5 things to know about Kamala Harris' pastor

2. Suggests the US bears responsibility for 9/11 terror attacks

At a memorial service for victims who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Brown asked a series of rhetorical questions designed to imply that the attacks that killed thousands of Americans and forever changed day-to-day life in the U.S. were justified because of domestic and foreign policy embraced by the country.

“America, is there anything you did to set up this climate?” he asked. “What did you do — either intentionally or unintentionally — in the world order, in Central America, in Africa where bombs are still blasting?”

Brown also singled out what he described as the failure of the U.S. to “embrace the smaller nations” at a “global warming conference” and a failure to “show up” at the “world conference on racism.” While Brown’s remarks were given in San Francisco, a notoriously progressive and anti-war city, they left a poor taste in the mouth of many of the elected officials who represented the city of San Francisco and the state of California at the state and federal level. 

The San Francisco Gate reported that then-Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and California’s then-Democrat Gov. Gray Davis got up and walked out of the room during Brown’s speech. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who has represented San Francisco in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly four decades, rebuked Brown’s comments in an address given later during the service. 

“With all due respect to some of the sentiments that were earlier expressed — some of which I agree with — make no mistake (about it) ... 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.