After President Joe Biden stepped aside on Sunday and Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, one of the first people she called was her longtime pastor, Amos Brown.
"She said to me, ‘Pastor, I called because I want you to pray for me … this country … and the race I am intending to run for president,’" Brown told the Christian publication Sojourners in an interview.
Harris and Brown, the longtime pastor of San Francisco’s Third Baptist Church, have known each other for nearly a quarter century, and the two have remained close throughout her vice presidency. In July of 2023, Harris posted a picture of the two to the vice president’s Instagram account and described Brown as "an inspiration to me always."
Less well known, however, is Brown’s history of radical, anti-American remarks that have elicited blowback even from San Francisco Democrats, including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi.
At a memorial service for victims of the 9/11 terror attacks held just six days after al Qaeda murdered nearly 3,000 Americans, Brown used the occasion to point the finger at the United States in remarks that, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, "set a lot of people’s teeth on edge" and "left politicians stunned."
"America, is there anything you did to set up this climate?" Brown asked the audience. "Ohhhh—America, what did you do?"
"America, what did you do two weeks ago when I stood at the world conference on racism, when you wouldn't show up?" Brown continued, referring to his participation in the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, which the United States and Israel boycotted citing concerns about anti-Semitism.
Brown’s diatribe jarred a mostly liberal audience, the Chronicle reported, noting that the late California senator Dianne Feinstein (D.) and former California governor Gray Davis (D.) left during his remarks.
Pelosi used her time on the dais to push back against Brown. "With all due respect to some of the sentiments that were earlier expressed—some of which I agree with—make no mistake … the act of terrorism on Sept. 11 put those people outside the order of civilized behavior, and we will not take responsibility for that," she said at the time.
Pelosi apologized to the partner of Mark Bingham, a 9/11 victim believed to have been part of a group of passengers who battled with the hijackers of Flight 93 and helped derail it into a Pennsylvania field.
"This was supposed to be a memorial service," Bingham’s partner of six years, Paul Holm, told former Sen. Barbara Boxer during the service.
Holm confirmed Pelosi and her staff "burst into tears" after Brown’s remarks, which he called "one of the most shocking things from a very dark period."
"For Amos Brown and his allies to make it worse was un-American," Holm told the Washington Free Beacon.
It is unclear when Harris joined Brown’s church or whether she was aware of his remarks. At the time, Harris was working for San Francisco city attorney Louise Renne ahead of her 2003 district attorney campaign. But his remarks caused a stir in San Francisco, drawing newspaper headlines such as, "Pelosi lays into minister for comments at service. Amos Brown's 'over the top' rant at tribute."
- Amos Brown's sermon criticized by Nancy Pelosi
Brown’s radical politics have also veered into anti-Semitism. He served as a delegate to the 2001 United Nations World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa, and best known for equating Zionism with racism. The United States and Israel walked out of the conference over that resolution, expressing dismay that a conference ostensibly devoted to combating hatred had devolved into a hate fest.
Some scholars have traced the roots of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement to a meeting in Tehran among NGOs to prepare for the Durban conference, which eventually issued a declaration calling for "a policy of complete and total isolation of Israel as an apartheid state."
Brown’s radicalism has also been on public display in the years since Harris joined his congregation. He serves on the California Reparations Task Force and has called for cash payments to the descendants of slaves from "billionaires in San Francisco," according to the New York Times. The pastor held a "Solidarity for Reparations" event at his church in 2022 and told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2021 that "America is a racist country."
The Harris-Brown relationship bears a resemblance to that of the one between former president Barack Obama and his longtime pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
During his 2008 presidential campaign, Obama faced intense scrutiny over Wright’s anti-American sermons, and the Obamas eventually left Wright’s Trinity United Church, where they had belonged for two decades.
Brown’s rhetoric has not alienated his high-profile congregant. He has visited Harris at the White House at least twice and told Religion News Service this week Harris remains a "dues-paying member" of his church.
"For two decades now, at least, I have turned to you," Harris said of Brown in her remarks to the National Baptist Convention 2022. "I have turned to him. And I will say that your wisdom has really guided me and grounded me during some of the most difficult times."