Read more about Wright’s speech here.

For months of the presidential campaign, two controversial figures dogged President-elect Barack Obama: the candidate’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr., and his Hyde Park neighbor, 1960s radical William Ayers.

And for a few hours Friday night, the two were together in a venue other than a negative campaign ad: Cahn Auditorium at Northwestern.

Wright gave the keynote speech and answered questions at For Members Only’s “State of the Black Union” event.

Ayers was in the audience.

FMO had invited Wright to speak after President Henry Bienen decided to rescind an offer of an honorary degree in the wake of controversy last spring over Wright’s remarks in sermons at his church, Trinity United Church of Christ.

Wright’s speech Friday stayed away from the contentious issues of the 2008 campaign and touched only briefly on Obama’s election.

Instead, he spoke about the history of historically black colleges and universities, the black liberation movement of the 1960s and the importance of students bringing their education back to improve the black community. Wright’s hourlong talk drew applause and laughter in Cahn.

But during the question-and-answer session, Wright said Bienen’s decision to rescind the degree was “painful,” coming in the middle of a week when Wright’s remarks were played endlessly on the news.

Saying his family was “getting lynched” by the media, Wright called on the audience to correct any misinformation they might hear about him.

“Never in the history of this country has there been a demonization of a person like I’ve been demonized,” Wright said.

Ayers, in a similar position during the campaign, does not know Wright well. But the former Weather Underground leader said he felt both he and Wright had been badly characterized during the campaign, but they had survived with their dignity intact.

Read the full story in Monday’s DAILY.