Media Alert — Caution, Real News in DC This Weekend

We hate to disturb working reporters covering the vital Celebrity Inaugural Ball lobster-booze-caviar beat, but real news may break in Washington this weekend. Okay, real political news, but that’s as close to “reality” as most remaining Washington scribes get these days.

Sleep-deprived, hung-over DC reporters should report to Howard University at 11AM Sunday for Chapel Call.  Stop groaning — it’s a story. The speaker will be Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., Pastor Emeritus of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ. 

The nondenominational Chapel Call will be held at Howard’s huge Cramton Auditorium to accommodate the expected crush of Fox News, National Review, and Washington Times reporters. Just joshing — the popular weekly event outgrew Rankin Chapel and moved to Cramton long ago.

More Than Talk

Rev. Jeremiah Wright, 1973

In 1972, a dynamic young pastor. Rev. Jeremiah Wright, assumed leadership of an 85-member middle class Chicago congregation, Trinity United Church of Christ. Like other UCC churches of that era, Trinity wished to appeal to middle class whites as well as blacks but, given its inner-city location, had difficultly attracting either after the 1968 riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Beyond Words

There is an organization in south Chicago, at 400 West 95th Street, (near three Chicago Housing Authority communities, La Salle Food & Liquor, and Blowout Hair Studio) that provides child care and counsels troubled families.

It runs a Family Rescue Shelter for victims of domestic abuse, provides computer training for children and teens, helps needy children get basic school supplies, runs job fairs and trains the unemployed and underemployed in the skills they need to compete for jobs.

It conducts support groups for cancer patients and their families, educates the community about early detection and prevention, and helps dispel myths and fears about cancer. It provides professional family, group, crisis, and grief counseling.