Hussein Obama’s former pastor, the wrong Rev. Wright praises the Monthly Review’s “No-nonsense Marxism”. In the video below, the United States is not the land of the free and the home of the brave but rather the ‘land of the greed and the home of the slave.’
(For some background on the Blagojevich/Rezko connection, click here: http://writewingpolitics.wordpress.com/2008/12/13/culture-of-corruption-rod-blagojevic/)
It’s been almost two (2) years since Antoin “Tony” Rezko was convicted on 16 of 24 felony counts by a federal grand jury in Chicago. The counts included fraud, money laundering and joining a bribery conspiracy. However Rezko still has not been sentenced. On October 9, 2008, the Chicago Sun-Times reported:
October 9, 2008BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts ReporterA federal judge this morning officially postponed the sentencing of political fund-raiser Tony Rezko as he continues his discussions with the government.
U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve indefinitely delayed Rezko’s Oct. 28 sentencing date and told the parties to meet again for a status in the case in December.
RELATED STORIESMore on the Rezko trial in our “Eye on Rezko” blog
The sentencing, originally scheduled for Oct. 28, just before the election, was likely to bring unfavorable publicity to Rezko’s onetime friend Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama.
Prosecutors and Rezko lawyers said this morning they did not want to set a future date for sentencing.
Rezko lawyer William Ziegelmueller said they sought the delay to “work together to agree to otherwise narrow differences at sentencing.”
The agreement comes as Rezko is talking to federal prosecutors. The Sun-Times first reported Rezko’s meetings with the feds in August and sources close to the investigation later confirmed the talks last month.
Ziegelmueller said this morning there was presently no deal in place, otherwise “today would have been different.”
Ziegelmueller said Rezko remains in solitary confinement in the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Two (2) years is a long time to be engaged in a conversation with federal prosecutors.
So, where’s Rezko? A quick search of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator revealed INMATE NOT FOUND.
Rezko was moved out of a downtown Chicago jail in December 2009. The Chicago Sun-Times reported:
Prosecutors help move Rezko out of MCC
By
Natasha Koreckion
By Natasha Korecki
Federal Courts Reporter/nkorecki@suntimes.comConvicted businessman Tony Rezko — who is poised to become a crucial witness in the massive corruption case against ex-Gov. Blagojevich — was quietly moved out of a downtown jail and into another facility last month, the Sun-Times has learned.
Authorities seeking Rezko’s cooperation pushed for the move after Rezko complained about being held in the tough confines of solitary imprisonment, known as “the hole,” even as he was providing information to prosecutors, sources said.
U.S. Bureau of Prisons records show Rezko was released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center downtown on Dec. 16.
Kim Widup, the U.S. Marshal in Chicago, said Rezko was relocated.
“He is still in marshal service custody,” Widup said. “We have moved him into another institution.”
Widup wouldn’t specify the new lockup, but the Marshal’s Service uses space in more than half a dozen county jails in Illinois and Wisconsin in addition to the MCC.
Rezko’s relocation is a sign that even with thousands of taped conversations of the governor, investigators still highly value Rezko’s potential as a witness. The MCC is considered by some inmates to have harsher conditions than county jails.
Upon his conviction in early June of schemes involving state deals, Rezko went to jail voluntarily, saying he wanted to start serving his time. Then, in August, the Sun-Times first reported that the 53-year-old Wilmette resident began meeting with prosecutors.
Rezko, who served as an adviser and fund-raiser to Blagojevich, provided authorities with substantial information involving the governor and bolstered pay-to-play testimony by former Illinois Finance Authority director Ali Ata, as well as talking about other alleged deals.
But the talks hit a stumbling block when Rezko grew frustrated at being held in solitary at the MCC. In late November, Rezko’s lawyers asked a federal judge to sentence their client — a threat to stop talking. Cooperating defendants usually aren’t sentenced until after they testify. But after that move, the two sides appeared to find a resolution. On Dec. 16, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve indefinitely postponed Rezko’s sentencing — that was the same day he was moved to another jail.
If Rezko is not currently incarcerated with the Bureau, is he under federal witness protection? Given his name has now re-surfaced in the Blagojevich prosecution, does Rezko have information to contradict what Obama told the FBI? Only time, and Tony Rezko will tell.
SHORTLINK: http://wp.me/pjWTB-Mp
Current White House spokesperson Anita Dunn advises a group of high school students that one of her “favorite” political philosophers was Mao Ze-Dong. She exclaims, the genocidal maniac Mao is:
“one of the two people I turn to most…”
It is estimated that Mao was responsible for between 49-78 MILLION deaths in China and Tibet.
SHORTLINK: http://wp.me/pjWTB-DJ
From HotAirPundit:
Attitude Poor
CRANSTON, R.I. — “Attitude poor“ was the note that a Rhode Island state trooper included in a 1984 speeding ticket issued to then Yale professor Henry Louis Gates.
In his own words:
Stupidly is as Stupidly Does: Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
7/25/2009 Update
Black officer, Sgt. Leon Lashley fully supports how his fellow officer handled the situation:
Sgt. Leon Lashley says Gates was probably tired and surprised when Sgt. James Crowley demanded identification from him as officers investigated a report of a burglary. Lashley says Gates’ reaction to Crowley was “a little bit stranger than it should have been.”
Asked if Gates should have been arrested, Lashley said supported Crowley “100 percent.”
7/24/2009 Update
Second officer, Patrolman Carlos Figueroa:
<> ORIGINAL POST <>
MAObama: The Cambridge Police acted “stupidly”.
Sgt. James Crowley won’t apologize.
Officer is a lauded profiling expert.
Fellow officers, black and white, say Crowley is well-liked and respected on the force. Crowley was a campus police officer at Brandeis University in July 1993 when he administered CPR trying to save the life of former Boston Celtics player Reggie Lewis. Lewis, who was black, collapsed and died during an off-season workout.
Read the entire Cambridge Police Department Incident Report #9005127 HERE.
I'm a HARVARD PROFESSOR.
