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Urban League 'Disinvites'
Rev. Wright As Speaker

Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal & Guide
 
       The Urban League of  Hampton Roads (ULHR) has withdrawn an invitation to Rev. Jeremiah Wright to be the keynote speaker at the agency’s April 25, 2008 Whitney M. Young Dinner.
        A letter dated March 24, 2008 from Edith White, the President  and CEO of the  ULHR, noted “the recent public controversy” surrounding Wright prompted the organization’s governing board  to drop him as the speaker.
White observed the purpose of the Dinner is to “build new relationships and strengthen our position for future service provision to those who rely on our many programs.”
       “The recent public controversy surrounding some of your statements possibly could jeopardize our ability to accomplish  this goal at this time,” she continued.

  “Thus our Board of Directors has regretfully determined it is necessary to rescind our invitation to you as keynote speaker.”
       “I am sure you understand that our organization must keep the needs of those served in the forefront,” White continued in the one-page letter.  ”Thus we must be mindful that inclusiveness, bridge building and cooperation  remain the focus.”
       Instead of Rev. Wright, the ULHR has inserted actress and  activist Ruby Dee in his place to deliver the speech at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Portsmouth.
       News of the Urban League’s decision  was unknown publicaly until last Sunday, (April 13th) when Rev. Wright visited Bank Street Baptist Church to deliver a special anniversary sermon.
       After the program Rev. Yvonne Delk was passing around a copy of the Urban League letter to Wright and an unsigned statement dated April 9th denouncing the move. Also Delk was passing out petitions which were being signed by ministers and other individuals who attended the Wright sermon on that day.

      Although the name of the organization is not on the denouncing letter, Delk said that  she is lobbying to have the Tidewater Metro Baptist Ministers Conference of Virginia to endorse its contents and intentions.
       Delk said as of Monday (April 14) that she has not submitted the letter questioning the Urban League’s decision to agency officials and would do so later this week.

Posted April 16, 2008

  
      
       “We, the ministers and leaders who have affixed  our signatures to his letter, are writing to express our deepest disappointment with the Urban League in rescinding its invitation to Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr.,” the letter said.  “We are dismayed and perplexed that you have apparently  caved in to the media’s distortion of his ministry, his messages and his mission focused on the empowerment of African American people in the United States…”
       In the letter, according to Delk,  it noted that Urban League was aware of Rev. Wright’s background as a religious and civil rights leader who worked to achieve justice for “our people.”
       “What is troubling is that you have allowed a 30-second clip which ran over and over again by conservative networks for the purpose of exploiting racial fears and bringing down Senator Barack Obama, to override the more than 3,000 hours he has preached in the course of his ministry calling us and this nation to become the beloved community that God intends.
       “We expected more from the  Urban League which for almost one hundred years has existed to empower African Americans.”
       Delk said that the Tidewater Metro Baptist Ministers Conference which meets routinely at First Baptist Church on Bute Street on Monday indicated that it would  support the letter she has composed  plus they may write on of their own.
The New Journal and Guide contacted Rev. Robert E. Rogers, President of the Conference, and he confirmed that his group stood in support of Delk’s letter and would, before the end of the  week submit a letter to the Urban League which would define its position.
       “We support the Urban League and will continue to do so,” said Rev. Rodgers, Senior Pastor of Pulaski Baptist Church in Carrsville, VA near Franklin.  “But we disagree with their decision not to invite Brother Wright.”
       Delk, once an education field worker with the organization, still has ties to the United Church of Christ (UCC) with which Wright’s church is affiliated. She  said that officials at the UCC  sent her an e-mail asking if she knew about the Urban’s League decision to disinvite Wright. After she received a copy of the letter from White to the UCC about Wright, she decided to launch her effort.

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