Exploring the Connections

Film: African Burial Ground - An American Discovery

Cosponsored by Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church,
Descendants of Olivewood, Inc., and Christ Church Cathedral

FREE EVENT

Under the skyscrapers of Manhatten, slumbering peacefully from a life of toil, the forgotten remains of former slaves were found in a surprise discovery in 1991, unearthed during the construction of a new federal office building in the heart of New York City. Federal officials kept the story quiet hoping to continue with construction until an unemployed journalist, Christopher Moore, broke the story on local television astounding historians and setting off a major political firestorm in the process pitting citizens concerned with being deprived of a history and heritage against the U.S. Government that initially planned on destroying the cemetery. Ultimately, the discovery of the vast slave burial ground led to the first chance to extensively study a large number of remains of African slaves, allowing scholars to gain a better picture of their lives and history than was previously available and led to the creation of the first, and only, National Monument honoring the contributions of slaves to the building of America.

However, many difficult ethical questions were raised. How is it that a burial ground containing more than 20,000 remains could simply be forgotten? Does the knowledge that could possibly be gained justify the excavation of a burial site? How does one properly handle heritage... who ‘owns’ history?

The Houston Society of Archaeological Institute of America joins with Christ Church Cathedral, Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, and the Descendants of Olivewood to tell the story of this discovery at the screening of the film “African Burial Ground: An American Discovery”. This film, narrarated by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee and originally made for the History Channel, is the opening event for the African Burial Ground Project and will place the entire story in context.

The producer, Christopher Moore, will be present to introduce the film and provide updates about the dedication of the African Burial Ground Memorial last summer. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion - “Preservation Matters - from New York to Houston” featuring Houstonians involved in social justice issues and preservation (including Rev. Jim McGill of Christ Church Cathedral, Dr. D.Z. Cofield of Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, Jenny Bailey - Mayor Bill White’s representative, Margott Williams of Descendents of Olivewood, Rick Low of Project Row Houses, and Dr. Carol McDavid of the University of Houston) and moderated by Larry Earl, Executive Director of the Houston Museum of African American Culture.

This event takes place at 7:00 p.m. at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, 3015 N. MacGregor Way

WHAT: AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND PROJECT EVENT:
Film: “African Burial Ground: An American Discovery”
Panel Discussion - “Preservation Matters - From New York to Houston”
WHEN: 7:00 p.m. March 5, 2009
WHERE: Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, 3015 N. MacGregor Way

FREE ADMISSION

This project is supported in part by a “We the People” grant from Humanities Texas, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities and by a funding from Houston Arts Alliance

Churches condemn Westboro hate speech, but challenge remains

[Readers will recall the the exploits of Fred Phelps and family who picketed the funeral of Matthew Brady after he had been killed in a "queer-bashing" incident in 1998, announcing that "he was burning in hell."]

Ekklesia News Service
by staff writers
February 19, 2009

Six churches and Christian groups [in the UK] have spoken out against US anti-gay hate group Westboro Baptist Church, who proposed to picket in the UK on Friday. But some of them have been challenged about their own policies and attitudes to gay people.

The churches issued their statement after British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she had decided to prevent members of the Church from entering the country.

The Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Evangelical Alliance UK, Faithworks, the Methodist Church of Great Britain, the United Reformed Church and Bible Society-funded thintank Theos said: “We are dismayed that members of Westboro Baptist Church (based in Kansas, USA and not associated with the Baptist Union of Great Britain) might picket the performance of The Laramie Project in Basingstoke on Friday."

The play is about the horrific 1998 murder of Matthew Shepherd, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, who died in a 'queer bashing' incident. The Westboro church, a fundamentalist sect largely comprised of members of one family, picketed Shepherd's funeral and announced that he was "burning in hell".

The group is well known for its "God hates fags" posters. It recently lost a court case in Maryland, when it picketed the funeral of a dead soldier, and was sued by his father. Mathhew Snyder's father won US $5 million. The church has been ordered to post bond of more than $500,000 in property, including the church building (which is also home to leader Fred Phelps Sr) and the Phelps Chartered law office building.

Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebekah Phelps-Davis are also ordered to pay over $100,000 each by 30 May 2009. They plan to appeal.

The British church groups said today: “We do not share [Westboro's] hatred of lesbian and gay people. We believe that God loves all, irrespective of sexual orientation, and we unreservedly stand against their message of hate toward those communities.

