#List of attacks against African-American churches

[reasoningdaily]

Attacks against African-American churches in the United States have taken the form of arson, bombings, mass murder, hate crimes, and white supremacist-propelled domestic terrorism. This timeline documents acts of violence against churches with predominantly black leadership and congregations.

19th century

1822 Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina was burned down.[1]

20th century

1921 May 31 Black Wall Street Church, Bombed, Tulsa Oklahoma

1951–1960

1955 October 5 Burning of St. James AME Church, Lake City, South Carolina

1956 December 25 Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed.

1957 April 28 At Allen Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church in Bessemer, Alabama, dynamite exploded at the rear of the church during an evening service.

1958 June 29 Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed again. This time, guards removed the bombs to a ditch; the blast blew out the windows, however.[2]

1961–1970

1962 January 16 New Bethel Baptist Church, St Luke's African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Triumph Church Kingdom of God and Christ, all three in Birmingham, Alabama, were fire-bombed.

1962 September 25 St. Matthew's Baptist Church of Macon, Georgia, was burned. "It is the fifth church to burn in a month."[3][4]

1962 December 14 At Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, a third bomb blew out the church windows.

1963 August 10 St. James United Methodist Church of Birmingham, Alabama, was destroyed by a "gasoline fire bomb."[2]

1963 September 15 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed during a Sunday church service. Twenty-two people were injured and four girls died.

1964 June 16 Mount Zion Methodist Church in Longdale, Mississippi, was burned to the ground. An investigation by Mississippi civil rights workers led to the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.

1964 July 30 Mount Moriah Baptist Church near Meridian, Mississippi was leveled by fire. This attack is connected to countless others that were meant to intimidate Black residents who were active in the Civil rights movement.[5]

1964 July 31 Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Rankin County, Mississippi, 15 miles east of Jackson, was burned shortly before midnight. At least 15 churches were damaged or destroyed by lire between the statewide civil rights drive opening in mid-June and this day.[5]

1971–1980

1972 (exact date unknown) Cartersville Baptist Church, in Reston, Virginia, was burned, causing the main church to fall into the basement.[6][7]

1974 June 30 At Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Alberta Williams King, mother of Martin Luther King Jr., and Edward Boykin were killed by a man who had determined that "black ministers were a menace to black people." A third churchgoer was wounded.

1977 December 18 Zoah Methodist Church, Mulberry Baptist in Wilkes County, Georgia; Mt. Zion Baptist Church and Antioch CME in Lincoln County, Georgia. Three teens were found guilty in the burning of 4 black churches in Wilkes and Lincoln counties.

1979 December 16 Second Wilson Church of Chester, South Carolina, a meeting place for civil rights activists, was gutted by fire.

1981–1990

1991–2000

More than 30 black churches were burned in an 18-month period in 1995 and 1996, leading Congress to pass the Church Arson Prevention Act.[7]

1993 April 5 Rocky Point Missionary Baptist Church in Pike County, Mississippi, was set on fire by three teenagers who served time.[8]

1995 January 13 Johnson Grove Baptist Church in Bells, Tennessee, was burned.

1995 January 13 Macedonia Baptist Church in Denmark, Tennessee, was burned.

1995 January 31 Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Hardeman County, Tennessee, was burned.

1995 June 21 Outside of Manning, South Carolina, four men affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan worked together to burn down Macedonia Baptist Church and Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church of Greeleyville, both majority black churches. Criminal convictions were obtained. In a 1998 civil suit, Grand Dragon Horace King and four other Klansmen, together with Klan organisations, were sued for $37.8 million for their roles, and amount reduced on appeal.[9][10]

1995 August 15 St. John Baptist Church in Lexington County, South Carolina, was burned and an arrest was made.

1995 October 31 Mount Pisgah Baptist Church of Raeford, North Carolina, was burned.

1995 December 22 Mount Zion Baptist Church of Boligee, Alabama, was burned.

1995 December 30 Salem Baptist Church in Gibson County, Tennessee, was burned.

1996 January 6 Ohovah African Methodist Episcopal Church of Orrum, North Carolina, was burned and an arrest was made.

1996 January 8 Inner City Church of Knoxville, Tennessee, was burned.

1996 January 11 Little Zion Baptist Church and Mount Zoar Baptist Church of Green County, Alabama, were both burned on the same day.

1996 February 1 Cypress Grove Baptist Church, St. Paul's Free Baptist Church, and Thomas Chapel Benevolent Society of East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were all burned on the same day.

1996 February 1 Sweet Home Baptist Church in Baker, Louisiana, was burned.

1996 February 21 Glorious Church of God in Christ of Richmond, Virginia, was burned.

1996 February 28 New Liberty Baptist Church in Tyler, Alabama, was burned and an arrest was made.

1996 March 5 St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Hatley, Mississippi, was burned.

1996 March 20 New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Ruleville, Mississippi, was burned.

1996 March 27 Gay's Hill Baptist Church of Millen, Georgia, was burned.

1996 March 30 El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church of Satartia, Mississippi, was burned and an arrest was made.

1996 March 31 Butler Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Orangeburg, South Carolina, was burned.[11]

1996 April 11 St. Charles Baptist Church in Paincourtville, Louisiana, was burned.

1996 April 13 Rosemary Baptist Church in Barnwell, South Carolina, was burned.

1996 April 26 Effingham Baptist Church in Effingham, South Carolina, was burned.

1996 May 14 Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Tigrett, Tennessee, was burned.

1996 May 23 Mount Tabor Baptist Church in Cerro Gordo, North Carolina, was burned.

1996 May 24 Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Lumberton, North Carolina, was burned.

1996 June 3 Rising Star Baptist Church in Greensboro, Alabama, was burned.

1996 June 7 Matthews Murkland Presbyterian Church sanctuary in Charlotte, North Carolina, was burned and an arrest was made.

1996 June 9 New Light House of Prayer and The Church of the Living God, both of Greenville, Texas, were burned on the same day.

1996 June 12 Evangelist Temple on Marianna, Florida, was burned.

1996 June 13 First Missionary Baptist Church of Enid, Oklahoma, was burned and an arrest was made.

1996 June 17 Hills Chapel Baptist Church, Rocky Point, North Carolina, is burned.

1996 June 17 Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church and Central Grove Missionary Baptist Church, both of Kossuth, Mississippi, were burned on the same day.

1996 June 20 Immanuel Christian Fellowship of Portland, Oregon, was burned.

1996 June 24 New Birth Temple Church of Shreveport, Louisiana, was burned.

21st century

2001–2010

2006 July 11 A cross was burned outside a predominantly black church in Richmond, Virginia[12]

2008 November 5 Macedonia Church of God in Christ, in Springfield, Massachusetts, was burned down and an arrest was made.[13]

2010 December 28 In Crane, Texas, the Faith in Christ Church was vandalized with "racist and threatening graffiti" and then firebombed by a man who was attempting to gain entry into the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas; an arrest was made and the perpetrator was found guilty and sentenced to 37 years in prison.[14]

2011–present

2014 November 24 The Flood Christian Church in Ferguson, Missouri, was burned by arsonists during a series of protests over the police shooting of Michael Brown, Jr. Michael Brown Sr. had been baptized at the church a week before the fire.[15] While other buildings in Ferguson were burned that night, the church was some distance from the protests, and buildings nearby were not damaged; investigators also found signs of forced entry at the church.[16] Members of the congregation believed it had been a targeted attack, motivated by Pastor Carlton Lee's calls for Officer Darren Wilson's arrest and his participation in Al Sharpton's National Action Network.[15][17] Pastor Lee died of an apparent heart attack in 2017, at the age of 34.[18]

2015 June 17 At Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, 10 African Americans, including Clementa C. Pinckney, member of the South Carolina Senate, were shot in a mass attack; nine were killed. White supremacist and neo-Nazi Dylann Roof pled guilty to murder and was sentenced to nine consecutive life sentences without parole.

