Common Unity Illuminates Racial Understanding

http://digital.crossroadscatholic.com/app.php?RelId=6.5.7.1&bookcode=20160925 page 4 9 (link is no longer valid)

 

50 years on, churches still fight for voting rights

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 turns 50 on Aug. 6, and people of faith had a big hand in that landmark piece of legislation.

Religious leadership was a driving force of the U.S. Civil Rights movement. In the same way that the movement in the 1960s depended upon groups like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, today’s civil rights leaders seek allies in the faith community.

“We’ve seen churches involved in advocacy for years, for generations actually,” said Bill Mefford, director of civil and human rights for the United Methodist Board of Church and Society.

For decades, churches have been outspoken against injustice, and advocated for those who the government marginalizes. Today, United Methodists are still fighting for the rights of people.

United Methodists promote sentencing reform, especially efforts to find better and less expensive ways of rehabilitating nonviolent drug offenders.

“This year we’ve seen United Methodists in Iowa help turn Sen. [Chuck] Grassley (R-Iowa) from [being against] sentencing reform to bringing sentencing reform before Congress,” Mefford said.

Churches have also been active in voting rights. Souls to the Polls is a program in which African-American churches arrange free transportation to the polls for people who would otherwise not have a chance to vote. Some churches bring their congregations to polling stations after Sunday service.

According to federal tax law governing nonprofits, charities, churches and other organizations that are not required to pay a federal income tax cannot “participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.” They can, however, engage in nonpartisan activities such as administering voter education guides, conducting voter registration drives and holding nonpartisan educational forums.

The Rev. D. Anthony Everett, pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church in Lexington, Kentucky, is a longtime supporter of voting rights. A member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, he supports Kentucky House Bill 70, which seeks to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their prison sentences.

Almost 250,000 Kentuckians cannot vote because of the current law, which permanently takes away former felons’ voting rights unless the governor gives them a pardon. Everett and others believe that voting rights should be restored after people are released from prison. According to the nonpartisan voting rights institute Brennan Center for Justice, only four states — Kentucky, Virginia, Florida and Iowa — have the same voting restrictions.

Everett has led prayer vigils to support Kentucky legislators and HB 70.

Everett believes that churches have a duty to be the voice for under-represented people. “It’s imperative that our churches are on the forefront for least, the last and the lost, those who are oppressed and marginalized those who are lost in our ‘system,’” he said.

Everett points out that Christ was an honest advocate of the oppressed. “Jesus advocated many different ways through healings and teachings,” he said. “Jesus would always stand up for what’s right for all of humanity.”

He encourages churches and clergy to get involved and to “look within their own communities; look at who’s the least the last and the lost in the community. Where is the help needed? Who are the people that need change in their lives?”

Everett says the Civil Rights era and the passing of the Voting Rights Act shows that churches and clergy have the power to change society. “We’ve got to be advocates; we’ve got to stand up so that God is represented. We’ve got to more than just talk; we’ve got to do something about it.”

History of the Act

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on Aug. 6, 1965. The law was designed to enforce the 15^th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

The Voting Rights Act changed the face of elections in the United States. Following its passage, in Mississippi alone, voter turnout among blacks increased from 6 percent in 1964 to 59 percent in 1969. President Obama has called it “one of the crowning achievements of our democracy.”

In its 2013 decision on the case Shelby County v. Holder, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key provision in the Voting Rights Act. Under Sections 4 and 5 of the original law, specific states and municipalities with a history of voting discrimination were required to be cleared by the federal government before making changes to their voting laws.

The court invalidated Section 4, which contained a formula that had determined which states had to seek pre-clearance from the Department of Justice to change their voting laws. Once Section 4 was declared unconstitutional, Section 5 — the section with the pre-clearance requirement — became unenforceable.

Civil rights leaders fear this would open the door to new discriminatory rules that would prevent certain people from voting, again denying them the rights they fought so hard for decades ago.

‘We’re not going back’

After the North Carolina legislature passed new voting restrictions in 2013, the Rev. William Barber II, a Disciples of Christ minister and head of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, began “Moral Mondays” protests at the state legislative building. These protests grew into a movement of thousands of people gathering at the state capitol to protest the government peacefully. Several other states, including Georgia, have adopted Moral Mondays.

