This is an article that appeared in Al Jezeerah (yeah, I know, I spelled it wrong) a couple of days ago.

Wow... not sure what to make of this. For one, why does it seem so much of the world considers him Kenyan born, and for two- would it become an advantage or a liability if the world sees him as Muslim?
Just interesting....



June 11, 2008 Clip No. 1791

Libyan Leader Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi: Obama Suffers Inferiority Complex That Might Make Him Behave "Whiter Than the White." He Should Be Proud of His African, Muslim Identity. Ben-Gurion Gave the Green Light for the Killing of JFK

Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Libyan Leader Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi marking the anniversary of the U.S. air raid on Libya. The address aired on Al-Jazeera TV on June 11, 2008:


Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi: It has been proven that there is no democracy in [the U.S.]. Rather, it is a dictatorship no different than the dictatorships of Hitler, Napoleon, Mussolini, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, and the rest of the tyrants. In the days of crazy Reagan, the American president issued a presidential order to launch a war against Libya, for example, a presidential order to besiege Libya, a presidential order to boycott Libya, and so on. Is this a democracy or a dictatorship?

[...]

There are elections in America now. Along came a black citizen of Kenyan African origins, a Muslim, who had studied in an Islamic school in Indonesia. His name is Obama. All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applauded this man. They welcomed him and prayed for him and for his success, and they may have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American presidency. But we were taken by surprise when our African Kenyan brother, who is an American national, made statements that shocked all his supporters in the Arab world, in Africa, and in the Islamic world. We hope that this is merely an elections "clearance sale," as they say in Egypt – in other words, merely an elections lie. As you know, this is the farce of elections – a person lies and lies to people, just so that they will vote for him, and afterwards, when they say to him: :"You promised this and that," he says: "No, this was just elections propaganda." This is the farce of democracy for you. He says: "This was propaganda, and you thought I was being serious. I was fooling you to get your votes."

Allah willing, it will turn out that this was merely elections propaganda. Obama said he would turn Jerusalem into the eternal capital of the Israelis. This indicates that our brother Obama is ignorant of international politics, and is not familiar with the Middle East conflict.

[...]

We thought he would say: "I have decided that if I win, I will monitor the Dimona nuclear plant, and the other WMDs in Israeli's possession." We expected him to make such a decision. He undoubtedly had this in mind. When he talked about Iran and its nuclear program, he undoubtedly had Dimona in mind. But when he was thinking about Dimona, he undoubtedly had the fate of former president Kennedy on his mind as well. Kennedy decided to monitor the Dimona nuclear plant. He insisted on doing so, in order to determine whether or not it produces nuclear weapons. The Israelis refused, but he insisted. This crisis was resolved with the resignation of Ben-Gurion. He resigned so he would not have to agree to the monitoring of the Dimona plant, and he gave the green light for the killing of Kennedy. Kennedy was killed because he insisted on the monitoring of the Dimona plant. This image was undoubtedly on Obama's mind. He undoubtedly wanted to talk about this, but decided not to.

[...]

We expected him to say: "If I win, I will implement the one-state solution – the "Isratine" which appears in Qadhafi's White Book." This idea constitutes the final, deep-rooted, and historic solution. It is impossible to establish two midget-states in this area. What kind of country is only 15 km deep? The so-called Israel is only 15 km deep. What kind of a country is this?

There are five million Palestinians there. We expected Obama to say: "I've decided to return millions of Palestinian refugees to the land of Palestine, from which they were expelled in 1948 and 1967." This is the "change" that the peoples applaud, the change that the American people – and the black people in America – want.

We expected him to say: "I will strive for the independence and unity of the Kurdish nation. This nation must take its place under the sun in the Middle East." The Kurdish nation is torn apart, tormented, and persecuted, and is colonized by everyone. He should have supported it, instead of supporting the collaborators, while sacrificing the future of the Kurdish nation. This is "change."

[...]

The thing we fear most is that the black man suffers from an inferiority complex. This is dangerous. If our brother Obama feels that because he is black he doesn't have the right to rule America, this would be a disaster, because such a feeling would make him behave whiter than the white, and go to an extreme in his persecution and degradation of the blacks.

