Editor,
Out of context - the famous phrase politicians use to explain the inexplicable.
Unseemly quotations and wrongheaded gestures are willfully written off as taken out of context. But politicians rarely do us the service of illuminating abandoned context, of situating their purportedly misrepresented statements in their original provenance.
They simply claim that a quote was taken out of context and consider the issue dealt with sufficiently. It is actually that the context is taken out of the quote.
Thus, it was refreshing to witness Sen. Barack Obama's explanation of the existence of his pastor. For ever since the mass media first discovered the phenomenon, it seemed as if the Rev. Jeremiah Wright had always been preaching in a vacuum - without a congregation, without a community, without a history.
Obama sought to contextualize Wright in the suspicious minds of an indignant public. So what is the context of a vociferous old African-American man sounding off from the pulpit?
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As a preacher, Wright naturally has followers. As in most churches, congregants choose their leaders through transparent interview and selection processes. People go to church, hear the pastor's words and choose to return time and time again.
Thus, his message resonates and helps nourish people spiritually. But who are these people who choose to attend such a service? Further, contextualization is needed.
The congregants are African-Americans from the south side of Chicago. Why does this part of the country have such a high population of African-Americans, a traditionally deprived population?
Once upon a time, the U.S. had something called industry. This is the long lost practice of manufacturing a durable good that others value.
In the south side of Chicago and in neighboring Gary, Ind., workers produced steel. Once upon a time in the U.S., the Southern states had a plantation economy predicated on prejudice. Pushed by violent racism and pulled by industrial jobs, African-Americans migrated to northern enclaves such as Chicago.
This, my friends, is context. But why did racist ways predominate in the South in the first place? Because the Constitution did not effectively end slavery and immediately decree categorical equality, thereby allowing a legacy of hatred to remain, staining our perfection.
Again, context. Obama did quizzical detractors the favor of supplying much needed background information. He reminded us of a fundamental sociological principle that leaders derive from followers. He reminded us that ingrained traditions of prejudice and perverted political economy created such followers, and that these ugly traditions stemmed from our imperfect founding.
Obama operated above and beyond the typical politician by giving us the ultimate context, showing that the uncomfortable situations we face come from the same document that provides us our rights, liberties and national identity. The same document that created our problems provides the tools to resolve them.
The speech reminded us all of our common flawed heritage and empowered us all to confront it.
Max Fitzpatrick
UNM student