They added: “Neither the style nor substance of their preaching expresses the historic, orthodox Christian faith. And we ask that the members of Westboro Baptist Church refrain from stirring up any more homophobic hatred in the UK or elsewhere.”

However, Jonathan Bartley, co-director of the religion and society thinktank Ekklesia, says that a more self-critical approach is needed by Christians.

Bartley commented: “It is welcome that a number of churches and evangelical groups have made a public statement and joined the many others who are opposing Westboro Baptist church-style hate speech. But it is relatively easy to issue statements against extremists, distance oneself, and condemn them. It is more challenging, and uncomfortable, to acknowledge what one might have in common with those we find abhorrent. But that is what the message at the heart of the Christian faith requires."

He continued: “This is the real challenge that Westboro Baptist church presents. And among those who have condemned Westboro are some who preach rejection of faithful gay relationships, who deny their baptism and Christian ministry, and who refuse their wisdom. Some have attempted to negotiate opt-outs from equalities legislation so they can themselves discriminate against lesbian and gay people in employment and in the provision of goods and services. The Evangelical Alliance in particular removed the Courage Trust from its membership when the Trust made a Christian commitment to affirming lesbian and gay people.

Concluded Bartley: “The six churches and groups have said with one voice: ‘We believe that God loves all, irrespective of sexual orientation’. We invite them to reflect these words in their actions.”

New web site to serve Middle East peace activists

Ekklesia News Service, Feb 18, 2009
by staff writers

Friends of Sabeel-North America, a nonprofit group that works with Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land to educate American Christians on issues of justice and peace, has relaunched its peace activist web site, www.fosna.org.

FOSNA works with the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem to promote a vision for a "just peace" through a theological approach, nonviolence and international law. Sabeel addresses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as understood from within the Christian faith and in the context of a historical Gospel and the rediscovery of a Jesus who was fully divine and fully human, who was born under a brutal military occupation, lived under oppressive domination and was executed by occupation forces.

"There's a hope for meaningful change now with the new administration", said FOSNA's administrator, Sister Elaine Kelley, "so it is fitting that we make some changes too, particularly to assist newcomers to this issue who need the most up-to-date information and the best resources for their local church outreach programs and educational events."

The new site is a functional tool providing easy access to features that include the most recent news items on what the churches around the world are doing and saying on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and streaming videos of presentations from past Sabeel conferences, such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu's keynote address at the October 2007 Sabeel conference in Boston.

The site also features alternative travel listings, updated regularly for those seeking a traditional pilgrimage alongside an insightful Christian witness and on-the-ground experience of life for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza under military occupation. This feature includes Sabeel trips as well as a comprehensive listing of trips offered by churches and other peace groups.

A section on Investment Activism ties in with the global movement on Morally Responsible Investment and related economic strategies to bring a just and nonviolent peace for Israel and Palestine. Resources include articles, church statements and resolutions, press releases and other items of interest.

"We have links to over 100 web sites of other groups working to change the situation in the Holy Land," said Sister Kelley. "This wide diversity of Christians, Muslims, Jews and seculars in the US, Palestine and Israel working together for the same outcome is itself cause for hope. It is our shared hope for the Holy Land and for the whole world."

Israel pressed over ban on bishops' visit to Gaza

Ekklesia News Service
by staff writers, February 10, 2009

Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Episcopal Church have sent a letter to Israel’s ambassador to the United States expressing “grave concern” and requesting help to determine why a Lutheran bishop and an Episcopal bishop were denied entry to Gaza on 4 February 2009.

The letter from the Rev Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, and the Most Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, was sent to Sallai Meridor, ambassador of Israel, in Washington DC.

On 4 February, the Rev Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), and the Rt. Rev. Suheil Dawani, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese in Jerusalem and the Middle East, were part of a delegation of five heads of churches in Jerusalem who travelled to visit Christians in Gaza. Three members of the delegation were allowed to enter Gaza, but Israeli security officials denied entry to Younan and Dawani.

According to an ELCJHL news release, Younan and Dawani were the only Palestinians in the delegation. Both said they had obtained permits from Israeli officials to enter Gaza.

“The purpose of their visit was pastoral—to visit churches, humanitarian projects of the Middle East Council of Churches and the Al Ahli Hospital, an institution of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem,” the two U.S. presiding bishops wrote. “We are concerned that they were not allowed freedom of movement into Gaza to carry out their pastoral responsibilities.”

