Obama adviser: American 'fairness,' 'equality' just wrong
Aaron Klein
The statements by Patel mark the latest in a series of controversial remarks about the U.S. to be reported by WND.
In February 2010, Obama named Patel to his Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Eboo Patel
Patel, a Muslim activist, is the founder and executive director of Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core, which says it promotes pluralism by teaming people of different faiths on service projects.
Speaking to the progressive Sojourners magazine, Patel described his early experience with the social action Catholic Worker movement founded by anarchist Dorothy Day.
"It is impossible for me to overstate the impact of Dorothy Day and Christian social justice work, because it came at such a fragile and flammable time of my life," he stated.
Continued Patel: "Basically, and this happens to a lot of people, you come to consciousness and realize that everything you were taught was wrong – about fairness, about equality, about Christopher Columbus, about Thomas Jefferson.
"At 17 or 18 years old, I raged. I felt like that was the only thing I knew how to do, and, to an extent, that was what was encouraged in the kind of identity politics/social justice crowds that were around."
May 22, 2011