Professor Gates Under Arrest
After reading the entire report, it seems the only individual who acted “stupidly” was HARVARD PROFESSOR HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. The officer was responding to a call from a neighbor who reported spotting “two black males with backpacks” attempting to gain entry into the professor’s home. Apparently professor Gates was offended by the officer’s actions. Gates later admitted to the officer that his door was “unsecurable due to a previous break attempt at the residence.” Race pimps Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson should be landing in Massachusetts any minute now.
Rod Blagojevich
-Updated April 3, 2009-
January 20, 2009 – The “End of the World as We Know It”…and I am not so sure I feel fine. Barack Hussein Obama a/k/a Barry Soetoro, the least scrutinized Presidential candidate in American history took the oath of office on January 20, 2009. Who are some of the President’s known associates? Tax cheats, politicians under investigation, a convicted criminal, domestic terrorists and a racist.
Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle
Tim Geithner
Tim Geithner, President Barack Obama’s Treasury Secretary, mistakenly failed to pay Social Security and Medicare Taxes for 2001, 2002, and 2003.
Tom Daschle
(Former Democratic Senate Majority Leader and Current Health and Human Services Secretary Nominee)
It was only after their nomination to cabinet-level positions in the Obama administration, did they decide to pay the balance of their outstanding tax liabilities.
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson
Antoin “Tony” Rezko
“I don’t regret setting bombs,” Ayers was quoted in the opening line of the Times profile; “I feel we didn’t do enough.” In 1969, Ayers and his wife convened a “War Council” in Flint Michigan, whose purpose was to launch a military front inside the United States with the purpose of helping Third World revolutionaries conquer and destroy it. Taking charge of the podium, dressed in a high-heeled boots and a leather mini-skirt – her signature uniform – Dorhn incited the assembled radicals to join the war against “Amerikkka” and create chaos and destruction in the “belly of the beast.” Her voice rising to a fevered pitch, Dohrn raised three fingers in a “fork salute” to mass murderer Charles Manson whom she proposed as a symbol to her troops. Referring to the helpless victims of the Manson Family as the “Tate Eight” (the most famous was actress Sharon Tate) Dohrn shouted: Dig It. First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, they even shoved a fork into a victim’s stomach! Wild!
The Wright Message for Obama
Barack Obama sat in this man’s church for over twenty years, listening to hateful, racist bile which was spewed forth from someone with the audacity to call himself “Reverend”.
PROFILE SOURCE: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2307
The son of a Baptist minister, Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. was born in Philadelphia on September 22, 1941. On March 1, 1972, he became the pastor of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC), a position he held until February 2008.
After a tour of duty in the U.S. Navy, Wright went on to earn a master’s degree in English from Howard University in 1969. Six years later he earned an additional master’s degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School, and in 1990 he received a Doctor of Ministry Degree from United Theological Seminary.
The writings, public statements, and sermons of Rev. Wright reflect his conviction that America is a nation infested with racism, prejudice, and injustices that make life very difficult for black people. As he declared in one of his sermons: “Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run!… We [Americans] believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God.”
Wright laments “the social order under which we [blacks] live, under which we suffer, under which we are killed.”[] Depicting blacks as a politically powerless demographic, he complains that “African Americans don’t run anything in the Capital except elevators.”[
] Similarly, on its website Wright’s church portrays black people as victims who are burdened by the legacy of their “pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism,” and who must pray for “the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people.”
Wright attributes the high unemployment rate of African Americans to “the fact that they are black.”[] Vis a vis the criminal justice system, he likewise explains that “the brothers are in prison” largely because of their skin color. “Consider the ‘three strikes law,’” he elaborates. “There is a higher jail sentencing for crack than for cocaine because more African Americans get crack than do cocaine.”[
]
In Wright’s calculus, white America’s bigotry is to blame not only for whatever ills continue to plague the black community, but also for anti-U.S. sentiment abroad. “In the 21st century, says Wright, “white America got a wake-up call after 9/11/01. White America and the western world came to realize that people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just ‘disappeared’ as the Great White West kept on its merry way of ignoring black concerns.”
Wright sees no reason to believe that Islam may be incompatible in any way with Western traditions. “Islam and Christianity are a whole lot closer than you may realize,” he has written. “Islam comes out of Christianity.”[]
Wright detests America’s capitalist economic structure, viewing it as a breeding ground for all manner of injustice. “Capitalism as made manifest in the ‘New World,’” he says, “depended upon slave labor (by African slaves), and it is only maintained by keeping the ‘Two-Thirds World’ under oppression.”[] Wright’s anti-capitalist perspective is reflected in TUCC’s “10-point vision,” whose ideals include the cultivation of “a congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY.” (Emphasis in original.) The TUCC mission statement plainly declares its goal of helping “the less fortunate to become agents of change for God who is not pleased with America’s economic mal-distribution!”
This view is entirely consistent with Rev. Wright’s devotion to the tenets of liberation theology, which is essentially Marxism dressed up as Christianity. Devised by Cold War-era theologians, it teaches that the New Testament gospels can be understood only as calls for social activism, class struggle, and revolution aimed at overturning the existing capitalist order and installing, in its stead, a socialist utopia where today’s poor will unseat their “oppressors” and become liberated from their material (and, consequently, their spiritual) deprivations.
An extension of this paradigm is black liberation theology, which seeks to foment a similar Marxist revolutionary fervor founded on racial rather than class solidarity. Wright’s mentor in this discipline is James Cone, author of the landmark text Black Power and Black Theology. Prior to the controversy sparked (in early 2000 by Wright’s racially charged statements and by Wright’s reference to Cone’s influence on his thinking, the website of Wright’s church identified Cone’s writings as required reading for parishioners who wished to more thoroughly understand the church’s theology and mission.
Wright commonly denounces the United States, which he views as a nation infested with racism and evil. In one noteworthy sermon, he paraphrased the assertions of another black preacher (with whose views he agreed entirely) as follows:
Fact #1: We’ve got more black men in prison than there are in college.
Fact #2: Racism is still alive and well. Racism is how this country was founded, and how this country is still run…. I don’t care how hard you run, Jesse, and no black woman can never be considered for anything outside of what she can give with her body.
