Mar 18, 2008 6:08 pm US/Central
Chicagoans React To Obama's Tuesday Speech On Race
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Barack Obama speaks in Philadelphia, on March 18, 2008.
Emmanuel Dunand /Getty Images
The reaction in Chicago to Sen. Barack Obama's historic address on race was swift and wide-ranging.
CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports some white Chicagoans -- including strong Obama backers -- reacted with shock upon hearing what the Rev. Jeremiah Wright said. He was Obama's pastor for some 20 years, though he recently retired.
Some local African-Americans said they understood that reaction, but were relieved when Obama denounced Wright's speech, not the speaker.
Rev. Linda Thomas teaches at a Lutheran Seminary and has for years been a member, with Obama, of Trinity United Church of Christ. She vividly recalls one of Rev. Wright's fiery sermons now at the heart of a national debate.
"If one is out of the context and hears these statements, of course, they would sound perhaps inappropriate," Thomas said. "But in the church that day people were standing on their feet, agreeing with him."
Others, though, insisted that whatever the context, it was inexcusable when Wright, for example, called down God's damnation on America. And critics of Obama added that he should have spoken up before now.
"What is not fleeting are Jeremiah Wright's words, 'God Damn America!'" said Republican activist Dan Proft. "Those words will reverberate through the rest of this campaign if Obama is the nominee or on the ticket."
"It's the test of the electorate, as to whether we're going to jump onto this sound bite or that sound bite, or whether we're really capable enough to really understand the issues," said Obama campaign contributor Gary Slutkin.
In contrast to his current public image, Rev. Thomas said, Rev. Wright preached racial and religious tolerance for 37 years at the congregation, taking the church from 80 members to 8,000.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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