In June, lawmakers in the U.S. House and Senate introduced the Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would amend the parts of the original 1965 law the Supreme Court struck down. The Voting Rights Advancement Act would require states with 15 voting violations over the past 25 years to submit future election changes for federal approval. It would also require that all 50 states get federal approval for any new barrier to voting or voter registration and publicly post any changes to voting rules within 180 days of an election.

At a June 25 gathering of Progressive National Baptist Convention pastors, U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a civil rights icon and one of the co-sponsors of the new bill, said, “It’s time again for religious leaders, the ministers of the gospel, to get in trouble. There are forces in our country, in Washington and all around America, want to take us back. But we’re not going back. We’ve made too much progress. We’re going forward.”

Smith is an intern at United Methodist Communications, Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Vicki Brown, news editor, newsdesk@umcom.org or 615-742-5469.

Read more here: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/50-years-on-churches-still-fight-for-equal-voting-rights

 

Lexington council supports restoring voting rights to ex-felons

Lexington's Urban County Council voted unanimously on Thursday to support House Bill 70 and to ask the General Assembly to put the issue before Kentucky voters as a constitutional amendment. The bill would restore voting rights to ex-felons.

By Beverly Fortune - bfortune@herald-leader.com

Lexington's Urban County Council voted unanimously on Thursday to support House Bill 70 and to ask the General Assembly to put the issue before Kentucky voters as a constitutional amendment. The bill would restore voting rights to ex-felons.

After the vote, council member Chris Ford called it an issue of social justice. "Giving the people the vote creates a stronger democracy," Ford said, adding that being able to vote "empowers the civic voice of disenfranchised individuals."

Ford and council member Shevawn Akers sponsored the resolution.

The Rev. Anthony Everett from the Nia Community of Faith Church told council, "Voting restores people who have paid their debt to society ... The right to vote is a fundamental human right and democratic principle."

More than 10,000 blacks in Lexington cannot vote because of felony convictions, Everett said. He said they pay taxes that support government, but "when it comes to the vote, their voices are silenced."

The Rev. Jim Thurman, president of the Lexington chapter of the NAACP, said earlier, "Sadly, many of these felony convictions are for non-violent crimes like not paying child support."

House Bill 70 is sponsored by State Rep. Jesse Crenshaw of Lexington. Crenshaw has introduced the bill for the past seven years, Ford said. Each time, the bill passed the House with bipartisan support. But it has never gotten a hearing in the Senate, he said.

House Bill 70 passed the House two weeks ago by a vote of 75-25. "At least this year it has been assigned to the State and Local Government Committee for a hearing," Ford said.

Since Lexington is the second-largest metropolitan area in the state, Ford said he hopes the council's support will help persuade Senate leaders to let the bill go to the floor for a vote.

On March 6, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth plans a rally at the Capitol for the restoration of voting rights.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article44406870.html - storylink=cpy

 

 

Merlene Davis: Ex-felons join Frankfort rally seeking to restore their voting rights

On Nov. 6, 2012, some of Teddi Smith-Robillard's friends received phone calls from her shortly after 6 a.m. "I was telling them I had voted," said the 74-year-old ex-felon, excitement still in her voice. She lost that right when she wrote bad checks back in the 1980s.

Teddi Smith-Robillard has lived in Lexington off and on for many years, splitting time between here, New York and San Diego.

"I would stay long enough to clean up what trouble I was in and then I'd leave," the 74-year-old said.

Her troubles stemmed from alcohol addiction and some emotional problems that the alcohol was supposed to alleviate.

In Lexington in 1980, during one of her binges when she was in a generous mood and treating others around her to drinks, she wrote a few checks that she knew good and well would bounce.

She pleaded guilty when charged with a felony and was sentenced to 21/2 years in jail.

When she had fulfilled her sentence, she went to San Diego, enrolled in college in her 40s, earned certificates and a degree, worked for a U.S. Representative, and voted.

She returned to Lexington permanently in 2006, but she didn't check her record until years later, thinking the representative she worked for had expunged it as he had promised.