2015 June 22 At College Hill Seventh Day Adventist, in Knoxville, Tennessee, a small fire was set, resulting in minimal damage to the church structure and destruction of the church van. The act was not classified as a hate crime.[19]

2015 June 23 God's Power Church of Christ in Macon, Georgia, was gutted by a fire which was ruled arson.[20][21]

2015 June 24 At Briar Creek Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, an unknown arsonist started a three-alarm fire, causing more than $250,000 in damages.[22]

2016 November 1 The 111-year-old Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi, was burned and vandalized with the words "Vote Trump" spray-painted onto the building. The arsonist, a black man who was a member of the church, pled guilty in March 2019.[23][24][25]

2019 March 26 St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre, Louisiana. This was the first in a series of three historically black churches over 100 years old, burned within a span of 10 days. Holden Matthews, 21, the son of a St. Landry Parish sheriff's deputy, was charged with the arson attack.[26][27][28] Matthews reportedly was not motivated by race but rather by anti-Christian animus and a desire to promote himself as a black metal musician in the mold of Varg Vikernes, who committed a similar series of church burnings in 1990s Norway.[29] On November 2, 2020, Matthews was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay the churches $2.6 million.[30]

2019 April 2 Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas, Louisiana. Holden Matthews was charged with the arson attack.[26][27][28]

2019 April 4 Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas, Louisiana. Holden Matthews was charged with the arson attack.[26][27][28]

2022 November 8 Two churches, Greater Bethlehem Temple Church and Epiphany Church, in Jackson, Mississippi were burned overnight. Both fires, in addition to 5 others set the same night, were deemed the work of an arsonist.[31][32]

[ausetkmt]

Reuters reports that the Trump regime is implementing a new change to America’s domestic terrorism programs that will officially install religious profiling against Muslims and remove the dangerous white supremacist extremist groups who are responsible for much violence across the United States from the watch lists.

The program, “Countering Violent Extremism,” or CVE, would be changed to “Countering Islamic Extremism” or “Countering Radical Islamic Extremism,” the sources said, and would no longer target groups such as white supremacists who have also carried out bombings and shootings in the United States. Just in the past two years, authorities blamed radical and violent ideologies as the motives for a white supremacist’s shooting rampage inside a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina and Islamist militants for shootings and bombings in California, Florida and New York.

A reporter at ThinkProgress tweeted that eliminating the tracking of America’s homegrown extremists similar to the Ku Klux Klan, certain far-right “patriot” groups and neo-Nazi groups will also eliminate the crucial tracking that the CVE program does to monitor the ranks of these hate-crime gangs and criminal enterprises.

As part of the Republican Party’s efforts to institute Islamophobia into public policy, terrorism will only be referred to as “radical Islam.” This is a clear strategy by the Trump regime that provides false justification to the Muslim ban that affects one of every eight Muslims worldwide from seven countries whose residents have never committed an act of terror on American soil.

Removing the white supremacist and violent extremist groups from federal tracking programs is an obvious power play by the Bannon regime to encourage racial hate and religious discrimination. The Trump regime has already removed the CVE’s previous 5-point counterterrorism strategy page from the State Department’s website, which we recovered via Archive.org.

Strategically, Trump’s efforts to brand terror as something solely Islamic are impractical and extremely unproductive, as Reuters’ report notes:

Hoda Hawa, director of policy for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said she was told last week by people within DHS that there was a push to refocus the CVE effort from tackling all violent ideology to only Islamist extremism. “That is concerning for us because they are targeting a faith group and casting it under a net of suspicion,” she said. Some Republicans in Congress have long assailed the program as politically correct and ineffective, asserting that singling out and using the term “radical Islam” as the trigger for many violent attacks would help focus deterrence efforts. Others counter that branding the problem as “radical Islam” would only serve to alienate more than three million Americans who practice Islam peacefully. Some proponents of the program fear that rebranding it could make it more difficult for the government to work with Muslims already hesitant to trust the new administration, particularly after Trump issued an executive order last Friday temporarily blocking travel to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

The fact is, American law enforcement (chart below) has consistently reported that their greatest concern is white supremacists or terrorists like the KKK, neo-nazis and their white supremacy enablers, not extremist groups like al-Qaeda, which has refocused its effort on exploiting the instability in the Middle East and not on Osama bin Laden’s delusions of “global jihad.”

It’s without question that America has reason to be vigilant about ISIS-inspired attacks today, and also to guard steadfastly against another major attack.

Trump’s voters may not have taken him seriously, but now they’ll have to grapple seriously with an energized group of violent, racist groups flourishing openly in America. Trump’s Islamophobic executive orders only play into the hands of extremists like ISIS and help to foster the atmosphere of ostracization and disenfranchisement that serve as breeding grounds for extremist ideologies.

This is just day 13.

[nijjhar]

