What, exactly, was meant by Rev. Lowery when he said "when white will embrace what is right"?

To be honest when I first heard him say it I thought it was a little racist.
I mean, he nice things about other races then I interpreted what he said about whites as
“I hope one day white people will stop being racist”.

I think it may have just been a case of bad rhyming though.

That whole scat rhyme he did sounded racist and awkward, but I believe that he meant it from a place of genuine tolerance. Sure, the remark could be seen as reductive and divisive, but I didn’t interpret it that way.I believe that you can’t make racism disappear by simply not discussing it. I believe that you can’t make racism disappear by simply not discussing it.

He used that line because we associate “white” with racism: white people are the historical culprits of racism in our country. And the majority of people who withhold opportunities from others based on race are white.

I think that it is probably something he’s been saying since the 60’s. It may not be politically correct today, but the guy is in his 80’s and it is probably something he’s said 1000 times over the years and was probably pretty appropriate for most of his life.

I just find it interesting most people were laughing and giggling along with him throughout it, then he said his white statement and the crowd were sort of like
“huh?”

@Judi : Interesting observation. Also interesting is the fact that I was chastised harshly in this forum for “Living in the past” and using archaic verbage that today is “offensive”

I’m not in my 80’s but 60 fits all too well.

My Mother in Law is constantly saying things that make me cringe, especially in the area of race. I don’t like it, but I also appreciate that she just doesn’t get it and at her age its just not worth the effort to try and change her. She is sort of a “Miss Daisy” if I am remembering the movie right.

At first I was a little taken aback by the last comment as well. But he was speaking in the future tense for all of the…“colors” that he mentioned, not just white. The rhyming he used for the white was just harsh..as if the entire white race has not been embracing what is right. But then also, he’s sayin’ them yellow folks ain’t been mellow, nah mean? I think there was absolutely no malevolence in the phrase, the entire last section was light hearted. If you took it offensively- you take yourself way too seriously.

@onesecondregrets I have to take me seriously… having a difficult finding anyone else that will. Wanna volunteer?

That’s a saying used since the 60s. Back then, most whites weren’t right. Sucks to be judged because of membership in a certain group, huh?

i’m white and i didn’t take offense because the guy is pretttty old, and i’m sure he’s seen a helluva lot more bad than good decisions come out of white folks.
i took it as that his hoping that ‘white will embrace right’ doesn’t mean that he thinks all white people are racist and arrogant, but that there are still a lot that are. i mean, obama’s gotten how many death threats already? the kkk is a pretty big deal in my opinion, so. haha.
also, it was just a cute little poem, i don’t think it was meant to be taken as “this race needs to do this, and this race is made of assholes, i don’t really care for them…”.

Those were old sayings, which he changed-up to say the opposite. I thought it was a clever and lighthearted way of bringing up what have sometimes been difficult topics. I didn’t take offense, and if you did, I think you might want to a) stop taking yourself so seriously, and b) get over it.