“We believe that it is urgent that adequate humanitarian assistance reach the people of Gaza immediately, and we underscore Bishop Dawani’s statement that ‘most certainly pastoral care is an important factor in such services,’” Hanson and Jefferts Schori wrote.

The presiding bishops wrote that they support their partner bishops and churches in their Christian ministry, and they share their continued commitment to work for peace in the region. Statements from Younan and Dawani, following their denial of entry, reaffirmed their commitments to work for peace in Gaza, the presiding bishops wrote.

“We hope that, having discovered the cause of their denial, you will assure that they will be permitted to enter as soon as possible to offer support and pastoral care to the people they serve,” the presiding bishops’ letter concluded.

Copies of the letter were sent to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and George Mitchell, US special envoy for Middle East peace.

An 87-year-old archbishop was among those deported by the Israeli army last Wednesday, after it boarded a ship in international waters bound for the Gaza Strip.

The Lebanese vessel 'al-Ikhwa' was carrying several tons of humanitarian aid from Tripoli.

The Emeritus Greek-Melkite Archbishop of Jerusalem Hilarion Capucci, together with the crew of 10 Syrian and Lebanese and other nationals were detained at Israel's international airport pending repatriation.

"Tulia, Texas" on Channel 8 tonight at 10.00 PM

A 1999 drug sting in the Texas farming community of Tulia that netted 46 arrests is examined. The case drew controversy for the disproportionate number (39) of African Americans targeted and its reliance on uncorroborated testimony from undercover officer Thomas Coleman. Texas governor Rick Perry eventually pardoned all of the convicted. The documentary features remarks from Coleman, several of the accused, attorney Jeff Blackburn, Texas Observer reporter Nate Blakeslee and former Texas judge Ron Chapman.

Faith should be about hope not hate

by President Barack Obama
Ekklesia News Service, Feb 6, 2009
These remarks are excerpted, unedited, from the prepared text for President Barack Obama's address to the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC, USA, 5 February 2009, with grateful acknowledgment.

Far too often, we have seen faith wielded as a tool to divide us from one another – as an excuse for prejudice and intolerance. Wars have been waged. Innocents have been slaughtered. For centuries, entire religions have been persecuted, all in the name of perceived righteousness.

There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same. We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we’re going next – and some subscribe to no faith at all.

But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.

We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” The Torah commands, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” In Islam, there is a hadith that reads “None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists. It is, of course, the Golden Rule – the call to love one another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.

It is an ancient rule; a simple rule; but also one of the most challenging. For it asks each of us to take some measure of responsibility for the well-being of people we may not know or worship with or agree with on every issue. Sometimes, it asks us to reconcile with bitter enemies or resolve ancient hatreds. And that requires a living, breathing, active faith. It requires us not only to believe, but to do – to give something of ourselves for the benefit of others and the betterment of our world.

In this way, the particular faith that motivates each of us can promote a greater good for all of us. Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife and rebuild what has broken; to lift up those who have fallen on hard times. This is not only our call as people of faith, but our duty as citizens of America, and it will be the purpose of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that I’m announcing later today.

The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another – or even religious groups over secular groups. It will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state. This work is important, because whether it’s a secular group advising families facing foreclosure or faith-based groups providing job-training to those who need work, few are closer to what’s happening on our streets and in our neighborhoods than these organizations. People trust them. Communities rely on them. And we will help them.

We will also reach out to leaders and scholars around the world to foster a more productive and peaceful dialogue on faith. I don’t expect divisions to disappear overnight, nor do I believe that long-held views and conflicts will suddenly vanish. But I do believe that if we can talk to one another openly and honestly, then perhaps old rifts will start to mend and new partnerships will begin to emerge. In a world that grows smaller by the day, perhaps we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of zealotry and make room for the healing power of understanding.

This is my hope. This is my prayer.

I believe this good is possible because my faith teaches me that all is possible, but I also believe because of what I have seen and what I have lived.

I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I’ve ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done.

I didn’t become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college. It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck – no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to. It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God’s spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose – His purpose.

