Brooklyn Ron

Brooklynite Leah Daughtry is Running the Whole Show at the Democratic National Convention

She was raised in Brooklyn and is proud to be a daughter of this great place.

She's a Pentecostal minister and graduate of Dartmouth College.

And, oh yes, Leah Daughtry is the chief executive of the Democratic National Convention, the person who's been charged with planning and running the whole show this week.

No serious biography of Rev. Daughtry can be offered without mentioning that she is also the daughter of another Reverend Daughtry, the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, who over the past thirty years has made history in Brooklyn, leading demonstrations and boycotts against police brutality and advocating (militantly, as the mainstream media used to say) for the economic advancement of African-Americans.

The father is pastor of the half-century-old House of the Lord Pentecostal Church, located near the developing and very controversial Atlantic Yards Projects, which many activists oppose but which Rev. Herbert Daughtry supports.

Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean, in naming Leah Daughtry the CEO of the Democratic Party last year, realized that the party had to make inroads with evangelicals. Leah Daughtry, in addition to making visits to her father's church in Brooklyn, preaches at her own House of the Lord church in Washington, D.C.

This week in Colorado, as she navigates through waters that many would consider treacherous, Leah Daughtry shows the calmness of spirit that gives credence to her professions of deep faith. She is trying to make the Democratic Convention a true open tent, one that has room for those of all faiths, one that is a kind of reflection of the place she comes from, Brooklyn, a place where Christians, Jews, Muslims and others worship in large numbers. The interfaith gathering at the opening of the Convention was a reflection of that effort.

Leah Daughtry is a person of extraordinary character, one that evidences a faithfulness to her family, to the place she has come from and to a political philosophy of doing that which feels right and which advances the common good.

She once was on the staff of Brooklyn Congressman Ed (Edolphus Towns), but she has traveled a long distance in recent years, and she has moved along with a full consciousness and with a proud profession of her religious, genealogical and, yes, geographical roots.

Imam Siraj Wahhaj, Villified by Media, Remains the Hero of Fulton Street

Much is being made today of the fact that Imam Siraj Wahhaj is behind a soon-to-come subway ad of some kind.

In the New York Post and elsewhere in the mainstream media, he is being all but called a terrorist as they noted that Wahhaj is an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

But believe me, if after 15 years the government had any evidence to indict Wahhaj, it would have.

And I say that as someone who had close family who worked at the World Trade Center and who considered it almost a second home.

Here's the truth about Wahhaj. Back in the mid 1980s the crack epidemic was ravishing Bedford-Stuyvesant, where Wahhaj's mosque, called At-Taqwa, was and still is located.

Merchants, many of them frightening immigrant Muslims, were being held up. Complaints were made to the 79th precint but nothing happened.

Then Wahhaj went out on his own with members of his mosque, including at least one who was a Uniformed Court Officer, and began knocking on the doors of those known to be thugs and drug dealers.

The dealers complained to the police and Wahhaj and his Muslim companions were themselves arrested. While at the 79th precinct, a white police officer slapped Wahhaj.

Fortunately at the time, the police commissioner was Ben Ward, who was a hardliner but carried certain sensibilities because he happened to be black. The officer who slapped Wahhaj was demoted, and after this correspondent wrote an article about the whole affair (which article, we promise, we will locate and post), community support grew for Wahhaj and his band of citizen cops.

Suddenly there were civilian patrols on Fulton Street and the busy intersection of Fulton and Bedford Avenue became a safer place. To this day, merchants in that area owe much to Wahhaj and the members of his mosque.

Please remember this and put the screaming headlines that ignorantly defame Wahhaj into perspective.

We need not say more for now, other than to suggest that Wahhaj's message, from our perspective, seems like that of Catholic priests and others who argue that their people should be respected and that there is a world beyond this world that is a spiritual world, where good and righteousness prevail.

Wahhaj, who is African American and speaks fluent Arabic, once led members of the United States Congress in prayer. In one video he says:

"Allah lets you know that nothing is permanent but him…All your life you learn to love things and as soon as you get real close Allah snatches it away from you . . . to let y ou know to be humble and that you should always put your trust in allah. Not in money, not in material things, but in Allah."

Here's the video:

Muslim Americans are Left out of Discourse in Presidential Election Year

[photo: Islamic Society of Bay Ridge]

There are hundreds of thousands of Muslims in New York City alone. Some readers of this site may recall that we once characterized Brooklyn as the "Mecca of Arab America".

Granted that these are two distinct identities -- being Muslim and Arab -- but the truth is that they often overlap, here in New York and the United States, as well as in the Middle East.

