Reverend Joseph Lowery's Words at the Inauguration

"We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, where brown can stick around, when yella' will be mella', when the red man can get ahead, man- and when white will embrace what is right. Let all of those who will do justice and love mercy say 'Amen'. AMEN! Say AMEN."

-Reverend Joseph Lowery at the inauguration of Barack Obama, January 20, 2009


I don't want to pile on too hard on Reverend Joseph Lowery for his comments at the inauguration yesterday, but I do think some comment is warranted.

First of all, I respect what Lowery has done in his life as a veteran of the civil rights struggle, and, unlike some others, I would not call him a racist because of those remarks. (After all, he is a friend of Sean Hannity from the days when Hannity was a radio host in Atlanta.)

Yet, this is not the first time, Lowery has raised my eyebrows with his comments. Several years ago, he spoke publicly and dismissively about former segregationist governor of Alabama George Wallace (then-already deceased). Wallace, late in life, crippled and in poor health, had publicly repented his past as a segregationist and asked for forgiveness from black Americans-forgiveness that Lowery, a Christian minister could not extend. Instead, he mocked Wallace.

Then there was Lowery's disgusting reference to WMDs at the funeral of Coretta Scott King with President and Mrs Bush seated behind him. It simply was not the time nor the place.

Now this reference to whites embracing "right" as if it were in the future. Once again, it was neither the time nor the place. I wonder how all those white people in the freezing cold, people who had probably voted for Obama and were there to celebrate the day, must have felt. Did any turn around and go home?

I think it is time for Reverend Lowery to give some credit to American society for the changes that have been made in the past forty years which have culminated in the election of Barack Obama as our 44th president. Most of what we witnessed yesterday was uplifting and spoke well of what the nation has accomplished. Once again, Lowery's words were dismissive and out of place. I would like to think he is better than that.