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NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK’S
NATIONAL DIALOGUE AND REVIVAL FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
The Social Justice Initiative grew out of the National Action Network’s Annual Convention in New York City in April of 2006 where the Reverend Dr. William A. Jones Social Justice Award was presented to the Reverend Dr. Joseph Lowery, co-founder with the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of the SCLC. The Reverend Al Sharpton, along with other ministers that were convened, resolved that there was a need to have further dialogue on social justice issues and the black church. This need resulted in the formation of the Social Justice Initiative, the purpose of which is to serve as a guide for pastors and congregations, and to bring to light the black churches’ responsibility in addressing the social issues that impact the lives of black men and women.
National black leaders, ministers and pastors of black churches concluded that the adverse conditions of the black community demand that something significant needs to be done in order to bring about a positive change as it relates to social issues that we face: crime, incarceration, unemployment, voter apathy, health care and other such issues.
These conferences were designed to bring hundreds of national leaders, ministers, and business and community leaders together to effectively develop national strategies for the black church to meet the pressing issues in the black community and also to define the role of the black church in the fight for social justice.
The first Social Justice Conference was held in Dallas, Texas on June 27-28, 2006. The host pastor was the Reverend Dr. Freddie Haynes of Friendship-West Baptist Church. On August 14-15, 2006, the second conference was held in Augusta, Georgia at the Good Shepherd Missionary Baptist Church. The host pastors were the Reverend Dr. Clarence Moore of Good Shepherd and the Reverend Dr. Kenneth B. Martin of Antioch Baptist Church. A third conference was held on October 30-31, 2006 in Indianapolis, Indiana with host pastor Reverend Dr. Jeffrey A. Johnson of Eastern Star Baptist Church. Our most recent conference was held in Detroit, Michigan and hosted by the Reverend Wendell Anthony, Senior Pastor of Fellowship Chapel and President of the Detroit Chapter of the NAACP. It was held on November 2-3, 2006. This conference focused primarily on the issue of Proposal 2, a proposal to outlaw affirmative action programs in Michigan.
All of these conferences have been successful with noted national leaders, ministers, and community and business leaders participating and in attendance.
Some of the participants and speakers at these conferences were:
- Reverend Al Sharpton, President and Founder, National Action Network
- Reverend Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, Chairman of the Board, National Action Network; Senior Pastor, Grace Baptist Church, Mt. Vernon, New York
- Reverend Jesse Jackson, President, Rainbow Push Coalition
- Dr. Drew Smith, Scholar in Residence, Leadership Center, Morehouse College
- Dr. Harold Freeman, MD, CEO/Founder, Ralph Lauren Cancer Center, Harlem, New York
- Bruce Gordon, National President, NAACP
- Dick Gregory, Activist and Comedian
- Dr. Walter Fluker, Executive Director, Leadership Center, Morehouse College
- Charles Steele, CEO and President, SCLC
- Dr. Frederick Haynes, III. Pastor Friendship-West Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas
- Congresswoman Julia Carson, Indiana 7th Congressional District
- Reverend Dr. Charles Adams, Pastor, Hartford Memorial Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan
- Reverend Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, Senior Pastor, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia
- Jonathan Jackson, member Rainbow Push Coalition
- Reverend Otis Moss, III, Pastor, Trinity United Church Of Christ, Chicago, Illinois
- Reverend Dr. Gary Simpson, Pastor, Concord Baptist Church, Brooklyn, New York
There is an operations handbook for those who wish to host a conference. The handbook was compiled by Roberta J. Hatcher of Good Shepherd Baptist Church and Eunice R. Harris of Antioch Baptist Church, both in Augusta, Georgia. The cost for hosting a conference is approximately $30,000 which includes travel, speakers’ honorariums, hotels, staffing, printing, moving the show, “Keeping It Real” to each conference site, etc.
There is also a handbook from the National Action Network if you wish to launch a chapter in your city. The title of the handbook is “Chapter Responsibility”.
Social justice imposes on each of us a responsibility to be active and engaged in working with others to design strategies and continue a dialogue toward improving our communities.
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IndyStar.com
Sharpton: Black churches lack focus
By Robert King
November 1, 2006
The Rev. Al Sharpton was in town this week to speak at a 2-day conference at Eastern Star Church called the "National Dialogue and Revival for Social Justice in the Black Church."