The psychic politicians, Dog-Collared Priests, etc. deliver sugar-coated... The psychic politicians, Dog-Collared Priests, etc. deliver sugar-coated sermons for the following but to enter the Royal Kingdom of God, you need to be solitary as Christ Jesus was. https://youtu.be/pNLRxZpWHlg The psychic people seek their own praises and they deliver sugar-coated sermons of Flasehoods that are sweeter than honey but kill in thousands. For example, in 1947 people were given religious colours shredding off their tribal identities and they died in the sectarian riots. My late father used to tell the people not to change their tribal identity with spiritual selves and to fight as the Catholics and Protestants did in Europe. But they turned deaf ears and suffered in the riots whereas my father told the attacking Mohammedan party that we tribal people were going to fight and kill each other and not the spiritual selves Hindu, Muslim and Sikh, then 2000 strong Mohammedan mob became our best friends in Allah and looked after us. If your tribal father can protect you so much then our Supernatural Father God Elohim, Allah, Parprahm, etc. will protect you? This Dark Age is of the Gospel Truth known to one in a thousand and two in ten thousand. Psychics rule the world and it is to be lucky that His Grace, you are twice-born Pneumatic sealed to serve God Only. He will protect you so well as Yahweh protects people in the Brazilian and African Jungles who are faithful to their tribal fathers. Circumcision is the tribal mark of Abraham to Isaac and the greedy Temple Priests exploited it making fake sons of Isaac Angel Stephen warned the Temple Priests in his long speech that they could not bear this Gospel Truth and killed him. Today, the same fake sons of Isaac, the Mohammedans are going to kill them and you cannot blame a third person but the greedy psychic Jews themselves. So, if God has blessed you with spirit, please do not turn to evil spirit to fleece and kill people but holy to serve our Supernatural Father Elohim, Allah, Parbrahm, etc., to serve Him by singing the praises. Thus, eat the Flesh of Jesus (What came out of the Mouth of Jesus -that cannot be written down in ink on paper as the Scriptures are but through "Logical Reasoning" that will Brew Logo and Logo is His Word, the very Face of our Supernatural Father God. Gospel belongs to God and you learn it from the Sons of Elohim, Allah, Parbrahm, etc. It is One God One Faith and this organisation Interfaith belongs to the spiritually blind people. A Testimony by an American Soldier:- Youtube channel - Truthsoldier I served in the satanic Iraq war. I openly am shamed for that and I asked for forgiveness for taking part in that war. I actually had my awakening while over in Iraq. My eyes were opened to the injustice of that war. The Iraqi people loved Saddam; they had whole stories with nothing but Saddam’s face on everything. Since then I have been speaking out against the US and ISRAEL on my Youtube channel. Here is my contribution:- Holy spirit, common sense, shatters the fetters of the dead letters, the Holy Books. If we have One God, our Supernatural Father of our souls, then there should be one Faith. In Christianity, Jesus said One Fold called the Church of God headed by One Shepherd, our Bridegroom Christ Jesus/Christ = Satguru Nanak Dev Ji, the Second coming of Jesus. Thus, Jesus was born and Jesus died on the Cross and rose on the Third Day and NOT CHRIST, THE TITLE. Books:- ONE GOD ONE FAITH:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/bookfin.pdf Greatest Blasphemers and Killers Blair and Bush being considered by Anti-Christ Bishops for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize should rather go to Assange and the Iraqi Journalist who threw both his shoes at the hypocrite Bush in Iraq. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qHdTpTXHvE&list=PL0C8AFaJhsWz7HtQEhV91eAKugUw73PW1 Christ Jesus was killed by the Temple High Priest Hypocrite/Blasphemer against the Holy Spirit and so were Bush and Blair who at the backing of Jewish people in the USA destroyed one country after the other starting with the cradle of Humanity Iraq, the Land of the forefather of the Chosen People who is no more faithful to Abraham but has become sons of the Highest Satan Al-Djmar Al-Aksa. Blair and Bush’s blasphemies against the Holy Spirit:- https://youtu.be/0WBYOmpDuCs American Jews are today – http://www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/GrimReaper.htm Destroying one country after the other, so that the scripture is fulfilled. Also, do not forget the partition of India and how the dirty hearted-British divided the homeland Punjab of the brave Jatt tribal soldiers who fought in the two World Wars for .... My ebook by Kindle. ASIN: B01AVLC9WO Full description:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/Rest.htm Any helper to finish my Books:- ONE GOD ONE FAITH:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/bookfin.pdf and in Punjabi KAKHH OHLAE LAKHH:-  www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/pdbook.pdf Very informative Channel:- Punjab Siyan. John's baptism:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/johnsig.pdf Trinity:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/trinity.pdf

[96thdayofrage]

‘Nooses, KKK Literature, Slave Auction’: Tennessee Teen Faced Months of Racist Bullying, Mom’s Had Enough and Files $2.5 Million Lawsuit

The parents of a a Black teen at a majority white middle school in Tennessee are fighting back after being bullied and harassed for months by filing a federal lawsuit against the school officials.

“There’s been documented incidents in this case of no fewer than 12 racial harassment episodes,” said Larry Crain, attorney representing the family of a Black 14-year-old boy who attended Church Hill Middle School in Church Hill, Tennessee, a town of about 7,000 people, 96 percent of them white, 80 miles northeast of Knoxville.

The racial demographics of the town are reflected in its middle school, which had only 5 Black students out of 400 total this past school year. The 14-year-old, who is not named in the lawsuit, has a white mother and Black father, was victimized and faced racist bullying for months by white students, the lawsuit alleges.

“Stalked this young man I guess is the best way to put it, shoved information in front of him depicting African-Americans with nooses and KKK literature,” Crain said of the allegations listed in the claim.

The federal lawsuit filed against the school district on May 24 and seeks $2.5 million in damages, lists several incidents of alleged harassment dating back to September 2021. One instance was of white student allegedly said to the Black 14-year-old, “fight me you (expletive) monkey.”

The Black student was also allegedly called racial epithets and harassed by a drawing depicting a KKK member holding a torch and noose standing over what was described as “monkey island.”

Crain says the Black teen was also, “a victim of a slave auction” and he was “nominated as monkey of the month” by white students at the school.

The lawsuit also says the 14-year-old was chased out of the boy’s bathroom with a stuffed monkey and the incident was recorded on cellphone video and uploaded to social media with the caption, “monkey chasing monkey.”

“At one point, some students inflated some gloves and put depictions of African-Americans on them and stabbed the gloves,” Crain goes on to describe more of the alleged racist acts done to the 14-year-old Black student.

According to the lawsuit, the 14-year-old’s mother, Erika Qualls, tried to get school officials to intervene, with little success.

“There was no effort made to intervene at the school level to make sure the perpetrators of these attacks were dealt with appropriately,” Crain said of the school’s response to the alleged incidents.

Crain says in some cases school officials blamed the 14-year-old for being victimized, discouraging hm from coming forward, although the bullying continued.

“It is this young man who in many times was accused of being the initiator of these incidents and was even disciplined himself on occasion,” Crain said.

The Hawkins County Board of Education sent Atlanta Black Star a statement regarding the allegations cited in the lawsuit.

“Hawkins County Schools understands a parent has filed suit against our school system. Though the school system will not address specifics in an effort to protect student privacy, we vehemently deny that our school system tolerates racial discrimination or harassment of any kind. When such allegations are brought to our attention regarding student conduct, we take steps to investigate the same and to discipline those found responsible.

Hawkins County Schools and the many educators who work within our school system strive to create an environment where all students – regardless of their race – feel safe and welcome. And we will defend ourselves in court against any claims to the contrary.“

“If that is their position and I fully expect it will be, the efficacy of their efforts to intervene or do something about it appears to be futile,” Crain said of the Board of Education’s response to the lawsuit filed.

Crain says since the Qualls lawsuit was filed on May 24, more families have come forward claiming their children also experienced racial harassment, and while Erika Qualls did not join Crain for an interview on the case, Crain says she wants accountability for what happened to her son.

“If anything it seems to us, there was no action taken to discipline those that were responsible for these racial attacks,” Crain said.

[oberlincollegelibraries]

It Started in Memphis

Early signals of what would become the ongoing treatment of police brutality against African Americans started in Memphis on the horizon of freedom when newly freed slaves were viciously attacked during the first three days of May 1866 by a police-led mob.

The results of a congressional investigation did little to correct the injustices committed against these victims as the government was indifferent towards pursuing and punishing the perpetrators.  Numerous witnesses testified before the Select Committee on the Memphis Riots, often providing the names of those who had committed murders, rapes, mutilations, and destruction of property including homes, schools, and churches, but no legal action was ever taken to signal a no tolerance policy against such egregious acts towards the African American population.

It is no coincidence that a little more than a hundred years later, Memphis would be the place where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., reverend, Nobel laureate, peacemaker, lover of mankind, husband, father, and the voice of love and human dignity was assassinated.

In commemoration of Black History Month, this post pays tribute to the men, women, boys, girls and infants on whom the wrath of racism was unleashed in the early days of May 1866. Here is a list of some of the victims and what they suffered:

Harriet Armour, raped and sodomized by two, one a city official

Rebecca Ann Bloom, raped

Robert Carlton, robbed and killed

Robert Reed Church, father of Mary Church Terrell, robbed and shot at fifteen times by policemen

Rachel Hatcher, killed

Lucy Smith, almost 17 years old, raped and brutally beaten to the point of death after being ordered to prepare a suitable supper for the perpetrators

Lucy Tibbs, raped

Francis Thompson, raped by four, two were policemen

The testimony of Emiline Wilson provides a chilling summary of the depths of the atrocities committed during the three days of terror.

