All of us are outraged and sullen in spirit as a result of the decision of the Ferguson, MO grand jury's decision to not indict Officer Darren Wilson for murdering 18 year old, unarmed Michael Brown.

It is understandable when you consider
that there appears to be an all out assault
on young, unarmed African-American
males in this country. Trayvon Martin was
approached by an armed man who,
according to taped conversation, spotted
him as he was going home and walked
upon him and shot him to death. Trayvon
was simply guilty of being black in the
right place at the wrong time.
 

 So, when they get hassled by the cops for no reason, or when their friend or family member gets shot to death and there is no logical explanation, they don't understand and they need answers. It's called being black in America.

We owe it to our young people to dispel the illusion! This is not a post-racial society. This is a racist society. The tragedy is that we have not taught our young people how to be black in America. We have to teach them how we and generations before us dealt with a racist America. We were not taught to burn down our communities. We were taught to go to school and be better than the best!

 It is only by excelling in every sphere of life that we will be prepared to confront the system in order to transform the system. It is only by getting mad as heck and doing something positive that our youth will learn the lesson of how our foremothers and forefathers dealt with racism.

Holy Rage is getting mad enough to do something to make the situation better. Furguson is a wake up call to recognize that racism is still alive and our young people need to prepare themselves to deal with it.

Equal protection under the law is essential to our highest values as Americans.  Without it, we undermine the covenant we have with one another as citizens and deny the biblical claim that all of us are children of God.  That is why we must stand with our young people and against the every day dehumanizing processes of our criminal justice system.

At our upcoming winter board meeting, I plan to share how our denomination will continue this work.  In the meantime, please see attached our denomination's official statement on events in Ferguson.  Additionally, please find attached a template for a community event that we are asking all PNBC churches to organize and present in your area.  I hope that we will all find creative ways to raise our voices until justice wakes.

PNBC STATEMENT ON THE

FERGUSON GRAND JURY DECISION

The Progressive National Baptist Convention (The convention & denominational home of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with an estimated membership of 1.5 million people of faith) stands in solidarity with the people of Ferguson and joins with other freedom loving people across our nation and the world in expressing our outrage and protest against a grand jury decision that has denied young Michael Brown, an American citizen, a voice in our justice system.

This is a tragic miscarriage of justice with huge implications for Ferguson and our entire nation. Moreover, it further supports the criminalization of young black manhood in our system of jurisprudence.

Sadly, Ferguson is not an isolated event as it conveys the tragically recurring message that black life does not matter. As people of faith and defenders of human dignity, we cannot and will not accept that message. So let it be known that the PNBC, denominational home of Martin Luther King, Jr., our greatest freedom fighter, stands with the Brown family and for justice and against a shameful process that has added deep insult to the Brown family's injury.  On August 9th, 2014, Michael Brown lost his life. With the grand jury's decision on November 24th, clearly delivered at the behest of the prosecutor, Mr. McCulloch, Michael Brown was denied his humanity. Therefore, we stand with the citizens of Ferguson in their right to protest peacefully and non-violently. Moreover, we commit the resources and influence of our denomination in joining them in creative non-violent disruption of business as usual, for as Dr. King said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Finally, the situation in Ferguson has revealed systemic problems related to poverty, unemployment, and underemployment as features of the racism that continues to plague our community. We can only address these systemic problems through true democracy and a heightened respect for civil and human rights. We recommit ourselves to this work and we call upon other people of faith, particularly members of the black church, the enduring conscience of America, to join us as a continuing moral witness to the beloved community.