President Obama's former pastor Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. on
Wednesday compared the president to a son who was being treated
unfairly and said it had been hard weathering the media storm after
Obama became a serious contender for the White House and controversy
erupted over Wright's fiery sermons.
In a rare post-election interview, Wright spoke to The Washington Post about his life and his church's history after preaching an evening sermon at the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Northeast Washington, the first of three nights he was to appear before the congregation.
Wright's very public falling out with Obama during the 2008 campaign seemed like water under the bridge Wednesday, as Wright expressed concern over how the president has been treated by the media since being elected.
"It is unrealistic to think that one person can change the mess that this country has gotten into, but to pick on him is like picking on one of my kids," Wright said. "I have been knowing him for 20 years.
"I have not stopped loving him because of what the press did, and to see him beat up on because of things he is not responsible for is painful."
Wright said he didn't expect to speak directly with Obama again until "he is out of the White House."
Wright became politically radioactive after YouTube videos of his sermons at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, in which he called on blacks to sing "God damn America" and said the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were "America's chickens . . . coming home to roost," went viral online in early 2008. On Wednesday night, though, he left the dashiki and fiery rhetoric of those videos behind for a business suit and preaching from the 23rd Psalm in a measured tone.
The YouTube videos focused damaging attention on his family, Wright said, and especially on his youngest daughter, Jamila Wright, and a granddaughter.
"The day I took Jamila to campus, Fox News was on the sidewalk taking my picture. My granddaughter got into a fistfight at FAMU [Florida A&M University] because people only know the press narrative about Jeremiah Wright," he said. "The press didn't care what they did to my family. They ruined their senior year in high school. They were at the senior prom, the graduation, waiting on something to try to destroy Obama."
Wright was in town to preach and sign copies of his book, "A Sankofa Moment: The History of Trinity United Church of Christ," offering his perspective of the origins and growth of a church that grew from 87 to more than 8,000 members during his tenure. Wright was pastor from April 1972 until May 2008, when he officially retired.
Even though he spoke measuredly, Wright's assessment of the origins of the church could raise the eyebrows of some United Church of Christ elders.
Source: Hamil R. Harris, Washington Post
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What percentage of the US is black, white, other races? Everybody's not against Obama. His election proved that fact.
If Obama is smart, and that is debatable, he will continue to distant himself from this ugly racist 'rev' wright for good!!
Obama made one of his biggest mistakes when he joined Wright's church. He might be a Christian today had he not joined. Wright is a very, very angry man.
Rev Wright has a right to his own opinion. He is not a racisis, I'm watching the ones that says he is. If you can speak out why not him?
Rev. Wright see things and speak out on them, others say the same things behind close doors. I'm sorry a bridge was place between him and his friend. Hang in there Rev. Wright.
I spoke out against Rev. Wright because he is very, very racist. We should not say racist things like Rev. Wright neither behind closed doors or out in public. Don't hang in their Rev. Wright. God wants you to turn away from the hate you have towards the white man. He wants us to love, not hate. Hate is contagious. It has a domino effect. Marian and Rev. Wright, life is too short. Please don't pass your hate on to others, especially your children, if you have any. Teach them to love both their friends and their enemies.
Quote from above: "I'm watching the ones that says he is."
How are you doing that? Do you have some type of special camera? Just curious.
Why is it that when you speak the truth, and you happen to be African American, you are considered "angry"? US History - told in pure form- is what it is.... Meanwhile, African Americans and other indigenous peoples of oppression are expected to "move on already," -a blaring sentiment that most descendants of our oppressors hold when it comes to the ill wills of the past.
Who said that only African Americans speak with angry. Not me! I happen to know for sure that those who speak angrily can be African Americans, white, Asian, Hispanic, etc. All races, do, and those who don't speak angrily can be the same. The race doesn't matter. It's what is said, and how it's said. Just listen. It's not very hard to detect. Again, Wright is a very, very angry man. I hope and pray that angry subsides. It could easily kill him.
Oops! Gotta reread more often:
Error: "speak with angry" should say, "speak with anger."
Error: "that angry subsides" should say: You guessed it: "that anger subsides."
President Obama saw it. Wish he had noticed it earlier.
Larry, you're angry.
Rev. Wright was not wrong. Rev. Wright told the truth. Turn off your own prejudices and face the fact this country is far from being one without a spot or wrinkle. Ask the native Americans about the "Trail of Tears." Ask the Japanese Americans about the internment camps. Its much easier to forget things when you are the offending party. Your kind talks at people instead of to them. Sometimes the truth makes people feel uncomfortable. Republican spin doctors did their best to taint America's view of President Obama by attempting to distance the man from his spiritual adviser. Let's face it, these folks have been doing their dirt (accusing others of doing exactly what they have been getting away with)for the longest time and that same God they say they pray to is not mocked. What about the people all these so called Christ followers that attempted to demonize Rev. Wright have preyed upon? You may not have personally called someone the "N" word, but you benefit from the actions of those that do when you do not speak up or out. But wait, according to the articles here, neither the church or its people should speak up or out against injustices. Leave that to "massa." If we all be good servants we'll get our reward in hebbin. Where is your Christian strength and fortitude? Dare I say it, "Onward Christian Soldiers" is the theme song of the Ku Klux Klan. Or would you good Christian folk like to rewrite that out of the history books like they do in Texas? Speaking of Texas, a little while ago Sara Palin asked, "How's that hopey, changey thing workin' out for ya?" My question to all you conservatives is,"After unchecked rising credit card interest rates, jacked up gas prices and your tax money overpaying Blackwater and Halliburton for no-bid contracts in Iraq, how's eight years of dismantling regulations that would have stopped this mess working for you?"