AP
Who was that at one of the prime tables close by the podium on Monday morning as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright addressed the National Press Club? Why, none other than Cornel West, the Princeton professor, socialist thinker, sometime rapper (his CD, “Sketches of My Culture,” contributed to his public spat with former Harvard President Lawrence Summers) and actor (credited in “TheMatrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions”).
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And Wright must have been ready for him, because his remarks included West in a laundry list of civil rights leaders, from Adam Clayton Powell to Barbara Jordan.
As for Wright, who stayed at the Grand Hyatt on H Street, the controversial preacher was apparently taking no chances. He arrived at the Press Club in a four-car motorcade, and entered amid a security detail at least half a dozen strong.
When asked whether the club took additional measures for Wright’s visit, General Manager Bill McCarren said, “We do not discuss our security strategy for publication. Many of our guests have their own security. Rev. Wright was among them.”