On the night of the 3d of May, 1866, I was a short distance from the house occupied by John Green, and his wife, Ida Green, and family. I saw their house set on fire by a crowd of policemen and citizens. I saw Ida Green attempting to leave the house, but they drove her back into it; she begged and prayed them to let her out of the burning house, but they would not let her. She then attempted to come out anyhow, and they shot her. She fell partly in the house; they then kicked her and rolled her over like a log into the fire, where she was burned up. Her baby was in bed, and was burned up at the same time. Her husband, John Green, has never been seen since that evening, and I heard Mary Black and others say he was killed.                                        (H. Rpt.39-101; Serial Set 1274, pg.353)

[coraofwales]

How the royals gave Harry and Meghan everything they wanted - but they still wanted more

Camilla Tominey

9 JANUARY 2020 • 9:00 PM

It was the outburst that first put Prince Harry at odds with his grandmother over the way he and his wife intended to run their royal lives.

Telling one of the Queen’s most senior aides: “What Meghan wants, Meghan gets”, in the run up to their Windsor wedding in May 2018, the ill-tempered comment is understood to have prompted a rare rebuke from the 93-year-old monarch.

Yet ever since that glittering ceremony at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, the royals have been uncharacteristically accommodating of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ demands - which makes their decision to step down as senior royals without consultation all the more baffling.

It started before the couple had even got married when the Queen broke with royal tradition to invite American divorcee Meghan to spend Christmas at Sandringham in 2017, even though she was only engaged to Harry at the time.

Recognising that the former Suits star had not just moved to the UK but also given up her blossoming acting career to marry into the Firm, the royals bent over backwards to make Meghan feel as welcome as possible - as did the British public.

The Cambridges even allowed the lovestruck pair to stay at Anmer Hall, their private bolthole on the royal estate in Norfolk and the ‘Fab Four’ were famously captured by amateur photographer Karen Anvil walking arm in arm to St Mary Magdalene Church on Christmas morning.

When their big day arrived, Harry and Meghan got the multicultural service they craved, the carriage procession and the star-studded reception, away from the prying eyes of the world’s media.

When cracks started appearing in their relationship with the Cambridges amid rumours of a rift between the royal brothers - and a tearful incident between the sisters in law at a bridesmaids dress fitting for Princess Charlotte - efforts were made behind the scenes to patch things up.

The Duchesses put on a united front in the Royal Box at Wimbledon a couple of months later, and the Sussexes agreed to spend a second Christmas at Sandringham - albeit staying at the ‘big’ house rather than Anmer Hall.

Credit: Ben Curtis /AP

Soon after it was announced that the royal household shared by the brothers at Kensington Palace was to split, a move engendered by Harry and Meghan amid fears they were being overshadowed by the Cambridges and their growing brood.

Moves to renovate a larger apartment for the couple at the royal residence synonymous with Diana, the late Princess of Wales, were abandoned and £2.4 million of taxpayers' cash was instead ploughed into the refurbishment of Grade II listed Frogmore Cottage in Windsor.

Although the Queen and Prince Charles denied the couple the chance to set up their own ‘court’ in Windsor, preferring instead for them to be kept under the auspices of Buckingham Palace, their wish to set up their own charitable foundation was granted - as well as their own Sussex Royal Instagram page and social media platform.

And when their son Archie was born in May 2019, the Queen agreed that the newborn should not have a royal title but inherit the family surname Mountbatten-Windsor.

They were allowed to keep the location of the birth secret (until it was later revealed on the royal baby’s birth certificate) as well as breaking with royal protocol by also keeping the identity of his godparents under wraps.

And when it came to their first royal tour as a family - following a hugely successful visit to Australia in 2018 - the Sussexes were permitted to take Archie to Harry’s beloved Africa last autumn.

Almost everything that Meghan (and Harry) wanted, they got. And yet it still didn’t seem to be enough. Giving an interview to ITV’s Tom Bradby during the African tour, Meghan hinted at a lack of support from her royal relatives, tearfully declaring: “Not many people have asked if I’m ok.”

Harry later issued a statement attacking the press for “bullying” Meghan - without the prior knowledge of the Queen or her successors in a growing sign of what was to come.

According to one former aide: “They always wanted autonomy and saw it as a huge disadvantage to be in with all the others at Buckingham Palace. They think the world is against them. Harry has always complained about being sidelined by William”.

But in wanting the cake and eat it scenario of being “financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen,” the couple now appear to have issued a demand too far.

With both Buckingham Palace and Clarence House pushing back on the idea of them continuing to hold onto their royal titles and receive money from the Duchy of Cornwall while ‘stepping back’ as senior royals, the couple has never looked more isolated.

And not just from their nearest and dearest but their own advisers. Their PR chief Sara Latham now appears to be playing second fiddle to US based master of the dart arts Ken Sunshine, David Beckham’s former publicist Izzy May and talent agent Nick Collins - all of whom now appear a part of the Sussexes’ inner circle amid claims royal aides have been “frozen out”.

“The couple have been ignoring the advice of their palace staff,” revealed an insider.

A power vacuum following the sudden departure of the Queen’s former private secretary Sir Christopher Geidt in 2017 has not helped matters. Some have suggested that Harry and Meghan have capitalised on the absence of the highly respected former Scots Guard, reportedly forced out by Prince Charles and the Duke of York, who “ran a very tight ship”. With the Queen turning 94 in April and the Duke of Edinburgh, 98, now retired from public life and recently in ill health, the “Sussex situation” appears to have lacked proper management.

The complex relationship between Harry, William and Charles - which was tested heavily during the commemorations to mark the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death in 2017 - has made it difficult for both father and brother to assert their authority, with William’s attempts only serving to further drive a wedge. (The heir and second in line to the throne are only mentioned twice on the Sussexes's revamped website).

As Bradby, who knows both couples well, mused in the aftermath of Wednesday’s shock statement: “With families, we all know stuff happens, things are said.

“And also a family dispute within a family firm - you are working in a big family firm, everyone has their wishes and desires and ambitions and they have to be balanced up - and it’s very hard.”

Or as that understated and rather curt Buckingham Palace response put it: “These are complicated issues”.

The simple truth is, in giving them what they wanted, the royals only succeeded in leaving Harry and Meghan wanting more.

@anonymoushouseplantfan

@the-charlatan-duchess

@the-best-soap-opera-ever

[tomorrowusa]

Black folks are not stupid. We know their tricks. We know their motivation. They are the Klan in three-piece suits. [ ... ] They know it's being perceived as racist, but they are so racist that they don't care. [ ... ] We endured slavery, Jim Crow and lynching by being creative and strategic. We're going to use their own tools and throw them back at them. We have to beat them at their own game.

Rev. Timothy McDonald III, Atlanta-based pastor who founded the African American Ministers Leadership Council. His group created "Souls to the Polls" — a national get-out-the-vote movement among Black churches. Quoted at the CNN article Georgia Republicans made two big mistakes when they attacked voting rights .

The outrage sparked by the blatantly racist Georgia Republican voter suppression law should serve as a warning to Republicans in other states intent on preventing people of color from voting.