Fact #3: America is the #1 killer in the world. We invaded Grenada for no other reason than to get Maurice Bishop. We invaded Panama because Noriega would not dance to our tune anymore. We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns and the training of professional killers. We bombed Cambodia, Iraq and Nicaragua, killing women and children while trying to get public opinion turned against Castro and Qadaffi.
Fact #4: We put Mandela in prison and supported apartheid the whole 27 years he was there. We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority, and believe it more than we believe in God.
Fact #5: We supported Zionism shamelessly while ignoring the Palestinians, and called anyone that spoke out against it as being Anti-Semitic.
Fact #6: We conducted radiation experiments on our own people. We’re just finding out about that. We care nothing about human life if the ends justify the means.
Fact #7: We do not care if poor black and brown children cannot read and kill each other senselessly. We abandoned the city back in the 60’s back when the riots started. And it really doesn’t matter what those “NNNNNNnnnnnnn…………… natives” do to each other, we gave up on them and public education of poor people who live in the projects…. We, with VCRs, TVs, CDs, and portable phones have more homeless than any nation in the world.
Fact #8: We started the AIDS virus. And now that it is out of control, we still put more money in the military than in medicine, more money in hate than in humanitar[ian] concerns. Everybody does not have access to health care, I don’t care what the rich white boys in the city say, brothers…. Listen up, if you are poor, black and elderly, forget it.
Fact #9: We are only able to maintain our level of living by making sure that Third World people live in grinding poverty.
Fact #10: We are selfish, self-centered egotists who are arrogant and ignorant and we prayer at church and do not try to make the kingdom that Jesus talks about a reality….
In light of these 10 facts, God has got to be SICK OF THIS SHIT! (emphasis in original) (Click here for video of this sermon.)
Many of Wright’s condemnations of America are echoed in his denunciations of Israel and Zionism, which he has blamed for imposing “injustice and … racism” on the Palestinians. According to Wright, Zionism contains an element of “white racism.” Likening Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to South Africa’s treatment of blacks during the apartheid era, Wright advocates divestment campaigns targeting companies that conduct business in, or with, Israel.
Wright is a great admirer of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. “When Minister Farrakhan speaks, Black America listens,” says Wright. “Everybody may not agree with him, but they listen … His depth on analysis when it comes to the racial ills of this nation is astounding and eye opening. He brings a perspective that is helpful and honest. Minister Farrakhan will be remembered as one of the 20th and 21st century giants of the African American religious experience. His integrity and honesty have secured him a place in history as one of the nation’s most powerful critics. His love for Africa and African American people has made him an unforgettable force, a catalyst for change and a religious leader who is sincere about his faith and his purpose.”
Wright’s praise for Farrakhan was echoed in the November/December issue of TUCC’s bimonthly magazine, the Trumpet, which featured an interview with the NOI “icon” who, according to the publication, “truly epitomized greatness.” “Because of the Minister’s influence in the African American community,” the Trumpet announced that it was honoring him with an “Empowerment Award” as a “fitting tribute for a storied life well lived.”
Wright accompanied Farrakhan on a 1984 trip to meet with Farrakhan’s friend, the Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi.
Farrakhan’s October 16, 1995 Million Man March ranks among the events about which Rev. Wright has written most extensively and passionately. Wright — along with such notables as Al Sharpton and Barack Obama — helped organize the rally and attended it with his son, and has described it as “a once in a lifetime, amazing experience.”[] When a number of prominent African Americans counseled fellow blacks to boycott the demonstration because of Farrakhan’s history of hateful rhetoric, Wright derided those critics as “‘Negro’ leaders,”[
] “‘colored’ leaders,” “Oreos,” and “house niggras”[
] who were guilty of “Uncle Tomism.”[
] “There are a whole boat load of ‘darkies’ who think in white supremacist terms,” added Wright. “… Some ‘darkies’ think white women are superior to black women…. Some ‘darkies’ think white lawyers are superior to black lawyers. Some ‘darkies’ think white pastors are better than black pastors. There are a whole boatload of ‘darkies’ who think anything white and everyone white is better than whatever it is black people have.”[
]
On its website, Wright’s church describes itself in distinctly racial terms, as being an “Unashamedly Black” congregation of “African people” who are “true to our native land, the mother continent, the cradle of civilization,” and who participate in TUCC’s “Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community.”
Some have suggested that such assertions, coupled with Wright’s own racially loaded statements and his close affiliation with Farrakhan, indicate that Wright is guilty of racism. But Wright dismisses this charge, stating: “I get tickled every time I hear a ‘Negro’ call me a racist. They don’t even understand how to define the word. Racism means controlling the means.”[]
TUCC promotes a “Black Value System” that encourages African Americans to patronize black-only businesses, support black leaders, and avoid becoming “entrapped” by the pursuit of a “black middle-classness” whose ideals presumably would erode their sense of African identity and render them “captive” to white culture.
Wright and his congregants offered Kwanzaa programs for the TUCC community.[] Kwanzaa is the holiday founded by Maulana Karenga, a self-identified “African socialist” whose “Seven Principles of Blackness,” which are observed during Kwanzaa, include not only the Marxist precepts of parity and proletariat unity, but are identical to the principles of the 1970s domestic terrorist group, the Symbionese Liberation Army.
When Rev. Wright took over as TUCC pastor, the church’s membership totaled 87. By 2007 it had become the largest congregation in the United Church of Christ, with more than 8,000 members. TUCC’s most well-known congregant is Barack Obama, who sought Wright’s counsel before formally declaring his candidacy for U.S. President in 2007. Obama and his wife had previously selected Wright to perform their wedding ceremony and, later, to baptize their two daughters.
On the “Pastor’s Page” of the June 10, 2007 edition of the TUCC newsletter, was an open letter from Palestinian activist Ali Baghdadi calling Israel an “apartheid” regime that was developing an “ethnic bomb” designed to kill “blacks and Arabs.” Wrote Baghdadi:
“I must tell you that Israel was the closest ally to the white supremacists of South Africa. In fact, South Africa allowed Israel to test its nuclear weapons in the ocean off South Africa. The Israelis were given a blank check: they could test whenever they desired and did not even have to ask permission. Both worked on an ethnic bomb that kills Blacks and Arabs.”
