In my latest reading of Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, Barack Obama talks about Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, which was pastored by Jeremiah Wright.
Why
was the church so successful? Obama talks about Wright's dynamism
combined with his education, but there were also the activities that
Trinity offered. Moreover, while Obama says that there were
African-American males who avoided church because they considered it to
be more of an activity for women, he also discusses how church gives
people a sense of mission, purpose, connection, and community----a place
that honors people when they die. And church gives people comfort
during their problems. Obama talks about a sermon that Wright gave,
"The Audacity of Hope" (which happens to be the title of Obama's second
book), which is about finding hope in the midst of hopelessness. The
sermon touches on economic and other problems.
Another issue that
came up was Wright's hope that African-Americans would economically
prosper, without succumbing to a middle-class mindset----one that
focuses on prospering and forgets about those in the city who still have
problems. Wright's assistant was moving to the suburbs for the sake of
her child, but Wright did not think that she was making things better
for the kid. According to Wright, he wouldn't have a clue about who he
is, and life is not safe anywhere for African-American men. That
brought to my mind something I read earlier in Dreams: Obama
mentioned a teacher who said that African-American children learn about
other people's history and thus have a sense of alienation, plus the men
lack fathers who can teach them how to channel their energies into
constructive directions.