Aug. 30, 2023

The Rev. Al Sharpton giving his sermon at Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel at Howard University PHOTO: Alecia Taylor/HUNewsService.com

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Howard University News Service

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a sermon intertwining race, politics and religion Sunday morning at Howard University’s chapel, a day after leading the 60^th anniversary of the March on Washington.

Before the activist minister took the stage, many student leaders such as Nia Naylor, president of the Howard University Student Association, Murphy Jones, the vice president, and other student leaders gave remarks about the start of the semester. Hundreds of attendees filled Cramton Auditorium for the Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel’s service with over 300 people tuned in through the YouTube livestream.

Sharpton is known for his often taboo fusion of religion, current events and politics, and his sermon at the chapel was no different. H addressed the activism in the church, the political climate, racism and bigotry, resonating with many attendees. He spoke about his experiences of people and churches requesting that he not talk about politics.

“If you don't want to preach the book the way it is, then go do something else,” he said. “Don’t act like we got a misinterpretation of the Scripture. Just get up and say you're scared, and sit down and shut up and let somebody that's not scared say what needs to be said.”

His words caused the crowd to clap in agreement. Sharpton insisted that the Bible is political, referring to Exodus as a Civil Rights movement. As he continued, he listed infamous stories from the Bible such as Daniel in the lion’s den. Using the third book Numbers, chapter 13, Sharpton compared the work of Civil Rights leaders to Moses, the prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery.

“People will [say] ‘I don't believe in marching’ and ‘I don't believe in all that agitation’ and ‘I go by my own merit,’” he said. “Well that's good, because some of us marched so your merit would be considered.”

However, the reverend insisted there is still work to be done. He pointed to current political tension that suggests regression such as the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court  decision to strike down Affirmative Action and the recent killing of three Black people in Jacksonville, Florida. As people celebrated the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, a white man walked into a Dollar General killing three people before killing himself.

“Before we could even rest and say, ‘We made a great statement; now we're gonna see the president and vice president at White House,’ hate jumped back up again to remind us that we're not there yet,” he told the audience.

Mackenzie Williams, a senior broadcast journalism major from Chicago, attended the sermon and the 60th anniversary for the March on Washington. Like Sharpton, Williams was taken aback by the news of the shooting in Jacksonville.

“Injustice is very much alive and well,” Williams said. “It really should make people be more aware of their choices in this next election.”

Williams said she isn’t really into politics, but his speech at the anniversary march on Saturday and his sermon on Sunday made her want to pay more attention to the politics happening around her.

Annable Jules, a senior television and film major from outside of Philadelphia, was also touched by Sharpton’s message, especially about the gunman.

“It just happens way too often,” Jules said. “We have such glaring progress as a community. All the things that we're doing and overcoming, even the fact that it was the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington shows how much time has elapsed, but nothing has changed in a grander scheme.”

Jules, who attends chapel often, had never heard Sharpton speak in person. His speech, she said, really touched her and resonated with her journey here at Howard.

One of his talking points used Numbers 3:13, where the author Moses refers to the Israelites as grasshoppers and the sons of Anak as giants, signifying that the Israelites felt inferior. Sharpton used the analogy of some people feeling like grasshoppers compared to other people whom they see as giants.

Sometimes Jules feels like a grasshopper at Howard, but  Sharpton’s message reassured her that she, too, is a giant.

“It's so many ’giants’ that come out of Howard. Even while you are in undergrad, there's so much talent here. … Everyone's always doing something,” she said. “It's very easy to feel like a grasshopper compared to the giants around you. It’s really a time to introspect and really understand that you are a giant among giants.”

As Sharpton closed his speech, he spoke directly to Howard students about their collegiate journey, using the grasshopper-giant analogy. He reassured students that they may find themselves like grasshoppers, but they are giants, like their predecessors who marched 60 years ago.

“Some folk 60 years ago didn't have a grasshopper complex,” he said. “They kept on fighting and kept on marching and kept on going till 60 years later, we've elected and re-elected a Black president.”

Alecia Taylor is a reporter for HUNewsService.com and covered the 60^th anniversary of the March on Washington.

August 28, 2023

Ryan Palmeter

SPECIAL TO THE TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE FROM BLACKMANSSTREET.TODAY

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A White gunman with swastikas painted on his Glock pistol and on his AR-15 rifle, who wanted to kill “Niggers,” shot and killed two Black men and one Black woman in a racially motivated shooting Saturday in Jacksonville, Florida.

During a Sunday news conference, Sheriff T. K. Waters identified the shooter as Ryan Christopher Palmeter, 21.

He shot and killed Blacks inside and outside outside of the Dollar General Store where he believed a large number of Blacks would be found.

Palmeter killed Angela Michelle Carr, 52, Jerrald De'Shaun Gallion, 29, and Amto Joseph Laguerre, Jr., 19, before turning the gun on himself.

He murdered Carr in her automobile and Lagueer as he attempted to flee. Gallion was shot as he entered the store.