The publication described Baghdadi as someone who had “acted as a Middle East advisor to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the founder of the Nation of Islam, as well as Minister Louis Farrakhan.”
On December 4, 2007, Wright was named as a member of the Barack Obama campaign’s newly created African American Religious Leadership Committee. Other notable members of the Committee included Rev. Joseph E. Lowery and Rev. Otis Moss III.
Rev. Wright retired as pastor of TUCC on February 10, 2008. He was replaced by Rev. Otis Moss III.
In March 2008, Wright stepped down from Senator Obama’s African American Religious Leadership Committee after videotapes of his controversial sermons had repeatedly ignited fierce public debate and criticism.
On April 28, 2008, Wright delivered a nationally televised speech to the National Press Club. During the course of his talk, he said, “Louis Farrakhan is not my enemy. He didn’t put me in chains, he did not put me in slavery, and he didn’t make me this color.” Suggesting that America had provoked the 9/11 attacks with its ill-advised foreign policies, Wright said, “You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it to never come back to you.” He mentioned the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II as examples of American wrongdoing. He complained that the U.S. government has never “confessed” for its involvement in the slave trade, and he refused to disavow his assertion that America invented the AIDS virus to kill black people. “Based on what has happened to Africans in this country, I believe our government is capable of doing anything,” Wright said.
Notes:
[] When Black Men Stand up for God (Chicago: African American Images), 1996, p. 17.
[] Ibid., p. 102.
[] Ibid., p. 17.
[] Ibid., p. 17. [Notwithstanding Wright's implication that the harsh anti-crack penalties were instituted by racist legislators for the purpose of incarcerating as many blacks as possible, the Congressional Record shows that such was not at all the case. In 1986, when the strict, federal anti-crack legislation was being debated, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC)—deeply concerned about the degree to which crack was decimating the black community—strongly supported the legislation and actually pressed for even harsher penalties. In fact, a few years earlier CBC members had pushed President Reagan to create the Office of National Drug Control Policy. See John DiIulio, Jr., "My Black Crime Problem, and Ours," City Journal (Spring 1996), pp. 19-20.]
[] When Black Men Stand up for God, p. 16.
[] Blow the Trumpet in Zion (Minneapolis: Fortress Press), 2005, pp. 8-9.
[] When Black Men Stand up for God, p. 10.
[] Ibid., pp. 11, 37.
[] Ibid., p. 80.
[] Ibid., p. 11.
[] Ibid., p. 81.
[] Ibid., p. 102.
[] Ibid., p. iv.
Corruption We Can Believe In
The Illinois House voted to impeach DEMOCRAT Rod “Show Me the Money” Blagojevic today by a vote of 114-1. Blagojevic’s response at his press conference: “The House’s action was, of course, not a surprise.” Really Governor? Blagojevic did not deviate from the Democrat Playbook, claiming his impeachment was partly as a result of his “fight” for Illinois families. I am somewhat shocked and dismayed that he did not specifically include the word “kids” at the press conference. Fighting for both “working families” and “kids” is part of the Democrat mantra as they continue to tax “working families” (i.e. those responsible Americans who choose not to partake in the debacle known as welfare) into bankruptcy. Based on paragraph 65 of the unsealed criminal complaint, perhaps the Governor did not want to remind reporters he was accused of using sick Illinois children as a bargaining chip for political contributions. The criminal complaint alleged the Governor contemplated rescinding state funds to Childrens Memorial Hospital because a hospital executive had not contributed $50,000 to his political campaign:
65. According to Individual A, on October 8, 2008, during a discussion of fundraising from various individuals and entities, the discussion turned to Children’s Memorial Hospital, and ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Individual A words to the effect of “I’m going to do $8 million for them. I want to get [Hospital Executive 1] for 50.” Individual A understood this to be a reference to a desire to obtain a $50,000 campaign contribution from Hospital Executive 1, the Chief Executive Officer of Children’s Memorial Hospital. Individual A said that he/she understood ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s reference to $8 million to relate to his recent commitment to obtain for Children’s Memorial Hospital $8 million in state funds through some type of pediatric care reimbursement. As described in further detail below, intercepted phone conversations between ROD BLAGOJEVICH and others indicate that ROD BLAGOJEVICH is contemplating rescinding his commitment of state funds to benefit Children’s Memorial Hospital because Hospital Executive 1 has not made a recent campaign contribution to ROD BLAGOJEVICH. [emphasis added]
Keep up your fight for Illinois families governor. Perhaps as “Cellies“, you and Tony Rezko can topple the myth of “change” espoused by Barack Hussein Obama a/k/a Barry Soetoro.
You can find a copy of the entire criminal complaint and FBI affidavit here. At the time the indictment was unsealed, John Harris was Governor Blagojevich’s Chief of Staff.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
V.
ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, and
JOHN HARRIS
Count One
From in or about 2002 to the present, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois, defendants did,
conspire with each other and with others to devise and participate in a scheme to defraud the State of Illinois and
the people of the State of Illinois of the honest services of ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, in
furtherance of which the mails and interstate wire communications would be used, in violation of Title 18, United
States Code, Sections 1341,1343, and 1346; all in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 1349.
Count Two
Beginning no later than November 2008 to the present, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois,
defendants ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, being agents of the State of Illinois, a State government
which during a one-year period, beginning January 1, 2008 and continuing to the present, received federal benefits
in excess of $10,000, corruptly solicited and demanded a thing of value, namely, the firing of certain Chicago
Tribune editorial members responsible for widely-circulated editorials critical of ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH,
intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with business and transactions of the State of Illinois
involving a thing of value of $5,000 or more, namely, the provision of millions of dollars in financial assistance by
the State of Illinois, including through the Illinois Finance Authority, an agency of the State of Illinois, to the
Tribune Company involving the Wrigley Field baseball stadium; in violation of Title 18, United States Code,
Sections 666(a)(1)(B) and 2.
