{"id":34092,"date":"2021-05-03T10:12:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T14:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=34092"},"modified":"2021-05-21T00:03:49","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T04:03:49","slug":"reverend-wright-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/reverend-wright-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Reverend Wright Controversy: What Happened"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What was the Reverend Wright controversy? What did it have to do with Barack Obama?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Reverend Wright controversy took place in March 2008, a critical time during Barack Obama’s campaign. Obama addressed the controversy, which included an inflammatory speech. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about the Reverend Wright controversy below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

What Was the Reverend Wright Controversy<\/strong>?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In March 2008, the campaign was upended when footage surfaced of Reverend Jeremiah Wright\u2014Barack and Michelle\u2019s pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ\u2014delivering a fiery sermon in which he shouted the phrase \u201cGod damn America.\u201d <\/strong>Wright also made remarks praising Nation of Islam<\/a> leader (and notorious anti-Semite) Louis Farrakhan and claiming that the HIV virus had been deliberately released into the Black community by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obama knew this story would cause major trouble for his campaign. He understood the context in which Reverend Wright had given his remarks. Although Wright was a serious theologian and respected figure within Chicago\u2019s religious community, he also had a propensity to give voice to pent-up feelings of collective Black anger over America\u2019s clear and undeniable legacy of racial injustice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, an ordinary sermon might be peppered with references to slavery, Jim Crow<\/a>, and the mass incarceration of young Black men as a result of the War on Drugs. In its proper context, such rhetorical flourishes made sense and were generally uncontroversial. But thrown into the context of a presidential election featuring an African-American candidate, they proved explosive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the political pain Wright was causing him, Obama felt empathy for his pastor. Wright could indeed sometimes channel the voice and persona of a 1960s radical. Especially when he knew he was speaking to primarily Black audiences at his church. But Obama also knew that Wright was a serious theologian and thoughtful, nuanced figure. He deserved far better than the caricature that was being made of him by the national media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, the Reverend Wright controversy didn’t seriously affect Obama’s campaign for president. Obama continued to have a relationship with the reverend he respected. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What was the Reverend Wright controversy? What did it have to do with Barack Obama? The Reverend Wright controversy took place in March 2008, a critical time during Barack Obama’s campaign. Obama addressed the controversy, which included an inflammatory speech. Read more about the Reverend Wright controversy below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":34378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,33,6],"tags":[274],"class_list":["post-34092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-people","category-spiritual","tag-a-promised-land","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Reverend Wright Controversy: What Happened - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What did the Reverend Wright controversy have to do with Barack Obama? 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