The United States is in a recession and the lead story on many national news stations this week focused on comments Barack Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright made regarding the country.
The national average cost for a gallon of gas is $4.02, yet the top story this week has been Wright’s comments.
Millions of people in America lack adequate health care, but rather than talk about this for the majority of a newscast, most media filled their time addressing Wright’s words.
There are senior citizens throughout the United States who can’t afford to pay for their prescription drugs; however, the story that upstaged this very relevant topic was Wright and the words he uttered that many considered offense.
Tremendous educational disparities continue to exist between Blacks and whites, rich and poor; but our children’s academic success is not of concern this week — instead, it’s Obama’s former Chicago pastor Jeremiah Wright.
Have we become so disillusioned with the current state of the nation and its citizens that rather than focus on real issues of relevance, we’ve opted to direct our attention to comments that Wright, (who is not running for president of the United States) said years ago?
To borrow from the title of Bill Cosby’s book, I say to you, “Come On People!” We have got to get a grip and focus on reality rather than allow ourselves to be blatantly distracted by calculated media leaks from political opponents.
Don’t get me wrong; Wright’s comments were offensive, divisive and tactless — nonetheless, they were his comments, not Obama’s. Barack Obama should not be held accountable for what comes out of the mouth of another grown man. Nor should Obama be “led” to disassociate himself from a man who has been much like a father to him for the past 20 years.
How often has your husband or wife said something that you didn’t agree with? Because you had different opinions than your spouse, does that mean you love him/her less? How often have you heard your boss — whom you respected a great deal — make a decision that you wouldn’t have made? Does that mean you respect your boss any less simply because you would have done something differently? Or how about your child. As much as you love your son or daughter, if he/she became addicted to drugs would you immediately shun them simply because you knew better than to get involved with drugs yourself?
Hopefully your answer to all of these questions is no. Hopefully you won’t stop loving someone, stop respecting them, or even shun someone because they are different.
The nightly news shows’ attention to Wright’s comments are unnecessary during a time when we should be focusing on far more significant things. Shows that seem to have an affinity for “controversial” topics, should utilize their power of persuasiveness to educate the public about things that are relevant now. If I had the option of learning about Wright’s comments or an effective way to save money, I’d choose the latter.
However, if the media did want to highlight Wright’s offensive sermon about America, they could have done so in a way that taught us all how to be better people. Rather than focus on Wright being Obama’s pastor, these media outlets could have focused on how people (perhaps even Wright) need to be better educated on the importance of race relations. During his speech Tuesday night Obama said “the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through — a part of our union that we have not yet made perfect.”
Now, if the nightly news wanted to “inform” the people, they could have done so by addressing the ever-increasing racial bias that continues to plague this world. Perhaps if they would have chosen this as their top story, the media would have realized how they themselves are perpetuating the very racial divide that Obama and countless others are trying to bridge.