[...]

We say to him: Brother, the whites and blacks in America are equal. They are all immigrants. America belongs neither to the whites nor to the blacks. America belongs to its original inhabitants, the Indians. Both the whites and the blacks immigrated to America, and so they are equal, and Obama has the right to hold his head high, and say: "I am a partner in America. This is my land as much as it is yours. If it is not my land, it is not yours either. It is the land of the Indians. You are immigrants, and so are we."

[...]

We still hope that this black man will take pride in his African and Islamic identity, and in his faith, and that [he will know] that he has rights in America, and that he will change America from evil to good, and that America will establish relations that will serve it well with other peoples, especially the Arabs.




Close
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent, non-profit organization providing translations of the Middle East media and original analysis and research on developments in the region. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background information, are available on request.
MEMRI holds copyrights on all translations. Materials may only be used with proper attribution.

The Middle East Media Research Institute
P.O. Box 27837, Washington, DC 20038-7837
Phone: [202] 955-9070 Fax: [202] 955-9077 E-Mail: memri@memri.org
Search previous MEMRI publications at our website: www.memri.org


At Obama's Former Church, Hurt Lingers
Black Congregations Feel Marginalized by Uproar
============================================
By Eli Saslow and Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, June 15, 2008; A01



CHICAGO -- They paraded through the summer-like heat last weekend in long dresses and suit coats, hundreds of families following the same paths that lead them to church every Sunday morning. They passed single-story houses and dilapidated parks before entering Trinity United Church of Christ on this city's South Side.

Across town, Sen. Barack Obama dressed in sneakers, jeans and a golf shirt. He was going biking with his wife and two daughters on a rare day off from the campaign. He strapped on a helmet, and his family pedaled north from their Hyde Park neighborhood, toward the big houses on the lake.

A vast distance separates Obama from the church he quit last month, as hurt feelings continue to fester on both sides. Obama, his patience exhausted by the most recent controversial remark from a pastor, said in late May, "Our relations with Trinity have been strained." And some of the church's 8,000 members -- as well as some other black pastors -- feel abandoned, betrayed and misunderstood after their contentious turn in the national spotlight.

This was not how it was supposed to be. Obama, the biracial presidential candidate who has pledged to unite Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor, blacks and whites, was going to provide an opening for Trinity and other black churches to shatter their stereotypes and bolster their national presence. Instead, a landslide of negative video of Trinity's pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., and right-wing political attacks left Obama's former church and others like it even more marginalized and vilified.

As the controversy over Trinity crescendoed earlier this month, the church's new pastor, Otis Moss III, released a statement to his congregation: "We, the community of Trinity, are concerned, hurt, shocked, dismayed, frustrated, fearful and heartbroken. . . . We are a wounded people and our wounds, the bruises from our encounter with history, have scarred our very souls."

At the very core of its mission, Trinity seeks to reveal and broadcast racial inequalities. A product of black liberation theology, it teaches members to identify with their African roots and take pride in the African American experience. Sermons sometimes mingle biblical lessons with those learned from slavery or the civil rights movement.

Last month, when asked why he wanted to preach at Trinity, Moss said: "This is a place where the struggle continues, where you can talk about real issues. We can recognize social injustice and then take it on."

Obama has largely sought to avoid discussing race or racism during his presidential campaign, except when it comes to this country's ability to overcome it. His major speech on the issue in March was an attempt to quell controversy over Wright without making race part of his political platform. The Democrat casts himself as a unifier -- the son of a white American woman and a black African man, shaped by white, working-class grandparents and South Chicago's housing projects.

"We may have different stories," he said in March, "but we hold common hopes." And commonality, Obama often indicates, is what Americans should spend their energy discussing, instead of what he termed Wright's "divisive and destructive" rhetoric.

Because of that divide, Obama sent a letter to the church in late May tendering his family's resignation. Obama explained that it was with "some sadness" that he made the decision to leave the church where he discovered Christianity, married his wife and had his children baptized, but that he no longer felt comfortable being associated with the church's provocative rhetoric.

After Obama's decision, Trinity officials stopped speaking with the media and encouraged members to do the same. They refuse to criticize Obama, as does Moss, saying only that he will remain in their prayers.

