Thank God for Black pastors! Al Sharpton does the work by being in the courtroom | Opinion – Courier Journal
Ricky L. Jones| Opinion Contributor
Interestingly, as the wheels of justice clanked into motion and then grinded to a halt in the Ahmaud Arbery trial, race was barely mentioned even though it was clearly an ever-present factor. Why? Probably because prosecutors were afraid highlighting it would hurt their case, given the make-up of the jury.
Located 300 miles from Georgias shining star city of Atlanta, sleepy Brunswick still seems haunted by the ideological ghosts of 19thand 20th century sundown towns. Fewer than 17,000 people call Brunswick home and whites have largely maintained socio-political dominance. It did not elect a Black mayor until current city leader Cornell Harvey in 2014.
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The population of Brunswick is now 55% Black, but one couldnt tell that by looking at the Arbery jury. Jury summons were extended to the entirety of Glynn County, which is 69% white and 27% Black and defense attorney Kevin Gough and others were adamant about disqualifying as many darker citizens as possible. Gough, who represented William Roddie Bryant, complained the 60-person jury pool didnt have enough Bubbas or Joe six-packs in it.
Potential jurors were asked whether they supported Black Lives Matter, had participated in any racial justice demonstrations and if they considered the Confederate flag racist, among other things. At the end of the day, 11 of the 12 final jurors selected were white.
Read and say this slowly so as to ensure understanding. In the 21st century, in a trial of three white men who repeatedly accosted an unarmed Black man who was simply jogging, and one of them eventually shotgunned him to death and then claimed self-defense because he felt threatened by the Black man, 11 of the 12 jurors chosen were white.
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Even that wasnt enough for Gough. Not only did he not want Black people on the jury, he wanted to select which ones could be in the courtroom as well. He brazenly argued that high-profile African Americans, specifically Black pastors, should be barred from the courtroom because their very presence would influence the jury. We don't want any more Black pastors coming in here, Gough said a day after the Rev. Al Sharpton sat in court with Arbery's mother.
The devil went down to Georgia, indeed.
The outcome of the trial is not the issue here. The logic behind the process is. Even if Black people win here and there in American courts and other spaces, the Arbery trial shows they are usually subject to the whims, mercies andultimately, the decisions of whites.
One minister responding to Gough was Bishop Reginald Jackson of the African Methodist EpiscopalChurch. He opined, Black pastors have always been the conscience of the nation. If you dont remember Jackson, remember his church for it has been in the vanguard of those standing in the gap to protect Black people from the tragic and sometimes deadly consequences of American racial hegemony for centuries. It is a glorious tradition.
Contrary to popular belief reified through American miseducation in school systems and society, Black people had spiritual and religious traditions long before brutal American enslavement. But on these shores, the AME Church and those that followed it cannot be overemphasized. It stretches back to 1787 when free Black men Richard Allen and Absalom Jones formed the Free African Society in response to the racial domination of fellow parishioners in their predominantly white Methodist church in Philadelphia.
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Jones, who went on to become the first Black Episcopal priest ordained in the United States in 1804, founded the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in 1794. Richard Allen led followers who wanted to remain Methodist in founding the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Americas first fully independent Black denomination that same year.
Black men, womenand their allies coming out of this line have always been wedded to both faith and action. In 1822, free Black man Denmark Vesey was executed in Charleston, South Carolina for leading a plot to foment a slave revolt and escape to Haiti. Importantly, Vesey was also a co-founder of Charlestons Emanuel AME Church in 1818, the same Mother Emanuel that captured the eyes of the world almost two centuries later in 2015 when white supremacist Dylann Roof wantonly murdered a number of its members after they welcomed him in for prayer.
Yes, there has been a percentage of black pastors who have given in to greed and exploitation of their own people over the years. Their actions are shameful and must be called into question. But many more Black religious leaders have done us proud. They have stood up when many of their disempowered brethren lacked the agency to do so.
Call out their names! Black preachers, pastors, ministers, priestsand prophets across lines of religion and denomination throughout space and time: Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, Jarena Lee, Nat Turner, Sojourner Truth, Julia A.J. Foote, Henry McNeil Turner, Mary J. Small, Florence Spearing Randolph, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Albert Cleage, Jeremiah Wright and so many more! And YES Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who, even with their myriad failings, have done so much more good than bad.
Be clear why Kevin Gough didnt want Black pastors in that courtroom. Be clear that he and his ilk are afraid of them, their powerand their people. Be clear on that whether you are a believer, agnostic, or atheist. During this season of giving thanks, I say a pox on people like Kevin Gough and thank God for those Black holy men and women he so reviles!
Dr. Ricky L. Jones is professor and chair of the Pan-African Studies department at the University of Louisville. His column appears bi-weekly in the Courier-Journal. Visit him at rickyljones.com.
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Thank God for Black pastors! Al Sharpton does the work by being in the courtroom | Opinion - Courier Journal