Stephen Wolf at Daily Kos Elections has news about proposals to suppress voting AND proposals to expand voting in various states. Voting Rights Roundup: GOP passes Georgia's most far-reaching voting restriction law since Jim Crow

Similarly, the Brennan Center for Justice has a more technical list of pending bills proposed in state legislatures regarding voting. It’s (currently) a month old but is still a good resource. The good news is that while there are 13 pages of bills to limit voting, there are 36 pages of bills to expand voting rights. State Voting Bills Tracker 2021

It’s up to you to make sure that the people who represent you in your state capital are doing the right thing. Look up who your state legislators are and find out where they stand on legislation regarding the right to vote. Support those who are working to make voting simpler and start organizing against those trying to suppress voting.

Find Your Legislators

[bishopazariyah]

BISHOP AZARIYAH AND HIS BEAUTIFUL FAMILY!!!!

“THE REAL SUPERHEROES: HEBREW ISRAELITES”

Written by Dr. Azariyah Ben Yosef

The greatest secret that is being kept in the world today is who the real children of God are. An important fact is that there is a real agenda aimed at Black Americans who are the only ones that are being targeted through the Western World’s Eugenics program. An agenda set forth by what the world calls the Illuminati. According to the Bible they are identified as the Synagogue of satan (Revelation 2:9 and 3:9).They have been the enemies to the Children of God since the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Greek. Unwittingly, they have been fulfilling Bible scriptures foretold by The Most High God of Israel (Genesis 3) to attack and destroy God’s Chosen Seed who remains in the earth today. This warfare has been spiritual, mental, and physical on all levels (Ephesians 6). They have used various tactics such as religion, that traces back to Ancient Babylon. This Elite has been behind the political, religious and educational system set to destroy the Children of Israel. The whole world has been behind this conspiracy against God’s children (Psalm 83). They in fact have always known who the true children of God are. The Children of God are in fact Negroes (Deuteronomy 28:68). This fact goes against all religious teachings, because we have been brainwashed into a satanic governmental system that is based on lies and is in fact committed to keeping the true identity of the Children of Israel a secret. This governmental system was identified publicly by U.S. President George Bush in the 1980’s -as the New World Order. A political masterplan that was originally set in place by the Egyptians. Which is why America models everything after Ancient Egypt (Exodus Chapter 1). These Illuminist powers used the blueprint of Ancient Egypt to systematically destroy the Children of God since their downfall after King Solomon’s reign. When they fell as a people they were enslaved by their enemies who are what the world calls Europeans today, but they are in fact what the Bible calls Edomites. These Edomites are in fact Caucasians according to the Bible, White people are the main enemies to the children of God. These enemies of God whitewashed mankind’s true history and the historical records of the Israelites. All in a coordinated effort to hide the real identity of God’s chosen people. They have used World Wars as a pretext to steal their homeland in 1948. The Jewish-Israeli people are in fact Romans and Jewish converts -not the true Jews according to the Bible and not of the bloodline of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. How could this happen? You may ask. Well the Bible answers that question. The Nation of Israel fell as a people due to disobedience to God’s laws, statutes, and commandments (Deuteronomy 28:15). This disobedience to their God (whose name is AHAYAH “I Am”), caused them to suffer curses that will plagued them forever and is a sign of who the real Jews are and how they will be scattered throughout the earth. During the 1600’s White Europeans saw an opportunity to take advantage of their downfall by conspiring with other Gentiles, such as the Africans to kidnap Negroes who are Hebrews and sell them into slavery. It is a common misconception that all Black people are the same. In fact they are not all the same, in truth the Black race is the most diverse race on the planet. Only the White race is all the same, this information has been proven by Anthropologists and History scholars around the world (Zondervan Bible dictionary). One may ask how did this race war between the Children of God and the Caucasoid hybrid race began. It was prophesied by the Most High in the Book of Genesis Chapter 3. When Eve betrayed her husband and made a covenant with satan. Satan promised her knowledge and power which is the reason why the world exalts women today (“Feminism” and Goddess worship), which is an abomination to God! A spiritual and racial battle was set in place when God told satan that there will be enmity (strife) between satan’s seed and God’s seed. Which means satan has a seed in the earth that is committed to destroying the seed of God (Genesis Chapters 25-27). This ancient battle was set in motion before the Great Flood during the days of Noah and resurfaced again with the birth of Jacob and Esau -two distinct nationalities (which means two different races of people). The descendants of Jacob became the children of God. The descendants of Esau evolved to become the Greco-Roman Empire. Esau’s lineage which is the seed of satan, officially put their plan in action to exterminate the Children of God in 70 A.D. When they laid siege against Jerusalem and forced most of the Hebrews to flee into Africa. This record is recorded in the books by the historian Josephus and the book “From Babylon to Timbuktu”, as well as many other historical records. The Hebrews a magnificent race of people that ruled all of Africa and before and after the downfall of the Roman Empire they ruled over Asia and Europe! According to historical records and in and outside of the Bible the Israelites continued to sin against their God. Which forced The Most High, AHAYAH to allow His children to be enslaved by their enemies time and time again and scattered them throughout the four corners of the earth. Which led to their final downfall during the Arab and Transatlantic slave trades. This takedown would begin a Gentile Coalition to set in place a plan of Eugenics and a system of perpetual slavery to keep the Children of Israel from ever becoming a nation again. Which is the real reason why America was established as a nation. The Romans became Jewish converts and financed the slave trades and created a western world society that became an extension of the Roman Empire (a “Rebirth”). Through this political and religious system they would keep the Children of God in constant physical and mental darkness. This system is called Zionism and Freemasonry. As identified by masons like Albert Pike in his book ”Morals & Dogma”. This elaborate plan would involve America’s most celebrated icons. Who in fact are not heroes but satanists. People like George Washington, Willie Lynch, Margaret Sanger, and Uncle Tom Negroes like Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and Jesse Jackson. The children of satan also set up a partnership with Negro religious and political leaders who were famous sellouts for bringing forth their New World Order agenda, to keep the Children of God in bondage in the New World which is called America! During the course of 400 years, this country has successfully carried on its racist and genecital conspiracy against Negroes to victimize them with poor housing, putting drugs in Black neighborhoods, promoting abortions, demonizing Black men, and forcing integration with White people and their institutions, and flooding the prison system with Black men due to false arrests and corrupt police departments. Which is why the American political and legal system has been encouraging the unlawful shootings and public executions of Black men all across America. Which is fueled by the Donald Trump Administration, which is the reason why the President and United States Congress is in agreement with building a border wall. They are fulfilling Bible prophecy listed in 2nd Esdras chapters 13-16. Their ancestors, the Romans did the same thing in 70 A.D when they set up a wall to starve out the Hebrews in Masada. The exciting and troubling times that are happening in America today, is in fact Bible prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes! Donald Trump’s true mission is to carry out the agenda carried on by Roman the Catholic Church. Which is why America is ramping up social immorality throughout the earth such as homosexuality and other sexual perversions like sodomy and sex trafficking. These are the vices that the Roman Catholic Church supports, which is why the news media is always revealing sexual perversions that Catholic priests are routinely involved in and being accused of. The enemies of God know who the real Jews are and are committed to enforcing a perpetual cycle of sin in America so that the Negroes who are Hebrews could never rise and come together or be a nation ever again. In conclusion, the solution to this growing problem is for Hebrews to return to their God YAHAWAH (or “YHWH” -YAHAWAH), obey His commandments, repent of their sins and be baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and The Holy Spirit (Matthew Chapter 28 and the Book of Acts Chapter 2), and separate from Gentiles. The greatest mistake of Hebrews in America ever committed was to listen to evil women who were sellouts like Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, and Cynthia Mckinney who pushed for integration and for Negro women to be leaders when the Black men were supposed to be the leaders of the Black race. Integration, mixing with Gentiles, and Feminism are an abomination according to the Bible. I highly recommend watching the historic documentary films: “Hebrew or the so called Negro” and “Hebrews to Negroes”. The truth that Negroes are the real Jews, and the Awakening of God’s Chosen people is spreading all over the world! If you are a Hebrew, I sincerely hope that you take part in this glorious Hebrew Israelite movement. Repent from your sins and return to The Most High -God of the Israelites, so that The Lord our Messiah (whose name in the Hebrew language is “YASHAYAH” or YAHAWASHI) can return and put these evil Gentiles who are our enemies into subjection and return YAHAWAH’s Chosen Remnant to their former glory as the true NATION OF ISRAEL (Book of Revelation Chapter 7)!