II. SUMMARY OF PROBABLE CAUSE
13. Since approximately 2003, the government has been investigating allegations
of illegal activity occurring in State of Illinois government as part of the administration of
Governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH. As further detailed below, the investigation has developed
evidence that: (a) beginning not later than in or about 2002, ROD BLAGOJEVICH has
conspired with multiple individuals, including, beginning not later than in or about October
2008, JOHN HARRIS, to devise and participate in a scheme, which used and contemplated
the use of the mails and interstate wire communications, to defraud the State of Illinois and
its residents of the honest services of ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS by
corruptly using the office of Governor of the State of Illinois to obtain and attempt to obtain
personal gain, including financial gain, for ROD BLAGOJEVICH and third parties with
whom he is associated; and (b) beginning no later than November 2008, ROD
BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS have corruptly solicited and demanded the firing of
Chicago Tribune editorial board members responsible for editorials critical of ROD
BLAGOJEVICH, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with State of
Illinois financial assistance in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field. The evidence
demonstrates that the corrupt conduct undertaken included but was not limited to the
following:
a. Defendant ROD BLAGOJEVICH and at times defendant JOHN
HARRIS, together with others, obtained and attempted to obtain financial benefits for ROD
BLAGOJEVICH, members of the Blagojevich family, and third parties including Friends of
Blagojevich, in exchange for appointments to state boards and commissions, state
employment, state contracts, and access to state funds;
b. Defendants ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, together with
others, offered to, and threatened to withhold from, the Tribune Company substantial state
financial assistance in connection with Wrigley Field, which assistance ROD
BLAGOJEVICH believed to be worth at least $100 million to the Tribune Company, for the
private purpose of inducing the controlling shareholder of the Tribune Company to fire
members of the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune, a newspaper owned by the Tribune
Company, who were responsible for editorials critical of ROD BLAGOJEVICH;
c. Defendants ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, together with
others, attempted to use ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s authority to appoint a United States Senator
for the purpose of obtaining personal benefits for ROD BLAGOJEVICH, including, among
other things, appointment as Secretary of Health & Human Services in the President-elect’s
administration, and alternatively, a lucrative job which they schemed to induce a union to
provide to ROD BLAGOJEVICH in exchange for appointing as senator an individual whom
ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS believed to be favored by union officials and
and their associates.
***
90. Later on November 3, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke with Advisor A.
By this time, media reports indicated that Senate Candidate 1, an advisor to the Presidentelect,
was interested in the Senate seat if it became vacant, and was likely to be supported by
the President-elect. During the call, ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated, “unless I get something
real good for [Senate Candidate 1], shit, I’ll just send myself, you know what I’m saying.”
ROD BLAGOJEVICH later stated, “I’m going to keep this Senate option for me a real
possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain. You hear what I’m saying.
And if I don’t get what I want and I’m not satisfied with it, then I’ll just take the Senate seat
myself.” Later, ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that the Senate seat “is a fucking valuable
thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing.”
***
96. On November 5, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor A about
the Senate seat. During the phone call, ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that the President-elect
can remove somebody from a foundation and give the spot to ROD BLAGOJEVICH. In
regards to the Senate seat, ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated “I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking
golden, and, uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up for fuckin’ nothing. I’m not gonna do it. And,
and I can always use it. I can parachute me there.”
***
III. CONCLUSION
117. Based upon the facts set forth in this affidavit, I believe that there is probable
cause to believe that: (a) ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, and others have
conspired with each other and with others to commit offenses against the United States,
namely to devise and participate in a scheme to defraud the State of Illinois and the people
of the State of Illinois of the honest services of ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS,
in furtherance of which the mails and interstate wire communications would be used, in
violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341, 1343, and 1346; all in violation of
Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349; and (b) ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN
HARRIS, being agents of the State of Illinois, a State government which during a one-year
period, beginning January 1, 2008 and continuing to the present, received federal benefits in
excess of $10,000, corruptly solicited and demanded a thing of value, namely, the firing of
certain Chicago Tribune editorial members responsible for widely-circulated editorials
critical of ROD BLAGOJEVICH, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection
with business and transactions of the State of Illinois involving a thing of value of $5,000 or
more, namely, the provision of millions of dollars in financial assistance by the State of
Illinois, including through the Illinois Finance Authority, to the Tribune Company involving
the Wrigley Field baseball stadium; in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 666
(a)(1)(B) and 2. Accordingly, it is requested that arrest warrants be issued as detailed in this
affidavit.
Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a prominent fundraiser for both Barack Obama and Rod Blagojevic was convicted on 16 of the 24 counts he faced at his corruption trial.
Tony Rezko escorting Rod “Show Me the Money” Blagojevic through a crowd. (Rezko has his left hand placed under his chin).
Ali Ata “is a businessman who, in May 2008, as part of a cooperation agreement with the government, pled guilty to making false statements to the FBI and to tax fraud.
ROD BLAGOJEVICH. In addition, Ata testified under oath at the criminal trial of AntoinRezko (the “Rezko Trial”) in May 2008.” (See Affidavit)
In summary, and in relevant part, Ata testified as follows during the Rezko Trial.
18. In or about 2000 or 2001, at a meeting with Ata, ROD BLAGOJEVICH who
at the time was a member of the United States House of Representatives, told Ata that he was
contemplating a run for higher office and asked for Ata’s support. Ata agreed to support
him. Thereafter, Ata observed that Rezko was close to ROD BLAGOJEVICH and was very
involved in fund raising for ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s campaign, including overseeing Ata’s
own fund raising efforts on behalf of ROD BLAGOJEVICH.
19. In or about 2002, Ata had several conversations with Rezko regarding the
possibility of a high level appointment for Ata in state government should ROD
BLAGOJEVICH be elected. At Rezko’s direction, Ata put together a list of three state
agencies to which he would be interested in being appointed, including the Capital
Development Board.
20. In or about August 2002, Ata held a small fund raising event for ROD
BLAGOJEVICH that ROD BLAGOJEVICH attended. In advance of that fund raising event,
Ata committed to Rezko that Ata would raise $25,000 at that event, which he eventually did,
personally contributing at least approximately $5,000.
21. Later that year, Rezko approached Ata for additional monetary support for
ROD BLAGOJEVICH. Ata agreed to contribute $25,000 in additional monies to the
campaign of ROD BLAGOJEVICH. Ata, subsequently and by prior arrangement with
Rezko, brought a check in this amount to Rezko’s offices on Elston Avenue in Chicago.
