t does not take much to see that Rev. Jeremiah Wright is one angry dude.  And we know that his anger is about all the wrongs that the United States has committed against others—especially black people.  I am not interested in debating whether all that anger on his part is justified.  For the sake of argument—I repeat: for the sake of argument: I am willing to allow that his anger is indeed justified.  What intrigues me, rather, is that he so angry that his anger is in effect self-destructive; and that self-destructiveness is, apparently, rather contagious. 

We can be ever so justified in our anger.  Yet, if anything is true, it is true that we should not let our anger be a source of self-destruction.  Here is a rather uncontroversial example.  Suppose that my dearest friend betrayed me in that I lent him $10,000 and he refused to pay it back although he actually came to have the means to do so.  Indeed, he became a multi-billionaire.  Now, I effectively have two choices.  One is that I can wallow in the betrayal of my dear friend.  The other is that I can get on with my life, pursuing those opportunities that enable me to become quite financially well-off despite the loss of the $10,000 owing to the betrayal of my friend. 

It seems to me patently obvious that I should get on with my life and pursue those opportunities that enable me to become financially secure.  But suppose that instead I wallow in the betrayal of my friend and pass up one opportunity after another.  All that I do day after day is go on and on and on about the loss of my $10,000 owing to the betrayal of my friend. 

Although nothing will change that fact that my friend wronged me by betraying me and that I am out of $10,000 on account of it, there is nonetheless a very straightforward sense in which it is my fault that I am in the horrible position that I am in.  It is my fault that I have not pursued the opportunities that would have made me much better off financially.  The horrible position that I am in is my fault although, of course, nothing whatsoever changes the fact that my friend betrayed me and, in effect, stole $10,000 from me. 

No one can doubt whether American Slavery was a horrible wrong.  The interesting question, though, is whether the plight of blacks in American today can be blamed primarily on slavery.  To here Pastor Jeremiah Wright tell, this question receives a resounding: Yes.

I have asked myself over and over and over again, what would happen if Pastor Wright used his powerful voice to inspire blacks to do things for themselves—to turn away from the crime that is killing blacks in one major city after another?  What would happen if Pastor Wright used his powerful voice to inspire blacks to pursue the highest forms of intellectual excellence?  Again, what would happen if Pastor Wright used his powerful voice to inspire blacks to pursue one path of outstanding moral behavior and then another? 

I have to assume that if he used his powerful voice in this way, then the answer to all three of the above questions would be that the lives of blacks would be dramatically changed for the better, as one black after another pursued forms of excellence that would transform the black community in absolutely marvelous ways. 

And if I am even close to right in this regard, then one has to ask: Is it not morally negligent of Pastor Wright not to inspire blacks in just this way?  Does he not have a moral obligation to inspire blacks in this way?  Surely, this question warrants an affirmative answer. 

The issue is not whether American Slavery was the horrendous moral wrong that we take it to be.  Rather, the issue is whether or not Pastor Wright or, for the matter anyone else capable of occasioning inspiration, has an obligation to inspire blacks to transform their lives for the better rather than to lead blacks to the self-destructive cesspool of bitterness and self-pity. 

Should anyone ever forget American Slavery?  Absolutely not.  But no black needs to bathe in the cesspool of bitterness and self-pity in order not to forget American Slavery. 

It is, in fact, morally irresponsible of Pastor Wright not to inspire blacks, given that he could easily do so with his powerful voice.  He is drunk with bitterness and self-pity.  And if that were not bad enough, he is causing others to become equally inebriated in this way.  Think of all the young minds that he is poisoning.  Rather than being inspired to make a difference for better in the black community, one young person after another listening to Wright’s sermons will be moved to bitterness and rancor. 

If these remarks are right, then there is a very poignant and disconcerting sense in which black American is worse-off on account of the vitriolic and vituperative sermons of Pastor Jeremiah Wright. 

In one of his sermons, he replaces “God Bless America” with a quite different utterance, namely “God damn America”.  Suffice it to say that with sermons like his, it may very well that God will not have to lift a finger against America.  This is because Pastor Jeremiah Wright is damning America—or at least a substantial part of it, namely black America—with his very own sermons.

Of course, Pastor Wright would intone that he is merely stating the truth.  And there is no gaining saying that point.  What is equally true, however, is that one can state the truth for no other reason than to cause harm.  What, in the end, is Pastor Wright’s moral objective?  To hold blacks hostage to a shameful past, or to inspire blacks to pursue a brighter future.  Insofar as Pastor Wright preaches sermons that occasion bitterness on the part of blacks, he is bringing it about that blacks are hostage to a shameful past.  One slave master has replaced another.  His face is black and his name is Jeremiah Wright.