Fox's Hannity again smeared pastor of Barack Obama's church as "black separatist"
On the June 26 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity again accused Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright -- pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ, which Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) attends -- of holding "these black-separatist views, about the Black Value System." Following a trend from previous shows, Hannity did not mention Wright's explicit denial on the March 1 edition of Hannity & Colmes that his church embraces separatism. Moreover, Hannity cited no specific evidence that Trinity espouses black separatism, and, indeed, Media Matters for America could find no reference on Trinity's website suggesting an espousal of black separatism, which, as articulated by African-American activist Stokely Carmichael, is the position that "[i]f we are to proceed toward true liberation, we must cut ourselves off from white people."
The civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) maintains a list of "hate groups" that it characterizes as "black separatist," which it describes as "typically oppos[ing] integration and racial intermarriage, and ... want[ing] separate institutions -- or even a separate nation -- for blacks." The SPLC adds, "Most forms of black separatism (or black nationalism) are strongly anti-white and anti-Semitic, and a number of religious versions assert that blacks -- not Jews -- are the Biblical 'chosen people' of God."
As Media Matters has noted, Trinity's mission statement says "we are called to be agents of liberation not only for the oppressed, but for all of God's family." In response to recent criticism from conservatives, specifically remarks by conservative columnist Erik Rush on the February 28 edition of Hannity & Colmes, the Trinity website has been updated with "talking points" regarding its teachings, which include this statement: "To have a church whose theological perspective starts from the vantage point of Black liberation theology being its center, is not to say that African or African American people are superior to anyone else." Its Mission Statement cites W.E.B. DuBois as "indicat[ing] that the problem in the 20th Century was going to be the problem of the color line" -- which the statement says is "our job to address ... and eradicate."
On the June 25 edition of Hannity & Colmes, discussing Obama's June 23 speech on religion in politics, Hannity claimed that Wright "has a very black-separatist point of view." Hannity then played a video clip of his and co-host Alan Colmes' conversation with Wright on the March 1 and further asserted that Trinity is "all about the black community. ... [I]t's a black separatist agenda." However, Hannity did not play the portion of the March 1 interview in which Wright specifically stated that his church's point of view does not "assume superiority, nor does it assume separatism."
From the June 26 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:
HANNITY: I want to ask you, though, a question about Barack Obama. Because so much has been made, for example, about Mitt Romney's faith. Here's Barack Obama. His minister holds, you know, these black-separatist views about the Black Value System. I challenged him right here on this program about this. You know, Obama goes out there attacking, quote, "the religious right," the religious right. What about the religious left? I've never heard the term "the religious left," you know. You know, what about the Reverend [Al] Sharpton and the Reverend [Jesse] Jackson and, you know, others that --
This isn't fair to Hannity. This item assumes that he understands the meaning of "Separatist", when anybody who has listened to Sean for more than a few minutes realizes that he has trouble with even simple one-syllable words.
Sean's interpretation of a "separatist" may mean anybody whose views are "separate" from his ideology of looking out for the best interests ofSean Hannity and other wealthy Republicans.
That's funny! I thought exactly the same thing when I read this...
From the church web site:
For the full effect replace the word Black with White and see how you would respond differently:
I'll replace it for you so you can see how abrasive this might seem:
Sounds racist to me...
Yeah, we know. Damned if they do, or if they don't.
Regressives like yourself are quick to pounce on the black community when something happens within those communities that you don't like and ask "Why aren't they working within their communities to fix these things?" We saw it with that ugly urban myth chain email that even Paul Harvey quoted from about how "Hey we had a big snow storm up here and the government didn't have to bail us out." We saw it in the aftermath of the Rodney King verdict.
So they're supposed to take care of themselves, according to you. And yet when a church does exactly what you say, you label them as separatist and racist. For trying to better themselves from within their own community.
Sounds like you don't really care what they do. You just want to smear Obama.