After the shooting, Ju' Coby Pittman, a Jacksonville City Council Member, wailed that Black people are no longer safe walking down the sidewalk or going into stores.

The Jacksonville, Florida, shooting followed the same modus operandi as the gunman who murdered 10 mostly Black people in Buffalo, N.Y.

Payton Gendron, who lived in Conklin, N.Y., drove three hours to Buffalo to find a large population of Blacks. He began killing shoppers and workers at Tops Friendly Markets on May 14, 2022.  

On both of his guns, he had written, “These are your reparations.” He is now serving life in prison without parole.

The Jacksonville gunman left behind writings that led investigators to believe that he committed the shooting because it was the fifth anniversary of a shooting committed by another gunman who opened fire during a video game tournament in Jacksonville, killing two people before fatally shooting himself.

Palmeter walked into a Dollar General Store near Edward Waters University, a small historically Black Christian university. He had gone there first but was turned away by an on-duty security guard when he refused to identify himself as he attempted to enter the campus.

Edward Waters University students were being kept in their dorms, the school said in a statement. No students or faculty are believed involved, the school said.

The FBI is treating the shooting as a hate crime. It also occurred on the same day as the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington.

July 30, 2023

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - "No generation can choose the age or circumstance in which it is born, but through leadership it can choose to make the age in which it is born an age of enlightenment, an age of jobs, and peace, and justice." - Jesse Jackson

It was the repeated refrain of a poem composed in the 1940s by Atlanta pastor and civil rights activist Rev. William Holmes Borders Sr.  But Rev. Jesse Jackson’s call-and-response with a multi-racial group of children on Sesame Street in 1972 made it an anthem for a generation.

I am – Somebody.

Rev. Jackson, who this week announced his retirement from the organization he founded, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, is not just a beacon of hope or a pillar of strength; he is a trailblazer, a mentor, a friend, and an inspiration to me and countless others.

As a teenaged protégé Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson was an eyewitness to some of the most pivotal moments in civil rights history, including King’s tragic assassination 1968. 

“It’s a hurtful, painful though,” he said, “that a man of love is killed by hate; that a man of peace should be killed by violence; a man who cared is killed by the careless.”

Jackson’s tireless fight for voting rights, economic justice, and racial equality have left an indelible mark on our nation and have been a guiding force for the National Urban League's work.

Of that generation who picked up the torch directly from King, only Jackson and Andrew Young, remain, carrying it forward to illuminate the path towards justice and equality. When the assassin’s bullet stilled King’s voice, it was Jackson's that thundered forth, resonating the clarion call for justice well into the 21st century.

In 1984 and again in 1988, I proudly traveled as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention to cast my vote for Jackson. His keynote address at the 1984 convention inspired a generation of young leaders – myself included – and continues to resonate today:

“This is not a perfect party. We are not a perfect people. Yet, we are called to a perfect mission. Our mission: to feed the hungry; to clothe the naked; to house the homeless; to teach the illiterate; to provide jobs for the jobless; and to choose the human race over the nuclear race.”

His historic presidential runs were not mere campaigns; they were seismic shifts in the political landscape. Jackson ran with purpose, with passion, and with an unyielding belief in the possibility of change. Finishing third in 1984 and second in 1988, Jackson shattered the glass ceiling for future leaders like Barack Obama.

The National Urban League and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition share a common mission. We both strive to empower African Americans and other marginalized communities, promote economic and social justice, and fight for equal opportunities for all. Our organizations have long been intertwined in this shared mission, working side by side to bring about meaningful change.

Jackson founded People United to Serve Humanity – Operation PUSH – in Chicago in 1971 to promote the employment of Black Americans by the companies operating in their communities, and to nurture Black-owned businesses. The National Rainbow Coalition was a political movement that grew from Jackson’s 1984 Presidential campaign. Jackson merged the two organizations in 1996.

For more than five decades, Rainbow PUSH has served as a blueprint for multicultural coalition building. Jackson advanced the idea that elected office was not just a position of power, but a platform to advance social and economic justice. He gave voice to progressive issues and served as a relentless catalyst for change, creating productive tension that spurred action.

In his retirement statement, Reverend Jackson said, "I have been doing this stuff for 64 years... I've had a good run." Indeed, he has. His life's work has brought about significant change and progress, and his legacy will continue to inspire and guide us.

As we navigate this transition, we welcome his successor, Frederick Douglass Haynes III, a man of equal passion and commitment. Haynes, a longtime civil rights activist and former president of the National Baptist Convention USA, is poised to carry the torch forward.

Haynes has pledged to work tirelessly to build on the legacy of Rev. Jackson and to ensure that the Rainbow PUSH Coalition remains a powerful force for justice and equality. The National Urban League is proud to support him in this mission.

In the spirit of Reverend Jackson, let us continue to carry the torch of justice, to push for a world where everyone, regardless of their race or background, has an equal opportunity to thrive. Because, as Reverend Jackson has shown us, when we fight for justice and equality, we don't just change the world, we create a new one.