Tag Archives: ame

For this black church, supporting climate action is a no-brainer

by WesleyRosman Posted on July 29, 2016

preach

For this black church, supporting climate action is a no-brainer

By on Jul 29, 2016 7:06 amShare

Earlier this month, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, or AME — one of the oldest black churches, with 2.5 million members around the world — made history. At their general conference in Philadelphia, they voted to hold local, state, and national policymakers accountable for climate action to make the Paris climate agreement viable. The resolution from the the 200-plus-year-old black church is the first to address climate change wholly, committing to “support climate policies that will protect families, create healthy and safe communities, and build a clean energy future.”

The resolution was met with strong affirmation from congregants around the world, says Jackie Dupont-Walker, who directs the social action commission for the AME. Some individual churches had already taken a stance on climate change: An AME church in Zimbabwe, for example, already incorporates it into its Sunday school curriculum.

While some might be surprised that AME made such a bold move, it’s perfectly keeping in the church’s tradition. AME emerged in response to racial segregation in Philadelphia’s Methodist church. Addressing climate change, which church leaders says disproportionately impacts African Americans, makes perfect sense.

Election Guide ★ 2016Making America Green AgainOur experts weigh in on the real issues at stake in this electionGet Grist in your inbox

Follow this link – 

For this black church, supporting climate action is a no-brainer

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, ONA, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on For this black church, supporting climate action is a no-brainer

The Lawyer Who Handled Dylann Roof’s Drug Case Says He Seemed Like "Just a Normal Kid"

by RondaMoonlight Posted on June 18, 2015

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

After Dylann Storm Roof was arrested Thursday morning for allegedly shooting nine people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Ken Mathews, an attorney who has been representing Roof in an ongoing drug-possession case, was, he says, “very shocked” to hear about what Roof had allegedly done. He tells Mother Jones, “The dealings I had with him, he was just a normal kid.”

Mathews, a Columbia, South Carolina, attorney, notes that so far in the drug case he has had “very limited dealings” with Roof. He says he saw “nothing that would indicate that Roof would take this type of action.”

The local police have called the shooting a hate crime. Mathews says he has seen no signs that Roof harbored any racial animus: “I had no inkling of anything like that in the dealings I had with him.”

Mathews has known the Roof family for years, dating back to a custody dispute between Dylann’s father Ben and mother Amy over visitation rights concerning Dylann. Mathews says he spoke to Dylann’s father this morning, and “it’s very, very difficult.”

Mathews became Roof’s lawyer after Roof was arrested in March at the Columbiana Centre, a mall in Columbia, and charged with possession of suboxone, a narcotic painkiller. Mathews says Roof had gone into some stores and “asked people some questions, which made some people uncomfortable,” including what time the stores closed. Someone at one of the stores contacted the authorities. Roof was stopped and searched, according to Mathews, and the police found he was carrying suboxone and arrested him. Roof was also given a trespassing warning, which he violated a couple of weeks later, Mathews notes, and Roof was subsequently cited for trespassing.

Here’s what else we know about Roof:

Roof, 21, was arrested midday Thursday in Shelby, North Carolina, about a three and a half-hour drive from the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. The shooting of nine black churchgoers happened at about 9 p.m. Wednesday.
Charleston police chief Greg Mullen said he believed the shooting to be a “hate crime.”
Roof’s uncle told Reuters that Roof was introverted and soft-spoken.
The uncle also said Roof’s father had recently given him a .45-caliber handgun as a birthday present. “I don’t have any words for it. Nobody in my family had seen anything like this coming,” he said.
Roof is from Lexington, South Carolina, and attended White Knoll High School, which a high school friend said had a mix of black and white students.
An ornamental license plate on the front of Roof’s car had a Confederate flag on it.
Roof’s roommate told ABC News that Roof was a “bit into segregation and other stuff,” and “said he wanted to start a civil war. He said he was going to do something like that and then kill himself.”

