Black Clergy Stand Their Ground Against Zimmerman Verdict

Black Voice News ^ | July 23, 2013 | Freddie Allen, Washington Correspondent

[2ndDivisionVet]

Just as they did during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, last Saturday’s demonstrations in more than 100 cities around the nation to protest the not guilty verdict for George Zimmerman on charges that he murdered 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, many ministers were in the forefront of protests at federal buildings in their communities.

They started off by standing with Rev. Al Sharpton who announced plans to contest “Stand Your Ground” laws in Florida and 28 other states. More than 20 Black clergy leaders joined Sharpton last week in front of the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. to express their concerns about the “Stand Your Ground” self-defense statutes and the dangerous message that the Zimmerman verdict carried.

Sharpton said that if we don’t change the “Stand Your Ground” laws, we risk having more Trayvon Martin cases, because the law emboldens people.

“There is a license through the George Zimmerman verdict that any White male that feels threatened can shoot a Black boy and be justified,” said Rev. Anthony Evans, president of the National Black Church Initiative. “We’re going to have to teach our boys how to be safe. We’re going to have to teach our young boys about what the law says what are their rights and how to protect themselves and using a buddy system. We’re going to have to do something significant to protect our young boys.”

Other Black pastors said it’s not just our young Black men that need an education, but also anyone that believes that the election of President Obama ushered in a new, post-racial chapter in American society.

“When people believe that race is not a factor in the Trayvon Martin case, when people believe that class and culture are not [factors] in this case, there is some serious education that needs to be done,” said Rev. Lisa Jenkins, pastor of Saint Matthews Baptist Church in Harlem.

Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, pastor of Empowerment Temple in Baltimore Md., said that many people fooled themselves into believing that now that we have a Black president, being Black is no longer an issue.

“That’s very far from the truth,” said Bryant.

Rev. L.B. West, pastor of the Mount Airy Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., said that Black clergy members have always played critical leadership roles in shaping local, state, and national dialogue surrounding social justice and civil rights issues. West added that it was also critical for their congregations to see that they also struggled with the not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. West said that he was personally angry that a young Black boy, that did nothing wrong, could lose his life, and no one is held accountable.

“It’s important for people to see that even spiritual people can have anger and it’s a righteous anger,” said West. The Washington pastor added that the anger surrounding the not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial needed to be channeled into constructive acts instead of destructive ones.

Sharpton’s National Action Network organized “Justice for Trayvon” vigils in 100 cities on Saturday, July 20. Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton joined Sharpton for the vigil and rally in New York City, N.Y.

Even though it’s important to honor the memory of Trayvon Martin, the Black pastors wanted to ensure that this tragic moment would not be lost to history.

Bryant said the laws and the climate that catapulted this case onto the international stage need to be addressed.

“I don’t want us to get so caught in the personality that we miss the principle,” said Bryant. “The principle is unequal sentencing and other [disparities] in the judicial system. There are 30 states under the banner of ‘stand your ground.’ It’s bigger than George Zimmerman. He’s just the representation of the principle of stand your ground. So, the focus has to be much bigger than that.”

Working with the Florida state legislators, the National Rifle Association and the American Legislative Exchange Council helped craft the controversial “Stand Your Ground” law in 2005. The law basically extended the “Castle doctrine” [a person’s home is his or her castle and can be defended with gunfire] to the streets, allowing a people in what they feel is a life-threatening situation outside of his home to defend themselves with deadly force, rather than retreat.

According to In the Public Interest, a resource center on privatization and public contracting, “ALEC plays an important role of providing corporations with valuable and unfettered access to state legislators. ALEC works with its members to draft model bills that state legislators can introduce and push in their states.”

The watchdog group said that ALEC eventually dismantled the task force that helped Florida state legislators craft its “Stand Your Ground” law, after coming under fire for also promoting controversial voter suppression laws.

During a national pastors’ conference in Miami, Fla., this week, Sharpton addressed a number of key issues that came to light during the George Zimmerman trial, including ALEC’s involvement in shaping “Stand Your Ground” laws across the nation. Even though, many of the pastors present at the news conference last week hinted at boycotting companies that financially support ALEC, no specific plans had been developed at that time.

The Black pastors pushed back on the notion that Black leaders are simply fanning racial flames instead of addressing the crime and gun violence that claims the lives of thousands of young Black males in our nation’s largest cities.

“All across the country in urban centers and cities across the country there have been people raising their voices around violence. In New York City, in Chicago, in Philadelphia, it’s not just one time,” said Rev. Michael Walrond, senior pastor at First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem. “Because of the national scene and the national view of the Trayvon Martin case any reaction we have to it, any engagement we have with it, is going to have larger-than-life proportions.”

Walrond added that organizations, across the country have been dealing with violence in the Black community. Unfortunately, those smaller movements just don’t make it into the newspapers.

Bryant’s Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, Md., will host a gun buy-back program on Tuesday, August 6.

Rev. Frederick Haynes, senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, said that it’s unfair to point fingers at the young men who are the victims and perpetrators of most of the crime in our communities, without pointing a finger at those who create the insufferable conditions that force those young men to make tough choices.

“In darkness crimes, will be committed,” said Haynes. “You just don’t indict those that commit the crimes you also go after those who cause the darkness. The darkness is poverty, the darkness is a lack of options, the lack of opportunities, the darkness is a lack of a quality education and until we address the darkness, crimes will be committed.”

Haynes continued: “We do our part in terms of mentoring our young men and showing them a better way, but if they do not have options, because of economic, educational, political and social injustice, then the sad reality is that there’s darkness that will be created, where the crimes will be committed.”