After he arrived at Rezko’s offices, Ata was greeted by Rezko to whom he handed the check
in an envelope. Rezko, carrying the check, ushered Ata into a conference room where he met
with Rezko and ROD BLAGOJEVICH. Rezko placed the envelope containing Ata’s
$25,000 check to ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s campaign on the conference room table between
himself and ROD BLAGOJEVICH and stated to ROD BLAGOJEVICH that Ata had been
a good supporter and a team player and that Ata would be willing to join ROD
BLAGOJEVICH’s administration. ROD BLAGOJEVICH expressed his pleasure and
acknowledged that Ata had been a good supporter and good friend. ROD BLAGOJEVICH,
in Ata’s presence, asked Rezko if he (Rezko) had talked to Ata about positions in the
administration, and Rezko responded that he had.
22. After this meeting, Ata completed an application for a state appointment. In
or about early 2003, Rezko informed Ata that he was going to be appointed to head the state
Capital Development Board. Rezko subsequently informed Ata that this position was going
to someone else and that another position would have to be found for Ata. Later, Rezko
discussed an opportunity for Ata with the newly formed Illinois Finance Authority (“IFA”).
23. In or about July 2003, Rezko asked Ata to make an additional $50,000
contribution to the campaign of ROD BLAGOJEVICH. Ata agreed to contribute the same
amount as he had previously, namely $25,000. Ata made this contribution on or about July
25, 2003, by check payable to ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s campaign. Ata gave this check to
Rezko. Thereafter, Ata had a conversation with ROD BLAGOJEVICH at a large fund
raising event at Navy Pier. During this conversation, ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Ata that
Ata had been a good supporter, indicated that ROD BLAGOJEVICH was aware that Ata had
made another substantial donation to ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s campaign, and told Ata that
he understood that Ata would be joining his administration. Ata responded that he was
considering taking a position, and ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that it had better be a job
where Ata could make some money.
24. Ata was surprised by this comment by ROD BLAGOJEVICH and said
something to Rezko about it the next time Ata saw Rezko. When Ata told Rezko that ROD
BLAGOJEVICH had said words to the effect of, “it had better be a job where you can make
some money,” Rezko responded that he was not surprised and had heard ROD
BLAGOJEVICH say things like that before.
Barack Obama was a political advisor on Blagojevic’s first gubernatorial run and endorsed the governor in his 2006 re-election bid.
December 9, 2008:
OBAMA: “I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening.”
Barack Obama and Rod Blagojevic at The National Governor’s Association one week before the December 9, 2008 statement:
Nation of Islam leader, the dishonorable minister Louis Farrakhan, calls Barack Obama the “Messiah”:
You are the instruments that God is going to use to bring about universal change, and that is why Barack has captured the youth. And he has involved young people in a political process that they didn’t care anything about. That’s a sign. When the Messiah speaks, the youth will hear, and the Messiah is absolutely speaking.
View quotes from this racist degenerate below-
Bill Ayers
The McCain-Palin campaign finally decided to take the gloves off. Sarah Palin, speaking at a Colorado fundraiser, had this to say about Obama’s connection to unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers:
“This is not a man who sees America as you see America, and as I see America,” Palin said. “Our opponent, though, is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect — imperfect enough that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country. Americans need to know this. … I think, OK we gotta get the word out. This is in fairness to the electorate we gotta start telling people what the other side represents.”
On September 11, 2001, the same day of the worst terrorist attack in United States history, the New York Slimes ran a profile of Bill Ayers-
Judicial Watch reported Barack Obama served as the Chairman of the Chicago “Annenberg Challenge”, a school designed by domestic terrorist William Ayers for eight years (1995-2002):
Domestic terrorist William “Bill” Ayers being discussed by Stanley Kurtz:
When Jim Johnson, the former Obama advisor resigned from the campaign, he had already secured “more than $5 million in loans from Countrywide that were arranged outside its normal underwriting process.”
Franklin D. Raines was the former Fannie Mae CEO who was removed from his position in 2004 after Security and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) regulators found a multitude of accounting problems at the mortgage company. Raines, a current Obama advisor, also served as the White House budget director under former President Bill Clinton.
The SEC determined Fannie Mae violated various accounting principles which required the mortgage giant to restate their earning for the previous four years. After correcting the books, $6.3 billion of previously reported profits were wiped out. The accounting errors were alleged to be shifting losses so that Senior Executives of Fannie Mae, including Raines, could earn large bonuses. “Raines’ total compensation from 1998 through 2004 was $91.1 million, including some $52.6 million in bonuses.” http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004358433_webraines18.html
Raines was in charge in 2001, when Fannie chose to create what the SEC dryly called “its own unique methodology” to calculate the earnings impact of its trillion-dollar portfolio of derivatives. Raines gave Chief Financial Officer J. Timothy Howard free rein and tolerated “weak or nonexistent” financial controls, according to a scathing report issued in September by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, Fannie’s regulator.http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_02/b3915646.htm
In exchange for a dismissal of all charges, Raines agreed to pay $24.7 million to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. A paltry sum compared to the amount of compensation it has been reported that Raines received.
As talk about taxpayer bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac begins, reports indicate Senator Barack Obama is the No. 2 recipient of their campaign dollars. The “Candidate of Change” collected more than $126,00 in combined contributions from the failing mortgage giants since 2004, the year he first ran for the Senate. In contrast, over the last ten years, Senator McCain received $19,000. Two Obama economic advisors, Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson were both former CEO’s of Fannie Mae. You may recall Jim Johnson, the individual selected to lead the chosen one’s VP search committee, resigned from this position after inquiries were made about preferential treatment he might have received from Countrywide Finanacial Corporation.
“Reverend” Jeremiah Wright: The Wright Message for Obama, The WRONG Message for America.
Barack Obama sat in this man’s church for over twenty years, listening to hateful, racist bile which was spewed forth from someone with the audacity to call himself “Reverend”.
PROFILE SOURCE: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2307
The son of a Baptist minister, Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. was born in Philadelphia on September 22, 1941. On March 1, 1972, he became the pastor of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC), a position he held until February 2008.