Cannonball Try as you might you can't change history and context. If Whites had been the ones oppressed and treated as a community like human garbage for centuries your pledges to advance your oppressed community would be absolutely understood and rational people would realize that this type of language was used to build self esteem in a people that had been under centuries of psychological assault because a rational person could understand the damage that needed to be undone. Many in the AA community had begun to believe that they were indeed human garbage like they were told by the WCM power structure of old. (I want to give a shout out here to Bill O’rielly for giving me this smoking new term WCM) If your ethnic group was the one doing the oppressing and creating legal and de-facto apartied based on race then yeah you're creed would sound pretty racist. You can't erase 400 years so stop trying. This disrespect and dismissiveness of our history and attack on our esteemed institutions is what is keeping so many Blacks away from the Republican Party.
That doesn't change the fact the church pushes for black seperatism and that mmfa is the one who called this "smearing". Sounds like mmfa is the one with the problem by your standards.
The fact is that you can't substitute "white" for "black" and pretend that proves something. The two groups are tremendously different in their histories and social standing. When a black group talks about these things, that's about bringing themselves up, becoming equal in educational and economic categories. It's not against white people, it's for black people. When white people talk about these things, that's about preserving dominance, it's about keeping black people down.
That's why cries of "black power" and "white power" are not opposite sides of the same coin, for instance. Cannonball has no point, and neither do you. Quelle surprise.
Leather, where does it say ONLY black people? Where does it say NOT WHITES ALLOWED?
My Dearest Leatherhelmet:
Please stop lying. You know very well that the church is doing no such thing. The church is trying to build confidence and esteem for the members of their congregation that have been historically as they say dissed and they want to effect good citzenship in their congregants by teaching them to be moral and responsible. If they were pushing for racial separatism as you say they would not have White members of their congregation. I swear to God Blacks can't do anything right according to a winger. The truth is the church are attempting to teach their congregants to be strong and to put on the full armor of God and that will protect them from folks like Sean Hannity who obvisouly holds no good will for his Black brothers and sisters in spite of what he says in the preface before lodging a verbal assualt and or smear against them
My Dearest Leather,
I meant to say is attempting, please excuse the grammatical gaff
What white people think about how Blacks go about our liberation is irrelevant. It's actually hilarious to hear them try to control our forms of worship, culture, politics and even our thoughts like we give a d*mn. Unless they break out the chains, whips, burning crosses, and branding irons again, nobody cares what white racist loonies think anymore.
A black seperatist church that's part of a white denomination...ok.
For those who have complained, bitterly I might add "When will black people stop blaming the white man for all that is wrong and take responsibility for themselves". When the black community starts to address some of the problems you then call us racists.
From where I'm standing, it has nothing to do with the fact that this church wants to address problems in the black community but the fact that it will leave you and other with NOTHING to complain about.
Hey Cannonball, here's a tip: "black" and "white" are not interchangeable terms. Why? Because the social category of blackness is tied to a few centuries of colonization, forced labor, and denial of all property by whites. That's historical fact. To presume that "white" and "black" are now equivalent and interchangeable is to say that history is meaningless and has no consequences.
There's nothing in there that's Seperatist, even when you idiotically replace Black with White. You apparently don't understand what Seperatist means. Maybe you should look into it. Although I know you won't because you're not actually interested in truth or advancing yourself in anyway.
How is this different from being focused on improving the black community? After all the blog comments by conservatives I've read in the past few months saying in effect, "clean up your own yard!!!", I don't see how they could disagree with that list.
If there are problems in black communities, and it's blacks' responsibility to try to eliminate them, how do we do that without using the word "black"?
Please read this:
http://halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/06/brief-white-folks-guide-to-black.html
We're not going to stop using the word Black. Save your breath buddy.
Oh please give me a damn break here. Gee, I guess he did see a problem with Mitt Romney religion now did he. It this same damn double standard that I hear from the right. You have no idea what you are talking about. You know the right wants to see Hillary win.