[The photo we have selected to accompany this post is of the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, a very interesting neighborhood in Brooklyn, and it was pulled from the Society's web site. Worshipers at the Society are largely immigrants from Arab countries. They are, of course, Muslims.]

The point of the above headline is that both of these groups, Muslims and Arabs living in the States, are conspicuously missing from discussions taking place in this otherwise exciting presidential election year.

Given the way the Bush administration has lied and blundered in its handling of Middle East policy, one would think Democrats would have reached out to Muslim Americans, for advice and support.

But no. Hillary Clinton has almost completely turned her back on that community, ever since her first run for the Senate. She apparently feared being linked with Muslims who have no significant voting base in New York State and feared also the possibility of alienating Jewish voters.

Barack Obama has also kept a certain distance, and while he's likely driven by the same concerns as Clinton, he's dealing with other worries as well.

One is that many Americans think he was once a Muslim and, very much related to that, some of his enemies are linking his middle name (Hussein) with a certain fellow (now dead, hanged amid taunts) named Saddam.

Despite Obama's failure to assertively embrace them, there are indications that tens of thousands of Muslim-Americans (and we're talking voting citizens here) prefer Obama over the others still in the presidential race.

The following quote taken from a Grand Rapids Press article is pertinent:

"Jim Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute, said many Arab Americans are drawn to Obama because of his cultural background.

"'It is clear he wants to have a broader relationship with the Muslim world,' Zogby said."

Muslim Americans -- many of whom, perhaps a third or more, are African Americans -- have much to say about the state of affairs in the States.

But their voices have been silenced.

Jeremiah Wright and Clinton Ally Kiss After Delivering Obama to Angry Crowd, Report Suggests

Where is James Carville now that we need him?

Carville is after all the nation's premier Judas judge. He's, of course, the husband of Dick Cheney adviser Mary Matalin (not to be confused with Mary Magdalene, biblical contemporary of said Judas). He's also the Hillary Clinton hatchet-man who some time back called Bill Richardson a "Judas" after Richardson endorsed Barack Obama.

But now here comes the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, once the pastor of Barack Obama, who is accused of aligning himself with a Hillary Clinton supporter to deliver a fatal political blow to Obama.

If allegations are true, some might call him a Judas.

As Errol Louis of The New York Daily News reported earlier this week, it was one Barbara Reynolds [photo, left, sitting with Wright] who was the point person at the National Press Club, where Rev. Wright on Monday delivered his inflaming (and some say disjointed) discourse that many believe was contrived to seriously embarrass Obama.

Louis raised the possibility that Reynolds and Wright conspired to bring a hammer down on Obama. (read)

And now the Daily News gossip columnists Rush and Molloy, citing their "spy," report that Wright and Reynolds seem to be enjoying the attention.

"Despite the controversy, Reynolds and Wright couldn't have looked chummier on Tuesday night when they met at D.C.'s Mayflower Hotel. 'They shared a hug and a kiss and then huddled in a corner,' says our spy. 'Then they went off to dinner.'" (read)

Meanwhile, the sensitive National Press Club has issued a statement denying there was any plan to hurt Obama or benefit Clinton, saying that Reynolds (a black author, journalist and minister) was merely a member who happened to have ties with Wright and was therefore called upon to be the liaison to him.

Oh yes, as Louis pointed out, she's also a seriously committed backer of Hillary Clinton.

Wright's motive in all this is said to be a combination of factors, the chief one being anger that Obama denounced Wright's allegedly anti-American remarks, and the secondary one being a strong streak of narcissism that is drawing the reverend gleefully to microphones being thrust at him of late by the media.

(Regarding the narcissism, see New York Times article by Alessandra Stanley, "Not Speaking for Obama, Pastor Speaks for Himself, at Length.")

If James Carville were on Obama's side, he would definitely be calling Wright a Judas seeking thirty pieces of silver.

In the form, perhaps, of a huge book contract.

(Half) Black Writer on Jeremiah Wright: This is How Low the Black Church Has Sunk

Writer Kevin McBride, who like Barack Obama is the son of a white mother and black father, offers a stinging commentary on black preaching as reflected in the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy.

In a letter to the editor of The New York Times, McBride (author of "The Color of Water") says the perhaps (politically) fatal reality of Obama's past was that he came to the black church late in life. He therefore did not fully understand the kind of person-clothed-as-preacher that he was dealing with, McBride says.

Obama "was betrayed by a smooth-talking preacher whose recent behavior is a clear example of how low the black church has sunk in the days after the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.," McBride wrote in the May 1 issue of The Times."

