Governor Easley, Jeremiah Wright and the Greensboro Pulpit Forum

Governor Mike Easley made some statements recently regarding Barack Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright.   Easley indicated that Wright is not representative of North Carolina African-American churches, and that the problems he created would not be of significance in North Carolina:

It's not going to -- it's not going to be an issue.

The only thing I want people to understand is that the African- American churches in North Carolina, this is not emblematic of that. They are -- they're welcoming, they're open, they're uplifting. It's based on scripture. It's about forgiving God, a good god and I don't want people across the country to get the wrong idea about the African-American churches.

I do not mean any disrespect to the Governor.  It appears, however, that he may need a brief remedial course on the Greensboro Pulpit Forum.
 

Comments

[anon]

Amen.

[Roch101]

"It appears, however, that he may need a brief remedial course on the Greensboro Pulpit Forum."

The Pulpit Forum is not a church. What black churches have you attended that makes you take issue with what Easley said?

[Joe Guarino]

Roch, it was actually Easley who made the false comparison between Wright and North Carolina black churches.

But I would compare Wright with some of the Pulpit Forum ministers. What do they have in common? They engage in divisive, accusatory rhetoric that is sometimes intensely race-based. They are blatantly political. And they attempt to do this in a high-profile way.

While Wright seems to focus on national and international issues, our Pulpit Forum crowd seems to focus on local and domestic issues-- and they at least sometimes seem to emphasize a social justice gospel.

So, yes, there are definite similarities between the political activities and statements of Wright and our local Pulpit Forum crowd. Not precisely the same, but very similar.

[just saying]

Joe, did you see the news this week that the Pulpit Forum's latest claims of "racism" turned out to be bogus?

Back in February, the Pulpit Forum claimed that evidence from the 1979 Klan-Communist shootout had been illegally destroyed several years ago. Of course, most of us said at the time "consider the source." Well, a Greensboro Police Department internal investigation found that the records are still intact, thank you very much. The Pulpit Forum's claims were just so much hot air.

But the News & Record ran with these allegations as if they were true and tried to turn this into some big scandal. I guess they're pretty embarrassed by how this turned out. Or, at least they should be.

[Joe Guari no]

Just Saying, thanks for pointing this out. Of course, we had this one called within 24-36 hours of when we first learned of the allegations.

This was a sorry display on the part of the Pulpit Forum. Their words in the public square should henceforth be disregarded, because their credibility is shot. And I hope the News and Record will not any longer grant them a prominent forum for their misdirected vitriol.

It is a terrible thing to make false accusations.