who will then dare . . ?

[DeadElephant_ORG]

Reverend Wright said that it is the black church - not himself - that is under attack. And he's been accused of egotism for suggesting so. But I would go further than he did. The right-wing-controlled media are attacking Wright as the means to silence ALL DISSENT. After Wright is media-lynched, who will then dare to comment in public about our genocide of millions of native Americans, as Wright did yesterday? Who will dare to note that those chemical weapons that Saddam was supposed to have were the chemical weapons that we sold to him, as Wright did? Who will speak up for the native peoples of El Salvador and Nicaragua that we paid to have butchered for us, as Wright did? Who will point out that the very people who sent us to war on lies, and who now question the patriotism of our likely nominee, avoided military service - he called Cheney out by name - as Wright did?

Superficially, the purpose of a lynching is vengeance. There is one or a few direct victims, but at root lynching is a crime committed against the entire community of which the victim is part. Wright spoke fearlessly of our nation's long, sordid, and continuing history of violent oppression. Is he accurate in all particulars? No. But in the main, Wright is speaking out for the values that you and I most cherish. And he is performing a moral service - one among many. I'd bet he's done more to fight oppression over the course of his life, and more to lift the oppressed, than ALL of the members of DemocraticUnderground combined. We're just armchair Democrats.

At stake is whether progressives will let the Right dictate what does, and does not, constitute “crazy speech”. Is it politically inconvenient for this to arise now? Maybe. Maybe not. But since when is it pragmatic to sell-out our principals? Now, with a Democrat poised to be President, now is the time for progressives to take the political initiative.

And to defend our own.

[baldguy]

1. Those who dare speak the truth must be destroyed.

So say all tyrants.