Sitting at the Feet of Wright
There are few sacred spaces that elevate the total whole and holy existence of God’s creation regardless of their identities and truths magnifying the Imago Dei in us all. The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (SDPC) is unapologetically that space. Its mission statement declares, “is to nurture, sustain, and mobilize the African American faith community in collaboration with civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders to address critical needs of human rights and social justice within local, national, and global communities. SDPC seeks to strengthen the individual and collective capacity of thought leaders and activists in the church, academy, and community through education, advocacy, and activism.” Undeniably and unselfishly the Proctor Conference has done as it says, and has continued to be a beacon of hope, refuge, and solace. While too training the next generation of African American prophets unapologetically committed to the full liberation of Black folks in the United States, and world. Made evident by the countless young Millennial and Gen. Z Black seminarians that continue the Black prophetic tradition, not bowing to the American project, imperialism or white supremacy, as one of its founders continues to be mentioned by political pundits and the former first family of the United States.
The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., the former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago and one of three founders of SDPC, is a sage and the living embodiment of the radical Black prophetic preaching tradition that is unique, and distinct, to Africans in America. Recently his name has become yet again a point of attack and conversation amid continual political malfeasance. Georgia Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler’s campaign has run ads against Democratic opponent Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, pastor of the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, specifically aimed at attacking his uplifting of the teaching and preaching of Dr. Wright and Dr. James Cone. Both men magnified the truth of the Black experience in America and intricately connected the dots in a centuries old puzzle to that of a Palestinian-Jew by the name of Yeshua, Jesus, to that of Africans in America that were enslaved, stripped of their identities and heritage, yet emerged from despair with a liberating gospel in a God and Savior that were both radical and loving. A doctrine and theology that would be defined as “radical and liberal” by Senator Loeffler and socialist or even fascist by President Trump and many conservatives today. Yet, these attacks while ruthless and disparaging are expected from those not familiar with, interested in, trained by the teachings and writings of Cone, Hopkins, Cannon, Grant, Williams or Wright, or remain committed to whiteness. However, the continued mentioning of Babba Wright’s name and attempts on his character and legacy by the Obamas are pathetic to say the least.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama wrote in her book, Becoming, “We had lived for years with the narrow-mindedness of some of our elders, having accepted that no one is perfect, particularly those who’d come of age in a time of segregation. Perhaps this had caused us to overlook the more absurd parts of Reverend Wright’s spitfire preaching, even if we hadn’t been present for any of the sermons in question. Seeing an extreme version of his vitriol broadcast in the news, though, we were appalled. The whole affair was a reminder of how our country’s distortions about race could be two-sided — that the suspicion and stereotyping ran both ways.” Meanwhile President Obama wrote in his book, A Promised Land, “It was as if this erudite, middle-aged, light-skinned Black man were straining for street cred, trying to “keep it real.” Or maybe he just recognized — both within his congregation and within himself — the periodic need to let loose, to release pent-up anger from a lifetime of struggle in the face of chronic racism, reason and logic be damned.” These intentional attacks are rooted not in fact, upon the truth of who they know Dr. Wright to be as both their former pastor and spiritual leader, or as the communal liberationist that would train and mentor the now 44th President of the United States Barack H. Obama. Wright’s sermons are not and were not distortions of race or one straining for street cred. If anyone needed street cred it would’ve been Mr. Obama who sought the wisdom, teachings, and guidance of Wright even using his words — sermon if you will — for the famed “Audacity of Hope” speech later becoming the title of his second memoir. Yet, it wasn’t enough for them to distance themselves in 2004 and disavow Dr. Wright in 2008, instead they’ve chosen to further demean him post-presidency.
