“Please remember, Jesus was a Palestinian.” -Rev. Jeremiah Wright

DEARBORN— President Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, will be the keynote speaker at the 33rd annual gala of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Michigan Office (ADC-Michigan), on Friday, Nov. 13.

Wright rose to national prominence after videos of his controversial sermons at the Trinity United Church of Christ, which Obama attended, were publicized and played a role in the 2008 presidential race.

Wright is known for his fiery speeches that address racial justice and condemn American interventions around the world.

“God damn America,” he once said after accused the United States of treating its citizens as less than human and bombing innocent people around the world.

The pastor is a supporter of the Palestinian people and has described Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza in 2009 as a sin against humanity. 

Prior to the 2008 election, Obama left the church and distanced himself from Wright and denounced his sermons.

The pastor made headlines this weekend when he compared Palestinians to Native Americans at the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March in Washington, on Oct. 10, adding that Jesus was a Palestinian.

“The same issue is being fought today and has been fought since 1948,” Wright told a crowd of thousands of people demanding the end of institutional racism. “And historians are carried back to the 19th century… when the original people, the Palestinians — and please remember, Jesus was a Palestinian— the Palestinian people had the Europeans come and take their country.”