Posted on 07/25/2013 4:25:47 AM PDT by YourAdHere
Rev. John K. Jenkins, Sr. looked out at the congregation of First Baptist Church of Glendarden and sighed.
Less than 12 hours after jurors in Sanford, Fla., found George Zimmerman not guilty in the fatal shooting of unarmed Black teenager Trayvon Martin, he was having “trouble” coming to terms with the verdict and what it meant for justice, and righteousness, or the lack thereof, in this country.
Though the church celebrated its annual Music and Arts Ministry on July 14, Jenkins had a heavy heart. His topic for the day was “Directions for Troubled Times.”
“I was speechless,” Jenkins told his audience about his reaction to the verdict. “It took the breath out of me.”
Jenkins said he found particularly disturbing statements made by one of Zimmerman’s defenders. “I heard the man’s lawyer say he did nothing wrong…I heard the killer’s lawyer say [Trayvon] used the concrete as a weapon.”
At one point, tears began to roll down his cheeks.
Even for men and women accustomed to explaining evil and wrong, the verdict that freed Zimmerman proved difficult. Jenkins and several other pastors from Baltimore to the metropolitan Washington area decried the verdict July 14 and urged their members to understand that the verdict indicated that Black life was not as valuable as White life, despite some race gains over the last 50 years.
While some Americans believe the verdict delivered by the six-woman jury was just, many Blacks found it implausible that the jurors could acquit Zimmerman in the 2012 slaying of Martin, 17.
Rev. Dr. Beryl Whipple, pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church in White Marsh, near Baltimore, said he was not surprised by the jurors’ decision.
“This is a wake-up call not just for America, but for African Americans,” he said.
“This is a call to finally put an end to the senseless violence and be active in their community to make sure a tragedy like this never happens again.”
Whipple, like Jenkins, heard the verdict on television.
“I was watching CNN at home,” he said. “I don’t think he was innocent…Zimmerman killed a minor. In this case, we missed the mark on our opportunity for justice. I can only assume they came to that verdict based on their own life experience….They sided more with the community watch patrol officer than the young man trying to get home.”
Rev. Grady Yeargin, pastor of City Temple Baptist Church of Baltimore, preached in a hoodie, the morning after the verdict, as did Rev. Tony Lee, pastor of Community of Hope AME Church in Temple Hills in Prince George’s County.
Trayvon was wearing a hoodie on the night Zimmerman reported him to police as a suspicious person, then followed, fought with and fatally shot the youth.
"When you have great progress, there is always great pushback,” Lee told his congregation. “We want to act like we're in this post-racial society where everything is ‘Howdy, howdy’ and everything is all good. Just because you found you have a Black woman, Black man, Black baby girls, a Black dog and a Black grandmamma in the White House, you thought it was a post-racial society."
Several pastors said they believe race figured in the verdict, just as it did in the shooting and the investigation by law enforcement officials in Sanford, Fla., where Martin was killed.
Trayvon was “racially profiled from the beginning” to the end of the case, Whipple said.
“With this verdict, it showed that in the 21st century, we haven’t really moved forward as we should have it terms of racism,” he said. “We didn’t have justice in this case.”
Like Jenkins, he took offense at the idea that Trayvon had assaulted Zimmerman during the fight that ensued after Zimmerman refused a police dispatcher’s order to stay inside his car and followed and confronted the youth. Trayvon was returning to his father’s home in the community after going to the store to buy snacks.
“Travon Martin was trying not to get shot, he didn’t use the concrete as a weapon,” Whipple said.
At Turner Memorial AME Church in Hyattsville, the Rev. William H. Lamar IV asked his members to call out the names of the Black men they love—children, brothers, fathers, uncles, cousins, etc.
“I’m very clear that this nation continues to tell us that America does not value Black flesh the way it values the flesh of others,” Lamar told the AFRO after the service. “My whole context was that our ancestors were true freedom fighters, but we are asleep at the wheel. We have confused civil rights victories with the ultimate victory of the freedom struggle. And [Supreme Court Chief] Justice John Roberts told us in the recent decision [on the Voting Rights Act] that they do not even intend to let us keep our civil rights.”
Jenkins, who preached from Psalms 27:1-6, urged his members to continue to praise through the troubled times, as well. The congregation, led by the male chorus and praise and worship team, sang a lengthy rendition of Psalm 3:3 from the Bible.