It is was the third stop on a tour for Sharpton's National Action Network, which aims to focus attention on issues important to the black community. The Star got a few minutes with Sharpton to hear his thoughts on the black church, politics and other issues.
Dick Greggory and Reverend Al Sharpton
QUESTION: What do you think is the importance of events like this (2-day conference at Eastern Star Church) toward changing the conversation about religion and politics?
ANSWER: "I think it is extremely important because it mobilizes not only the hundreds of people here {$326} it sets a new agenda. It networks people of like-mindedness. It is conferences like this that the Christian right used to get strong. Those of that are the right Christians need them to balance it out in this country."
Q: In what areas do you think the black church is failing?
A: "I think the black church just has to focus. I think we have got to refocus on our mission and not become swayed by those forces that would seek to make us just big edifices with small impact and small messages. It is a sad day when gangsta rappers and black preachers have the same cry: Get rich or die trying. We must become the leaders of the social justice crowd. There is nothing wrong with having material things. But that should be a means. The end must be justice and fairness. The end must not be to just be wealthy. Those that have become celebrities by selling prosperity rather than being a prophet saying that even if we gain material possessions they must be like (Eastern Star pastor) Jeffrey Johnson used toward the beloved community, not just used for the accumulation of wealth for personal self-aggrandizement.
Q: Do you think prosperity Gospel has become too popular?
A: "I think prosperity Gospel is not the Gospel. I think the problem the children of Israel had was that when they got in the wilderness they went into the bling bling. That's why it took them 40 years to get into the Promised Land. I think we need to get out of the golden calf theology and get back to the gospel of Abraham, Issac, Jacob and Moses. That's why we are lost in the wilderness."
Q: I hear a lot about of people say there is a new "religious left" or "Christian progressive" movement that will counter the religious right. Do you think there is a viable religious left that will influence this election?
A: "I think that there definitely has been a rise. I have watched it over the last couple of years, which is why I think even in the last couple of weeks, when the New Jersey Supreme Court decision came down on gay marriage, it has not been able to give the Christian right that last kind of surge it needed. We have been effectively in the trenches in terms of the churches to say to the faith community that there are broader moral issues these people never addressed. I think they also lost their appeal when we did not see Christian right leaders come out and deal with the apparent cover-up around Mark Foley."
Q: Can you operate in high political circles at the national level and stay true to your faith?
A: "Absolutely. In fact, I think that my faith and many others' drives what we do at the national level. It is not a choice. My politics come from religious convictions. It is not the reverse."
Q: President Bush was criticized here Monday at the conference by the Rev. Frederick Haines III of Dallas, who called the president a hypocrite, among other things. Do you think George W. Bush has lived up to the faith he professes?
A: "First of all, when George Bush, in my opinion, can clearly violate the commandments of honesty and integrity -- he misled the country about the war in Iraq -- that is in my judgment not keeping consistent with the faith. He has set up tax (breaks) that would benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor. That is not in line with the Christian faith. He has been in my judgment quiet on issues like affirmative action. That is not in line with the faith. So I think clearly he, as one who professes this deep-rooted Christian faith, has not been consistent with that. So I do think he has been hypocritical. He ignored people drowning in the waters of Katrina in New Orleans for four days. How do you preach the gospel and then ignore the people that are suffering and say you weren't briefed. Everybody in America was briefed. We watched it on national television. {$326}You've got to go past Katrina, George Bush, to the judgment."
Q: What do you think of Barack Obama? Do you think he is a candidate who can represent the concerns of the black community and get elected?
A: "I don't know. He certainly is an appealing personality. I've got to know what he represents. We are not going to deal with the '08 election until after the '06 midterm. I haven't ruled out that I may be running.
Q: That was my next question: Are you going to run?
A: "I haven't decided. We will see what happens in the midterm election."
Q: There has been a lot of concern here in Indianapolis about murders and crime, much of it with black victims. Indianapolis is not alone apparently. Do you have any thoughts on that?
A: We have a violent culture. We are romanticizing violence. I think the black church must challenge that value system inside the community. But we must also challenge this whole Hollywood, TV-driven romanticizing of violence that is external to the community. I think that combination has led to lethal results{$326} I went last year to the FCC and stated to them: 'Why are we allowing rappers to use shootouts to promote records and not barring their records off the air?' We have shootouts at hip hop stations of artists clearly designed to hype their records. Those people ought to be punished, clearly, and their records taken off the air. The glorifying, the romanticizing of violence is helping to exacerbate the violence."
