by UrbanFaith Staff | Aug 25, 2014 | Headline News |
ST. LOUIS (RNS) Justice was a recurring theme as thousands of mourners packed the mammoth Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church on Monday (Aug. 25) for the funeral of Michael Brown, a black teen whose fatal shooting following a confrontation with a white police officer set off weeks of sometimes violent protests.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, among the speakers, called for a “fair and impartial investigation” into the shooting.
“We are not anti-police, we respect police,” Sharpton said. “But those police that are wrong need to be dealt with just like those in our community who are wrong need to be dealt with.”
Benjamin Crump, a lawyer representing Brown’s family, alluded to the “three-fifths” clause in the Constitution for counting slaves (which actually was an anti-slavery clause) and demanded that Brown get “full justice, not three-fifths justice.”
Brown’s body was being laid to rest, but the controversy surrounding the Aug. 9 shooting was far from over. Prosecutors have not determined whether the Ferguson police officer, 28-year-old Darren Wilson, will face charges in Brown’s death.
The service began with energy, including songs from a church choir and Scripture readings. The line from Scripture: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” drew loud applause.
Several family members shared stories of Brown, telling how the 18-year-old had promised to make something of himself.
Michael “stated to the family that one day the world would know his name. He did not know he was offering up a divine prophecy,” Brown’s cousin, Eric Davis, told the crowd. “But we are here today remembering the name of Michael Brown.”
Davis encouraged people to express their anger at the polls.
“Every time change has come, it’s come through the youth and the young generation,” Davis said. “This generation is saying we have had enough of this senseless killing. We have had enough of this.”
Michael Brown’s step mother, Cal Brown, said Michael shared similar memories. “Mike-Mike,” as he was called, had promised to “shake the world.”
She said he had been dreaming of death and bloody sheets just days before he died.
Michael Brown Sr., had urged supporters not to protest Monday out of respect for his son. Sharpton also discouraged violent protest, saying anyone involved in such activity must do so in their own name, not Michael Brown’s name.
The request was a hard sell outside the church, where members of the New Black Panther Party and Panthers for Justice started brief “Black Power” chants, fists punching the air.
Bila Mohammad, of Panthers for Justice, said he wished Michael Brown’s family hadn’t discouraged protests. “This is the day,” he said. “The community needs to come together, in a non-violent way.”
He added: “There will be more protests. … In the words of Malcolm X, ‘When you tell your people to put their guns down, we’ll put ours down, too.”
Earlier, mourners began lining up under a blistering sun more than three hours before the funeral.
One half hour before the service, police informed visitors that the church had reached its 2,500-person capacity. They directed them to an adjacent auditorium that seats 1,000 people. Soon that room also was overflowing with mourners. A 300-seat annex also filled quickly.
A few hundred visitors unable to get into the service milled around outside cordially, allowing family members to enter and chatting with one another. One woman passed out small green and purple ribbons that people pinned to their shirts. But anger simmered under the surface.
Quincy Harts, 40, of St. Louis, was outside the church wearing a T-shirt with Brown’s picture and the words: “No Justice, No Peace.”
He said he’ll respect the family’s wishes of no protests — for now.
“Ain’t nobody too happy about this,” Harts said. “You’re going to see more protests until (Wilson) goes to jail.”
Angela Jones-Peaks, 43, of nearby Jennings, asked her supervisor for a few hours off Monday morning to attend the service. Having two sons of her own motivated her to attend, she said.
“It’s scary every time they leave home,” Jones-Peaks said. “I wanted to support this family, let them know we’re here for them.”
