.

What kind of prophet cancels a call to to preach because of death threats?