Truth


Jeremiah Wright, the much maligned friend of Mr. Obama, is a speaker of the truth. And I do not mean HIS truth only. Part of the popular furor he has raised is akin to the whining resistance of a sleepy child who resents being roused from its blissful sleep. A greater part of the cynical negative propaganda against Wright comes from the fascist Right Wing of the Republican Party.

The poor are poorer than ever in the US. The Iraq War is an abomination. The Bush administration is corrupt and evil. The Congress is impotent. Racism is alive and prospering in the US in many different forms. The people are suffering at the hands of the greedy, wealthy and powerful, whether those privileged classes are aware of it or not. The rich are richer than ever and paying less of their share of the public funds.

The truth hurts those who choose to deny it or ignore it. Wright is simply saying what should be said regularly on the public airwaves and in the press. Those forums have been kidnapped by the Right Wing.

It is easy to dismiss Wright as a crackpot. His style is histrionic. But Martin Luther King would be saying the same things if he were alive today. King's style was also histrionic. Jeremiah Wright is a brave man to follow in King's footsteps. Fascist assassins have good aim. Cowardly Liberals too readily defer to the Right Wing's brutality.

Practice is difficult and dangerous. It does not make you popular.