(For the full five-paragraph letter, click here.)

McBride says that he has an advantage over Obama in that he was raised in the black church. McBride seems to be suggesting that he, unlike Obama, has had a clearer comprehension of the strength and potential fury of the ego that was wrapped in Wright's pastoral robe.

Regarding Wright's ego (much commented upon these past two days for its narcissism), the very last quote today's long front page article about the Obama-Wright affair (by Michael Powell and Jodi Kantor) is especially relevant.

It quotes a deacon of Chicago's Trinity Church, from which Wright recently retired as pastor, as saying about Wright: "It's easy to hurt his feelings . . . He's extremely sensitive."

Not the best attribute for someone preaching the traits of Christianity, understood by many if not most Christians to be based on a certain selflessness. (read that Times article.)

[photo: This is of Jeremiah Wright, taken at the National Press Club for Getty Images by Bill Pugliano.]

Is Jeremiah Wright Crucifying Obama at Behest of Clinton Ally?

Now comes an interesting column linking Barack Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, with Hillary Clinton.

Seems far-fetched, viewed from a distance, yes; but in fact Errol Louis, columnist with The New York Daily News, says that Wright's appearance at the National Press Club in Washington was engineered by Barbara Reynolds, a black author and minister who is a vigorous supporter of Clinton.

And he raises the question: With the growing belief that Wright's current tour -- drawing incredible media coverage as he preaches in an inimitable style about race, religion, politics and the rest of life -- is hurting Obama's chances, is it reasonable to suspect he is intentionally sabotaging his former church member?

Louis raises that possibility, given the strong ties of Reynolds [photo below, to left of Wright, at National Press Club] to the Clintons. His column says:

"It . . . turns out that Reynolds - introduced Monday as a member of the National Press Club "who organized" the event - is an enthusiastic Hillary Clinton supporter. . . On a blog linked to her Web site- www.reynoldsnews.com- Reynolds said in a February post: 'My vote for Hillary in the Maryland primary was my way of saying thank you" to Clinton and her husband for the successes of Bill Clinton's presidency.'"

A reading of a front page piece in The New York Times suggests that, if indeed Wright intentionally is trying to hurt Obama -- as a kind of payback for Obama having denounced Wright's previous controversial statements -- then it could have something to do with Wright's hubris, of which Stanley and others accuse him of having in great abundance.

Narcissism is a theme woven throughout the Alessandra Stanley article on Wright, based on his performances over the past week. She says of him that he's a "voluble, vain and erudite entertainer."

One thing almost everyone agrees on.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright seems to be having a good time and has acknowledged that he's promoting a book.

[Later in the day, Obama was finally forced to come out and distance himself more than he has to date from Wright. It was clear from Obama's tone and expression that he was in some inner pain.

He said, among other things: “I’m outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle (of Wright's performance in Washington) . . . (Wright’s remarks were) a bunch of rants that aren’t grounded in truth.”]

(read)

Rev. Wright is on a Holy Roll and Winning Lots of Converts

Who would have thought it several weeks ago, when the blurry YouTube snippits showed him bopping and bouncing and Goddamning the U.S. of KKK-A?

But here he is now coming on strong, clear as a costly portrait and sounding for all the world like a gifted professor of music or history, an orator of quick wit who can, oh, also speak in tongues.

Today here he was, Rev. Wright, holding forth at the National Press Club in Washington, without the thoughtful and hesitant-sounding uhs of his best-known former congregant, one Barack Obama.

"This is not about Obama, McCain, Hillary, Bill or Chelsea, this is about the black church," Wright said.

As you might imagine, he said quite a bit more than that, said it funny and said it with devil-may-care assurance. (Okay, devil may not be the right word.)

Why not see it for yourself?

For a transcript of it, click here.

Actually, the Detroit discourse was a bit, let's say, freer, in the black preaching sense of the word.

Here's a portion of it.

This is all part of a venturing forth that began last week with the Reverend's appearance on PBS where he was interviewed by Bill Moyers. Then it was over to Detroit, with leaders of the NAACP, and then the Press Club in Washington, and then a symposium on black religion.

This is, indeed, in its total, a sanctified, pentatonic version of Obama's much-praised oral take-out on race a month or so back, a speech that itself was a reaction to crescendoing criticism from Hillary C., McCain and others, who pronounced themselves outraged, simply outraged, that a man of the cloth could carry himself with such scant feeling of affection for his country.

Of course, among the loud critics, only McCain ever wore the uniform of his country. Rev. Wright spent two years in the Marine Corps and four in the Navy.

