96 Barack H. Obama: The Unauthorized Biographyhigh school from which Wright graduated. Klein noted that Wright had chosen a highly competitive
college prep program in a school which was largely white:
It happens that, as a Philadelphian, I attended Central High School – the same public school
Jeremiah Wright attended from 1955 to 1959. He could have gone to an integrated
neighborhood school, but he chose to go to Central, a virtually all-white school. Central is the
second-oldest public high school in the country, which attracts the most serious academic
students in the city. The school then was about 80 percent Jewish and 95 percent white. The
African-American students, like all the others, were there on merit. Generally speaking, we
came from lower/middle class backgrounds. Many of our parents had not received a formal
education, and we tended to live in row houses.” (Morton A. Klein, “Obama’s pastor: Product
of privilege, not poverty,” World Net Daily, March 25, 2008)
Wright’s choice of an affluent white neighborhood for his retirement was a clear violation of the
ban on middle class values contained in his church program. But it did represent a return to
Wright’s origins.
After high school, Wright entered Virginia Union University. After three and a half years at
Virginia Union, Pastor Wright left and entered the United States Marine Corps. He transferred from
the USMC into the United States Navy where he served as a cardiopulmonary technician, assisting
President Lyndon B. Johnson during the heart attack he suffered in office. After six years in the
service, Pastor Wright transferred to Howard University where he completed his undergraduate
studies and received his first Master’s Degree. His second Master’s Degree was from the University
of Chicago Divinity School. His Doctorate was received from the United Theological Seminary, the
noted smithy of synthetic religions near Columbia on Morningside Heights, under Dr. Samuel
DeWitt Proctor. In addition to Pastor Wright’s four earned degrees, he has been the recipient of
eight honorary doctorates.
Some vintage Wright: “Fact number one: We’ve got more black men in prison than there are in
college,” he intones. “Fact number two: Racism is how this country was founded and how this
country is still run! We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns and the
training of professional KILLERS.... We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and
believe it more than we believe in God.... We conducted radiation experiments on our own people.
... We care nothing about human life if the ends justify the means! We are selfish, self-centered
egotists who are arrogant and ignorant and betray our church and do not try to make the kingdom
that Jesus talked about a reality. And — and — and in light of these 10 facts, God has got to be sick
of this st” Some reports include an additional peroration, in the classical style recommended by
Cicero and Quintilian: “And. And. And! GAWD! Has GOT! To be SICK! OF THIS ST!”
(Wallace Wood, Rolling Stone, Kyle-Anne Shiver)
When some authentic representatives of the historical black church were allowed on television to
respond to Wright’s claims that he represented them, at least one of them offered the criticism that
many black families would not want to stay in a church where “the pastor was cussing.” Wright did
more: in one scene from his tapes, he began ranting that “Some argue that blacks should vote for
Clinton “because her husband was good to us,” he continued. “That’s not true,” he thundered. “He
did the same thing to us that he did to Monica Lewinsky.” He turned around and humped his own
altar to emphasize that Bill Clinton had been “riding dirty” with Miss Lewinsky.