The term "separatist" in Hannityspeak is code for a black person who is racist against white people.
It is virtually impossible to be racist against white people. White people invented racism and practiced it for 500 years until they took over the world. If the victims of this crime wave complain about it, that doesn't make them racist, it makes them sane.
Just remember everyone. Now it's not nearly enough to be a Christian, but you have to be the RIGHT kind of Christian these days, which looking at what Hannity and others are yapping about means white evangelical is the only acceptable method of Christianity these days. I wonder if he even attends church on the weekends, or ever for that matter. I mean look at the onslaught Obama has taken. Hillary for her faith. Romney for being a mormon. Heck, you could even go back to JFK and the objections that people took up because he was a Catholic, and allegedly under the guidance of the Pope and all.
Next thing you know, they're going to be calling Obama a terrorist because his dad was/is a Muslim. Oops, too late.
It's telling that the Right Wing attacks on the Democratic candidates mostly revolve around picky little sh*t like this. Hillary's screechy voice...Edwards' speaking fees and costly haircuts...where Obama went to church...
Is it because the GOP base just can't comprehend the more complex policy issues? Have Fox "News" and talk radio been too successful in their campaign to dumb down their audience? Where is this "Party of Ideas" that Scarecrow Coulter keeps talking about?
I believe Sean is Catholic.It's been a while since my tour of duty, so I checked here, and found this;
"The Church: One, Holy, Catholic, and ApostolicThe Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus Christ established. Thus the Church subsists in the Catholic Church."
Sounds like Hannity is a member of a pretty Separatist organization himself.
You correctly quote your source, but your source is wrong. As a simple example, the LUTHERANS and EPISCOPALS also believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church! See:
http://www.creeds.net/ancient/nicene.htm
In your source, many words are capitalized that should be started with small letters, including "catholic", which started with a small letter means "universal".
However well-intended, your source bears no imprimatur and therefore is not necessarily the official Roman Catholic teachings.
The bottom line is that all theofascists think that they're the only ones going to heaven.
Thanks for getting the point, Nerz- If each church was not "separatist" by Hannity's definition of the word, there would only be one worldwide church, rather than many "separate" churches.
Hannity - like the rest of these moralist D-bags - thinks 'separation of church and state is considered 'separatist'...
As a simple example, the LUTHERANS and EPISCOPALS also believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church!
Huh? Lutherans are Protestants and don't believe in a Catholic anything.
They do if it is the catholic Church and not the Catholic Church. See Missourishowme's lowercase versus uppercase comment above for details. Many Protestant churches require one to affirm the Nicene Creed, which contains the "catholic" church language, to become a member. The definition of "catholic" if not being used as a proper adjective (therefore not capitalized) is "universal." Even though Catholics may not believe they do, Protestants do believe in the universality of the Church...just not the Roman version.
Ah, thanks for the explanation. I noticed the small "c" but thought it was a typo.
I'm real interested in seeing what these hacks do if Mitt Romney is chosen as the republican candidate. Considering the LDS were the only religious belief to have the US govt (at the urging of christians) use federal law to stamp out some of their religious beliefs (Poligamy!), will Sean speak out against what happened in the mormon history past like he keeps talking about Barak's muslim past?
Why stop there?
If you're a Mormon, gambling is a sin, but it's perfectly fine to own a casino and reap the rewards off the sins of others.
Of course, if mitt keeps doing stuff like this, he may not last much longer:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1638065,00.html
Snoop, your obvious Caninocentrism is blinding you to the fact that Romney's unemployed dog didn't pitch in for gas, and so was not "entitled" to freeload off of the family by riding in the car.
He was just giving the pooch a lesson in rugged individualism and freedom, and letting the dog know that he needed to work harder to enjoy the American Dream.
And my dog buddy gave ol mitt a lesson back. He said s-h-i-t on you for putting me on the roof, putz!
The writers of the Globe article called this an example of Romney's "emotion-free crisis management."
