Chicago teacher's union selects Jeremiah Wright as keynote speaker

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The Chicago Teachers Union wants a louder voice in the political world — and to kick off that campaign, it’s turning to a public figure every bit as combative as the union itself: the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

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Wright will give a keynote address Wednesday at a breakfast the teacher’s union is holding in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. The union has invited local pastors to the breakfast in the hopes of building a coalition of Chicago clergy to support its causes. In particular, union officials are seeking allies to fight the city’s policy of shutting down dozens of neighborhood schools and opening charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately managed — and often, nonunion. CTU is expecting about 250 representatives from the clergy at the breakfast.

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CTU President Karen Lewis — herself a fiery speaker, prone to the occasional incendiary remark — said she hopes Wright’s speech will be “stimulating, interesting, provocative” and fully in tune with King’s legacy as a crusader for social justice and union rights. She said she is “not concerned at all” that Wright might repeat some of his more inflammatory comments or reiterate controversial stances such as his embrace of Louis Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic views. “He’s a theologian and a scholar,” Lewis said of Wright, who is pastor emeritus at Trinity United Church of Christ. “He is highly respected in this town amongst the clergy.”

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