July 5, 2015

Church Fires Really Fire Me Up
By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - It’s possible lightening may have caused one of the fires.  Another may be the result of faulty electricity.  Still, in the past couple of weeks, there were fires at churches in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ohio and Tennessee.  At least two have been ruled arson by local fire departments.  Several are still being investigated.  Is it a coincidence that churches are burning in the days since the massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina?

President Obama spoke to the historical importance of Black churches when he eulogized Rev. Clementa Pinckney.  The church, he said, “is and always has been the center of African American life.”  He went on to describe Black churches as “hush harbors” for enslaved people, “praise houses where their free descendants could gather and shout hallelujah, rest stops for the weary along the Underground Railroad, bunkers for the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights movement”.  To set fire to a black church, to kill people in a Black church, to bomb a church strikes at the very heart of our community.  These acts of terrorism are meant to intimidate, to send a message. 

That these recent fires have happened in the wake of protests against the vile Confederate flag, suggests that these fires may be pushback from the protests, a continuation of work of the man who murdered nine people in Emanuel AME church.  Whoever is burning churches, though, forgets that it is not 1815, but 2015. The intimidation tactics that worked during slavery won’t work now.

These church burnings fire me up.  They ought to fire us all up.  The burnings ought to spark a resistance to racism unlike any we have seen in the past.   These church fires ought to infuse us with the passion of Bree Newsome, the African-American woman who climbed up a pole and snatched the Confederate flag from a pole outside the South Carolina statehouse.  She didn’t wait for Governor Nikki Haley to take the Confederate flag down; she was too fired up to wait.  After all, Haley’s post-massacre announcement that the flag will no longer fly on statehouse grounds is symbolic until the South Carolina legislature votes to take the flag down.  Meanwhile, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, not needing legislative approval, ordered four Confederate flags to be taken down from the state's capitol grounds.

A South Carolina woman, Edith S. Childs, came up with a slogan when candidate Obama visited Greenwood, South Carolina (population about 23,000) for an event that drew a scant 20 people.  To energize the small crowd, Childs walked through the crowd attempting to fire them up.  The call and response phrase, “fired up, ready to go” not only galvanized the small gathering, but became a central chant of Obama’s 2008 campaign.  Used everywhere from civil rights gatherings to country clubs, “fired up” captured the energy of the first Obama campaign.  Indeed, organizations used the “fired up” slogan to get people out to vote, to work on issues other than the Obama campaign, to symbolize the energy needed for change.

In the wake of these church burnings, the righteous need to be fired up and ready to go in dismantling the racism that has plagued our nation since its founding.  We need to collectively debunk the myth that the Confederate flag is about history and heritage – it is simply about white supremacy.  We need to go to school boards, especially in the South, to demand curriculum revisions when young people are force-fed inaccurate history about the Civil War.  We need to put those employers “on blast” when they can’t “find” any African-Americans to hire.  We ought to encourage the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) to ensure that those who get federal contracts comply with the law — that those who get federal contracts do affirmative action hiring.

The Mother Emanuel massacre demonstrates that racism is alive and well in these United States. We experience it everywhere we turn, from our national statues (fewer than 10 Black women are commemorated in public statues) to persistent housing segregation.  Too many of us have accepted this racism, or feel powerless to fight it.  Thus, it persists.

July 5, 2015

From Symbol to Substance - Is a New South Coming?
By Jesse Jackson

July 5, 2015

To Be Equal 

The Amazing Grace of Clementa Pinckney and the Mother Emanuel Nine

By Marc H. Morial

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “They were still living by faith when they died, Scripture tells us. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on Earth.” – President Barack Obama, Eulogy for the Honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney, June 2015

The lives of six women and three men were cut short under a hail of bullets from the gun of a self-professed white supremacist. They ranged in age from 26 to 87. Some were grandparents; others were only beginning to recognize and realize their potential in this world.

They represented the diversity of life in Charleston, South Carolina. Some were teachers; some were lawmakers; others were the glue that bonded their families. While they hailed from all walks and stages of life, the nine innocents slaughtered in the racist-fueled shooting at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church shared a common faith. Their devotion to cultivating that faith gathered them together in the unquestioned safety of that church basement. In the end, it would be in the unquestionable embrace of the grace of their faith that their weeping families, mournful church family and our grieving nation bid them eternal rest.

Reverend Clementa Pinckney was a long-serving Democratic state senator and the senior pastor of Emanuel A.M.E. Church. He fought as hard for constituents as he did love and serve his congregation. In his eulogy for Rev. Pinckney, President Obama remembered him as a “good man.” He shared that, “he was in the pulpit by 13, pastor by 18, public servant by 23. He did not exhibit any of the cockiness of youth, nor youth's insecurities; instead, he set an example worthy of his position, wise beyond his years, in his speech, in his conduct, in his love, faith, and purity.” The married, 41-year-old father of two daughters leaves behind an impressive record of activism, including his recent push to equip South Carolina’s police officers with body cameras after the videotaped fatal shooting of a Black man at the hands of a white police officer.