This stuff is almost too good to be true, folks.

But it is, which is why the last two posts have been on the reverend.

Bklyn Onion Flash: Benedict, Object of Glowing 24/7 News Coverage, Wants to Stay. Will Seek Asylum, Sources Say

This has not been confirmed yet, but the word from well placed sources is that Pope Benedict XVI is planning to seek asylum in the United States.

The word -- or verbum, if you will -- came just as the Pontiff was planning to say Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, a landmark church recalling the German Catholic tradition that is Benedict's pride and comfort.

The Pope was said to have been at the point of tears many times over the past few days as station after station and newspaper after newspaper filled their (apparently gaping) news holes with wonderful, positive stories about the Church and about the Pope himself.

Our sources say Benedict wants to remain in the States, preferably in New York, or Boston or (last choice) Miami, all of which have substantial Catholic populations, though the last city mostly has the newcomer variety, from Latin America.

Benedict may make his request for asylum today or, perhaps, just before his scheduled departure following the planned massive Mass at Yankee Stadium on Sunday.

It's said that the request for asylum will be based on fears of a planned coup by Latin American and African prelates, reportedly still angry that one of them was not chosen as successor to John Paul II three years ago. They are said to have banded together in an ad hoc coalition.

"Hey, we are the only ones with growing parishes. It's our time," one of those prelates was overheard to say two days ago, as reported by Verbum Est, a kind of Vatican Drudge Report.

Meanwhile, there were reports filtering out of Brooklyn, that Flatbush and Bococa (a newly named neighborhood near Downtown that is also known as Re-Tar-Ded) were under siege by roving street gangs, emboldened by the absence of police, almost all of whom have been diverted from regular patrols to  Pope duty.

News 12 Brooklyn, the 24-hour cable channel dedicated to covering that borough, issued a statement saying it would check out the reports immediately after the Pontiff's departure on Sunday.

Visit of Pope Benedict Raises Issues of Concern to Black Catholics - and to Barack Obama

The visit to the United States of Pope Benedict XVI is drawing more attention than has been the case with any other head of state or religion in recent memory.

Journalists, in countless articles and sidebars in mainstream papers up and down the East Coast, have spent the week re-introducing non-Catholics to the tenets of the faith claiming to be the oldest of Christianity.

And pundits and poobahs have been saying in those very same papers that the Democratic candidates, particularly Barack Obama, had better pay attention to the power of the Catholic vote.

[By the way, for Brooklyn Ron's personal confessions about his own Catholic past, and of his feelings about the "one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church," please visit that interesting new web site, The Root, which was started by Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, in an association with the Washington Post.]

[And for previous Brooklyn Ron posts having to do with Catholicism, please see one maintaining that Catholics' supposed preference for Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama is based on race, even though columnists are not acknowledging that.

And please see another about a priest from a Brooklyn parish who just a couple of weeks ago became a bishop in Ghana. We will brag here that this latter post has an interesting slide show with accompanying African music.]

Bishop Nyarko: Flesh and Blood Symbol of Brooklyn Catholics' Ties to Africa

One of the fastest growing regions of the globe for Roman Catholics is not in the vicinity of Rome but away across the sea from there, in Africa.

And that surge of conversion in Africa is being reflected here in the diocese of Brooklyn, where African-born Catholic priests have been coming to study and serve for years now.

One recent example of an African Catholic transplanted from Africa to here in the Broken Land (Breukelen) was a humble priest from Ghana by the name of Dominic Yeboah Nyarko [see photo], who until recently was a pastoral associate at St. Columba Church in the Marine Park section of Brooklyn.

But that was before word came that he was selected by Pope Benedict to be a new bishop in Ghana.

He was in fact made a bishop in early April at services attended by members of Brooklyn's St. Columba Church.

One of those attending was Brooklyn College Journalism Professor Paul Moses, who has written for Brooklyn Ron and will be covering the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict in a special blog for Newsday.

Long live El Papa. Love live Blogs. As for now Bishop Nyarko, he was surprised and, indeed, overwhelmed by his being selected to be a bishop.

He told The Tablet, the newspaper of the Brooklyn diocese: “The Lord appointed me and He will give me the strength I need.”

[For interesting take on the explosion -- demographically speaking -- of Catholisim in  Africa, see Los Angeles Times article from 2005, "African Catholics Seek a Voice to Match Their Growing Strength."]

[Note: Professor Moses took most of the photos being used here in a slide show. The accompanying music is the Kyrie, from the long-ago famous album called the Missa Luba.]