8/15/2020

augustaisraelites

[npsparkclp]

The A.G. Gaston Motel of Birmingham

The A.G. Gaston Motel opened in 1954, built by prominent African American businessman and entrepreneur Arthur George Gaston. As a fixture of black businesses in Birmingham, Alabama, the motel was the choice for headquarters of the local civil rights campaign that shaped the city and the nation in 1963.

Postcard of the A. G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham, Alabama, circa 1960-1969 (From a book of letters sent to Arthur Shores, prominent attorney and civil rights leader in Birmingham, Alabama. With permission of Alabama Department of Archives and History).

In Birmingham, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR), founded by Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth in 1956, was key in organizing resistance to segregation and discrimination within the city. Encouraged by Rev. Shuttlesworth, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) joined forces with other civil rights figures in Birmingham in 1962. 

Leaders from the SCLC took up residence in the A.G. Gaston Motel from April through May of 1963, which became the focus of the Birmingham Campaign planning activities. The hotel was the site of constant activity associated with the campaign, and meetings and press conferences held regularly within the courtyard were extensively documented and broadcast by journalists.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and others outside Gaston Motel in 1963 (Birmingham, Ala. Police Department Surveillance Files, 1947-1980. Collection 1125, Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library).

On May 10, 1963, the A.G. Gaston Motel was the site of the announcement of a compromise between local white business owners, city officials, and civil rights leaders. The truce addressed some of the issues in the original list of demands issued by the Birmingham Campaign. Rather than the originally called for immediate desegregation of lunch counters, restrooms, fitting rooms, and other facilities such as drinking fountains, and the hiring of more black workers, the compromise established a longer timeline to desegregate the city. The negotiations were met by a series of violent attacks, including the tragic bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and Kelly Ingram Park (Historic American Buildings Survey, HABS AL-898, Library of Congress).

Nonetheless, efforts to desegregate the city continued slowly over the following months. These events in Birmingham created significant public pressure that helped lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed into law on July 2, 1964, by Lyndon Johnson.

A.G. Gaston modernized and expanded the motel in 1968, adding a supper club and other amenities. Business declined in the 1970s and in 1982 Gaston converted the motel into housing for the elderly, which functioned until 1996. 

The City of Birmingham acquired the former motel in 2015 with the plan to incorporate it into the larger Birmingham Civil Rights Historic District. Today, the A.G. Gaston Motel is jointly owned by the National Park Service and the City of Birmingham and is a part of Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, created to honor the nonviolent protesters that fought against discriminatory state and local laws and practices in the 1950s and 1960s.

For the full article:  The A.G. Gaston Motel and the Birmingham Civil Rights Monument

[reasoningdaily]

The killing of nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., is among a long list of attacks targeting predominantly black churches in the United States. A number of past cases involved the burning of churches by Ku Klux Klan members. Here is a selection of those attacks:

Photo The burned out Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Springfield, Mass., in November 2008. Credit Ángel Franco/The New York Times Nov. 5, 2008 Springfield, Mass. Macedonia Church of God in Christ The predominantly black church, which was under construction, was set on fire shortly after the election of President Obama. Of the three white men charged, two pleaded guilty and a third was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Photo Investigators searched for clues in the rubble of the Inner City Church in Knoxville, Tenn., on Jan. 9, 1996. Credit J. Miles Cary/Knoxville News-Sentinel, via Associated Press Jan. 8, 1996 Knoxville, Tenn. Inner City Baptist Church A fire destroyed the sanctuary of the church and racial slurs were painted on the walls. Molotov cocktails, cans of kerosene and gunpowder were discovered in the rubble.

Feb. 1, 1996 Louisiana Four Churches A group of churches within a six-mile radius — Cypress Grove Baptist, St. Paul's Free Baptist and Thomas Chapel Benevolent Society in East Baton Rouge as well as Sweet Home Baptist in Baker — were set on fire on the anniversary of the sit-in in Greensboro, N.C.

June 21, 1995 Manning, S.C. Macedonia Baptist Church Four former members of the Ku Klux Klan set fire to the church, one of several burned by arsonists in the mid-1990s. A fire was set the day before at the Mount Zion A.M.E. Church in Greeleyville, S.C. Macedonia Baptist was awarded $37.8 million in a decision against the Klan. A jury believed the Klan's rhetoric motivated the men to set the fire. The fire was one of dozens at predominantly black churches across the South that were investigated as arson. A list compiled by The Associated Press is here.

Photo The burned station wagon of three missing civil rights workers — including Michael Schwerner — found in a swampy area near Philadelphia, Miss., June 24, 1964. Credit Jack Thornell/Associated Press June 16, 1964 Longdale, Miss. Mount Zion A.M.E. Church The Ku Klux Klan beat parishioners as they were leaving a church meeting. The Klan's intended target was a civil rights activist, Michael Schwerner, who was not there. The wood-framed church, a historic safe haven for slaves, was burned down. On June 21, Mr. Schwerner and two other civil rights workers drove to visit the burned church. Afterward, they were pulled over, arrested and jailed. After their release, they were beaten and killed. The mysterious disappearance and murder of the three men were detailed in the film "Mississippi Burning."

Photo The family of Carole Robertson, a 14-year-old girl killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, at her funeral in Birmingham, Ala., Sept. 17, 1963. Credit Horace Cort/Associated Press September 15, 1963 Birmingham, Ala. 16th Street Church The Ku Klux Klan set off a bomb under the steps of the church, killing four young girls and injuring more than 20 other members of the church. The 16th Street Baptist Church served as a civil rights meeting place in the 1960s and a center for the African-American community in Birmingham. The attack brought national and international attention to the struggle for civil rights in Alabama.

[chicagocityofclans]

Maxine Vanes → Lupita Nyong'o → Rat Animal Shifter 

→ Basic Information 

Age: 62

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Straight 

Born or Made: Made

Birthday: December 28th

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn 

Religion: Deism

→ Her Personality Max has always been secretive and closed off. She has strong opinions and will not let them fall silent nor back away from what she knows is the right thing. That’s normal for most rats but what sets her apart is her elegant stance and gracefulness. Despite being loyal to the Rat Clan of Chicago and having their best interests in mind always, Max disapproved of their secretive ways.  Seeing it as obstacles holding them back from making the world a better place, and uniting the supernatural world as it once was before humans became the dominant population. She sees every person for their actions and beliefs rather than assigning them a label based on their species or family reputation. Even with her duties as the Pack Fixer and Cyber Exploitation Officer, she consistently gets involved in conflicts for the good of other species, adamant to use her abilities to help those in need. Thanks to her position she is often able to negotiate nearly every social situation to her advantage. Her stance and headstrong attitude often have her coming to idealistic clashes with Jo, despite both having clear respect for each other and a strong friendship.