After a tour of duty in the U.S. Navy, Wright went on to earn a master’s degree in English from Howard University in 1969. Six years later he earned an additional master’s degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School, and in 1990 he received a Doctor of Ministry Degree from United Theological Seminary.
The writings, public statements, and sermons of Rev. Wright reflect his conviction that America is a nation infested with racism, prejudice, and injustices that make life very difficult for black people. As he declared in one of his sermons: “Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run!… We [Americans] believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God.”
Wright laments “the social order under which we [blacks] live, under which we suffer, under which we are killed.”[1] Depicting blacks as a politically powerless demographic, he complains that “African Americans don’t run anything in the Capital except elevators.”[2] Similarly, on its website Wright’s church portrays black people as victims who are burdened by the legacy of their “pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism,” and who must pray for “the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people.”
Wright attributes the high unemployment rate of African Americans to “the fact that they are black.”[3] Vis a vis the criminal justice system, he likewise explains that “the brothers are in prison” largely because of their skin color. “Consider the ‘three strikes law,’” he elaborates. “There is a higher jail sentencing for crack than for cocaine because more African Americans get crack than do cocaine.”[4]
In Wright’s calculus, white America’s bigotry is to blame not only for whatever ills continue to plague the black community, but also for anti-U.S. sentiment abroad. “In the 21st century, says Wright, “white America got a wake-up call after 9/11/01. White America and the western world came to realize that people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just ‘disappeared’ as the Great White West kept on its merry way of ignoring black concerns.”
Wright sees no reason to believe that Islam may be incompatible in any way with Western traditions. “Islam and Christianity are a whole lot closer than you may realize,” he has written. “Islam comes out of Christianity.”[5]
Wright detests America’s capitalist economic structure, viewing it as a breeding ground for all manner of injustice. “Capitalism as made manifest in the ‘New World,’” he says, “depended upon slave labor (by African slaves), and it is only maintained by keeping the ‘Two-Thirds World’ under oppression.”[6] Wright’s anti-capitalist perspective is reflected in TUCC’s “10-point vision,” whose ideals include the cultivation of “a congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY.” (Emphasis in original.) The TUCC mission statement plainly declares its goal of helping “the less fortunate to become agents of change for God who is not pleased with America’s economic mal-distribution!”
This view is entirely consistent with Rev. Wright’s devotion to the tenets of liberation theology, which is essentially Marxism dressed up as Christianity. Devised by Cold War-era theologians, it teaches that the New Testament gospels can be understood only as calls for social activism, class struggle, and revolution aimed at overturning the existing capitalist order and installing, in its stead, a socialist utopia where today’s poor will unseat their “oppressors” and become liberated from their material (and, consequently, their spiritual) deprivations.
An extension of this paradigm is black liberation theology, which seeks to foment a similar Marxist revolutionary fervor founded on racial rather than class solidarity. Wright’s mentor in this discipline is James Cone, author of the landmark text Black Power and Black Theology. Prior to the controversy sparked (in early 2008) by Wright’s racially charged statements and by Wright’s reference to Cone’s influence on his thinking, the website of Wright’s church identified Cone’s writings as required reading for parishioners who wished to more thoroughly understand the church’s theology and mission.
Wright commonly denounces the United States, which he views as a nation infested with racism and evil. In one noteworthy sermon, he paraphrased the assertions of another black preacher (with whose views he agreed entirely) as follows:
Fact #1: We’ve got more black men in prison than there are in college.
Fact #2: Racism is still alive and well. Racism is how this country was founded, and how this country is still run…. I don’t care how hard you run, Jesse, and no black woman can never be considered for anything outside of what she can give with her body.
Fact #3: America is the #1 killer in the world. We invaded Grenada for no other reason than to get Maurice Bishop. We invaded Panama because Noriega would not dance to our tune anymore. We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns and the training of professional killers. We bombed Cambodia, Iraq and Nicaragua, killing women and children while trying to get public opinion turned against Castro and Qadaffi.
Fact #4: We put Mandela in prison and supported apartheid the whole 27 years he was there. We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority, and believe it more than we believe in God.
Fact #5: We supported Zionism shamelessly while ignoring the Palestinians, and called anyone that spoke out against it as being Anti-Semitic.
Fact #6: We conducted radiation experiments on our own people. We’re just finding out about that. We care nothing about human life if the ends justify the means.
Fact #7: We do not care if poor black and brown children cannot read and kill each other senselessly. We abandoned the city back in the 60′s back when the riots started. And it really doesn’t matter what those “NNNNNNnnnnnnn…………… natives” do to each other, we gave up on them and public education of poor people who live in the projects…. We, with VCRs, TVs, CDs, and portable phones have more homeless than any nation in the world.
Fact #8: We started the AIDS virus. And now that it is out of control, we still put more money in the military than in medicine, more money in hate than in humanitar[ian] concerns. Everybody does not have access to health care, I don’t care what the rich white boys in the city say, brothers…. Listen up, if you are poor, black and elderly, forget it.
Fact #9: We are only able to maintain our level of living by making sure that Third World people live in grinding poverty.
Fact #10: We are selfish, self-centered egotists who are arrogant and ignorant and we prayer at church and do not try to make the kingdom that Jesus talks about a reality….
In light of these 10 facts, God has got to be SICK OF THIS SHIT! (emphasis in original) (Click here for video of this sermon.)
Many of Wright’s condemnations of America are echoed in his denunciations of Israel and Zionism, which he has blamed for imposing “injustice and … racism” on the Palestinians. According to Wright, Zionism contains an element of “white racism.” Likening Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to South Africa’s treatment of blacks during the apartheid era, Wright advocates divestment campaigns targeting companies that conduct business in, or with, Israel.
Wright is a great admirer of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. “When Minister Farrakhan speaks, Black America listens,” says Wright. “Everybody may not agree with him, but they listen … His depth on analysis when it comes to the racial ills of this nation is astounding and eye opening. He brings a perspective that is helpful and honest. Minister Farrakhan will be remembered as one of the 20th and 21st century giants of the African American religious experience. His integrity and honesty have secured him a place in history as one of the nation’s most powerful critics. His love for Africa and African American people has made him an unforgettable force, a catalyst for change and a religious leader who is sincere about his faith and his purpose.”
