Jeremiah Wright

Guide Note

The Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. was the pastor of the Trinity United Church Of Christ, a liberal, black-oriented church in Chicago, Illinois, until his retirement in 2008. Reverend Wright became minister of the church on March 1, 1972. He helped the congregation grow from 87 members to its current membership of somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 members.

Controversy

Reverend Wright and the Trinity Unity Church came into the spotlight in March, 2008, because of their association with church member and presidential candidate Barack Obama. Video segments of Reverend Wright voicing controversial opinions on topics such as patriotism and the 9/11 attacks have been circulated extensively by opponents of the Obama campaign. Opponents have sought to use them as evidence that Obama secretly holds views at odds with those he publicly professes. Obama's response was the "race speech" of March 18, 2008.

Unfair Portrayal

On April 24, 2008, during a television appearance with Bill Moyers, Reverend Wright said that the videos of his sermons were taken unfairly out of context to make him appear fanatical. He claimed that the segments shown were edited from a large amount of footage, but presented as though they were representative, in order to hurt his reputation and Obama's.

Fast Facts

  1. Born: September 22, 1941
  2. Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  3. Wife: Reverend Ramah Reed Wright
  4. Has 5 children
  5. Former U.S. Marine
  6. Motto of church "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian" was adopted after Wright became pastor

The Mahalo Top 7

  1. Reuters: Obama Ex-Pastor Says He Unfairly Painted a Fanatic (April 25, 2008)
  2. Chicago Sun-Times: Wright Says Remarks Taken Out of Context (April 25, 2008)  WARNING: Pop-ups
  3. Official Site: Trinity United Church of Christ
  4. Wikipedia: Jeremiah Wright
  5. The College of New Jersey: Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright
  6. The History Makers: Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Biography
  7. YouTube: Bill Moyers Journal Jeremiah Wright Essay (Time 6:29)



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