Sharonda Coleman-Singleton was as widely known for her smile as she was for her dedication to her family, her church and her community. The 45-year-old mother of three was a reverend at Emanuel A.M.E. Church; the celebrated girls team track coach at Goose Creek High School; and a highly respected high school speech therapist. After her death, her oldest son, Chris Singleton, a baseball player at Charleston Southern University, recalled on social media that he would often tease his mother about going to church so much. He remembered that she would always laugh him off and say, “Boy you can never have too much of the Lord.”

It has been reported that 26-year-old Tywanza Sanders died trying to protect his 87-year-old aunt, Susie Jackson. Sanders jumped between the shooter and his aunt, begging him to take his life instead of hers. The shooter is alleged to have said it didn’t matter because, “I’m going to shoot all of you,” before he opened fire. Sanders was a recent graduate of Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina. He received a degree in business administration in 2014. Recently, he worked at Against Da Grain Barbershop along with his brother. Despite his bravery and heroism, Sanders could not save his aunt’s life. Susie Jackson, a grandmother and longtime church member, became another of the shooter’s victims, along with her cousin, 70-year-old Ethel Lance. Like the others, Lance was a devoted member of Emanuel A.M.E. Church. She worked at the church for more than 30 years.

Depayne Middletown Doctor was the mother of four daughters. She was a minister and sang in the church’s choir. The 49-year-old devoted her entire career to public service. She had just started a job as an enrollment counselor at Southern Wesleyan University’s campus in Charleston—her alma mater. Before that, she was a Charleston County community development director, helping the county’s poorest residents receive grants. Equally dedicated to serving her community, 54-year-old Cynthia Hurd, who was lovingly described by her brother as “a woman of faith,” worked for 31 years at the Charleston County Public Library as a librarian. Recently, Hurd was the regional library manager at St. Andrews Regional Library. County officials have confirmed that the library will be renamed in her honor.

On the path to becoming an ordained minister, 59-year-old Myra Thompson was the wife of a local reverend, Rev. Anthony Thompson, who is a vicar at Holy Trinity REC Church in Charleston.  Daniel Simmons initially survived the attack, but died in a hospital operating room. The 45-year-old was a fourth-generation preacher who fought in Vietnam, and during his time with us on earth also worked as a teacher and a counselor.

Last week, Simmons became the last of the Mother Emanuel Nine to be laid to rest. Today, we should all be asking ourselves what happens now; what comes next? Do we, as a nation, take up the charge to tackle the ills of racism and gun violence, or will we cast these issues aside once again and wait until the next tragedy jolts us from our complacency? Will you join in the struggle and sign a petition to rid our public spaces of the Confederate flag—the flag of hate and violence to which the shooter pledged his allegiance? Will you make the lives of those we lost matter by not allowing hate to be the final word in our nation’s struggle to form a more perfect union?

July 5, 2015

University Offers Scholarships to Children of Slain Emanuel AME Parishioner
By Zenitha Prince

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The June 17 massacre of nine congregants in an African-American church in Charleston, S.C., by a self-proclaimed White supremacist has been marked by stories, not so much of hate, but of touching tales of forgiveness, graciousness and an outpouring of love. In another of those inspiring stories, Southern Wesleyan University (SWU) has announced it is offering full tuition scholarships to the four children of DePayne Middleton-Doctor, a university employee and one of nine victims killed in the tragic Emanuel AME Church shooting June 17.

“Right now, more than anything, we want DePayne’s children to know we love them,” said University President Todd Voss in a statement. “We want to honor DePayne’s service to SWU and her belief in Christian higher education as an important element in Gracyn, Kaylin, Hali and Czana’s future success.”

A 1994 alumna of Southern Wesleyan, Middleton-Doctor was employed at the institution’s Charleston learning center as an admissions coordinator. Former colleagues praised her for her embodiment of Christ-like principles, including her demonstration of love and service to family, students and co-workers.

“DePayne was a wonderful woman and co-worker who embodied the best of what we do here at SWU,” said Dean Grile, senior director of recruitment services and director of the university’s Charleston learning center. “She enjoyed reaching out to working adults to give them a second chance or a first opportunity to improve their lives and their family’s lives through education.”

The scholarships will cover each child’s tuition for their entire enrollment, if they choose to attend Southern Wesleyan, according to Chad Peters, vice president for enrollment management. The awards are the university’s way of honoring a beloved employee, who often boasted of her children’s accomplishments to co-workers.

“As a community we are deeply saddened by the loss of a valued employee who faithfully served and ministered to adult and graduate students in Charleston,” Peters said. “We realize the scholarships won’t ease the pain of loss that the children are dealing with now and in the future; however, it is our desire as a community for each of them to know we care about them.”

Middleton-Doctor was among several people killed when alleged assailant, 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof, opened fire on the group that had gathered for Bible study in a racially motivated attack. Hundreds of mourners, including President Barack Obama and a congressional delegation, attended funeral services for the victims.