Prominent Clergy side-swipe Pastor who says, “Enough is Enough!“
Now what in the world am I supposed to do with this? I just received a copy of a letter of support for Black Entertainment Television signed by an impressive “who’s who” list of social justice preachers in America. Many of these preachers I have followed from afar and some of them I have sat under or broken bread with! Now…of course, just because I admire the example of ministry that they have set doesn’t mean that we’ll agree on everything, BUT - I thought that many of the preachers named on this list would be in agreement with Pastor Delman Coates and the Enough is Enough campaign - not give a vote of confidence to BET and by default politely voice their displeasure with protesting in front of her home or outside of her network’s award shows.
I thought Sista Debra Lee shot her biggest bullets when she allegedly sent BET undercover operatives to Coates’ church on Sunday morning to intimidate him and when she allegedly posed as a member of his church and crafted a letter of disapproval with him and put it on one of the few places that church folks read - internet message boards (of course hoping it would spread like news of saints in scandal) But ooohhh no. Sista Lee is showing she has some Hilary Clinton tendencies too. She’s pulled out the BIG GUNS by having Coates’ contemporaries and co-laborers sign their John and Jane Hancocks under this BET-generated letter of support. The conventions of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor is represented on this letter! THIS I’ll have to ponder about. What am I to do with this letter and this list?
Clergy Members Salute BET;
Stand Up for Freedom of Expression
We would like to congratulate BET and Debra Lee on presenting the inaugural BET Honors Awards, dedicated to recognizing the achievements and contributions of distinguished African-American leaders in their fields. As the leading network for programming in the African-American community, viewers are able to see the diversity of the Black experience expressed in various art forms ranging from music and movies to gospel and current events. Over the years, we have seen BET evolve and change, and while we might not always agree with every step they make, they have always shown a willingness to listen to their viewers, and adjust accordingly.
As religious leaders, we are encouraged by BET’s enthusiasm to engage in dialogue with those of us who have expressed concerns over some of their programming. BET has responded to these concerns by bringing its viewers new shows such as Exalted and Sunday Best, but we all know that real change takes time. We are excited about what the future holds for BET, and will continue to nurture our relationship with the network and its leadership in their efforts to provide new and innovative quality programming to our community.
Respectfully,
Dr. Carroll A. Baltimore, Sr.
First Vice-President
Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.
Pastor, International Community Church Alexandria, VA
Dr. Iva Carruthers
General Secretary
Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference
Chicago, IL
Dr. Derrick Harkins
Secretary of the Board, Word Relief
Pastor, Nineteenth Street Baptist Church
Washington, DC
Dr. Cynthia Hale, Pastor
Ray of Hope Christian Church
Co-Chair, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference
Decatur, GA
Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, Pastor, Friendship West Baptist Church
Co-Chair, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference
Dallas, TX
Dr. Obery Hendricks, Jr., PhD
New York Theological Seminary
New York, NY
Rev. Lester McCorn, Presiding Elder,
Conyers-Winder District
Senior Pastor, Faith AME Zion Church
Atlanta, GA
Bishop Vashti M. McKenzie, Presiding Prelate, 13th Episcopal District
President, Council of Bishop AME Church
AME Church, Nashville, TN
Father Michael Pfleger, Pastor
Saint Sabina Church
Chicago, IL
Rev. Paul Hobson Sadler, Pastor
Mount Zion Congregational Church
Cleveland, OH
Dr. Susan Smith, Pastor
Advent United Church of Christ
Board Member, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference
Columbus, OH
Dr. Stephen Thurston, President
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.
Pastor, New Covenant Baptist Church, Chicago, IL
Rev. Romal Tune, CEO
Clergy Strategic Alliances, LLC
Washington, DC
Dr. William Shaw, President
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
Pastor, White Rock Baptist Church,
Philadelphia, PA
January 25th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Brother I would not be shocked if BET paid for this endorsement. In the fight for social justice, people always end up showing their true colors. Remember this fact April 4, 1967 Dr. King give his reasons for not supporting the Vietnam War. He was told as Andy Young said (these are Andy’s exact words) “n#**#* (the n word) you are not suppose to talk about that”. Other clergy turn their back on Dr. King. They said that he should stick to civil rights issues and not international issues. They said that he was hurting the cause by talking against the war. The message he gave April 4, 1967 is what got him killed on April 4, 1968 to me.