Copyright 2014 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be reproduced without written permission.
by UrbanFaith Staff | Aug 23, 2014 | Headline News |
Things are looking up for Southside Chicago. Jackie Robinson West beat Philadelphia 6-5 Thursday night in Little League World Series. (NBC)
Uzo Aduba wins first creative arts Emmy Award for ‘Orange is the New Black.’(Colorlines)
Black women owned businesses have increased by 258 percent in the past 16 years. (ForHarriet)
Georgia teens create app to document police abuse. (For Harriet)
Miraculous recoveries took place this week as both American Ebola patients were released from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. (AJC)
by UrbanFaith Staff | Aug 18, 2014 | Headline News |
Activist and television show host Rev. Al Sharpton speaks at Greater Grace Church in Florissant on Sunday (Aug. 17), during a rally for justice for an unarmed teen shot by Darren Wilson, a Ferguson police officer. Protests and anger have broken out in the Ferguson Community since Michael Brown, an unarmed teen, was shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson last Saturday. (Photo Credit: Christian Gooden, courtesy of St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
FERGUSON, Mo. (RNS) Civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton told a packed church on Sunday (Aug. 17) that the Michael Brown case would mark a defining moment in civil rights history and fundamentally change the way police engage with the African-American community.
“Michael Brown is going to change this town,” Sharpton said to a massive, boisterous crowd that clapped and shouted in response.
Hundreds filled the pews of Greater Grace Church. More crowded into the foyer, and hundreds remained on the parking lot unable to enter, all in a show of support for the African-American teenager who was shot by a police officer on Aug. 9.
Sharpton announced a future march in Washington on policing. He criticized the militarization of police, saying they act as if they are “at war with … citizens.” Sharpton urged the crowd to start showing up at the polls to vote and make a difference in the lives of African-Americans.
“Nobody can go to the White House unless they stop by our house,” Sharpton said. “We’ll be here until justice is achieved.”
In addition to Sharpton, Capt. Ronald S. Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol, who took over the police security patrol in Ferguson last week, was on hand to offer support to Brown’s family, as was U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis.
“I want you to know these parents are not going to cry alone, they’re not going to stand alone,” Sharpton said, referring to Brown’s parents, who were also at the church. “We’ve had enough.”
Benjamin Crump, the Brown family’s lawyer, also took the stage.
“We’re here to talk about justice,” said Crump. “We’re here to stand up for our children, because if we don’t stand up for our children, nobody will stand up for our children. They just want what anyone else would want if their child was shot in broad daylight,” he said.
When Johnson of the Highway Patrol spoke he compared Brown to his own son.
“When this is over I’m going to go into my son’s room, my black son, who wears his pants sagging, wears his hat cocked to the side, got tattoos on his arms. But that’s my baby,” Johnson said. “Michael is going to make it better for our sons, so they can be better men.”
Crump told supporters not to lose focus amid news that Brown is alleged to have robbed a convenience store just before the shooting. He called the allegations an attempt to assassinate Brown’s character.
Sharpton first took the stage with the Brown family receiving a standing ovation. Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, overwhelmed by the response, bowed her head, breaking down in tears.
As at previous forums, Sharpton urged demonstrators protesting Brown’s death to do so in a peaceful manner.
He also said Ferguson residents would take to the streets with bright yellow T-shirts, calling themselves “Disciples of Justice,” or DJs, to help contain any violence on the streets.
Sharpton announced a class-action lawsuit for demonstrators who had been victims of tear gas and other injuries at the hands of police, though he gave few specifics.
People turned out with families, babies in strollers and children on shoulders.
Laronda Hodges, 46, a counselor for St. Louis Public Schools, was outside the church with her husband and 13-year-old daughter. “I just want to be a part of making a difference,” Hodges said. Nothing seems to change, she added, pointing to discrepancies in pay, in positions, in elected offices.
One pocket of people huddled around a radio station van broadcasting what was being said inside the church.
But not everyone was happy with Sharpton’s speech.
“He always wants to hush us without handling the whole situation,” said Zsazzi Powell, 27, a stay-at-home mother in Ferguson. “We’re tired of all the pacifying.”