Q: Are there any rappers you like?
A: "I like a lot of rappers. But what I don't like are those that use actual violence at the expense of our community to promote their wares."
Q: Some look at the war in the Middle East as a war between Christianity and Islam. Do you see that at all?
A: "I think it is more of a war based on interests -- oil interests and other business interests that have very little to do. I think it is driven by religion as an excuse. But I think the bottom line it is more about business interests."
Q: Do you think the war is immoral?
A: "I think all war is immoral. I think the death of any man diminishes me. I think that clearly that when you have a war based on people trying to control natural resources for personal wealth, that is absolutely wrong."
Q: What do you think will happen on Tuesday?
A: "I think the Democrats will take the House, and possibly the Senate. The question is on Wednesday whether we will have a new agenda."
Q: Do you think the Democratic Party has only played lip service to the black interests?
A: Absolutely. I said that when I was running. The Democrats have taken us too often for granted. The Republicans have not tried to appeal or deal with us at all. That is why you need a social force out here. You have got to remember that the civil rights movement of the '60s -- the generation before me -- was not Democrat or Republican. They kept pressure on both. Martin Luther King challenged Eisenhower and Kennedy and Johnson. Johnson and Kennedy get credit. But it was King and others that pushed them into doing what they were doing. Our progress will not come from a party but from our ability to put pressure on those parties.
Q: It seems interesting to me how the Christian right and the black church seem to preach from the same Bible on issues like abortion and same sex marriage, but their interests are so different. The Christian right in predominately white churches cares a great deal about stopping same-sex marriage and abortion. Here (in the black church) I don't hear as much of that. I hear more about economic issues. Why is that?
A: It is historic. I think also though that you preach to the needs of the people you are preaching too. There ain't nobody coming in our churches that are same sex asking for us to do their weddings. That is not an issue with us. Our issue is poverty. Our issue is education. Our issue is health care. The reason some of the other churches are preaching that is that maybe they are confronted with that. We are not confronted. If I ask (an audience in a black church) how many have Medicare problems there will be hundreds that say yes. If I ask them how many of you problems with your schools, hundreds will say yes. If I ask how many have problems with crime in your community, hundreds will say yes. If I ask how many of you all have been invited to a same sex wedding, you probably wont' have three hands. So why would we be preaching about something that has nothing to do with us?"
Q: Do you have a favorite Bible verse or story?
A: The first sermon I preached when I was four years old is still my favorite Bible verse. It was from St. John 14:1. 'Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.'"
Q: Why is that your favorite?
A: One, because it was the first sermon I ever preached when I was four. And two, if you are going to fight this fight you have got to learn how not to be troubled and keep focused on what you are doing. It's like flying a plane, let the pilot take care of the turbulence. You just make sure you land."
Q: Do you have a favorite hymn?
A: Amazing Grace. You need a lot of grace to fight this fight.
Q: Do you have a personal Bible study you do each day?
A: "I do five or six of these a week. So I spend time in the air reading the Bible. Sometimes your best prayers are when you are closer to where God is and where there are less distractions."
IndyStar.com
October 31, 2006
Conference speaker aims anger at Bush
Some at gathering, which ends today, urge black churches to take stand on social issues
By Robert King
There are probably few places in Indiana -- typically a Republican stronghold -- where you can hear a preacher stand in a church and say President Bush is going to hell, but it happened Monday in Indianapolis.
The Rev. Frederick D. Haynes III, pastor of an 8,000-member church in Dallas, told an applauding audience at Eastern Star Church that the Bush administration has been exposed "for the hypocrites they are" by abandoning the poor.
"Jesus is going to say, 'Inasmuch as you do to the least of these, you also did to me. Go to hell, George Bush,' " Haynes said, in a raucous crescendo to a fiery message met with a standing ovation from an afternoon crowd of nearly 200 people.
Haynes' fury was just one of the expressions of political concern voiced Monday during the first day of a two-day conference at Eastern Star called The National Dialogue and Revival for Social Justice in the Black Church.
Concluding tonight with a speech from the Rev. Al Sharpton, the conference is aimed at turning the public's attention to issues dear to the black community at a time when some leaders say moral issues are too often limited to abortion and same-sex marriage.
Jobs, education, health care and crime were among the most frequently mentioned during Monday's sessions. And while Bush was sometimes a target, much of the criticism was inward -- pointing out the black church's failure to stand up for the needs of its community.