Think about this and understand it well!
Starting in 1965, King began to express doubts about the United States’ role in the Vietnam War. In an April 4, 1967, appearance at the New York City Riverside Church — exactly one year before his death — King delivered Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. In the speech he spoke strongly against the U.S.’s role in the war, insisting that the U.S. was in Vietnam “to occupy it as an American colony” and calling the U.S. government “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” But he also argued that the country needed larger and broader moral changes:
“ A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: “This is not just.”
King was long hated by many white southern segregationists, but this speech turned the more mainstream media against him. Time called the speech “demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi”, and The Washington Post declared that King had “diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people.”
With regard to Vietnam, King often claimed that North Vietnam “did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands.” King also praised North Vietnam’s land reform. He accused the United States of having killed a million Vietnamese, “mostly children.”
The speech was a reflection of King’s evolving political advocacy in his later years, sparked in part by his affiliation with and training at the progressive Highlander Research and Education Center. King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the political and economic life of the nation. Toward the end of his life, King more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct racial and economic injustice. Though his public language was guarded, so as to avoid being linked to communism by his political enemies, in private he sometimes spoke of his support for democratic socialism:
“ You can’t talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can’t talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You’re really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry… Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong… with capitalism… There must be a better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism.
King had read Marx while at Morehouse, but while he rejected “traditional capitalism,” he also rejected Communism because of its “materialistic interpretation of history” that denied religion, its “ethical relativism,” and its “political totalitarianism.”
King also stated in his “Beyond Vietnam” speech: “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” From Vietnam to South Africa to Latin America, King said, the U.S. was “on the wrong side of a world revolution.” King questioned “our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America,” and asked why the U.S. was suppressing revolutions “of the shirtless and barefoot people” in the Third World, instead of supporting them.
People can read the message go to http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html
Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence
By Rev. Martin Luther King
4 April 1967
Speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City
[Please put links to this speech on your respective web sites and if possible, place the text itself there. This is the least well known of Dr. King's speeches among the masses, and it needs to be read by all]
Take Care Brother Heber
Again thanks for the information on Firefox I’m reconnected again with you!
Peace & Blessings
January 25th, 2008 at 9:13 am
I am not surprised that BET would employ such unfortunate Clintonesque tactics. What’s scary is that they know some of our gullible brothers and sisters will be swayed by such tactics and poopoo the efforts of Rev. Coates and his followers. If it is true that a letter was distributed on internet message boards, Rev. Coates can also do the same but in even more heavy handed way.
- website detailing his message with RSS feed so it will be distributed quickly among browsers (would include phone numbers of Viacom employees as well as Ms Lee’s phone number(s))
- email campaign with photos
…and I’m sure there are other ways…
January 25th, 2008 at 11:10 am
This letter reminds me an anonymous quote found on a bathroom wall:
Four Billions Flies Can’t Be Wrong?
Eat Sh#!t.
Personally, I expect very little in the way of socially responsible programming from a company that has “Entertainment” in its name.
For example, “Sunday Best” has the Christians competing to stay alive to get to the next round (lions anyone). Is this new programming? Turn to your neighbor and say American Idol, Idol, Idol, Idol. Qualitative? Perhaps, it is a subjective measurement in this case.
This letter makes me wonder if there is anyone on the signature list (if in fact it is real) of this letter in line to be “Exalted” (New programming? Yes, I thought the Christians exalted the Lord. Qualitative? Just don’t ask the Lord. )
January 25th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
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January 25th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
These are the same kind of tactics that was use in the COINTELPRO Program.
Check out http://www.cointel.org
COINTELPRO is an acronym for a series of FBI counterintelligence programs designed to neutralize political dissidents. Although covert operations have been employed throughout FBI history, the formal COINTELPRO’s of 1956-1971 were broadly targeted against radical political organizations.