“For thou, Oh Lord, are a shield for me. A glory and the lifter-up of my head…I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who set themselves against me round about,” they sang.
Be encouraged and continue to pray, Jenkins told his members.
“Although the world is ugly, we serve a beautiful God.”
Teria Rogers contributed to this report.
> they make their decisions based on race not the facts. If they looked at the facts on this case an really studied them they would see GZ thought he was going to die at the hands of a black thug who was on top of him smashing his skull into the ground and pounding him (which was observed by witnesses) after being offended by the “white man” who questioned his reasons for being in a gated community wearing a black hoodie where there had been many burglaries. They also forget that Martin could have gone on home but chose to ambush GZ going back to his vehicle.
But the pastor who is supposed to preach the truth instead spreads the lie.
It must be insulting to be a member of the only ethnic group that’s followed in stores.
What irony—”Pastors” with absolutely no moral authority to lead their “flocks.”
No other ethnic group does ‘flash mob’ thefts either...only blacks.
How long until black ministers are insulted that whites are uneasy about 30 black kids outside their store?
Organized religion....what a joke.
3% of the Population committing 50% of the Crime in this Country.
73% of all Black Babies born out of wedlock.
Don’t blame this shit on me. I am 51 years old. Been paying to house, educate, medicate, feed, allowed to reproduce these parasites since I was 14 years old.
I am not just tired of it, I am Plenty tired of it. Clean up your own Nest you filthy freeloaders.
It is not my responsibility to pay you to sit on your ass and bitch about your lot in life. It amazes me everytime you turn on the tube, either in the news or on shows that highlight the life in the “hood” that almost every female is over weight, fancy hairdo and 100 dollar fingernails. WTF?
Someone explain to me how people not working, living in Section 8 housing, on food stamps, have that kind of cash to spend?
Racist? Who’s the racist here. The people that have been supporting thru their taxes these parasites for 4-5 generations or the lazy ass, crybabies that can’t even finish grade school and spend the rest of their lives either committing crimes or sitting in a public funded house, reproducing like rabbits, eating food paid for by someone else?
It is the fault of the Black Communities and their cowardly leaders that allow this to go on without holding people responsible. That includes the Elected Congresscritters.
It would be nice to hear just one call out the welfare mommas who think it is okay to have a dozen kids all with different DNA Donors, who then turn them on the streets to go feral.
Black pastors need to get on their knees to their Savior and beg forgiveness for allowing the community to descend into the evil it has become.
I saw a suggestion yesterday that the kids are defining black culture and the parents are following it. I think that assessment is correct. The church is allowing it, out of “solidarity”. Jesus didn’t preach solidarity, to the contrary, He preached righteousness even when it would cost one his family!
Facts and rational thought have shown the ideas Liberals embrace to be in error and downright wrong over and over again.
So what do they do...they eschew rational thinking.
They throw out the baby and keep the dirty bath water.
What is left is not a rational being or collection of beings but a kind of sub-human creature(s) that lives according to its urges, appetites, and emotions...a kind of walking dead.
They seem to be speaking for the other side, judging by the feelings they are attempting to stir up.
I hope I am mistaken, especially now, at such a critical time.
Just more afro-turf.
Some animals are less equal than others and really ARE subs ....
When dealing with folks such as this who continually claim that Zimmerman profiled, stalked, attacked and shot Martin, I ask this simple question:
“What was the poor black child doing when he got shot?”
The responses are amazing, but mostly they desperately want to ignore it. I often have to repeat, “Yes, I know that Zimmerman had been keeping track of his location, but what, exactly was the poor kid doing when he got shot?”
The mental twisting is kind of funny to watch.
It’s like saying England is evil because they are bombing Germany (in the early 1940’s). Well, to the ignorant it may appear that way...
Trayvon, the black man was the criminal.
He committed attempted murder
You and me both. I am 53 and started working at 14 while in school and since I was 19 in college have worked every day of my life to pay for their upkeep. I am to the point of just walking away and letting them and the morons that vote for libs have it.
part of it is accepting and being tolerant of a few little crimes here and there
How about - don’t think you need to put an ass whuppin’ on anyone you feel like it.
or
don’t try to put the beat down on someone that might be armed.
Thank goodness for Rev. Manning.
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