He hadn't.

Her record had been sealed instead and Smith-Robillard was still considered an ex-felon. Because of that, she could not vote in Kentucky, even though she had been voting in New York and in California.

See, a felony conviction in Kentucky tends to be a life sentence. Convicted felons here have a hard time finding employment, obtaining a license in certain professions, and living in certain places.

In fact, there is at least one local business that brags about not hiring ex-felons. So much for forgiveness and rehabilitation.

Smith-Robillard said she was glad she hadn't tried to vote, because if she had she would have been committing a crime.

"I hadn't worried about voting here because I never thought I would stay, especially after my mother died," she said.

But she did stay, and in 2012 she began working to restore her rights, including filling out an application and writing an essay about how her life has changed.

That's why on Nov. 6, 2012, some of her friends received phone calls at five minutes after 6 a.m.

"I was telling them I had voted," she said, excitement still in her voice.

And that is also why she will be in Frankfort on Wednesday, lobbying legislators, especially members of the Kentucky Senate, and attending the Voting Rights Lobby Day and Rally in Frankfort sponsored by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.

The hope is that hundreds of people will show legislators how important it is to pass House Bill 70, which has been sponsored by Rep. Jesse Crenshaw, D-Lexington, for many years, and Senate Bill 15, both of which would allow former felons convicted of non-violent crimes to automatically regain their right to vote.

Passage of both bills means the measure would appear on a ballot so that Kentuckians could vote it up or down.

"I think it will pass this year," Smith-Robillard said. "Once you no longer owe the law enforcement or the courts, the parole or probation system, and you have met all their requirements, you are no longer a felon. Still, you can work, pay taxes, but you cannot vote. That is the felony right there."

The tide does appear to be turning in Kentucky. Even Conservative Republican Sen. Rand Paul is in Smith-Robillard's corner. Paul has stated he will fight at the state and federal levels to have the voting rights of former felons automatically restored in most cases. In fact, he said he wanted to see some non-violent crimes reduced to misdemeanors, "so you don't get in that trap."

"If he can do that, then more power to him," said April M. Browning. "I tip my hat to him."

Browning has recently started the process to restore her right to vote after a felony drug conviction and release from five years of probation.

"It takes a very long time," she said. "It is a long, tedious and ridiculous process, especially for people who don't know their rights."

And that is the problem, said the Rev. Anthony Everett, founder and pastor of Nia Community of Faith. "It is not a very clear-cut process."

Everett said he knows of cases in which people started the process, made a technical error, resubmitted the paperwork, but were turned away because so much time had passed.

"A lot of people who have gone through it have been unsuccessful," he said.

But Browning is not about to give up.

"There is a point in life when everyone deserves a second chance," said Browning, 34. "I was 19 when I got my first felony, which wouldn't even be considered a felony today.

"I go to school full-time, I am a mother, and I have two jobs. I deserve to have a voice. I pay taxes, I deserve to be represented and so do many thousands of other Kentuckians who are disenfranchised for life." Everett will be attending the rally and speaking to legislators, he said. Smith-Robillard will be there, too. "Many of the people have records because of addictions," she said. "And most of them haven't committed a crime in 15, 20, 30 years."
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/community/article44466357.html#storylink=cpy

 

Tom Eblen: Convergence of gay rights and civil rights proves complex for many black churches

Like other conservative churches, many historically black congregations are unhappy with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that legalized same-sex marriage. And for many of them, there is an additional rub: the court majority's acceptance of the legal argument that same-sex marriage is a matter of civil rights.

By Tom Eblen - Herald-Leader columnist

Like other conservative churches, many historically black congregations are unhappy with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.

And for many of them, there is an additional rub: the court majority's acceptance of the legal argument that same-sex marriage is a matter of civil rights.

Black churches were at the forefront of the civil rights movement that swept away legal discrimination against black people in the 1960s. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister, is that movement's icon.

The more the gay rights movement has likened its struggle to the black civil rights movement — and the more the public has accepted that analogy — the more many black Christians have bristled.

"You can't equate your sin with my skin," Bishop Harry Jackson Jr. of Mt. Hope Christian Church in Maryland famously said after his state legalized same-sex marriage in 2012.