Originally posted here – 

The Lawyer Who Handled Dylann Roof’s Drug Case Says He Seemed Like "Just a Normal Kid"

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LG, ONA, OXO, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Lawyer Who Handled Dylann Roof’s Drug Case Says He Seemed Like "Just a Normal Kid"

Here’s What We Know About the People Who Lost Their Lives in Charleston

by Cynthia Trevino Posted on June 18, 2015

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

Nine people were killed in the shooting at the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday night. On Thursday afternoon, Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten officially identified all of the victims, some of whose names had leaked out over the course of the day. Here are brief sketches of their lives.

State Sen. Clementa Pinckney

Pinckney, 41, was a pastor at Emanuel AME and a widely respected state senator. “Sen. Pinckney was a legend,” said fellow state Sen. Marlon Kimpton on CNN. “He was the moral compass of the state Senate.” Pinckney’s desk in the statehouse was covered with a black cloth after news broke of his death:

During his remarks on Thursday afternoon, President Obama said he knew Pinckney personally, along with other members of the church. “To say our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families and their community doesn’t say enough to convey the heartache and the sadness and the anger that we feel,” he said.

Sharonda Coleman-Singleton

Coleman-Singleton, also a pastor at the church, was a coach at Goose Creek High School near Charleston. South Carolina’s high school sports governing body mourned her death on Twitter after it was announced on Thursday morning:

“I saw her at work everyday and she always had a smile on her face,” Chris Pond, the baseball coach at Goose Creek, said to the Berkeley Independent.

Cynthia Hurd

Hurd, the manager of the St. Andrews branch of the Charleston County Public Library, was identified by her employer as one of the victims.

“Cynthia was a tireless servant of the community who spent her life helping residents, making sure they had every opportunity for an education and personal growth,” the library said in a statement on Facebook.

The library announced it would shut all of its branches on Thursday to honor Hurd.

TYWANZA SANDERS

Lady June Cole, the interim president of Allen University, said on Thursday that Tywanza Sanders, a 2014 graduate of the small historically black university in Columbia, S.C., was killed in the shooting. Cole called Sanders a “quiet, well-known student who was committed to his education” and who “presented a warm and helpful spirit.”

It’s not about how much money you got it’s not about materials you possess its about love faith belief hope determination perseverance passion pain patients. God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers. I love these instruments but my love for God is greater. This acoustic guitar and my first musical love my trumpet my sacrifice will bring joy to others #moneymotivatemoney #grindovermatter #success #loveyours #giveGodcredit #trustinGod

A photo posted by TyWanza Sanders (@freshwanza) on Apr 19, 2015 at 7:30am PDT

MYRA THOMPSON

Archbishop Foley Beach of the Anglican Church of North America wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday that Myra Thompson, the wife of the Rev. Anthony Thompson of Charleston’s Holy Trinity REC Church, was killed in the attack.

Ethel Lee Lance
The 70-year-old grandmother had worked at Emanuel AME for more than three decades. Her grandson Jon Quil Lance told the Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston that Lance was a hardworking Christian and “the heart of the family.”

Susie Jackson
The 87-year-old was a longtime church patron and Ethel Lance’s cousin, according to the Post and Courier.

Daniel L. Simmons Sr.
The 74-year-old was a ministry staff member at Emanuel AME and the former pastor of Greater Zion AME Church in the nearby town of Awendaw. His daughter-in-law, Arcelia Simmons, told ABC News that Simmons attended services at Emanuel on Sundays as well as weekly Bible study. Simmons died in the hospital after the attack.*

Depayne Middleton
The 49-year-old mother of four sang in the church choir.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Allen University is located in Charleston. It is actually located in Columbia, S.C.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled the town of Awendaw.

Continue reading here: 

Here’s What We Know About the People Who Lost Their Lives in Charleston

Posted in alo, Anchor, Casio, FF, GE, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Here’s What We Know About the People Who Lost Their Lives in Charleston