I’ve followed this case since it hit the press two years ago. Jeri Lynne Wright, the daughter of President Barack Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was sentenced to two years in prison for money laundering and lying to federal investigators and a grand jury. I kept asking myself, why is this story so important? Why is this story national news? The obvious answer is the link to our president. I’m in it for something else. I’m in it for the stink of Christian hypocrisy.
The story is about religion people running a religious charity while enriching themselves at the public trough. It’s about lying, cheating and stealing. It’s about breaking the basic promise of Christianity. It’s about hypocrisy and its beautiful in a way.
Wright was the last player in this drama to go to trial. The major players were already convicted and in prison. She never really had a chance, even though she denies doing anything wrong. The case was irrefutable. She took money for work that she never did and then lied about it. It really is a simple case and her lies and denials point towards deeper problems.
Her character witnesses were two pastors, her sister and a her daughter. All were shocked that such a good Christian would do such a thing. The defense claimed she has a personality disorder and insists that she lives in a state of denial.
Her crimes started with accepting funds and then came the lies.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Bass said Regina Evans, who was sentenced to five years in prison after she pleaded guilty, was the mastermind of the scheme to siphon more than $900,000 from a $1.25 million state grant intended to fund job training. Ronald Evans Jr. was sentenced to one year and McCoy to six months in prison and six months home confinement for their actions.
- via NBC Chicago
Wright, a minor player in the scheme, accepted funds from We Are Our Brother’s Keeper, a christian charity owned by Regina Evans and her husband Ronald Evans Jr. The funds came from an education grant issued by the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity and targeted for retraining within the local community. Wright accepted the funds, but she never did any work. In fact, We Are Our Brother’s Keeper was a scam setup to enrich the Christians who ran it, along with “good Christian” Jeri Wright, who took her piece of the action because she could.
Christianity and religion are wrapped around this scam like a cloak meant to obscure a thief. The case is Christian hypocrisy at its finest and I would have never learned of it if not for the link to Write’s infamous father and his link to our President.