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Jeremiah Wright, Angela Y. Davis coming to Philly confab

“Black Radical Tradition” event kicks off with discussions on “the Black Prophetic voice in a Morally Broken World” at Mother Bethel AME Church.

T HIS WEEKEND, Philadelphia and Temple University will host a conference on the "Black Radical Tradition" that will bring activists and faith leaders including the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Obama's former pastor in Chicago, and Angela Y. Davis, the philosophy professor placed on the FBI's Most Wanted List in 1970.

A link on the conference's website says Davis made that list "on false charges."

Planning for the conference, officially known as "Reclaiming Our Future: The Black Radical Tradition in Our Time," began last September in the wake of a new era of protest, largely by young African Americans and supporters in the wake of several killings by police and others of black men, women and children.

Former Temple University professor Anthony Monteiro said he and other academics believed it important to grapple with the future of African American Studies programs across the United States.

"It's time to reconsider what African American Studies is in light of the new movement of Black Lives Matter and the police killings," Monteiro said.

He said such programs are being watered down.

"African American Studies is in crisis at many universities," he said. "They are being defunded and being allowed to die."

Most events will take place on Temple's campus at Anderson Hall, Berks Street at 11th, tomorrow through Sunday. The conference starts from 6 to 9 tonight with discussions at Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, Sixth and Lombard Streets.

The opening plenary session at Mother Bethel, "The Black Prophetic Voice in a Morally Broken World," will feature Wright, from whom Obama distanced himself during his first presidential campaign.

After his speech, Wright is to take part in a one-on-one conversation with the Rev. Renee McKenzie, pastor of the Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia.

The Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, pastor at Mother Bethel, said he had suggested that the conference on radical thought include a day to discuss the role of faith and religion in the struggle for human rights.

"We've domesticated religion," Tyler said. "We don't let it breathe the way it does in the text and the scripture."

Tyler has taken part in numerous protests, both in Philadelphia and in Ferguson, Mo., as a member of POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower and Rebuild).

Among activists expected to attend are the Dream Defenders, a group of young people who began a sit-in protest at the Florida governor's office to protest that state's "Stand Your Ground" law and the initial lack of prosecution of George Zimmerman in the February 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin, 17.

Also slated to speak at Temple is James Dupree, who fought Philadelphia's efforts to seize his art studio at 36th Street and Haverford Avenue in Mantua. Dupree will speak Saturday during a discussion of gentrification.

More information:

theblackradicaltradition.org/

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On Twitter: @ValerieRussDN