A Racist Benediction

I hope when teachers speak of racism in the future that the benediction of Reverend Joseph Lowery is included in an example. While throngs of people from all walks of American life gathered together to welcome the first black President, a huge burden of years of ignorance and prejudice was being lifted off this great nation.  All men, black and white, stood with pride watching as old walls were being knocked down.  President Obama’s speech was no less than brilliant.  All hearts paused in anticipation of each word that passed this man’s lips.  All hearts were on the prize of a better America.  And then it happened.  In one short breath of words Reverend Lowery dropped an impenetrable barrier of color into an otherwise perfect dream.

“. . . when white will embrace what is right,” plummeted at the feet of every white man in the country who supported Obama’s bid for the White House. It was a nation of people wanting to hold a door open for what is right, only to be spit on by a casual passerby. The “New Change” that had come to America quickly burst into a reality of old hatreds before the world to see. Years and years of struggle to eliminate racism was being badly punctuated by a racist remark. It was unthinkable.

The main stream media has chosen to pretend that the words, “When white will embrace what is right,” did not happen. The Los Angeles Times printed only the transcript of Rev. Lowery. The New York Times was quoted as saying, “ Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, one of the towering figures of the civil rights movement, gave the benediction and called for “inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.” There was no mention of the white man and his difficulty in embracing what is right. The Chicago Sun Times reported extensively on the inauguration . . . . and yet something was missing. Oh yes, the benediction or any mention of Reverend Lowery. If one searches the Chicago Sun’s entire site for Reverend Lowery you will find, nothing. Luckily we have the honorable Boston Globe who did well to criticize the racist remarks a Prince Harry. I’m certain there is an excellent report on Reverend Lowery’s racist remarks, however I have failed to find them at this time in that paper. USA Today with one of the largest circulations in the nation surely would have questioned such a blatant attack on a race of people; well . . . not so much.  Apparently the President was familiar with the passage and as USA today stated, “It brought a smile to the President”.

Maybe these prejudicial words are being disregarded the same way many of a white man’s cruel words were disregarded; before, during and after the Civil Rights Movement.  Maybe it is the feeling of most people that we are getting what we dished out time and time again. Maybe it is the unspoken sentiment of American’s that a black man has the right to be prejudice because he has suffered prejudice. Maybe it is best that our own people say nothing at this insult and allow time to carry these words off to “forgotten”. Clearly the men and women cheering the Reverend Lowery think that we should forget. Clearly the newspapers and press of this nation think we should forget.

I do not think it will be easy to forget these words of hatred, but I will. The words were not right, for no form of racism is right. Remaining silent in the face of racism is not right. I will soon forget the ignorant words of Reverend Lowery, but I will not forget those who pretended they did not exist. They are not the liberators they suppose themselves to be. They are cowards. In the words of one great man, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Martin Luther King Jr. The silence on this day is deafening.