"What has happened to the subject of poverty in our nation's churches?" Haynes said. "We have taken the poor off the agenda of the black church." Charles Steele Jr., who heads the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Atlanta-based organization founded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said there are too many congregations "playing church" instead of taking a stand against racism, poverty and violence.
Steele said there are too many black politicians "selling black folks out" by proclaiming all is well and that blacks are making progress. "You are almost back on the plantation," he said. "We're going backward."
Message: Southern Christian Leadership Conference leader Charles Steele Jr. speaks during the revival at Eastern Star Church. - MATT KRYGER / The Star
If you go
The National Dialogue and Revival for Social Justice in the Black Church conference winds up today at Eastern Star Church, 5750 E. 30th St. Here is the lineup of speakers:
- 8:30 a.m. Drew Smith, a political scientist and Baptist clergyman from Morehouse College.
- 10:45 a.m. Jonathan Jackson, son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson and representative of the Rainbow Push Coalition.
- 12:30 p.m. Dick Gregory, comedian and activist.
- 2:30 p.m. The Rev. Gary Simpson, senior pastor of Concord Baptist Church of Christ, Brooklyn, N.Y., on "Establishing the Black Church Network."
- 7 p.m. The Rev. Al Sharpton, former Democratic presidential candidate and president of the National Action Network.
Reviving activism
Church exhorted to do battle with social injustice
By Sylvia Cooper | Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Augusta Chronicle
Andrew Davis Tucker/Staff
Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson (from left), the Rev. Al Sharpton, and the Rev. William Bass sing during the opening session of the National Dialogue and Revival for Social Justice in the Black Church at Good Shepherd Baptist Church.
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Andrew Davis Tucker/Staff
The Rev. Sharpton speaks at the event, which seeks to mobilize black voters.
National Dialogue and Revival for Social Justice in the Black Church at Good Shepherd Baptist Church. |
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The National Dialogue and Revival for Social Justice in the Black Church began Monday in Augusta with prominent black leaders calling for a revival of political activism.
About 400 people attended the first day of the two-day conference at Good Shepherd Baptist Church, focused on mobilizing the black vote for the Nov. 7 general election.
Among those exhorting black churches to go back to their roots and quit turning a blind eye to social injustice were the Rev. Al Sharpton; Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta; Charles Steele, the CEO and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and the Rev. Otis Moss III, former pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta and now at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
Mr. Steele said the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other founders of the SCLC always saw it as a Christian-based social justice movement.
"And I think in the wake of the Christian Right we forget the weapons of the movement were the Bible and the flag," he said. "It did not start with Jerry Falwell. That started with the SCLC and Dr. King. In many ways it was hijacked by the Falwells and the Pat Robertsons. And we intend to return it back to where it was supposed to be."
Mr. Steele told the audience it would have to make the country "do right."
"You can't expect a system that enslaved you to save you," he said.
"SCLC is the organization that carried you," he said, "but now we have forgotten from which we have come. And I tell people, 'You might have arrived, but you got off at the wrong station. You ain't there yet, baby.'"
The Rev. Moss had most of the lunch crowd on its feet for much of his fiery speech on the difference between a peacekeeper and a peacemaker, between a "prophetic preacher" and a "prosperity preacher."
"I believe the role of prophetic faith is to disturb the peace," he said. "In the words of Al Sharpton, 'There will be no peace where there is no justice.'"
He condemned President Bush for the U.S. presence in Iraq.The Rev. Moss said the president has lied to the American people but that black preachers aren't saying anything.
"Children are dying in this country," he said. "We are not saying anything about the bombings in Lebanon. But guess what? The only thing we want to talk about is gay marriage. The issue is that we have a person in office who is buying off the black church."
He condemned a church that deifies doctrine but ignores the love of Christ.
"That's how you got to this country," the Rev. Moss said.
After the lunch session, Olivia B. Wimberly, of Augusta, described the conference as "awesome." "I think the Augusta black community should be here, everyone, to hear this," she said. "I'm so energized, and I don't want to miss a single session."
Good Shepherd
Baptist Church
Senior Pastor,
Dr. Clarence Moore
 Reverend Al Sharpton, right, greets Deann Brown, radio host and the daughter of James Brown, as the enters the church for the Revival that is part of the National Dialogue for Social Justice in the Black Church in the sanctuary at Good Shepherd Baptist Church.
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