Photo by Layla Fanner
The Rev. John Mendez makes a point during Sunday's discussion. Beside him are the Rev.
Veronice Miles and Miitter Evans.
Local panelist defend
Sen. Obama's ex-pastor
BY LAYLA FARMER
THE CHRONICLE
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright's
infamous "Goddamn America"
sermon and many of his remarks
in recent week have ignited a
nation.
Wright has garnered so
much attention because, as the
former pastor of Trinity United
Church of Christ in Chicago, he
was Democratic Presidential
hopeful Sen. Barack Obama's
pastor for about two decades.
Rev. Wright married Obama and
his wife, Michelle, and baptized
the couple's two daughters.
When confront
ed about the his ser
mon, Wright has
lashed out at mem
bers of the media,
calling their dogged
pursuit of him "an
attack on the black
church."
The Rev. Sir
Walter Mack, pas
tor of Union
Baptist Church,
says he was struck by the words
of his fellow man of God, and
felt Wright's assertion warrant
ed greater introspection. To this
end, a forum was held at Union
Sunday evening to address the
Wright hubbub.
"We just want to have a
good ol* barber shop / beauty
salon discussion," Mack said to
a packed house at the start of tfie
dialogue.
Titled "Is the African
American Church Under
Attack?" the forum featured
seven prominent community
members, each with a unique
perspective on the issue.
"This controversy opens the
ancient questions that we revisit
in regard to the black churches
and the white churches," said
Wake Forest Divinity School
Dean Dr. Bill Leonard, who is
white.
State Rep. Larry Womble
said the black church has helped
the black community through
times of slavery, Jim Crow and
other injustices.
"Without the black church,
we would not be where we are
today," he declared. "We many
times are invisible people in this
society ... we're still marginal
ized, we're still not respected.
Without the black church to
recharge our batteries, we would
be frustrated people."
Wright's infamous sermon
was given soon after the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks. In it, he said
that America welcomed the
attacks because of the injustices
that exist in this country and the
nation's callousness toward
other countries.
The Rev. Veronice Miles, a
religion professor at Wake
Forest University, believes
Wright's comments were taken
out of context. To prove her
point, she read a longer excerpt
of the sermon to the audience,
who responded with murmurs of
"amen" and "yes."
"In black preaching, we
have always brought boldness
and passion," she declared.
"People learn best when they are
able to to touch and sense and
feel the biblical text."
The Rev. John Mendez, pas
tor of Emmanuel Baptist
Church, is quite famil
iar with the strong
emotions and words
that are uttered by
Wright and legions of
other black preachers.
Mendez is a longtime
community v activist
who has used his pulpit
to speak up for the
downtrodden and to
speak out against injus
tice.
He joked that he was glad
none of his congregants are run
ning for president. Mendez,
who has known Wright for more
than 30 years, said that the
firestorm of controversy the ser
mon has sparked is politically
motivated.
"I think that it's important
that we see the pressure that
society puts on everyone, espe
cially a person of color. We're
not allowed to be who we are
and have a sense of self con
sciousness," he said. "They
were under attack ... by a
vicious system, a vicious group
of people who wanted to keep a
changing of the guards from
occurring."
The release of the pastor's
remarks, which were made more
than four years ago, is just an
attempt to distract and confuse
the public, according to Dr.
Tobias LaGrone, pastor of
Christ New Life Community
Church in High Point.
"There's an attempt being
made to divide the African
American community," he
remarked, "...in the end, once
again, the house Negro is left
fighting with field Negroes."
MUtter Evans defended the
news media. Evans is the owner
of Mutter D. Evans, Inc. and
former owner of WAAA radio
station. She says that the media
is only selling the product that
its consumers want to buy.
The Rev. Cardes Brown,
pastor of New Light Baptist
Church of Greensboro, railed
against critics who have deemed
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Wright's remarks "un
American." Pastors have an
obligation Jp speak the truth as
they know it, he maintained.
"Our responsibility first and
foremost is to God," he asserted.
"It is not always easy to under
stand that role. I am only the
mailman; God is the postmas
ter." ?
The forum was followed by
an impassioned sermon deliv
ered by Dr. William Barber,
president of the North Carolina
NAACP. It is always the obliga
tion of the pastor to speak the
truth, even if his words are not
well received, Barber said, ref
erencing passages from the Old
Testament's Book of Amos.
