By Gina Lam

Jeremiah Wright was loud, aggressive and passionate. While Toni Morrison was calm and witty. But it appears people accept and hear her information more because of how she delivered it.  Mr. Wright was right about the inequality and the government doing more to help the wealthy and privileged white people. However he was wrong to use Hillary Clinton as a representation of privilege and to represent Barack Obama as encompassing all the discrimination people of color face. Both are not entirely true. Obama is privileged in many aspects, while Clinton faces discriminations as a female. I have no problem with his general message that inequality exist and that the government does very little to rectify it. Mr. Wright used many legislation that the U.S. government passed to as evidence of social inequality such as: Jim Crow laws, convict leasing, crack cocaine verses powder cocaine ratio, 3 strikes rules and our prison system. Mr. Wright is very passionate and loud when he speaks, I am not sure if he is screaming or maybe he just speaks that way during his sermons, his sermon voice. But Mr. Wright definitely has a right to be enraged for himself, for his community and all people of color. There is a lot to be angry and emotional about. 

It is interesting how as a society whenever people speak with passion, they are either automatically discounted or told to calm down. It happens everyday, once someone raises their voice, people say okay don’t need to get emotional. But certain things require emotional and it would be weird if people did not get emotional. For example victim blaming enrages me, it would be weird if people did not show emotion and were content with a community that accepts victim blaming. If people were monotonic when discussing rape, assault, being frisked and discriminated against. Being emotion is usually equated with women and also accepted as the opposite of rationality.

When I was listening to Wright speak, I felt like he was directly yelling at me and about to reach off the screen and point his finger at me. While Morrison she took her time and she was calmer; therefore most people discredit Wright especially since the clips were shown right after one another. But after leaving the class, I realize that everything Wright said was true. Although how he said was overwhelming, I agreed with his message. White people are privilege in many ways that People of Color are not. It is enraging to have to grow up in a system and having to go to pre-school and have your classmates make fun of your lunch and make you the “other”. 

Wright was speaking when the Democratic nomination for presidency was taking place and Wright had an agenda. He wanted the Black community to vote for Obama. His sermon had a purpose and a point. He used his authority in church to influence voters. Although I agree with majority of what he said, I cannot overlook the fact that he was not just preaching to inform his congregation he was preaching for his own purpose and agenda. The fact that there was a motive tainted my perspective of Wright, who has authority and power in his community but he did not use it responsibility. I believe that is what separates Wright from Baldwin. Baldwin talks about what he knows and experienced. He only talks about negros, Harlem and things that he knows and can understand. He speaks on what he knows to be true for the sake of writing and expressing himself, he does not have an agenda. Baldwin gives people information and allows his readers and audience to interpret his narrative for themselves. Mr. Wright did not give his congregation actual political information. He did not discuss the issues or policies the two democrats supported.
Instead he either tore down or brought up democratic nominee based on their appearance. He didn’t let his congregation decide for themselves which candidate would have the most to offer and would actually improve their quality of life. He dumbed the information down to basically his opinion and what he wanted people to believe. He did not give them the information or trust them to process the information on their own he just spoon fed them how he felt and what he wanted. 

 In Toni Morrison video, what caught my attention was when she said African Americans are not victims. Baldwin believes African Americans are victims. But I like that they use the word differently. Baldwin used victim to mean that we are all victims of the system, everyone of all color, including white people are victims of the system. While Morrison meant that Blacks are not to be pitied or fought for; they can fight for themselves and they don’t need to be given empathy or sorrow like helpless children.  

Amen Corner was not a difficult read but difficult to process and come to terms with how I felt.  I am not sure how I feel about all the characters whether I like them or not, except for Odessa. I really like what she says at the end “ Brothers and sisters if you knew just a little but about folk’s lives, what folks go through and the low, black place they find their feet- you would have a meeting this afternoon.” It is really overwhelming how strongly people can believe and how quickly those belief can change. Whenever belief or favor is brought up, I am reminded of how quickly people favored Bush, when he announced that he was going to war and how quickly the same numbers dropped after Hurricane Katrina. Public love and adoration is so fickle, that it is very pointless. In Margaret’s church, her congregation initially had so much respect for her and she lived off that respect. But as the story progresses, it is overwhelming how quick and harsh Margaret and her congregation judge each other. Margaret was so strict and believed she was chosen and therefore above everyone else. Towards the end, they had a complete disregard for Margaret, condemning her by association. She worked so hard for the congregation and to prove herself righteous. Margaret had to constantly be proving herself moral and once she “slipped, everyone could not wait to condemn her. It was so easy and quick for her congregation to find fault. They are so harsh with each other and so quick to condemn each other.

Baldwin brought the complex structure of church and even people who have never stepped foot into a church could witness the complexity, contradictions and how strong faith is. Baldwin does a great job demonstrating how uplifting and how condemning a church community can be. Margaret felt chosen and people believed that she was too, which allowed her to leave her past behind and to be so strong. However once her congregation believed Margaret had any signs of being “immoral” they shoved her off the throne and couldn’t wait to place themselves in it. They tried to shame each other to not be bad and to no fulfill the stereotypes of gang, crimes violence, drugs and alcohol abuse. It felt like there was so much on the line to appear holy and moral, and therefore they needed to be strict and harsh to each other, which is ironic because people are afraid of how outsiders judge them that they end up judging each other in the same unforgiving manner. The church itself needed to keep up appearances and as a reader it felt like, if outsiders believed that the church was not at its best that automatically the church was a sinful place. There is so much stress to keep up appearances and it seems very tiring and relentless.