Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. gave chapter and verse this week, making a series of public appearances in which he tossed out biblical and literary allusions and challenged his questioners by asking whether they had read the right books. But the scholarship of Wright, who has two master’s degrees and a doctorate, didn’t impress some critics. In his most publicized appearance, Monday at the National Press Club in Washington, many were offended that he wouldn’t disavow his videotaped assertion that “the U.S. government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color.” A day later, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama turned a page in his relationship with Wright, denouncing the pastor’s remarks as “outrageous.” Here are some sources cited by Wright:
‘Emerging Viruses: AIDS & Ebola’ by Leonard G. Horowitz
When asked about his AIDS conspiracy beliefs, Wright cited Horowitz’s book. First published in 1996 by a company Horowitz co-founded, the book questions common thinking about the origin of AIDS, arguing that evidence indicates it was created during U.S. government-funded research. The book carries a subtitle of “Nature, Accident or Intentional?” But Horowitz told the Tribune this week that he now believes that AIDS was an intentional product of the U.S. government — “vaccine-induced genocide.” Horowitz has a doctorate in dentistry from Tufts University and a master’s in public health from Harvard, but his writings on AIDS have been generally ignored by mainstream science and journalism. Horowitz said he had not met Wright but supported him: “Rev. Wright has got to be credited supremely for not doing what Obama has — running from the truth of medical-pharmaceutical malfeasance.”
‘Medical Apartheid’ by Harriet A. Washington
Wright referred to this 2007 book as evidence that “our government is capable of doing anything.” The book recounts medical experiments on black Americans, including the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study, in which black men with syphilis were left untreated so that doctors could study the progression of the disease. The book does not suggest that AIDS was created in a government plot, though it finds plenty of shortcomings in public policy toward blacks with AIDS. One of Wright’s videotaped sermons gets the facts about Tuskegee wrong. He said, “They purposely infected African-American men with syphilis.” In fact, the men weren’t purposely infected — they already had syphilis. The study committed a gross breach of ethics by pretending to treat them and not doing so.
The Link, a publication of Americans for Middle East Understanding
Asked about his views on Israel, Wright cited The Link, which he said promoted the idea that “Palestinians and Israelis need to sit down and talk to each other and work out a solution where their children can grow in a world together.” The Link’s current edition describes what it calls the “ethnic cleansing of Palestine ” during the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. Former Rep. Paul Findley (R-Ill.), an outspoken critic of the pro-Israel lobby, is on the national council of the group that publishes The Link, but at age 86 he’s no longer very active in the group. “They’re critical of Israel,” he said. “They tend to sympathize with the plight of the Palestinians.” But he emphasized that criticism of Israel was not anti-Semitism.
‘Invisible Man’ by Ralph Ellison
This 1952 novel depicts African-American alienation. Wright said the black religious tradition “is in some ways like Ralph Ellison’s ‘The Invisible Man.’ It has been right here in our midst and on our shores since the 1600s, but it was, has been and, in far too many instances, still is invisible to the dominant culture in terms of its rich history, its incredible legacy and its multiple meanings.”
‘The Mis-Education of the Negro’ by Carter G. Woodson
This 1933 book argued against assimilation into an education system that ignores the black experience. Wright cited Woodson’s book in discussing how to make black children more aware of their own culture.
‘In the Morning’ by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Dunbar penned this poem about an elder trying to get a boy out of bed. Wright cited the poem in a complicated explanation of his delayed response to the media uproar: “The media was making a fool out of itself because it knew nothing about our tradition. And so I decided to let them make a fool as long as they wanted to and then take the advice of Paul Laurence Dunbar in “Lias, ‘lias, bless de Lawd/Don’ you know de day’s erbroad?’ — Don’t make me come cross this room.” Wright cited the opening lines of the poem, with “‘Lias” referring to the boy, Elias. In the poem, the elder loses patience and threatens to go across the room after the snoozing boy — perhaps like Wright eventually went after his critics.
———-
mjacob@tribune.com
– – –
IN THE WEB EDITION: For all the latest from the campaign trail, check in daily at chicagotribune.com/theswamp