In different ways and different forms, it is that spirit and sense of purpose that drew friends and neighbors to that first prayer breakfast in Seattle all those years ago, during another trying time for our nation. It is what led friends and neighbors from so many faiths and nations here today. We come to break bread and give thanks and seek guidance, but also to rededicate ourselves to the mission of love and service that lies at the heart of all humanity. As St. Augustine once said, “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”

The full text, which includes four preliminary and one final paragraph is available here: http://bit.ly/2Axjf9

Army Reports Alarming Spike in Suicides Last Month

by Pauline Jelinek
The Assocated Press, February 5, 2009

Washington - The Army is investigating an unexplained and stunning spike in suicides in January. The count is likely to surpass the number of combat deaths reported last month by all branches of the armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the fight against terrorism.

    "In January, we lost more soldiers to suicide than to al-Qaida," said Paul Rieckhoff, director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. He urged "bold and immediate action" by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs."

Jason Scheuerman's parents hold his photograph. Jason committed suicide in Iraq. (Photo: AP)

According to figures obtained by The Associated Press, there were seven confirmed suicides last month, compared with five a year earlier. An additional 17 cases from January are under investigation.

    There was no detailed breakdown available for January, such as the percentage of suicides that occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan or information about the dead. But just one base - Fort Campbell in Kentucky - reported that four soldiers killed themselves near the installation, where 14,000 soldiers from the two war have returned from duty since October.

    Some Fort Campbell soldiers have done three or four tours of duty in the wars. "They come back and they really need to be in a supportive environment," said Dr. Bret Logan, a commander at the base's Blanchfield Army Community Hospital. "They really need to be nourished back to normalcy because they have been in a very extreme experience that makes them vulnerable to all kinds of problems."

    Officials said they did not know what caused the rise in suicides last month and that it often takes time to fully investigate a number of the deaths. "There is no way to know - we have not identified any particular problem," said Lt. Col. Mike Moose, a spokesman for Army personnel issues.

    Yearly suicides have risen steadily since 2004 amid increasing stress on the force from long and repeated tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    The service has rarely, if ever, released a month-by-month update on suicides. But officials said Thursday they wanted to re-emphasize "the urgency and seriousness necessary for preventive action at all levels" of the force.

    The seven confirmed suicides and 17 other suspected suicides in January were far above the toll for most months. Self-inflicted deaths were at 12 or fewer for each of nine months in 2008, Army data showed. The highest monthly number last year was 14 in August.

    Usually the vast majority of suspected suicides are eventually confirmed. If that holds true, it would mean that self-inflicted deaths in January surpassed the 16 combat deaths reported last month in all branches of the armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and other nations considered part of the global fight against terrorism.

    Army leaders took the unusual step of briefing congressional leaders on the information Thursday.

    An annual report last week showed that soldiers killed themselves at the highest rate on record in 2008. The toll for all of last year - 128 confirmed and 15 pending investigation - was an increase for the fourth straight year. It even surpassed the civilian rate adjusted to reflect the age and gender differences in the military.

    "The trend and trajectory seen in January further heightens the seriousness and urgency that all of us must have in preventing suicides," Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, said Thursday.

    The other services did not immediately provide information on their suicide figures for January. But the Army in the past few years has posted a consistently higher rate of suicides than the Navy, Air Force and Marines as it has carried the largest burden of the two largely ground wars.

    In announcing the 2008 figures last week, the Army said it would hold special training from Feb. 15 to March 15 to help troops recognize suicidal behaviors and to intervene if they see such behavior in a buddy. After that, the Army also plans a suicide prevention program for all soldiers from the top of the chain of command down.

    Yearly increases in suicides have been recorded since 2004, when there were 64 all year. Officials have said over the years that they found that the most common factors were soldiers suffering problems with their personal relationships, legal or financial issues and problems on the job.

    But Army Secretary Pete Geren acknowledged last week that officials have been stumped by the spiraling number of cases.

    The relentless rise in suicides has frustrated the service, which has tried to address the issue through additional suicide prevention training, the hiring of more psychiatrists and other mental health staff, and other programs both at home and at the battlefront for troops and their families.

    In October, the Army and the National Institute of Mental Health signed an agreement to do a five-year study to identify factors affecting the mental and behavioral health of soldiers and come up with intervention strategies at intervals along the way.

    ---------

Associated Press writer Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report

MORNING REFLECTION: Inclusion and Tolerance

Today's Reading for the Daily Office Book of Common Prayer (p. 946)
Psalms 69:1-23(24-30)31-38 (morning)       73 (evening)
Isaiah 56:1-8
Galatians 5:16-24
Mark 9:2-13

Isaiah 56:1-8 reads like a contemporary letter to the editor.  It is a clarion call for inclusion and tolerance. 