Noted within Barack Obama’s disapproval of Wright is his placating to the legacy of Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, Jr., the former classmate of the President’s disavowed pastor and father of Wright’s successor Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, III, as he seemingly identifies who he’s sees as the less dangerous or problematic negro preacher. This placating is no more than a reflection of one who is souled out to the ideals of empire over the commitment and assurance of Black liberation and sustained freedom for the African diaspora. Harkening to my remembrance the words of Dr. James Cone in A Black Theology of Liberation where he stated, “It is not difficult for the oppressed to understand the meaning of freedom. They are forced by the very nature of their condition to interpret their existence in the world contrary to the value-structures of an oppressive society. For the oppressed, to be is to be in revolt against the forces that impede the creation of the new person.” What we witness, in the Obama’s continued attempts at discrediting Dr. Wright, are those who selected American ideal(s) over freedom, needed street cred chose to join Trinity UCC for the sake of association not conversion or adoption of its principles, performed better than a minstrel cloaked in colonial garb bearing fresh makeup, and exited stage left when prompted by the establishment. The intentional choice to play “both sides” is no better than the Southern Baptist Convention’s statement denouncing racism while in the same breath calling Critical Race Theory antithetical to their doctrine and faith; you can’t both sides liberation and freedom either you’re for it or against it. Black respectability politics is not new to the American project or of those protecting imperialism’s grandeur while proclaiming “change we can believe in.” This change instead is found in a gospel taught, preached, and lived by Wright which is unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian. A gospel that liberates, affirms, includes, engages, and loves every Black being while too magnifying the necessity of community not erected or destroyed by dissuading protest, condemning activists, reducing movements to a mere political slogan, or protecting capitalism under the guise of the “American dream” but one rooted in the core principles of Jesus Christ a Black Palestinian-Jew raised in Nazareth far from the shores of the West Coast or plains of the Midwest.
When I read what Barack said, when I read what Michelle said, I thought of what Samuel Proctor said. They’re not my enemies, they’re just two of my confused friends. They are sincere, but they are sincerely wrong.
Although having suffered a stroke, leaving his voice strained, it has not diminished the potency and necessity of his voice or poignant prophetic command; after all he is a prophet not a politician. He is our elder that possesses the wisdom, truth, and virtue otherwise absent from our lens and perspectives of truth. As I sit at his feet, virtually through this global pandemic, I cherish each moment in his presence. Whether it’s as a graduate of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at his alma mater Virginia Union, on private Zoom meetings, planning sessions, preaching together, panel discussions, text message conversations, or daily prayer I willingly sit at the feet of one who’s given his life to us that we may be free in a world that was built by us but not for us. I willingly sit at the feet of one who’s teachings, sermons, and writings are the guiding lights of hope for a people despite our present realities. Challenging us to dig deep within our wells of existence, tapping into the witness of ancestors, the wisdom birthed from our experiences, truth of the liberation, the possibilities of freedom, and the redefining, recreating, and reimagining of being Black in America and the world. Therefore, the words and defenses rendered by Dr. Allan Boesak, Rev. Dr. Corrie Shull, Steve Harmon, and Rev. Joshua Lazard are necessary. Yet, it’s the words of Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. himself, that embody the essence of grace I hope to obtain upon my life’s journey, from his sermon entitled “What God Can Do” on Sunday, December 6, 2020 during Trinity’s 59th church anniversary where he acknowledged briefly Obamas while highlighting Trinity’s storied rapport. He stated, “…He wasn’t perfect, but none of us are perfect. I know good and well I’m not perfect, so I would not expect him to be perfect. When I read the foolishness, he said about me in his book and the foolishness Michelle said about me in her book, I thought about my mentor Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor. Samuel DeWitt Proctor one day in class said to us, I don’t have a person on the face of this earth who can say anything negative about me. I immediately thought of a lady who put me in my place one day when I said, I was a close friend of Dr. Proctor. She said to me, “You ought to choose your friends more carefully. When I read what Barack said, when I read what Michelle said, I thought of what Samuel Proctor said. They’re not my enemies, they’re just two of my confused friends. They are sincere, but they are sincerely wrong.”
To defend Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. and his legacy unapologetically ensures the Black prophetic tradition lives regardless of what sectors of American empire, and hues of melanin, are angered or registered uncomfortable. To ensure the name and work(s) of Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. are honored further connects us to our need for the Black church, communal apologetics, hermeneutics rooted in justice, and a bold-declarative denunciation of capitalistic hierarchal commitment at the detriment of our own in all facets. While many know the truth of Babba’s influence upon the 44th President prior to his ascending to such bourgeois prominence, I’m curious as to who’ll press Mr. Obama on his words, perspective, posture and use of Dr. Wright’s name and legacy. Will it be the emerging Black Millennial and Gen. Z seminarians and scholars, pastors, and parishioners or our brothers and sisters beyond the four walls of physical and virtual churches or will it be a communal effort of those who comprise the African diaspora? Either way we [I] continue to sit at the feet of Wright and refuse to confuse God and government.
