For many years, I have perceived the inherent contradiction and insufficiency of the arguments of black activists like Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton and others. They contend that blacks are oppressed, denied opportunity, harrassed and harangued because of their skin color– the one thing that a black man or woman can never change about him or herself.

I have wondered, given the incredible progress in race relations over the past three decades, if blacks would ever be able to just “let it go” and recognize the facts. Innumerable black men and women have risen to positions of power, influence and affluence in this country and at a time when the white culture is still the dominant culture, at least in simple numbers. If one black man can succeed any black man can, despite the claims of the “activists” that it isn’t possible, simply because of color.

The recent discussions of “black liberation theology” and the “black church” that have arisen out of the relationship between Democrat Presidential candidate Barack Obama and his pastor of twenty-plus years, Jeremiah Wright, have reawakened my desire to understand the “black experience”– and my passion to reject intellectual dishonesty wherever it appears. And an incredible article by James Solis has expressed in much better terms how the “black liberation theology” that Rev. Wright claims to be the foundation of his ministry can never achieve liberation for its adherents.

From the Solis article:

Black Theology, as a species of Liberation Theology, purports to be the theological energy behind the Black Power movement, a movement intended to liberate blacks from their continuing oppression under whites. But, at the same time, this very theology tells its adherents (even if only tacitly) that they must always be oppressed; they can never really be liberated – not if they are to remain in relationship with their Black God.

Because the 2008 Presidential race is the talk of the day, and because it is highly likely that Barack Obama will be the Democrat nominee and have a shot at the White House, it would do us well to understand Rev. Wright, Dr. James Cone (Wright’s mentor) and the message under which Obama and his family have sat for over two decades.