Alicia Berry, 38, a teacher, said Sharpton should pressure the media to not always emphasize the negative. She said the media had paid too much attention to the looting that happened last week, rather than shining a light on those who had worked hard to keep the rallies safe.
“Every race has its handful of fools,” she said.
Berry called Sharpton’s speech “powerful” but said she wanted to know — “What’s going to happen after this?”
(Lilly Fowler is the religion reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Reach her on Twitter.)
by UrbanFaith Staff | Aug 15, 2014 | Headline News |
(RNS) In cities large and small, people across America came together to silently remember Michael Brown, a teen none knew in life but whose death Saturday sparked a wave of unrest in his Missouri hometown and raised questions about racial profiling and police militarization.
Attendees wore red ribbons to honor Brown, 18, at Thursday (Aug. 14) evening rallies from Maine to Michigan, Florida to New York, Vermont, Colorado and California.
Many shared their stories of alleged police brutality, and called for a new compact between officers and civilians.
Brown, who was black, was shot dead by a police officer Saturday (Aug. 9) in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson. While local police have released few details about the circumstances of Brown’s death, his body lay in the street for hours. His death has drawn increasing national attention, first from civil unrest by furious residents, and then an increasingly heavy-handed police presence fueled by heavy social media attention.
Kenny Wiley, a youth minister who helped organize a vigil in Denver said Brown’s death is the most recent demonstration of what he called the “systemic inequality” facing young black men in America. Wiley, who is black, said the system feels stacked against some people who pay the price with their lives.
“It wasn’t in our city, but this is our country, our world,” said Wiley, 26. “We want to stand up and say enough is enough, and to mourn those who have lost their lives.” Wiley led about 100 people through a vigil that included the out-loud listing of names of black men killed by police and chants of “hands up, don’t shoot.”
In Greenville, S.C., about 200 people, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, gathered on a plaza in front of the Peace Center for the Performing Arts.
“This struggle has depth and breadth and history,” Jackson, a Greenville native, told the crowd. “And if the impact of his death wakes you up, he’s made a contribution.”
Jackson recalled as a child the lynching of a black mentally retarded man in 1947 in nearby Pickens County and called the shooting death of Michael Brown “a state execution.”
“If it’s done by an official with a badge on and a gun, it is a state execution,” he said.
Jackson said he was in town to visit his mother when he heard about the rally, organized by two young black men.
“This is a wake-up call,” he said. “I find a certain fascination with watching these young men and women be born again.
“This is the day of your birth,” he told Ricky Pulley, one of the organizers. “You were just now born again.”
Eric Wood, a white 51-year-old business owner from Greenville, held up a sign that said “Remember!” and “Protect & Serve. No one is above the law.”
“I’m a law-and-order guy,” he said. “I believe in the police, but there are bad cops.”
Ryan Thomas, a 31-year-old auto technician from Greenville, said he felt that if he didn’t take a stand here, far from Ferguson, that something like what happened to Brown could happen in Greenville.
“It’s a problem everywhere,” he said. “It’s not just one city, one state.”
At Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., Joann Mitchell, a 53-year-old mother of a young boy, was on the verge of tears imploring the crowd to do more than get angry.
“All this here,” she said, gesturing to poster boards with the faces of some police shooting victims, “is because we didn’t do nothing. You’ve got to stop. You’ve got to hold on to each other.”
She went on, “Vote. Stop letting them do it to us. Go to school, get your education and stop this, because no one else can stop it.”
In Indianapolis, Tiffany Pettiford brought her 8-year-old son, Joseph Duerson, to a rally in downtown’s Monument Circle that drew about 100 people. As the mother of a young black boy, Pettiford said, she lives with worry for her son.
“He could just be walking down the street in 10 years, minding his own business, matching the description of someone who did do something wrong, and all of a sudden it’s ‘Stop! Put your hands in the air!’,” she said. “And with his autism, he might get scared and run.”
In Burlington, Vt., Davaki Chayut said she felt “pretty frustrated and hopeless” over the militarization of police forces.