I guess it's like those firemen who are also arsonists that you occasionaly hear about.
I don't think you're doing so bad if you have to go back 24 years to find something stupid to complain about. Oh that's right... liberals care more about animal rights than they do about human rights.
How long ago was Whitewater? Clinton's draft avoidance? Kerry's medal toss? Kerry's service in Viet Nam?
Regressives shouldn't be pointing fingers about going back 24 years.
Are the people protesting Darfur generally liberals or conservatives? I had no idea Amnesty International, the ACLU, Human Rights Watch and UNICEF were all conservatives. Hmmmm, guess I was wrong.
What are you talking about. Oh thats right conservatives are morons that NEVER know what they are talking about
This oughta make them explode:
http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/jun/28/fox_poll_more_americans_trust_dems_to_handle_world_war_iii_against_islamofascists
Pretty wild Snoopy. The coments on the thread didn't seem to be too different from any here in attitude about FOX.
The Catholic Church is legally responsible for the European enslavment of Africans since its its issuance of the Papal Bull Romanus Pontifex. Damages assessed at $100 trillion.
Between Hannity and the vile Ann Coulter , the readers of MMFA this week have been exposed to two of the most horrible, liars in the media today. Yuck I feel dirty and need to shower.
It'll get worse before it gets better. I'm reminded of the final scene from The Exorcist. As the Demon realizes it's about to be cast out, its attacks on the priest become more vulgar and desperate. As we approach the day when this fetid NeoCon junta is about to be cast out, expect a virtual avalanche of bullsh*t from it's media sock puppets.
Hopefully all of the evil will then enter the body of Pat Robertson and he'll jump out the window.
Could we be that lucky?
...now that was funny!
As long as he takes James Dobson and Dick Morris with him. (Just kidding, Ann.) Yuk yuk.
I believe the NeoClown occupation of the White House is in its final throes...if you will.
Actually, I think they'll all converge into the body of Dick Cheney, and they'll have to put him in this black-caped suit with a black helmet and a resperator...
enter the body of Pat Robertson
Oh ferchrissakes, I'm eatin' lunch here!!!
I can't wait for the day when Bill O'Reilly shouts "Your mother sucks c***s in hell!" to a guest.
It won't be long, his head already spins like a top...
His head must be just outside the No Spin Zone
Sean Hannity and Fox News continue to provide a public service to all undergraduates majoring in rhetoric and sociolinguistics who are looking for paper topics. Case in point:
Notice that as Hannity begins to risk crossing the line between playing on racial phobias and outright racism, he chickens out and enlists his audience to connect the bigoted dots for him by deploying a few handy "you know"s:
Allow me to translate for Hannity: "You know. His minister is one of those... you know. Them. The, you know, 'religious left'. You know what I mean. Wink wink. Sharpton. Jackson. Kinda like that Martin Luther King guy. That Malcolm X fellow -- who was a Sunni Muslim, in addition to being a... well, you know. You know the type I mean. Come on, I can't say it, but you all know what I'm thinking."
Why is Sean wasting so much energy on this? His moronic followers were not going to vote for Obama anyway or anyone a hue below Sean so he should really move on to more important matters like where John Edwards gets his hair cut. I guess Sean figures just in case one of his lieges is wavering he has to make sure they understand that Obama nor any other Black person would look out for them. The Fox race baiting continues.
It's all about energizing the evangelical/racist/xenophobic/jingoistic/redneck sector of the GOP base. They feel disillusioned because President Numbnuts isn't killing enough A-rabs and abortion is still legal. Hannity has been given instructions to scare these cretins into voting in '08, even if they're pissed off at the Republicans. Nothing will scare them more than the prospect of one of "those people" becoming president.
considering the wing nut base has proven time and again that they couldn't care if Barack is a christian now, that somehow his muslim past taints him for life, the real question is why do they waste so much time trying to "convert" everyone when they clearly don't believe it's really doing anything?
