This is an edited transcript of a speech given by Rev Jeremiah Wright at an event for the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People in Detroit from Guardian Unlimited UK.

I come from a religious tradition that did not hold slaves, but preached against slavery and worked to end slavery. I come from a religious tradition that fought against Lansing like the NAACP, fought against discrimination like the NAACP and fought against skin privilege, fought against apartheid, fought again unfair labour practices, fought against segregation, fought against Plessy versus Ferguson.

I come from a religious tradition that fought for desegregation like NAACP. Fought for equality, fought for human dignity, fought for civil rights, fought for equal protection into the law and fought for the right of every citizen to have quality education regardless of the colour of their skin. I also come from a religious tradition that says if you feel excited about something, be excited about it. Don’t stand there - he has hate speech. Listen to how bombastic he is. Isn’t he bombastic? He’s stirring up hate.

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The Rev. breaks some stuff down about everything from (mis)education to music to language to a legacy of resistance. Whatever the political consequences, the brother is speaking Truth to power and getting mainstream attention in a way that we haven’t seen recently. He’s saying things that others have been afraid to say in a manner that does not equivocate. And I say, “Amen!” The original message was a sermon delivered in sacred space, and not meant to be chewed up and spit out in a white corporate context (the mainstream media, y’all). But now that is has been, he has no choice but to respond. What did Bob say? “2000 years of history, could not be wiped away so easily.”

Always insightful Glen Ford has his say here.

The world views of Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Sen. Barack Obama were incompatible from the start, just as the mythical American Manifest Destiny world view is directly at odds with the facts as perceived by Blacks in the United States. Wright finally forced Obama to choose sides in the conflict of racial/historical visions, and in doing so, performed a service on behalf of clarity. Obama lashed out in a startlingly personal manner, calling Wright a “caricature” of himself and linking the minister to forces that give “comfort to those who prey on hate.” Rev. Wright exposed the flimsy tissues of so-called “race neutrality” in a nation founded on racial oppression.

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…and then I’m about done with this topic. But the reality is, this whole issue is about an attempt to redefine and re-frame issues of race from a Eurocentric viewpoint of history. We can understand Obama’s political need to “distance himself” but we can’t afford to lose sight of our historical struggles as a people in the meantime. How can we overcome American Imperialism in Iraq and forget American colonialism? And if we pretend that racism is a relic of a by-gone era in the hope of electing a Black president, we’re setting ourselves up for not having our issues addressed at all. And in light of the Sean Bell verdict, disproportionate incarceration rates, racist lending practices, etc, etc., we can’t afford that.

That’s what’s up.

Watch Parts 2-4 on our YouTube page.

Watch the video here.

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In 1962, in connection with the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the celebrated black writer, James Baldwin wrote a dedicatory letter to his nephew on how to survive and deal with living with white racism in America. It was published as an Essay in New York Magazine under the caption “The Fire Next Time”. Baldwin wrote:

A vast amount of energy that goes into what we call the Negro problem is produced by the white man’s profound desire not to be judged by those who are not white, not to be seen as he is, and at the same time a vast amount of the white anguish is rooted in the white man’s equally profound need to be seen as he is, to be released from the tyranny of his mirror.

My esteemed brother Dr. Cornell West writes about Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time” saying that “(he) spoke the deep truth that democratic individuality demands that white Americans give up their deliberate ignorance and willful blindness about the weight of white supremacy in America. Only then can a genuine democratic community emerge in America.”

Not since James Baldwin’s famous quote from the Ralph Stanley Blues’ Hymn, “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water but the fire next time” has America been so consumed in a national discussion about race.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, blasted news media he said had sensationalized his remarks in an often confrontational appearance at a reporters’ club on Monday.

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If you’re organizing a protest or know of any protests in your city, please email us or post it in comments. Let’s make this nation-wide.

William Bell, Valerie Bell, and Nicole Paultre Bell join Rev. Al Sharpton during his live radio broadcast as he speaks about the Sean Bell trial in New York City, April 26, 2008.

NEW YORK - Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to “close this city down” to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed a groom on his wedding day and wounded two friends.

“We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent civilians,” Sharpton told an overflow crowd of several hundred people at his National Action Network office in the historically black Manhattan neighborhood. “This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell.”

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Read more about reaction here.

NEW YORK — Three detectives were acquitted of all charges Friday in the 50-shot killing of unarmed groom-to-be Sean Bell on his wedding day, a case that put the NYPD at the center of another dispute involving allegations of excessive firepower.

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Call-to-Action from Amnesty International

More than two years into the human rights disaster of Hurricane Katrina, thousands remain displaced because of an absence of affordable housing, with rent increases up more than 40% and the majority of public housing still shuttered. Local and federal agencies reportedly plan to demolish four of the largest public housing developments in New Orleans, which would eliminate the majority of public housing in the city. This could affect thousands of former residents, many of whom are keen to return. Help uphold New Orleans residents’ right to return by ensuring that the Senate passes a bill that addresses housing needs in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Urge your senator to co-sponsor the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act of 2007 (S. 1668), or thank your Senator, if he or she is already a co-sponsor.

The House has already passed its version of this bill, H.R. 1227.

Let your voice be heard!

For the first time since 2005, Jazz Fest’s seventh day is back at a cost of $1 million to organizers. Favorite sons the Neville Brothers will make their first appearance since the storm as part of a bill boasting major stars and a wide range of regional talent. More food vendors and an expanded children’s area have been added.

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If you haven’t already, make sure you hit us up on YouTube. Check out what we’re diggin over there.

In case you thought they weren’t experimenting on us anymore….

Lawmakers and the NAACP are calling for an investigation into reports that federally funded scientific experiments in 2000 spread sewage sludge on yards in poor, black neighborhoods to test if it could fight lead poisoning in children.

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FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique (AFP) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy was to join mourners on Sunday at the state funeral of Aime Cesaire, a poet and pioneer of the black pride movement who died at age 94 in Martinique.

Cesaire, revered on his native French Caribbean island of Martinique and elsewhere in the French-speaking world, died in hospital in Fort-de-France on Thursday after being admitted for heart problems.

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Click here for background on Cesaire and discussion of his “clash” with Sarkozy about French colonialism from a conversation with Amy Goodman and Prof. Robin Kelley, via Democracy Now!

Obit from Times Online (UK)

From Friends of Peltier

To Mumia Abu-Jamal — my brother in this Struggle; and your family, friends, and supporters.

I offer you my warmest greetings. How appropriate, after so many years, that I now send you word from a cage housed in the very same state as yours.

Perhaps it is destiny that we would find ourselves incarcerated so near, under similar circumstance, by similar forces, using similar excuses, for a similar love of our people.

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LOS ANGELES Bill Cosby’s path has taken him from pudding pops to hip hop. The 70-year-old has recorded a hip-hop album set for release next month. “Cosby Narratives Vol. 1: State of Emergency” blends the comedian’s concepts and stories with a hip-hop, pop and jazz soundtrack.

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Around the world, rising food prices have made basic staples like rice and corn unaffordable for many people, pushing the poor to the barricades because they can no longer get enough to eat. But the worst is yet to come.

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