→ Her Personal Facts

Occupation: BOND - Pack Fixer and Cyber Exploitation Officer

Scars: None 

Tattoos: None

Two Likes: Fashion and Bright Colors

Two Dislikes: Red Meat and Airports

Two Fears: Being Caught and Unknown/Poisonous Frogs

Two Hobbies: Programming/Scripting and Shopping

Three Positive Traits: Elegant, Sincere, Immutable

Three Negative Traits: Secretive, Unabashed, Opinionated

→ Her Connections

Parent Names:

Jamie Vanes (Father): Max does not remember a lot about Jamie, Trudy or Egypt. She tries to keep the tragedy of their deaths and her life as a human tucked away.

Trudy Vanes (Mother): Max does not remember a lot about her mother. She tries to keep the tragedy of their deaths and her life as a human tucked away.

Sibling Names:

Egypt Vanes (Sister): Max does not remember a lot about Jamie, Trudy or Egypt. She tries to keep the tragedy of their deaths and her life as a human tucked away.

Children Names:

None

Romantic Connections:

Henry Dean (Ex-Boyfriend): Henry and Max had known of each other for years before actually speaking with each other about 5 years ago. There was some fluke with BOND and the two were pulled in to deal with the situation. Had Max known that they would hit it off like they did, she would have sought him out earlier. Henry asked her out for dinner at the end of their case and they dated for 3 years until Henry proposed to Max. Max was still unsure if Henry was the final answer and said no. Henry broke things off soon after instead of giving Max more time. Max and Henry’s relationship was private, Max is thankful no one has ever found out about the two of them or Max refusal of Henry’s proposal. 

James ‘Jim’ Montgomery (Something): When Max could not return home because she had no family to return home to, she found solace in Ray and Jim. They were the only ones Max would allow near her as she and Nick continuously bumped heads. Jim is usually the one Max talks to first when she is unsure on a subject before bringing anything to Nick or Mills. Jim and Max had grown a part throughout the years, but she still found comfort in him when she needed it. However, since the RED massacre, Max and Jim’s friendship have taken a turn towards something more. Jim kissed Max during a heated argument 6 months ago which led to them having passionate sex at the SKIN headquarters. They went about their day afterwards and Max gave Jim a few days to approach her but he never did. When Max finally approached Jim 3 days later for clarification they agreed to take things slow. Max has recently started spending the weekend at Jim’s place.  

Platonic Connections:

Josephine ‘Jo’ Floyd (Best Friend): Max met Jo only four years after Max was mistakenly changed when Jo was brought in from a rival pack that was abusing their woman. Their pack has always been diverse but for a while Max was one of the few changed African American females; especially one who was outspoken. Jo was a sweet relief, someone else that looked like 16-year-old Max, whose company was mainly Ray, Jim or Ben. While Max was already in training, Jo had just joined and had to start from the beginning. Max took to Jo like a moth to a flame. They were inseparable and still are. 

Conrad Kale (Best Friend): Max and Conrad have been friends for years, but their relationship had become a lot closer since Conrad second of RED and started attending meetings. They would sit together and talk after joking about whatever happened in their respective groups. Max was there for Conrad when RED was massacred and when Conrad was promoted to third. Just like Ray in the past, Max thought she was developing feelings for Conrad and wanted to act on them, but Henry asked her out the day before Max thought about making her move. 

Ray Hamelin (Old Friend): When Max could not return home because she had no family to return home to, she found solace in Ray and Jim. They were the only ones Max would allow near her as she and Nick continuously bumped heads. Ray became Max's family although she was not blind that Nick is Ray's only family. There was one point where Max was confused on whether or not she was romantically in love with Ray or if she loved the protector he had become of her. Ray and Max work side by side as liaison for their Clan and BOND.

Nick Hamelin (Unknown): Nick has always been hard on Max and in turn Max has given him Hell. Max had forgiven Nick a long time ago for the bite that changed her into a rat, but it has been clear to Max that Nick has yet to forgive himself. Instead of becoming the father and protector Max needed at the time Nick her enemy. Nick had threatened to kill her on numerous occasions. Nick had gone out of his way to embarrass her and degrade her worth. Max had survived his attacks and returned them tenfold. Everyone had ensured her that Nick saw potential in her and was only doing it for her own good, but she knew better. Nick either hated her or was intimidated by her. It took years of going back and forth but they have worked out somewhat of an understanding and friendship over the years. Max knows that Nick still believes that she has not forgiven him and tries to guilt him but Max knows it is Nick’s own way of self-pity and blame. Max cannot define their relationship but she does not hate Nick. She does not care for him either, at least, not in the way she cares for and loves Ray and Jim.

Mary Lang (Friend): Max and Jo took Mary out on the town a few days after Mary’s mom had passed. They helped Mary get dressed up, did her hair, and overall helped Mary become herself again. The three of them are incredibly close but Max enjoys her one on one time with Mary too.

Maya Morris (Friend): Max is not blind, she can tell that Maya looks up to her and sees Max as a role model. Max is flattered and tries her best to live up to Maya expectations. Max thinks Maya becoming friends with Mary and Conrad was a big step in the direction of personal growth for them all. 

Achilles Idris (Good Friend): Max was surprised when she found out that Achilles was Jaxson's older brother. Achilles is a sweetheart and Max enjoys his company. They have settled into an easy friendship. There is something off about Achilles but Max had put it off as Achilles settling in and trying to separate himself from Jaxson. Max has her theories but has kept them to herself and imply that she is always there if Achilles needs someone to talk to about anything.

Vincent Kane (Liaison): Max has only recently reached out to Vincent after hearing about the increased hostility between Clan Rat and the human shifters. Max knows getting on the human shifters ‘shit list’ would not be beneficial but no one seems to be listening to her. Vincent and Max have met a few times and Max is hoping she can talk some sense into Jim and Ray for results.  

Shannon Harris (Liaison): Max was happy when Ray told her that Shannon will be training as liaison. Max has been going easy on Shannon, helping her with the learning process and giving her suggestions whenever Shannon gets flustered or overwhelmed. They have been meeting outside of pack business for lunch.

Clara Fields (Contact): Max still does not know how Clara got her number, probably was Sam Thompson but everytime someone crosses the line at the Fields Hotel, Max gets a phone call instead of Mary or Nick. Max always helps out without much fuss and gets to the bottom of which rat is messing up. 

Churchill Darling (Contact): Max befriended Church by mistake but has yet to end whatever it is that they have going on. Jim has warned her against using Church as a contact but Max is hoping opening another line of communication with the human shifters may be somewhat beneficial. 

Lillian Pickford (Contact): Max has exchanged information with Lillian on multiple cases regarding the local supernaturals. Max would not call Lillian a friend but they are business friendly and professional with each other.

Milton Rod Jackman (Contact): Max is Milton’s contact when he is investigating supernatural events. Besides hashing out details or coming up with journalist coverup suggestions, Max and Milton barely talk and keep it strictly business.

Hostile Connections:

Jaxson Idris (Unsure): Jaxson and Max have never gotten along. Max does not know what it is about Jaxson but she couldn’t care less about anyone more than Jaxson. She has seen a change in him lately for the better. She isn’t putting her money in his pot and keeping her distance. 

Keith ‘West’ Freeman (Annoyance): Keith is a liability that Max does not understand. If anyone else would have pulled the stunts that Keith had, Nick would have had them by the balls. Keith gets zero sympathy from Max. 

