by UrbanFaith Staff | Jan 15, 2015 | Feature, Headline News |
c. 2014 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
WELLSTON, Mo. (RNS) They filed into the gym Monday (Jan. 12) for an assembly about graduation and applying for colleges — an intentionally vague description that wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for a senior class.
Instead, the seniors at Normandy High School learned that full-tuition scholarships would be given to 11 of them in honor of Michael Brown, who graduated just days before he was fatally shot by a Ferguson police officer.
Ferguson’s death — and the subsequent grand jury decision not to charge the white officer with his death — set off protests and heightened racial tensions coast to coast, followed by a similar case of a unarmed black man on Staten Island who died in a police chokehold.
“The way we deal with this situation is we breathe life into you,” said George T. French, president of Miles College in Birmingham, Ala., which is offering two of the scholarships. “We believe in you, Normandy High School seniors.”
More than a dozen local and national church leaders sat in folding chairs on the gym floor, inside a high-poverty school south of Ferguson where opportunity runs short and paying for college doesn’t come easily for most.
The scholarships would cover four years’ tuition at colleges and universities operated by each of the three African-American Methodist denominations: African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion and Christian Methodist Episcopal. And the scholarships would target not necessarily the top students, but those who want to go to college and wouldn’t otherwise have the chance.
The idea came from a meeting in North Carolina last month. Leaders were lamenting that, unlike during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the religious community at large hasn’t played much of a role in the Ferguson movement, said the Rev. Jamal Bryant of Baltimore, who was at that meeting and who has been part of some Ferguson protests.
“This is a young people’s movement,” Bryant said. “We figured the best way to help support that was to educate them.”
Sitting with church leaders were Michael Brown Sr., and his wife, Cal Brown. Their foundation, Michael Brown Chosen for Change, is partnering with the denominations in awarding the scholarships. Doing this “means a lot,” Brown Sr. said.
Normandy seniors must apply for the scholarships. Fort Valley State University in Georgia and Texas College are the other colleges offering the full rides. They will be awarded at graduation in May.
Ahniya Gilmore said she’ll be applying. “Some people don’t get the opportunity for scholarships,” she said. “It tells us that we can make it.”
(Elisa Crouch writes for The Post-Dispatch in St. Louis)
Copyright 2015 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be reproduced without written permission.
by Nicole Symmonds, Urban Faith Contributing Writer | Jan 13, 2015 | Headline News |
This poster reads, “I am Charlie–let’s not forget the victims of Boko Haram.” Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images
For the past week Nigeria has been ravaged by violence as never seen before. Just last week it was alleged that a 2,000 person massacre took place at the hands of Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. This is considered Nigeria’s deadliest massacre and it took place over the course of one day–Jan. 3 and by Monday bodies were still littering the streets. Recently Nigerian officials stated that approximately 150 people were killed and not the figure of 2,000 that is being bandied about in the few news stories that have covered the situation in Nigeria. But should the number matter? Furthermore, the 150-2,000 lives lost is not all. Over the weekend it was alleged that Boko Haram sent little girls to blow themselves up in public markets resulting in the loss of their lives as well as other innocent bystanders. And yet, in all of this, we are still hard-pressed to get consistent, upfront coverage about Nigeria–certainly not on the level of say the “Je suis Charlie” campaign which is a result of the terrorist attacks on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
What is most daunting about the situation in Nigeria is that, soon enough, it will be one year since the Nigerian girls were kidnapped and, by then, we may not see their return. Though April 15 is quite some ways away, it doesn’t seem probable that those girls will be brought back nor does it seem probable that enough people–particularly mainstream media–are going to be concerned about their return. It is more probable that another hashtag for another campaign will be created before we resolve the issues of the last hashtag. It is also more probable that Western media will dictate our concern and have us up in arms about 12 people who were killed in Paris while they desensitize us to the almost daily slaughtering in places such as Nigeria. In a way it is like saying, “We don’t expect this to happen in Paris, but this is par for the course in developing and third-world nations.”
What then are we to say and do with the response and/or lack thereof to the violence that has beset the people of Nigeria? “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
It has become far too easy to complain about the lack of coverage mainstream media gives to issues such as Nigeria and if we continue to complain about it we will run ourselves ragged. Instead it is time for us to step up to the plate and be the ones making this news important. Just as many mobilized to make #BlackLivesMatter a force to be reckoned with–and it still is in 2015–we must make #IAmNigeria, #PrayforNigeria, #BringBackOurGirls, and other black and African-centered campaigns the new normal and not wait for anyone else–particularly the mainstream–to do it for us.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are Nigeria. We, especially, African Americans and Black people living in America surely share more with our brothers and sisters in Nigeria and other parts of Africa than we do with other campaigns we support. This is not to minimize the importance of also standing in solidarity with the people of Paris as they grieve for the lives lost, but we must be steadfast and unmovable in our fight for a most fundamental freedom. That freedom is the freedom for a black person to live, move, and have their being as those who also share the signifier of being children of God just as their white counterparts do. A freedom, it can be argued, is a bit more significant that fighting for the freedom of press and speech that allows someone to pen and sketch potentially racist and offensive images.
Maybe it is time for us to make a resolution to ourselves that before we complain about what someone isn’t doing–like what the various media outlets aren’t doing to cover Nigeria–we exhaust ourselves in finding those who are doing something. We are fortunate to exist in a moment where social media allows people to mobilize quickly around news that isn’t being covered by large outlets. Find those spaces, share what people are doing and saying, and watch how others take notice. In doing so we may find that we don’t have to wait for the news but we create it and show those mainstream outlet what is really–or also–important.
We are who we’ve been waiting for. Will you step up and answer the call?
In the meantime, here are some organizations to follow on social media who do well at staying on top of issues that don’t immediately make breaking news:
@BYP100
@TheDreamDefenders
@CapitalFM_Kenya
If you have others, please share in the comments below.
