Hlm.

75

When Obama knocked on Trinitys door, Wright was in his mid-forties and in
the midst of growing his Trinity congregation to its present membership of nearly
eight thousand. Burly and light-skinned, Wright is the son of a Baptist minister in
Philadelphia. His intellectual sermons sometimes more resemble left-wing political
rants than religious preaching. Startling for a preacher, he can be both profane and
provocative. Despite advancing a multicultural agenda, like Obama, Wrights church
is rooted in Afrocentrism. Wright himself often dons colorful African dashikis and is
not shy about laying historical and mod-ern-day blame on whites for much of the
social and economic woes in the African-American community. His sermons
frequently denounce Republican politics, and he has called people who voted for
George W. Bush stupid. Trinity United is considered among some Chicago blacks
to be the church of elites, attracting celebrities like the rapper Common and TV talk
mogul Oprah Winfrey to its congregation.

In some ways, Obama and Wright seem a mismatch because of their

distinctively different styles. But in other ways, they seem like a perfect fitan
attraction of opposites.