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Letters to the Editor

Marshall respected as “community treasure”

I was thrilled to read the Banner’s recent article on my friend (and sometimes Franklin Park walking buddy) Bob Marshall (“A lifetime champion of educational equity,” May 8, 2008). He is a bona fide city and community treasure.


I have had the privilege of working side by side with Bob in a few “battle royales.” His leadership in the African American community and as a mentor to our youth are beyond compare. He can always be counted on to be on the front lines when it comes to supporting those he cares about. People respect his direct, no-nonsense manner because he will tell you exactly how he feels about a situation, in his inimitable way, invectives and all. But at the same time, those who are lucky enough to have Bob Marshall on their side know they have a fiercely loyal and steadfast friend who is a champion for our community and especially for the welfare of our young people.

Joyce Ferriabough
Roxbury

Wright a Clinton operative?

A recent Banner “Roving Camera” feature (May 8, 2008) posed the question, “Do you think [Sen. Barack] Obama was wrong in distancing himself from Rev. [Jeremiah] Wright after his controversial statements at the National Press Club?” But perhaps a more relevant question would be, “Was Rev. Wright working for the Clintons in order to hurt Senator Obama’s chances of winning the Democratic nomination?”

After all, exit polls in Indiana showed that many of the people who voted against Obama in that state’s recent primary used Wright’s comments as an excuse to vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Moreover, neither Wright nor the Clintons have raised the fact that Wright was invited to the White House by the Clintons for counsel when Bill Clinton was going through the Monica Lewinsky problem.

G. Djata Bumpus
Amherst

For Wright, pride came before the fall

I would like to comment on the Banner’s editorial “Clerical disconnect” (May 8, 2008). I am extremely saddened as an African American that the pulpit gets used to exercise power. Charismatics use this power to get the people emotional, yet it does nothing in my humble opinion to show them the way of God and his son Jesus Christ. It is disturbing to me that clergy do not clearly understand what it means to wear the collar of the divine and take on the divine mannerisms.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright must understand the implications of his actions. However, I am not sure he is clear on what exactly his divine responsibility is. To me, spewing religious dogma does not move things in a positive manner, whether Wright agrees or disagrees with the culture of the United States. Nowhere in Scripture do I see this use of power. Is the Scripture so simple that the religious intelligentsia misses the mark?

The reverend is using this moment in time to bring attention to himself and his platform, but he has revealed his weakness as a spiritual leader and within himself by putting Barack Obama in a very compromised position — and he has set race relations into another master/slave mentality. I wonder if he recognizes how his ego has jeopardized Barack’s campaign.

No, he is definitely not a Martin Luther King Jr., nor does he have the intellect that Dr. King mastered and exercised. I am sure that Dr. King felt at times the desire to be explosive, but his spiritual finesse revealed his true personal relationship and commitment to God. That is what is missing in the pulpit these days.

Pastors, ministers and priests are supposed to humble their egos to pursue the work of God. Instead, it seems their ego becomes more profound the higher in clerical hierarchy they climb. I do not see that moving the work of God forward. It really is disappointing.

Denise Baker-Bradley
Founder/President
The Mary E. Baker Black Arts Cultural Center Inc.