“I think it’s important as a community to speak for those who are not being heard, to speak for those who are persecuted, and it’s so complicated,” Chayut said.
The vigil in Phoenix took place on a sultry evening at Eastlake Park, a longtime hub for civil rights rallies and African-American events. There was no visible police presence. Names of alleged brutality victims were recited aloud, followed by a moment of silence.
“What’s it really mean to have justice?” asked Tia Oso, a co-organizer. “What’s it really mean to have justice? That’s why we’re here today.”
(Trevor Hughes writes for USA Today. Also contributing: Dennis Wagner of The Arizona Republic, Ron Barnett, The Greenville (S.C.) News, Dustin Racioppi, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, Elizabeth Murrray of the Burlington (Vt.) Free Press, Diana Penner of the Indianapolis Star.)
Copyright 2014 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be reproduced without written permission.
by UrbanFaith Staff | Aug 14, 2014 | Feature, Headline News |
2014 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
FERGUSON, Mo. (RNS) On the fourth morning after Michael Brown’s death, residents from different parts of the region came together to pick up the pieces.
Some were young, some old. The majority arrived as part of the faithful. Others trickled in after spotting volunteers marching up and down West Florissant under the hot sun. Carrying brooms and large garbage bags, they collected whatever they could find: rubber bullets, broken glass, liquor bottles, tear gas grenades.
“I needed to come out today just to get some stability,” said Gary Park, 34, an auto mechanic who lives near the area in Ferguson where Brown was shot and protests erupted. Close by is the looted and burned QuikTrip that sits as a symbol of the severity of the unrest that resulted from an unnamed cop fatally shooting an unarmed 18-year-old.
“I wanted some encouragement,” Park said.
Park is a member of Passage Community Church in Florissant, which together with a few other local congregations, organized the Wednesday morning cleanup. Pastor Joe Costephens said that although the trash-collecting effort was a last-minute plan, more than 100 people joined the endeavor.
It was a simple act but not an insignificant one, especially since authorities reported two shootings only the night before. In fact, the continued violence has put future volunteer efforts on hold, Costephens said.
Elise Park, 31, a stay-at-home mom, arrived with her two young children who were excited by the novelty of using garbage pickers.
“I was very encouraged coming out here today, seeing all the groups helping,” Park said. “It’s an opportunity for me to invest and really become part of the community.”
Others, including a group of 20 somethings, came out to help on their own.
Larry Fellows, 28, of Ferguson, said that since the shooting he’s been doing what he can to spread a little cheer. Together with a group of friends, Fellows walks the neighborhood’s roads, handing out free water, snacks and cleaning supplies.
Fellows, who works for a health care company, said recent demonstrations aren’t just about the Michael Brown shooting.
“This has been building up for years,” he said.
He said he’s even offered supplies to police, but authorities rebuffed his offers.
Fellows believes that attitude is part of the reason the community remains angry.
“We’re the enemy.”
In an attempt to inspire compassion, another volunteer, Derrick Spencer of St. Louis, said he planned to return a sign to his truck’s windshield that recites a line from the New Testament: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
“We can’t take justice into our own hands,” Spencer said. Those who loot businesses are doing so at the expense of Michael Brown, he said.
After working for two hours, nearly 20 people gathered in the parking lot of First Baptist Church in Ferguson and held hands in prayer. They prayed for the family of Michael Brown and for businesses in the area that have been damaged by the riots.
Michael Williams of St. Louis, who described himself as a troubled individual who had managed to reset his life, was among those in the crowd. He said he wanted to show that “everybody is not about the rioting. Everybody is not about the destruction.”
Williams said he knows there are good police officers out there. “Most of us believe in doing the right thing, but this came to a boiling point,” he said.
(Lilly Fowler is the religion reporter at The Post-Dispatch. Follow her on Twitter.)
Copyright 2014 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be reproduced without written permission.