We've just shifted voices and decades.  Isaiah 40-55 comes from a prophet of the exile who anticipates the defeat of Babylon (which happened in 538 BCE) and the return of the people to Israel which followed.  We've been reading from that section which is often called Second Isaiah, a message of comfort, hope and encouragement.

Chapters 56-66 belong to the period after the first stages of the return and restoration of Judah, around 520-500 BCE, or maybe later.  Things haven't worked out as wonderfully as Second Isaiah had hoped. 

Although Second Isaiah issued an open invitation to everyone to "come to the waters" and to "seek the Lord while he may be found" and "return to the Lord," old traditions about who is part of God's family have reappeared and been used to exclude some. 

There are those who are excluding the eunuchs from the community and from its prayers, citing Deuteronomy 23.  There are those who are excluding foreigners.  (There always are, it seems.) 

Isaiah 56 is a clarion call for inclusion and tolerance.  "For thus says the Lord:  To the eunuchs who keep my sabbath, ...I will give in my house and within my walls, ...an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.  And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, ...these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer..."  (Some call this section, chapters 56-66, Third Isaiah.)

These words sound very similar to the calls for inclusion and tolerance for gay people in today's church and community.  These words sound like contemporary appeals for hospitality and a road to citizenship for our undocumented aliens.

"For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples," the prophet speaks in the name of God.  No exclusion, no prejudice, no intolerance.

"Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered."  Open doors; open hearts.  I remember when Ed Browning was elected Presiding Bishop (two PB's ago), he opened his term with the stirring motto, "There shall be no outcasts" in the Episcopal Church.  He spoke in the spirit of Isaiah 56.

Paul's voice in his letter to the Galatians is also a voice of inclusion.  The entire letter is a passionate appeal for the inclusion of uncircumcised Gentiles into the family of God.  Paul insists that they be included, and that they not be expected to follow the Jewish Law and its many exclusive customs.  In this section of Galatians 5 we read today one of his most eloquent statements.  To those who would exclude those "others," Paul asserts that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There is no law against such things."  (my emphasis) 

If eunuchs or foreigners, gay people or aliens manifest the fruits of the spirit, we dare not exclude them by our customs and laws.  There is no law against such people. 

The Biblical witness for inclusion and tolerance is a strong tradition, and the parts of the church who articulate that call in our time follow in the spirit of Isaiah and Paul, ...and Jesus.

Lowell

Lowell Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Both Victims and Perpetrators

by Giles Fraser
Ekklesisa News Service, February 4, 2009

By the 18th century, Cape Coast Castle had become the centre for the British colonial government of the Gold Coast of Africa, and a holding bay for the transatlantic slave trade. It was here, in sweltering under ground pens, that slaves were “stored”, waiting for the ships that would take them to another world and lifelong bondage.

I have been in few places so palpably evil. Slaves were packed so tightly into lightless dungeons that they had to sleep standing up. To fall was to die. The tour guide explained that the dirt beneath our feet was several inches of human waste. We were walking on the blood, the vomit, and the faeces of countless thousands of trafficked human beings.

It was a tour where I was acutely aware of my colour and my nationality, but also of my religion. Right above the dungeons, the British built the first Anglican church in what is now Ghana. As soldiers and traders sang and prayed, just a few feet beneath them, men, women, and children were struggling in unspeak able squalor and dying for lack of food, air, and sanitation. Nowhere have I ever been so forcefully pre sented with the rank hypocrisy of our Christian forebears.

Cape Coast Castle makes an inter esting contrast with what it feels like to visit Nazi concentration camps. Having a Jewish background, I go around these dark places with an instinctive identification with the victims. It is often how the “visitor experience” is designed. Yet, while this is obviously deeply upsetting, it is not as morally transformative an experience as an identification with the perpetrators — the sort of experience I had in Ghana.

Holocaust memorials can be used in two ways. You can place yourself alongside the suffering, as an act of pious identification. Here little is demanded of you but your tears. Or you can imagine yourself a perpetrator, and be terrified at your own capacity for evil. This ought to strengthen your capacity for the self-vigilance that is essential to the spiritual life.

