Black clergy take on crime in community
Seventeen ministers formed a prayer circle Saturday morning outside LeMoyne-Owen College.
They solemnly stood holding hands, their heads bowed, eyes closed and hearts wide open.
"Lord, give us the vision," said Dr. Charles E. Stanback, president of the Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association and pastor of Greater Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Frayser. "Give us the courage," he prayed. "Give us the know-how," he pleaded. "To stop this killing." This wasn't just another plaintive prayer service in a city where gunshots ring out more frequently than church bells.
These were prayers of lament, confession and hope made by AfricanAmerican ministers on behalf of the black church.
Lamenting the plague of violence that has afflicted the entire community, but primarily and most devastatingly the African-American community.
"The time has come for us to speak out about the killings that are occurring in our community," said Reginald Porter, pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church, who called the ministers together.
Confessing the church's failure to intercede while deferring to government to stanch the violence.
"It is time for the black church to speak with a voice that is unified and clear.
“We must ask, we must plead with our brothers and sisters, our children. We must stop killing one another," Porter said.
Hoping the church will claim its moral authority to confront the systemic, social and spiritual sins that
foster crime and violence.
"We have spoken often and prophetically about the killing of our young men and women by police," Porter said.
"Now we must, with equally strong voices, call for a swift end to black people killing black people."
The ministers in the circle were from all over town — South and North Memphis, Frayser and Cordova, Midtown and Orange Mound.
They gathered outside LeMoyneOwen College, next door to Metropolitan Baptist Church, for a reason.
The church and college share more than a sidewalk.
Both institutions have experienced their fill of gun violence and tragedy during the past year.
Last July, Porter and Metropolitan hosted the funeral of four children allegedly killed by their mother. Porter and the children's father are cousins.
Last September, pastor and church hosted the funeral of six children and a grandmother who perished in a house fire in an impoverished neighborhood a few blocks from the church.
That same month, a 20-year-old former LeMoyne-Owen student was shot and seriously wounded in a dormitory parking lot.
In December, a 30-year-old teacher for a summer music program at Metropolitan, was found shot and killed in his home in Raleigh.
A few days later, a 21-year-old LeMoyne student was shot and killed near the school on his way to a store.
In January, an 18-year-old LeMoyne student on winter break was shot and killed as she stood outside her house in Parkway Village.
"These tragedies happened just a few steps from here, but they are symbols of the violence that is occurring in our homes and neighborhoods all around the city," Noel Hutchinson, pastor of nearby First Baptist Church, Lauderdale.
"We've got to change the mindsets of those who can so easily take a life without pondering the costs, and those who create and allow those mindsets to flourish." Don't misunderstand them. The ministers are not saying crime and violence in Memphis is a black problem.
They are saying it is a community problem that disproportionately affects the black community, especially poor people of color.
They are not saying crime and violence is a failure of law enforcement or government authorities.
They are saying it is a community failure that fundamentally requires the attention and authority of the black church, especially pastors.
"This isn't something the mayor can fix. This isn't something that can be fixed by hiring more police officers," Porter said.
"This is something that has to happen within our community.
“It's about how we view each other, how we have failed to take care of each other, how we hold each other accountable.
"We as black clergy can address these issues and hold people accountable in ways no one else can."
Saturday morning, they prayed for the vision, courage and know-how to hold the powers that be accountable for ameliorating economic and social inequities.
To hold people accountable for their personal and moral iniquities.
To hold the church accountable for its spiritual inadequacies.
To hold themselves accountable for their own inaction and inabilities.
"We have buried too many young people," said Davena Young Porter, one of the ministers who stood in the circle.
"But death exists in many ways. The violence of life manifests itself in so many, many ways. Our community can only flourish in wholeness as we address all of these.
"A murdered soul often begets physical death.
“I believe this city is capable of healing and all communities living in fullness and hope."
They believe. Saturday, they asked God to help their unbelief.