There once was a swiftboat named HannityFlying a flag of hijacked ChristianityA high seas dramaAs he draglines ObamaThrough the cesspool of rightwing insanity
ARRRGH! If there's one thing I'd change about MMFA, it's the antiquated forum format and the false preview.
Let's try this again...
There once was a swiftboat named Hannity
Flying a flag of hijacked Christianity
A high seas drama
As he draglines Obama
Through the cesspool of rightwing insanity
Hey, I like that.
Within one comment Hannity said "you know" five times. My theory on this is that he is having an erection.
I just listened to lewis black on comedy central. I love his line about the 1/2 hour news hour - "You know what a fake news show on Fox news should be? Real news!"
He also brought out this gem of a definition courtesy of wingnutopia:
http://www.conservapedia.com/Homosexuality
I caught the Lewis Black bit last night.Recommended rerun this evening for anybody who missed it.
Crooks and Liars has also immortalized it.
I have got to find out how you make words link instead of me posting the link seperate. This ol' dawg wants to learn a new trick!
What you do is copy the link, then highlight the word or words in your post you want to make as hypertext. You'll notice that when you highlight text, the two icons to the left of the B I U section of your post toolbar will activate. Click on the one that looks like a chain, paste the URL into the "Link URL" box on the pop-up screen, and that's all there is to it.
Lewis Black is pure genius. I'm just afraid he's going to suffer an aneruism during a show. He is SO much like my father used to be.
Lewis IS pure genius. I like the way he builds to a joke with a slow delivery instead of the now popular staccato delivery. The man has skills
I saw him live last year in Oakland. It was one of those old art deco theaters that he appeared in. The sound quality was disappointing, and when he went into one of his stressed out rants, he was unintelligible. I'm not sure if that was the cause of my dim view on his performance, but I left disappointed.
Love him on The Daily Show, though.
Conservapedia is a hoot. The discussions are the best part. Personally, I think it's either gonna die on the vine, or split again, since there's a faction that seems to think it's the Christoconservapedia.
I believe Tucker Carlson characterized the preacher the same way.
So the right blasts Blacks for being dependent then if they use the language of self reliance they are seperatist. Nice little game they have going there.
So the right blasts Blacks for being dependent then if they use the language of self reliance they are seperatist. Nice little game they have going there.
I'm happy I'm not the only one seeing this. I'm pretty confused by this too, Salon. Aren't the conservatives always preaching self-help and bootstrap methods to succeed in America? Isn’t it always conservatives accusing blacks for wallowing in "victimhood," refusing to use "personal responsibility" to achieve success? (I use those two buzzwords since they're favorites on the Right.) Here you have Obama and his church basically preaching THE SAME THING as the Right, and yet it's separatism. But you hit the nail on the head: if blacks are too vocal about facing racism and discrimination, they're lazy and looking for handouts since they're playing into victimhood; when they believe in self-reliance and other bootstrap methods to overcome adversity and achieving success, it's separatists. What I find even more hilarious is that when Obama gave his speech in Selma, Alabama, a few months back, in one segment Hannity praised him for preaching self-help to the predominately-black congregation, and then in the following segment, Hannity attacked Obama’s pastor and church for same thing he just finished praising!
I don't even think O'Reilly would use such a lazy, race-baiting argument like this.
Billdo's not smart enough to be as stupid as Insannity.
This has been pointed out on previous threads, I believe most notably when Tommy has made the "separatist" argument. Tommy is well known for his "personal responsibility" rhetoric, but when a church actually upholds those principles, then they're "separatist". If I remember wrong, I apologize.
It's a great point, and tears the right-wing argument to shreds. Unfortunately, many of them aren't intellectually honest enough to admit it and refrain from making the same lame argument over and over.
Solon, this is one of the reasons that I have very little, if any, respect for the Right-wing in this country. They play little games to promote divisiveness. They don't want equality. The Right needs this divisiveness in order to play on the basic racism and xenophobia inherent in Right-wing authoritarianism.