First here is the link to the opposing article and its content, then my reply below:
http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/2009/03/lovey-doves-mikel-weisser-michael.html

So that’s the good, let’s go to the ugly. “Member When Obama Meant Wright, Not Right?” is a piece of garbage by Mikel Weisser at Dissident Voice. Actually, Mikel Weisser’s a piece of garbage himself and I say that because the African-American community has suffered enough due to Jeremiah Wright. We don’t need White boy trying to redeam him.

Some of us, like me, called him out loudly in real time. We did so because we go to church and we know what church is in our community. Others, out of a love for Barack, bit their tongues and some even flat-out lied. When Barack (and Michelle) finally washed his hands of Wright, we finally got the African-American pastors and preachers on TV (including NBC’s Today) who would say, “Look, what he did was offensive. We don’t behave that way in my church.” And that’s true across the board. But Mikel Weisser can’t grasp that.

Here’s a question for Weisser: Are you a Christian?

He may be. I doubt it. But if you’re not, shut up. If you’re not, no one needs your theories on Jeremiah Wright. If you are, explain to us if that would have flown at your church (your presumably White church)? If not, why do you think it’s natural for it to go down in our churches?

This comment gets to the heart of the matter:

Martha said on March 31st, 2009 at 11:30am #
If Mikel Weisser wants to admit he was wrong, then do so. Stop hiding behind my race (African-American). Jeremiah Wrights was disgusting and Weisser should be apologizing for defending him.You do not, in a Black church, stand in front of a congregation (which includes children, yes Massah Mikel, wez havz us some childrens) and start simulating fornication. You do not do that. Is that simple enough for the likes of Mikel Weisser? I know it doesn’t fit with your White lefty view of the “noble savage” but it is unacceptable. We do not take our children to church so they can see that garbage. Jeremiah Wright is not a victim, was never a victim.He was a disgrace.My community already had to deal with that nonsense in 2008. I’m in no mood for a White man to be bringing back up Jeremiah Wright to laud him yet again.Jeremiah Wright is disgusting.On Bill Moyers Journal, after he was kicked to the curb, Jeremiah Wright listed ‘crimes’ and included sodomy on that list. Is this the ‘wonderful’ man Mikel Weisser believes he’s writing about? Again, not in the mood. We were insulted across the board as a community in 2008 while White lefties tried to rationalize and justify Jeremiah Wright’s actions (well, not all, they ignored the lawsuit against him from that woman) and pretend like swearing and simulating sex is just what happens in the Black church. Not in the mood for it. Barack was a joke in 2008. Smart people voted for Cynthia McKinney or Ralph Nader and we have nothing to apologize for.

Martha said it all and said it very well. Now let’s read the weak response from a slave for Whitey:

Michael Hureaux said on March 31st, 2009 at 4:59pm #
Martha, I’m not a white lefty, and I think the issue many of us had with the manner Obama dealt with Jeremiah Wright had much less to do with his alleged sexual transgressions then the fact that Obama stood aside while a black man was made the target of national hate week by the mainstream media and right wing talk radio. Many of us who took up this issue have no idyllic view of Wright. The fact is that he was pilloried for a political stance he took, not for any simulation of sexual intercourse he may have done in front of a black congregation or any sexual harassment he may be responsible for. That wasn’t the issue, his politics were, and Obama effectively helped shut them down. Is Wright a victim? Maybe not. But Wright condemned U.S. imperialism in the sermon he was blasted for, and Obama denounced that speech as “incendiary”, because Obama defends the imperialist practice of burning children. Wright may not be a hero, but Obama is working hard to take a place among the outright fiends who drive this government’s policy.

Notice how he ignores what Jeremiah Wright said about sodomy. Notice how he’s nothing but a cheap ass liar. National hate week? What a cross climbing asshole that prick is.

I’ll probably be pulling Black Agenda Report. House Slave Michael posts there. I’ve actually recommend that we all pull Black Agenda Report from our links. How come?

HERE is my reply:

Since you had asked me several questions in your post i feel expected to reply.

1st i would like to apologize for your offense. Not for my writing per se, but your feelings being hurt. I am generally proud when my work has so profound an impact on a reader. I’d prefer support, but at least this means you were moved, which to me means we can start looking for ways to agree, not disagree.

2nd, both you and Martha at Dissident Voice suggest i am lamenting a suddenly perceived change in Obama, which is not true. While i did campaign for him eventually, Obama was actually my 5th choice because of his conservatism; though any of the Dems offered were clearly preferable to the GOP. I have written about this pretty consistently since Obama emerged on the national scene.