"If you're not holding the
bible in one hand and the news
paper in the other hand saying,
'Thus says the Lord,' then what
are you really preaching?" he
boomed. "Preachers have to
find the courage and the willing
ness to speak out."
News
Clips
Class of '58 gives UNCG
largest reunion gilt
The class of 1958 has pre
sented The University of North
Carolina at Greensboro with the
largest reunion class gift -
$ lj080,663 - in the history of
the university. This is the first
time a reunion class gift has
exceeded one million dollars.
The gift was presented to
Chancellor Patricia A. Sullivan
during the 115th meeting of the
UNCG Alumni Association
held during reunion weekend,
Friday and Saturday, May 2-3.
Presenters were Rascha
Sklut Kriegsman of
Greensboro, Pat Shore Clark of
Winston-Salem and Sue
Sigmon Williams of Atlanta
who served as reunion chairs.
Williams received the
Distinguished Alumni Award at
the reunion. This year is
Sullivan's last reunion as
Chancellor. She is retiring July
31.
Class members were
encouraged to give to whatever
program, fund, scholarship or
other designation had special
meaning to them from across
the six schools, the College of
Arts and Sciences and other
parts of the university.
More than 12 major gifts
have been established by indi
vidual classmates. Forty-seven
percent of the 350 classmates
have donated to UNCG, some
for the first time since gradua
tion said Miriam Blackwelder
Fields, director of development
for the School of Music.
Funds from the gift will go
towards the Students First
Campaign, UNCG's $100 mil
lion capital campaign that is
underway, which has raised
more than $95 million to date.
Airman Peterson completes
training as honor graduate
Air Force Airman Justin J.
Peterson has graduated from
basic military training at
Lackland Air Force Base. San
Antonio, Texas. -
During the six weeks of
training,
the air
m a n
studied
the Air
Force
mission,
organiza
tion, and
military
customs
and cour- Peterson
t e s ie s ;
performed drill and ceremony
" marches, and received physical
training, rifle marksmanship,
field training exercises, and
special training in human rela
tions.
In addition, airmen who
complete basic training earn
credits toward an associate
degree through the Community
College of the Air Force.
Peterson earned distinction
as an honor graduate. He is the
son of Ruhiya Peterson of
Winston-Salem. The airman is
a 2004 graduate of Parkland
High School.
Foxx redesigns her Web site
U.S. Representative
Virginia Foxx has launched a
completely redesigned
Congressional web site at
www.foxx.house.gov. The new
site incorporates web video, the
latest congressional news,
information about constituent
services and background on
legislation and votes in
Congress.
"My new web site uses a
variety of technologies to keep
constituents informed about the
issues before Congress, includ
ing videos, e-mail and online
legislative search tools," Foxx
said.
Web-design experts at the
non-partisan Congressional
Management Foundation
recently named Rep. Foxx's
web site one of the best in
Congre&s. The redesigned site
builds on the success of the pre
vious web site and introduces
new user-friendly features such
as RSS feeds and comprehen
sive sections dedicated to
groups like seniors or students.
Foxx also has a
Congressional YouTube chan
nel j, at
www.youtube.com/RepVirgini
aFoxx.
Boko, Weinstein are -
Fulbright Scholars
Wake Forest University
announced that Sylvain Boko,
Zachary T. Smith Associate
Professor of Economics, and
David Weinstein, professor of
political science, have won fel
lowships from the Fulbright
Scholar Program, f.
Boko has won a fellowship
to Uganda for "the 2008-2009
academic year. He will conduct'
research on the topic "Post
Conflict Reconstruction and
Development: The Role of
Decentralized Governance"
andwill teach at the Makerere
University Institute of Social
Research in Kampala.
Weinstein has received a
fellowship beginning in April
2009 to conduct research and
teach at the Simon Dubnow
Institute at Leipzig University
located in Saxony, Germany.
The institute is devoted to the
study of Central European
Jewish history and culture.
Weinstein 's research will focus
on Jewish political philoso
phers, including Karl Popper
and Leo Strauss, who were
forced to flee from Germany
and Austria in the 1930s.
The Fulbright Scholar
Program was established in
1946 under legislation intro
duced by the late Sen. J.
William Fulbright of Arkansas
to build mutual understanding
between the people of the
United States and other coun
tries. The program is funded by
the U.S. Department of State,
Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs.
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