Though several prominent pastors said Obama's decision to leave Trinity might create minor friction with some black voters, it is highly unlikely that he will lose their support. Even most Trinity members don't fault Obama, instead blaming the media and political attacks.

"It is a particular tension around him and his church and his pastor that was very public," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said. "That does not affect how he deals with the entire black church. . . . He met with a group of ministers last week. He has met with labor leaders. He has gone to college campuses. He has done my radio show."

But political and religious experts said Obama's departure from Trinity has become a symbol of the further marginalization of black churches.

"If a politician wants to move up in government, he can come to church and jump and shout," said the Rev. Barbara Reynolds, a lecturer at Howard University's School of Divinity. "But it is not okay to go to a church where they are speaking truth to power and talking about racism, sexism and capitalism."

Ron Walters, a University of Maryland political science professor, said: "Barack Obama is running for president in a country where 70 percent of the people are white. They demand that he align himself to their dominant view."

When Obama announced his candidacy for president, Trinity expected the world to celebrate a church founded on the model of community activism that nurtured black church icons such as the Revs. Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy and Jackson. Church leadership referred to Obama as their "chosen son."

Trinity sold his books in its bookstore and painted a stained-glass window that read: VOTE. Members talked about the possibility of sharing their pews with the first black president. On the rare occasions that Obama attended church, he sometimes received a standing ovation.

"There was a lot of pride having him there, for all of us," said Tony Johnson, a Trinity member since the early 1980s. "You could tell anyone in Chicago that you went to Trinity, and they knew about it because of him. Like, 'Oh, that's Barack's church.' . . . I don't think any of us really saw a downside to it. We had a great member in a great church doing great things. What couldn't you like?"

As Johnson monitored news of his church during the past three months, though, he found a lot not to like. Wright, the author of more than 4,000 sermons, became a public caricature through inflammatory, 30-second sound bites. He reiterated his most divisive opinions during an appearance at the National Press Club in late April. In a last-ditch attempt at damage control on May 25, Trinity invited a white Roman Catholic clergyman to take part in a "sacred dialogue on race."

The result? During his sermon, the Rev. Michael L. Pfleger mocked Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, saying she cried about Obama's candidacy because she thought: "I'm white. I'm entitled. There's a black man stealing my show."

Johnson said: "It's so frustrating to feel like all that gets talked about is these few bad things. We have so many great programs happening here, and they're ignored. It's like there are two different Trinitys: the one we know and love, and the one everybody hates and makes fun of on TV."

Said Renee Carter, another Trinity member: "Our church has received bomb threats, our members have been harassed, and our pastors have received threats on their lives."

It's a scenario Wright never imagined when he took over a dying church of 80 members in 1972 and built it into a seven-day-a-week community center with child care, couples counseling and service trips to Africa.

Trinity has drawn an economically diverse membership that includes Oprah Winfrey, rap stars and stockbrokers -- but the church never moved away from the South Side train tracks. Wright preached fiery sermons about racial inequality and the scars of slavery -- but he invited white youth groups to sit up front and listen.

Trinity's only method for recovery in Obama's absence, members said, is a renewed devotion to those same principles. But that might be complicated. Wright had planned to retire June 1 and install Moss, his hand-picked successor. However, on last weekend's service program, Wright remained listed as the senior pastor even as Moss delivered the sermon. Some church members said Wright might be interested in returning to the pulpit, and they remain unsure as to who's in charge.

During the past several months, Moss has relied on advice from his father, the Rev. Otis Moss Jr., a former pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and a friend of King.

"The black church will be fine," the elder Moss said. "But we are facing one of the most significant, one of the most challenging and one of the most opportune moments in our history. That also means we are facing one of the most dangerous moments."

Said the Rev. Al Sharpton: "Historically, the black church is the only place that we could have our voices heard. It's been the social, political and religious center of our community, and that can't change for anybody. . . . I think Barack did what he had to do, but we still cannot compromise."

Obama has come up with his own plan for moving forward: He doesn't plan to join another church, he said, until at least after the election.


.

© 2008 The Washington Post Company


"