However i should say that there are also several aspects of Obama’s administration i avidly support and i adamantly champion his general approach to issues as compared to Bush.

As for your question on my religion: My parents were never religious, but on my own i attended a Methodist Church through high school and into college, was married twice in church services (i am a widower) and conducted the funerals for both my parents in Christian churches. In college i started into a pre-seminary program but while studying comparative religions moved from pure Christianity to a more pantheist belief system, feeling all religions have some redeeming value since they all seek a greater god, yet one no one can fully know or express god, so to pick one over the others denies their value. I don’t have to agree with every aspect of a religion to support its right to exist.

This information is readily available in an earlier piece of mine also published by Dissident Voice, “The New Circumcision.” http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/03/the-new-circumcision/

As for my support of Rev. Wright, though i know even less of who Michael Hureaux is than i do of you (thanks to your blogger profile), he quite correctly focused on the fact that my article was about Wright’s political activism, not his personal behavior. I do agree that prejudices are offensive and would find any of his homophobic remarks as offensive as the racism you’ve so freely directed at me.

As for your second question, would his antics fly in my church? No, but i did stop going to Christian churches precisely because of being offended by such things. White evangelicals quite freely are over-the-top theatrical and use inciteful hyperbolic language in their presentations, especially in mega-churches which to me operate on such a scale that those who were supposed to be theologians are frequently reduced to showmen. This deterioration of religious message due to the size of the congregation seems to know no color bounds.

But to more directly address the issue of Wright’s misbehaviors: as a Christian i was taught to celebrate a person’s strengths and forgive their transgressions when possible. While there are things i would not forgive (child molesting for example) i do tend to judge a person’s weaknesses by their strengths and could forgive, though not approve, of Wright’s failings in light of the good he has done for our country as a whole, though as you rightly point out, since i am not a member of his church, i cannot fairly address what good he has or has not done there. Surely there has been some good or he wouldn’t have lasted as pastor even 20 weeks, much less, 20 years.

Certainly there have been many civil rights leasers who have had their faults used by detractors in an effort to diminish their good deeds. MLK for example has been treated harshly over allegations (some of which i suspect were true) of sexual misconduct, but for me those incidents do not undo the social benefits gained through his efforts.

Lastly i would like to address your assertions that i have no right to holding opinions regarding race issues. Since I believe are people are fundamentally equal I would then assert that I have an equal right to an opinion on race relations as the one I would give to you. I don’t believe that my personal history in itself is enough to justify or unjustify my opinions, but that is where i get my views.

As an infant was raised by a Black family while my mother was extensively hospitalized after my father abandoned us. Later when she remarried and relocated to the southern tip of Texas i grew up in a town that is still 86% Hispanic, making me, a white boy, the minority and i was a recurring victim of racial attacks. Still i staged my 1st protest for racial equality at age 10 and was beaten by my step-dad on my birthday for refusing to uninvite my Black friends to my birthday party. Throughout my life I have had and still have friends of various colors since I don’t pick my associations based on their color, but, as instructed, on the content of their character. This has remained a guiding principle in my life.

At age 20, i can be seen in the Hart Perry documentary “Valley of Tears” protesting for equal rights for Hispanics. These last 30 years since then my writing and continuing record of social activism for the improved treatment of all citizens has not wavered and my articles of the last several years on these issues is readily available on-line for scrutiny.

I appreciate you asking for me to reply to your concerns regarding my work and hope that even if we cannot agree on the magnitude of Wright’s wrongs that we can at least agree that it is the respectful communication of our opinions that will lead to an improved society for all citizens. As a middle school teacher in a predominantly Hispanic school in Arizona, I teach my students about the shame of the racism in America’s past and try to help them get past the racism that we still deal with today. For example, I was greatly disappointed that racism played such a big part in your condemnation of me.

I hope I have written honestly and fairly enough to address some of your concerns and hope you would reply and address some of mine.
Mikel Weisser

http://www.infowars.com/freedom-tower-will-be-called-one-world-trade-center/print/

AP | March 26, 2009

NEW YORK — The Freedom Tower is out. One World Trade Center is in.

The agency that owns ground zero confirmed Thursday that the signature skyscraper replacing the towers destroyed on Sept. 11 will be more commonly known as One World Trade Center.

The building under construction at the site was named the Freedom Tower in the first ground zero master plan. Officials at the time said the tallest, most symbolic of five planned towers at the site would demonstrate the country’s triumph over terrorism.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey chairman Anthony Coscia says the agency refers to the building as One World Trade Center. He says it’s the building’s legal name and “the one that’s easiest for people to identify with.”