Pitt Faculty Available to Comment on Public Reaction to Statements by Rev. Jeremiah Wright as They Relate to Unfamiliarity With the Black Experience and Black Liberation Theology

PITTSBURGH—With the initial furor over statements by Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, having passed, there is discussion of why the public and the media reacted as they did. Connections between political candidates and controversial religious figures are not uncommon, particularly given the political activity of conservative Christians. Two Pitt faculty members are available to comment on the roots of the attention devoted to Wright's comments.

David C. Barker, associate professor and director of graduate studies in Pitt's Department of Political Science within the School of Arts and Sciences, says the public outcry to Obama's association with Wright partly stems from a general misunderstanding of Black nationalism and liberation theology. He notes that Obama's personal connection to Wright exceeds that of many Republican candidates to White evangelical leaders to the point that Obama has cited him as a mentor. Nonetheless, Wright's message relates to an experience most Americans will never share, Barker says. "Most people don't understand what it was like to be an African American of Wright's (b. 1941) generation. If they did, they would not be so surprised by many of his comments," Barker says. His book "Rushed to Judgment? Talk Radio, Persuasion and American Political Behavior," (Columbia University Press, 2002), part of the "Power, Conflict, and Democracy Series," edited by Robert Shapiro, was nominated for the McGannon Communication Policy Research Award and the Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism. Contact David Barker at 412-648-7275 (office), 412-508-6278 (cell), or dbarker@pitt.edu; or through Trish White.

David Harris, a Pitt law professor, says that Wright's statements have attracted media attention because they bolstered misgivings many people have about Obama—he's relatively unknown, has a foreign-sounding name, and is thus threatening to some. A general unfamiliarity with Black liberation theology has made Wright's comments especially shocking to the public. "This shock played directly into the exact misgivings that some people have about Obama, so some people wonder if he's some kind of radical, too," Harris says. On the other hand, White evangelical leaders have been visible for so long that the comments of a few of them may sometimes offend, but they do not shock us—people know their views and expect them to support Republicans, Harris adds. Hence there was little fanfare when accused anti-Catholic televangelist John Hagee endorsed presumed Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain. Harris is a leading national authority on racial profiling. His book "Profiles in Injustice: Why Racial Profiling Cannot Work," (The New Press, 2002) and scholarly articles in the field of traffic stops of non-White motorists influenced the national debate on profiling and related topics. Harris has testified three times in the U.S. Senate and before many state legislative bodies. He served as a member of the Civil Liberties Advisory Board to the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security. Contact David Harris at 412-648-9530 (office), 419-215-8162 (cell), or daharris@pitt.edu; or through Trish White.

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