Or you can imagine yourself in what Primo Levi called “the grey zone” — part victim, part perpet rator. Take the Revd Philip Quaque, one of three Fante children taken to Britain by Anglican missionaries. He returned as the first black Anglican priest and chaplain to the Cape Coast fort, leading prayers in the church above the dungeons. Take the Jewish Sonderkommando, prisoners who were forced to be complicit with Nazi genocide.

In the grey zone, we are all both victims and perpetrators. In the grey zone, morality is no longer simple or easy to apply. Here Martin Luther (yes, the anti-Semite) makes most sense: the best we can do is to fall to our knees and cry out for mercy.

-----------

Giles Fraser is Anglican vicar of Putney, and a widely read writer and commentator on religion and society.

This article is adapted with acknowledgements from his column in the Church Times newspaper.

Witt Responds to Paris Critic

Friends of Justice
Posted by Alan Bean, February 4, 2009

Before I give Howard Witt an opportunity to respond to a critic from Paris, Texas, I should clarify a couple of things:

First, my aim is to give all sides an opportunity to share their views.  Folks from Paris who take issue with Mr. Witt’s remarks are free to respond and I promise to publish any responsible remarks.

Second, I contacted Howard Witt about the mess in Jena, Louisiana after reading his early reports on the Shaquanda Cotton story.  I was impressed with his willingness to bring an obscure but troubling case to the attention of the wider world.  Although I have only met Mr. Witt on one occasion, he is on my mailing list and frequently sends me articles he has written with some relation to racial justice.

In short, I am not trying to put anyone in their place nor do I want to slant the conversation to the advantage of either side.  Hopefully we are all searching for the truth and this exchange will shed needed light on an important subject.

Howard Witt Responds

Thanks for the opportunity to respond to the inaccuracies and falsehoods contained in this message. I understand that many town leaders in Paris believe I have been “pushing this story for a long time,” but in fact I keep returning to Paris because important developments keep happening there that are worthy of outside attention.

Contrary to the vehement insistence of some white people in Paris that I have some sort of personal agenda—a local Methodist minister at last week’s public meeting declared that I am a “Christ killer” because of my reporting—I’m actually interested in the struggles of this east Texas town as it grapples with its troubled history of race relations.

I’m not going to address the ad hominem attacks in the email. But the facts do need to be corrected. For anyone who’s interested, all of my collected reporting on Paris is available at www.chicagotribune.com/paris, and I stand by every word I have written.

Shaquanda Cotten had a long term history of relatively serious problems including an average of over an incident per day at school, all of which her mother chalked up to racism. The hall monitor was the last straw. She was almost 60 years old, barely five feet tall and left the school in an ambulance.

First, her name is “Cotton.” And let’s be clear: She had no prior arrest record. Yes, it is true that Shaquanda had a history of disciplinary write-ups, which I examined during my reporting of the story and detailed in my original March 12, 2007 report about the case. And Shaquanda’s mother and legal adviser challenged many of those write-ups as being petty and dubious. From my story:

“Shaquanda started getting written up a lot after her mother became involved in a protest march in front of a school,” said Sharon Reynerson, an attorney with Lone Star Legal Aid, who has represented Shaquanda during challenges to several of the disciplinary citations she received. “Some of the write-ups weren’t fair to her or accurate, so we felt like we had to challenge each one to get the whole story.”

Among the write-ups Shaquanda received, according to Reynerson, were citations for wearing a skirt that was an inch too short, pouring too much paint into a cup during an art class and defacing a desk that school officials later conceded bore no signs of damage.

The hall monitor Shaquanda pushed was examined at the emergency room and released. Her medical records indicated that she suffered no serious injury. This is not to minimize the wrongfulness of what Shaquanda did in laying hands on a school employee, but rather to try to maintain some perspective. The story was always about the proportionality of the punishment Shaquanda received-not whether she deserved to be punished in some way for her behavior.

Superville went the TYC route only after offering different options if her mother would give up custody so as to stop the enabling.

This is a slightly cleaned-up version of the falsehood that Lamar County Prosecutor Gary Young put forward after Shaquanda’s case gained national attention-a falsehood that Paris officials continue to propagate to this day. Young, through his spokesman Allan Hubbard, claimed that Superville had offered Shaquanda’s mother, Creola, the option of probation but that Creola had refused to cooperate. That was not true, as I was able to prove because I have a copy of the complete transcript from Shaquanda’s trial.

