Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Bill Moyers: Context is Everything

There was a time in the United States of America that people had a voice but did not have the freedom to use it. There was a time when oppression ran so deep that it killed the soul and stifled the spirit. There was a time when merely hoping for equality could bring death to men and women.

Not everyone was a part of that time. That section of history was reserved for a color of skin, for a descent that was not European. And now, while that time is over, tremors still resonate through the African American community. Hurt is still alive and well. African Americans still recall a time when lynching was a method of justice and water fountains were around the back of the building, separate from the "white" water fountains. African Americans still remember Jim Crowe, and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., whose only crime was instilling a sense of hope in a community that had none. There are many in this country that get to take for granted the rights and liberties that were given by our forefathers. Yet, there are also many people who have had to fight for every right that they received. Nothing was given. It was a hard fought battle, and the scars from that battle will carry on through generations to come.

The Reverend Jeremiah Wright was a witness to the oppression and indignity of the African American community. He saw the shame on the faces of his congregants as they looked to him for hope and for a sense of understanding. They wanted to know why the world had turned out the way it did for them. Why would God allow so much human suffering for one race, while allowing another race to get off seemingly free? How could Christian people degrade African Americans and treat them as if they were less than human?