[Artcore]

Notice the words, social justice? That tells you everything you need to know about these so-called “pastors.”
____________________________________________________

Exactly!

Whenever I hear the words “Social Justice” my skin crawls! Marxism pure and simple!

[onyx]

You’re right.

[re_nortex]

...these alleged pastors should be preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

That's an important point and one often overlooked when the topic of "Reverend" Martin Luther King, Junior comes up. During his last days on earth, was MLK preaching the Gospel? No. He was advocating for a government union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. That's not very Christlike in my opinion.

The "social gospel" is a false gospel.

[re_nortex]

These Revs make me want to puke!

The reality is that they are servants of Satan. As is the case with Islam's "theology", the liberal social "gospel" favored by these blacks is not from God.

[Yosemitest]

It's NOT about RACE !
It's about IDEOLOGY !

WHO was Anthony Johnson of the 1600s ?

WHO was John Casor ( Caster ) 1655 ?

WHY doesn't the media tell you about WHITE SLAVES owned by Blacks in the the United States ?

Why isn't White Slavery, Maternal Descent, And The Politics Of Slavery In The Antebellum United States, written by Lawrence Tenzer and A.D. Powell, REQUIRED READING in High School ?

Watch these videos:

David Barton - Three-Fifths clause was anti-slavery, not pro


PART 1 Glenn Beck: History of Slavery (08-19-2010).flv


PART 2 Glenn Beck: History of Slavery (08-19-2010).flv


PART 3 Glenn Beck: History of Slavery (08-19-2010).flv


PART 4 Glenn Beck: History of Slavery (08-19-2010).flv


Glenn Beck -6/14/2011- Slavery and the GOP Debate

How much more do you need to prove to yourself that (?) :

DEMOCRATS ARE LIARS !
and DEMOCRATS ARE ENSLAVING YOU !

[Yosemitest]

Bookmarked.

[VerySadAmerican]

These peoople say they’re not racists yet they always want black men to mentor black boys. If we’re all one race, a white man can mentor a black kid. Oh, wait a second. They want to make sure the little boys learn about the black culture and how to speak and how to walk and all that.

“You know how a pimp learns to walk? The parents always keep chickens around the house. It’s true!

[imardmd1]

Here's my comment to that site:

""Pastors" who cling to a lying account are not fit for the commission of preaching The Truth, and deny the lawful finding of fact and the verdict demanded by it. Trayvon Martin was a fledging felon who committed serious battery on a rightfully appointed community member, and received the just reward his vicious criminal act deserved. Anybody denying this is a not fit to preach the Gospel of the Bible."

[Maudeen]

Maybe the case needs to be reopened as a civil rights issue or hate crime.

[dps.inspect]

Black churches are the most irrational bastions of emotionalism on the planet. Black pastors are generally a stand-in for God and when they preach their Jeeeesus, they’re thinking of a black superhero layin’ the wood on white society. And when you see a black pastor driving his customized, gold striped, Cadi with spinner wheels, you know dey preeechin it right. One sure-fire way for a black man to Move-On-Up in this world is to build a flock around victimization, then he can fleece the flock as often as he needs.

[maddogtiger]

These guys are leaders in their communities. They need to open their eyes and see that the Emperor is naked. All around them is scattered black culture; from the needles in the gutters to the rap that is hollowing out their brains.Anything that whites hold dear the blacks reject. Black culture became toxic to blacks in the 60’s.

[Wiser now]

Not too long ago I read a story about a town somewhere in central America that had a Saturday night fiesta get out of control, ending in a melee that resulted in two men dead.
The next morning at Mass, the priest began with a fiery demand to know:
“Why aren’t you people keeping a better eye on yours sons?”
Whether the black church leaders like it or not, it is their job to be preaching against the immorality of the black culture, not excusing it. There are a few pastors preaching the truth, James Manning and Jesse Peterson, the rest of them need to get on their knees and seek forgiveness for their own culpability in the tragedy that is black America today.

[WashingtonSource]

Black Clergy have been mostly a disgrace in addressing the collapse of the family among members of their congregation and the descent of vast swaths of the populations they serve into crime and degeneracy. Hey clergy: get a clue and stop hiding your heads in the sand.

[ladyjane]

any White male that feels threatened can shoot a Black boy

Yes, any person who feels his/her life is threatened can use self-defense.

Why does that stick in the reverends' craw?

[marktwain]

“There is a license through the George Zimmerman verdict that any White male that feels threatened can shoot a Black boy and be justified,”

Reverend, I would ask you: who is more in danger, a white man walking in a black neighborhood or a black man walking in a white neighborhood.

Black men seem much more willing to attack white people than the other way around.

[Coldwater Creek]

I truly believe that the USA has looked evil in the face and embraced it. Conservatives worse enemy is apathy on our part. Great piece!

[peeps36]

They focus on Zimmerman while their communities are burning down all around them. What a bunch of frauds. Drugs, crime, murder,ignorance and shattered families are real problems in black communities but it's easier to play the race card.

[Artcore]

“They focus on Zimmerman while their communities are burning down all around them. What a bunch of frauds. Drugs, crime, murder,ignorance and shattered families are real problems in black communities but it’s easier to play the race card.”
_____________________________________________

Well said.

[Artcore]

The reality is that they are servants of Satan. As is the case with Islam’s “theology”, the liberal social “gospel” favored by these blacks is not from God.
____________________________________________________

Yep!

I always cringe when I hear the word “social” mixed in with religion. These black ministers should be taking “their” community to task; instead they make excuses and play the race card. Their brand of religion has no room for God.

[School of Rational Thought]

And these “clergy” have tax exempt status how?