Here’s what I wrote about this in a story on March 31, 2007:

"Hubbard also backed away from claims he and Young made this week in numerous media interviews that the judge in the case, Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville, had had no choice but to send the youth to prison because her mother had testified that she would not cooperate with probation officials had the judge sentenced the teen to probation.

"On Thursday, Young’s official Web site contained this assertion: “This juvenile’s mother (Creola Cotton) told the judge she would not comply with conditions of probation.”

"But a review of the full court transcript shows no such testimony. In fact, Creola Cotton repeatedly answered “yes” when asked in court whether she would comply with any conditions of probation that the judge might impose."

On Friday morning, after an inquiry about this discrepancy by the Tribune, the district attorney’s Web site was altered to read: “Through her actions of non-cooperation, Ms. Cotton told the judge she would not comply with conditions of probation.”

He, of course, did not sentence her to seven years but gave the normal “indeterminate” sentence which would have allowed for her to be released at any time after she showed any remorse and indicated she might be able to interact in society. The Tribune knows this but continues to print misleading commentary.

I have written nothing misleading about this. My stories consistently reported that Shaquanda was sentenced to “up to 7 years” in youth prison. As far as the Texas Youth Commission allowing Shaquanda to be released any time she showed remorse, my subsequent reporting showed that TYC officials actually extended Shaquanda’s sentence because she was found with “contraband” in her cell-an extra pair of socks.

Leaving alone the question of whether personal assault or the property crime of arson is more serious, the Tribune either didn’t bother to print or didn’t bother to learn that the “white” arsonist was also a victim of domestic assault and was acting out and that every psychologist and advocate that dealt with both cases recommended the sentences that Chuck handed out. They also didn’t follow up and learn that the “white” girl didn’t make her probation and went to TYC. And while no one knew what was going on at TYC at the time that girl was assaulted while under TYC jurisdiction.

Utterly false. In fact, the only reason why the writer knows about what happened to the “white arsonist” is because I was the reporter who broke the story of what happened to her-how she ended up in prison, where she was sexually assaulted by a guard. Here’s an excerpt from my October 9, 2007, story:

This is the story of what happened to the white girl in that saga.

It appears she has suffered a fate far worse than Shaquanda’s.

The emotionally troubled teenager, who has been diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder, was sent to the same youth prison in Brownwood, Texas, where Shaquanda was incarcerated, because she subsequently violated her probation twice.

While there, the teenager — whom the Tribune is not identifying — was allegedly sexually molested by a male prison guard, who then threatened her to keep her quiet, according to documents and witness statements examined by the Tribune. The girl self-mutilated her arms with a knife, carving the word “Why” into her flesh, her mother said.

The last case [Brandon McClelland] is more troubling but once again the Trib ignores facts and details that confuse the situation. There were two white guys and a black guy, the black guy was killed in a horrible manner, they were also friends of some duration who were out drinking together. I don’t know whether it’s a hate crime but I know it was hard for the DA to figure what to make of it so they farmed it out to the former chief prosecutor from Dallas–the guy Watkins beat–which I think was a good idea.

I did not ignore any of the facts the writer mentions, which were detailed in my October 5, 2008 story.

But the writer is certainly choosing to ignore facts. The local prosecutor, Gary Young, did not “farm out” the case to Dallas because “it was hard for [him] to figure what to make of it.” He recused himself because, as a defense attorney, Young had previously represented one of the accused McClelland murderers in a questionable homicide case-and he only announced this recusal after the publication of my story detailing this relationship. An excerpt:

Family members and other critics are also concerned about the impartiality of Lamar County District Atty. Gary Young, who five years ago, before he was elected prosecutor, served as Finley’s court-appointed defense attorney when Finley pleaded guilty to manslaughter for shooting a friend to death.

Young has declined to state whether he will recuse himself and other prosecutors in his office from handling the McClelland case.

Although the victim in Finley’s 2003 manslaughter case was white, race played a role in the incident. Finley told police he was sitting in a pickup with his friend in a park when two gun-wielding black men supposedly walked up alongside and tried to rob them. Finley said he grabbed his friend’s handgun and fired at the robbers, but instead shot his friend.

An autopsy determined that the victim suffered three gunshot wounds to the head, but the district attorney at the time accepted Finley’s contention that the shooting was an accident and offered him a plea bargain on a reduced manslaughter charge. Finley served three years of a 4-year prison sentence. The alleged robbers were never found.