Controversial pastor to speak at NAACP banquet

Consider this cocktail:

Take a controversial pastor, a Republican businessman and county conservatives. Shake it all together.

What you get is a whole lot of e-mails swirling around.

The county NAACP chapter will host the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright Jr. on Nov. 20 at its annual Freedom Fund Banquet in Glen Burnie. The selection prompted an outpouring of complaints from Republican public and political figures.

"I'm disappointed that a racially divisive figure like Jeremiah Wright would be honored as the keynote speaker," said Del. Nic Kipke, R-Pasadena.

"I think that there are much better qualified, much more compassionate individuals, who have achieved a lot more than Jeremiah Wright and could be honored in the position of keynote speaker.

"For instance, I don't agree with Jesse Jackson, I think he's wrong on many issues but I would not consider him someone who hates America or someone who hates White America."

The controversy became public when Pasadena business consultant Perry Ealim, who is exploring a bid for County Council as a Republican, e-mailed his political and business connections news that he would be honored by the chapter as its business man of the year.

He got back lots of e-mails congratulating him on the award but deploring the speaker. E-mails came from both elected officials and political activists.

"I call it a 'teachable moment,' " Ealim said, taking a phrase used by President Barack Obama.

"Rev. Wright is being invited in as a speaker; do I have to agree with everything he is saying? No. Am I a fan? Not necessarily, but we should talk about our differences."

Wright, Obama's former pastor, became controversial in 2008 when video clips of his sermons began circulating during the presidential campaign.

In one, he commented on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City.

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye... and now we are indignant, because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost," he said.

Kipke e-mailed Ealim, praising his record as a minority business consultant but condemning the choice of Wright. Although he was invited he will not be attending the dinner because of Wright.

Jacqueline Allsup, president of the NAACP chapter, said the organization has received complaints beyond those generated by Ealim's e-mail.

"Rev. Wright is a former pastor of President Obama," Allsup said. "We believe that he should be judged not by snippets of newscasts but on citizens being able to hear Rev. Wright for themselves and to make their own judgment regarding his comments."

She said Wright is not alone in making such comments.

"A number of people have made racially insensitive statements, including Fox News' Glenn Beck who has said that President Obama was racist ... but these individuals are continued to have a platform from which they can speak," Allsup said.

"No one has ever heard Wright calling for the death of any individual. He has never called for Glenn Beck to be removed from his show."

Ealim said some of those who e-mailed him complained that their main objection is that the pastor has not apologized for his comments.

"Why didn't Rush Limbaugh apologize for what he said about Donovan McNabb?" Ealim said. "Why is there a standard with one type of people and another standard for another type of people?"

In September 2003, Limbaugh said on ESPN that McNabb is, "overrated ... what we have here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well."

Kipke said he didn't see the comparison.

"I don't think this is the same," Kipke said. "There have been statements from people like Rush Limbaugh that I don't agree with but I don't think that I've heard statements from him that are quite as hateful as 'God damn America.' "

Allsup sees things differently.

"We think that he will provide a point of view that is unique and enlightening. Clearly if he makes comments we think are inappropriate with we will make our voices heard, but we believe that he should be heard," she said.

As for the presence of Wright taking away from award-winners, Allsup had this to say:

"How can they say that? That's not taking away. Those people are receiving awards for things they have contributed to Anne Arundel County, and no one can take that away from them."

Tickets to the Nov. 20 Freedom Fund Banquet are $60. For more information, visit www.naacp-aac.org