I could never condone or agree with (particularly the one which stands in opposition to "God bless America"), I can understand his anger; indeed, I could probably give a pretty fiery speech of my own about how women and the poor and the disabled have been treated in this country and around the world.  Still, white men are not the enemy and when we choose to perpetuate stereotypes of any segment of the population, we step back from transformation, transcendence and change.

The good works of Trinity United Church of Christ in inner city Chicago should not be lost in the current acrimony over the remarks of its retired pastor.  Services and ministries of the church are too numerous to be named here and certainly don't need me to extol them.  A perusal of the TUCC website indicates that the church supports the sanctity of marriage and the primacy of family; it encourages self-reliance, offers help in negotiating a path to home ownership, supports those suffering from alcohol and other addictions as well as HIV/Aids.  My eye was caught by a ministry to those who are still grieving months after a loss has taken place.  All of these ministries are worthy and most likely many of them were instituted under Jeremiah Wright's watch.  The appropriateness of Senator Obama's membership in this church is a matter between him and his conscience, him and his pastor, him and his family, him and his Lord. 

Reverend Dr. Wright is a former Marine and a nurse who served at Bethesda, he is most certainly a patriotic American; although he is also most certainly an angry patriotic American given to expressing his views in an incendiary manner.  Years ago I very briefly attended - as a favor to a loved one - a charismatic Baptist church where the sermons were long, loud and preached along very literal interpretations of the Bible; sometimes the services included congregants speaking in tongues.  I have also sat in incredibly boring upper middle class Baptist Sunday services where the largely white congregations could barely muster the enthusiasm for one stanza of a hymn and where the sermons had very carefully phrased messages of discrimination and judgment. 

Some white Christians are advocating that TUCC be placed under intensive IRS scrutiny; if Trinity United is scrutinized then all of the churches I have ever attended should be scrutinized.  I have yet to know a church that didn't have a social/political agenda (with the possible exception of the Shakers and I believe there are only three of them left and that's three members, not three churches).  Yes, Jeremiah Wright's comments concerning 9-11 and the blessing of the United States are abhorrent.  Considering that our armed services are most likely filled with people of color beyond their representation in the population as a whole, I seriously doubt that the congregation of TUCC sincerely wishes any harm to come to our nation and certainly not our military, no matter where they serve. 

When I first heard Reverend Dr. Wright's remarks and saw the reaction of those in the pews the day he delivered them, I never thought I would in some way be defending them.  Make no mistake about it, I find all of the remarks that have been selectively lifted from church DVDs and posted on YouTube or used as sound bites to be offensive.  I further wonder how a man of God and people of God would find them to be drawn from a gospel of love, tolerance and forgiveness.  Still, Jeremiah Wright and Trinity United Church of Christ are doing God's work in many areas where many people are doing nothing.  Rather than judge TUCC, its membership and its ministers - past and present - those of us who share many of their goals should try to empathize with their suffering and their burdens, understand their heritage and find a commonality amongst our experiences and our missions.  Only when people of both genders, all colors and every faith come together to work on society's ills and celebrate its triumphs can we achieve true transformation, transcendence and change.