The Roman Catholic Church still opposes same-sex marriage, but some mainline Protestant denominations recently have changed their policies. The Episcopal Church now allows it, following the Presbyterian Church USA and the United Church of Christ. But many individual churches and members strongly disagree.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America lets its congregations decide for themselves. The United Methodist Church prohibits gay marriage in its churches or by its clergy, but some pastors have performed them in protest.

Many black churches are affiliated with Baptist denominations and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which remain opposed to same-sex marriage because of their understanding of Scripture.

The Pew Research Center reported recently that while 59 percent of white Americans now support same-sex marriage, only 41 percent of blacks do.

The 225-year-old First African Baptist Church, the oldest black congregation in Lexington, believes in the traditional definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman. But the Rev. Nathl Moore said the Supreme Court ruling hasn't been a big topic of conversation in the congregation.

"We don't condone all activities," Moore said, "but we still love."

Main Street Baptist Church's website lists the traditional definition of marriage among its beliefs. Church leaders have discussed the court ruling, the Rev. Victor Sholar said.

"Our concern as a church at large is that there will be much slander and attack" because of religious objections to same-sex marriage, Sholar said. "We are still a pluralistic society. People will still have different views.

"But we continue to make mention that we welcome all persons in our church," he added. "We're like a hospital. We want to make people well."

Main Street Baptist has a unique association with black civil rights. The church was founded in the 1850s on land Mary Todd Lincoln's family owned beside her childhood home. Her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, personally conveyed the property to the church for $3,000 in 1863, the year after he issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in the Confederate states.

Sholar is among those who objects to comparing the gay rights movement with the black civil rights movement.

"It was an issue of human rights," he said of the black civil rights movement and "had nothing to do with sexual preference or orientation. I think that is somewhat offensive to those who look at history. It's apples to oranges, really."

The Rev. Anthony Everett of Wesley United Methodist Church, whose denomination opposes gay marriage, respects the various religious beliefs on the issue. But he disagrees with trying to distinguish black civil rights from gay civil rights.

"It's problematic sometimes for African-Americans, because people are saying we haven't really accomplished all the things we need to do with race and now here comes the next group that's using the civil rights movement as a platform," he said.

"It's like my pain is worse than their pain," he said. "We're all in pain. Let's all deal with the pain without worrying about whose pain is worse."

Everett noted that Bayard Rustin, one of King's main advisers and strategists during the civil rights movement, was gay.

"There wouldn't have been a March on Washington had it not been for him," Everett said of Rustin. "Do we just ignore him and ignore the battles he had to deal with? If you're about social justice and human rights, you're about all of that for everybody."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/tom-eblen/article44608836.html#storylink=cpy

 

Election Season Kicks Off With Operation Turnout By Patrice K. Muhammad

The September 2012 issue of The Key Newsjournal

LEXINGTON – For the third year, Blacks in Lexington marked the beginning of the election season by attending church. This year they came out for the Operation Turnout  Kickoff Service. The church service featured thought provoking messages by local Pastors Anthony Everett, Prentice Bruton, Nath’l Moore and Keith Tyler and soul stirring songs brought by a combined choir from Shiloh and Greater Liberty Baptist Church.

Operation Turnout was organized in August 2010 “in response to the recognition that for minorities, there has clearly been a basic lack of appreciation for our Civil Rights, a common disregard for our many contributions to the welfare of this Commonwealth and a failure on our part, up to that point, to speak out against social injustice in Central Kentucky,” according a press release.

This movement is meant to encourage voters to look at the issues and select wisely.

Project Chairman Rev. L. Clark Williams and the committee chose scriptures and topics for the pastors to address for this kick off assembly. The goal was to give a “Biblical basis on why the Church is critical to engaging in issues that affect our citizens and our communities.”

Rev. Everett pastors Nia Community of Faith and took on the topic of “God Is In Control, but We do have a Role’’. Pastor Everett challenged voters to do something more. “We have to do more than register people and take them to the polls. We have to hold politicians accountable to enact legislation that is good for all of humanity.”

http://keyconversationsradio.com/election-season-kicks-off-with-operation-turnout/