Wright’s praise for Farrakhan was echoed in the November/December issue of TUCC’s bimonthly magazine, the Trumpet, which featured an interview with the NOI “icon” who, according to the publication, “truly epitomized greatness.” “Because of the Minister’s influence in the African American community,” the Trumpet announced that it was honoring him with an “Empowerment Award” as a “fitting tribute for a storied life well lived.”
Wright accompanied Farrakhan on a 1984 trip to meet with Farrakhan’s friend, the Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi.
Farrakhan’s October 16, 1995 Million Man March ranks among the events about which Rev. Wright has written most extensively and passionately. Wright — along with such notables as Al Sharpton and Barack Obama — helped organize the rally and attended it with his son, and has described it as “a once in a lifetime, amazing experience.”[7] When a number of prominent African Americans counseled fellow blacks to boycott the demonstration because of Farrakhan’s history of hateful rhetoric, Wright derided those critics as “‘Negro’ leaders,”[8] “‘colored’ leaders,” “Oreos,” and “house niggras”[9] who were guilty of “Uncle Tomism.”[10] “There are a whole boat load of ‘darkies’ who think in white supremacist terms,” added Wright. “… Some ‘darkies’ think white women are superior to black women…. Some ‘darkies’ think white lawyers are superior to black lawyers. Some ‘darkies’ think white pastors are better than black pastors. There are a whole boatload of ‘darkies’ who think anything white and everyone white is better than whatever it is black people have.”[11]
On its website, Wright’s church describes itself in distinctly racial terms, as being an “Unashamedly Black” congregation of “African people” who are “true to our native land, the mother continent, the cradle of civilization,” and who participate in TUCC’s “Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community.”
Some have suggested that such assertions, coupled with Wright’s own racially loaded statements and his close affiliation with Farrakhan, indicate that Wright is guilty of racism. But Wright dismisses this charge, stating: “I get tickled every time I hear a ‘Negro’ call me a racist. They don’t even understand how to define the word. Racism means controlling the means.”[12]
TUCC promotes a “Black Value System” that encourages African Americans to patronize black-only businesses, support black leaders, and avoid becoming “entrapped” by the pursuit of a “black middle-classness” whose ideals presumably would erode their sense of African identity and render them “captive” to white culture.
Wright and his congregants offered Kwanzaa programs for the TUCC community.[13] Kwanzaa is the holiday founded by Maulana Karenga, a self-identified “African socialist” whose “Seven Principles of Blackness,” which are observed during Kwanzaa, include not only the Marxist precepts of parity and proletariat unity, but are identical to the principles of the 1970s domestic terrorist group, the Symbionese Liberation Army.
When Rev. Wright took over as TUCC pastor, the church’s membership totaled 87. By 2007 it had become the largest congregation in the United Church of Christ, with more than 8,000 members. TUCC’s most well-known congregant is Barack Obama, who sought Wright’s counsel before formally declaring his candidacy for U.S. President in 2007. Obama and his wife had previously selected Wright to perform their wedding ceremony and, later, to baptize their two daughters.
On the “Pastor’s Page” of the June 10, 2007 edition of the TUCC newsletter, was an open letter from Palestinian activist Ali Baghdadi calling Israel an “apartheid” regime that was developing an “ethnic bomb” designed to kill “blacks and Arabs.” Wrote Baghdadi:
“I must tell you that Israel was the closest ally to the white supremacists of South Africa. In fact, South Africa allowed Israel to test its nuclear weapons in the ocean off South Africa. The Israelis were given a blank check: they could test whenever they desired and did not even have to ask permission. Both worked on an ethnic bomb that kills Blacks and Arabs.”
The publication described Baghdadi as someone who had “acted as a Middle East advisor to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the founder of the Nation of Islam, as well as Minister Louis Farrakhan.”
On December 4, 2007, Wright was named as a member of the Barack Obama campaign’s newly created African American Religious Leadership Committee. Other notable members of the Committee included Rev. Joseph E. Lowery and Rev. Otis Moss III.
Rev. Wright retired as pastor of TUCC on February 10, 2008. He was replaced by Rev. Otis Moss III.
In March 2008, Wright stepped down from Senator Obama’s African American Religious Leadership Committee after videotapes of his controversial sermons had repeatedly ignited fierce public debate and criticism.
On April 28, 2008, Wright delivered a nationally televised speech to the National Press Club. During the course of his talk, he said, “Louis Farrakhan is not my enemy. He didn’t put me in chains, he did not put me in slavery, and he didn’t make me this color.” Suggesting that America had provoked the 9/11 attacks with its ill-advised foreign policies, Wright said, “You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it to never come back to you.” He mentioned the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II as examples of American wrongdoing. He complained that the U.S. government has never “confessed” for its involvement in the slave trade, and he refused to disavow his assertion that America invented the AIDS virus to kill black people. “Based on what has happened to Africans in this country, I believe our government is capable of doing anything,” Wright said.
Notes:
[1] When Black Men Stand up for God (Chicago: African American Images), 1996, p. 17.
[2] Ibid., p. 102.
[3] Ibid., p. 17.
[4] Ibid., p. 17. [Notwithstanding Wright's implication that the harsh anti-crack penalties were instituted by racist legislators for the purpose of incarcerating as many blacks as possible, the Congressional Record shows that such was not at all the case. In 1986, when the strict, federal anti-crack legislation was being debated, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC)—deeply concerned about the degree to which crack was decimating the black community—strongly supported the legislation and actually pressed for even harsher penalties. In fact, a few years earlier CBC members had pushed President Reagan to create the Office of National Drug Control Policy. See John DiIulio, Jr., "My Black Crime Problem, and Ours," City Journal (Spring 1996), pp. 19-20.]
[5] When Black Men Stand up for God, p. 16.
[6] Blow the Trumpet in Zion (Minneapolis: Fortress Press), 2005, pp. 8-9.
[7] When Black Men Stand up for God, p. 10.
[8] Ibid., pp. 11, 37.
[9] Ibid., p. 80.
[10] Ibid., p. 11.
[11] Ibid., p. 81.
[12] Ibid., p. 102.
[13] Ibid., p. iv.