Pets:

None

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

The Thief and the Samurai OCs [More Six Shot OCs, kind of]

Episode list here

In the world of Six Shots there is a TV show that is a joint animation project between British animators and Japanese animators. That show is The Thief and the Samurai, which tells the story of a young, blind wandering samurai girl and her unlikely friendship with a scarred, eyepatch-wearing middle aged thief. Together the two wander a bizarre Earth with elements of fantasy and science fiction thrown in, fighting evil and finding treasure as well as learning a great many things along the way.

Currently there are four seasons of 26 episodes each. Every other season is divided into two separate arcs, with seasons 1 and 3 being fully devoted to their stories while seasons 2 and 4 have two seperate storylines of 13 episodes each that come together for a grand conclusion.

The show is basically the equivalent of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure mixed with Samurai Jack in-universe, as neither show exists.

The show is filled with elements that would piss off the British regime, including positive portrayals of homosexuality and the Irish.

The time the show is set is very ambiguous, but it is similar to worlds such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI in that there is technology such as guns and robots alongside more magical elements such as demons and witches.

The arcs are as follows:

Season 1 – The Adventure Begins

Season 2A – Strange Eons

Season 2B – Wrath of the Demon King

Season 3 – Sakura and Michelle’s World Tour

Season 4A – Ghosts of the Past

Season 4B – My Master’s Keeper (currently airing)

THE SHOW

Seasons 1, 2A, and 3 are the most popular seasons of the show so far.

Season 2B is the most reviled arc, as many fans found Camazotz to be a far inferior villain to Doboro and they did not find the demons who went after Sakura and Michelle to be particularly entertaining, with the exception of Thot.  Doboro’s return in the finale of season 2 was met with great praise.

Season 4A was not well-received until season 4B began to air, as season 4B has so far provided more context for Jet’s actions in the first half of season 4. 

While very popular in Japan, season 3 has more mixed reception in other parts of the world, as it is very monster-of-the-week. However, despite this it still manages to consistently progress the plot, so many are more forgiving.

The show is most popular in America, Japan, Ireland, and Portugal. 

The show is banned entirely in Britain.

MAIN CHARACTERS

Sakura Miror

The daughter of the British pirate queen Rhiannon Miror and the ninja Hiro Hayabusa, Sakura was fascinated from a young age by stories her father would tell her of brave samurai warriors. At the age of eight she was blinded in a freak accident aboard her mother’s ship, and fell into a depression, until her powers developed. After that, she found a teacher and trained for years so she could become a great samurai and travel forth to protect the innocent.

Sakura has abilities very similar to Daredevil, in that she has a sort of radar sense. Her remaining senses are also enhanced.

She is 21 years old, six feet tall, and has red hair. All of these are traits she gets from her mother.

She wears sunglasses all of the time.

Michelle Kitt

A mysterious thief who saved Sakurra’s life during an ambush. She is completely covered in scars and has an eyepatch from some accident she can’t recall; all she knows is that said accident cost her the life of her husband and child, and since then she has turned to a life of plundering and picking pockets. However, since meeting Sakura she has tried to turn over a new leaf, and has more actively tried to help people.

She is 41 years old, five foot six, has dark hair, and has an eyepatch over her right eye.

She prefers to be called a “treasure hunter” than a thief.

She doesn’t have any superhuman capabilities like Sakura; she is just really incredible at stealing, picking pockets, and breaking locks. She could steal a wallet right out of your pocket while looking right at her and you wouldn’t notice until later.

She feels a bit insecure about her looks as she feels her scars make her ugly.

Rhiannon Miror

Rhiannon “The Red” Miror was one of the most feared pirate queens to ever sail the seven seas, known for her ruthlessness towards her enemies as much as for her kindness and graciousness to those she considered a friend. She fell in love with Hiro Hayabusa after a failed assassination attempt, and together the two produced a child: Sakura. She became semi-retired due to a freak accident on her boat blinding her daughter; racked with guilt over it, she decided to retire from piracy for the time being.

She is six feet and six inches tall.

Hiro Hayabusa

Sakura’s father. A renowned ninja, the only failed assassination in his career was when he failed to kill Rhiannon, instead impressing her so much that she took him as a husband. He is a kind, noble, and soft spoken man who very much loves his daughter and feels nothing but pride for her.

He is five foot six inches tall.

ALLIES

Brother Moon

A mysterious priest who runs a church in the British countryside. He may or may not be an alien. He first appeared during the “Wrath of the Demon King” arc of season 2.

Lady Kali

A four-armed woman from India who is seen as a holy figure there, Lady Kali is a super-strong master of hand-to-hand combat who dedicated her life to protecting her  people from evil spirits. She first appeared in season 2, before getting a major part in the India section of season 3.

Master Ishida

Sakura’s master, who trained her as a child. He appeared early in season 1 and had scant appearances until his major role in season 4, which featured him heavily and greatly expanded his backstory, revealing many other students he had taught over the years.

Kurtwood Armstrong

An American tavern owner with insane physical strength. He is incredibly loud, brash, and patriotic, and does not take well to insensitive and cruel people. Michelle and Sakura aided him in freeing his town from the wiles of Cyrus Lovelace in season 3.

Kristopher Kross

A gay German man with the power of magnetism who Sakura and Michelle helped escort through a perilous mountain pass during the German portion of season 3.

Lesedi

An African villager with the ability to shoot blasts of light. Sakura and Michelle aided her in saving her village from the wicked powers of Morrigan Maro.

Talia Ishtar

A young Egyptian woman with the power to make sand duplicates of herself. Sakura and Michelle helped her plunder an ancient tomb and fight off an undead pharaoh while searching for information on Orochi Overlong during season 3.

Vinny Pagliacchi

An Italian man with dwarfism and a bad temper who has the power to phase through objects. He enlisted Sakura and Michelle to help him take out some criminals during season 3.

MAJOR ANTAGONISTS

Lord Horatio Blackmore

An evil British inventor and criminal mastermind, Horatio Blackmore sought revenge against Michelle for stealing from him. While he has no powers to speak of, he has a brilliant mind and a massive airship which he uses to travel the world.

He has an eyepatch and a monocle. He used to wear glasses before he lost his eye.

He is a snappy dresser and also has a curly mustache.

He is a redhead.

He has several specially made canes, though he favors his cane sword and cane rifle most of all.

He was the villain of season 1. While he was defeated, he was not killed and has appeared several more times in the series.

The Triad

Three mysterious women named Faith, Hope, and Serenity. They seek Michelle, and serve the Man in Black.

Serenity is very ditzy and is a brunette. Hope is short, blonde, and irritable. Faith is extremely tall and strong, and has dark hair; she also is rarely seen with her eyes  open and without a smile on her face.

The three seem to have a wide array of powers, from incredible strength, speed, and stamina. As the end of season 1 reveals, this is because they are supernatural beings who serve the Man in Black.

They are not outwardly malevolent, and ease up towards the heroes at the end of season 1. Since then, they have even occasionally aided them, though their work requires they never stick around long.

The Man in Black

A mysterious man who seeks out Michelle for one reason or another. At the end of season 1, it is revealed  he is Death himself, and he was seeking Michelle out because he believed she cheated him; as it turns out, she beat him fair and square, and her family’s killer used some power to distort the truth. He forgave Michelle and allowed her to live to seek vengeance on her family’s killer.

He dresses in an all-black cowboy getup and resembles an older gentleman.

Camazotz

A demon king who resembles a giant, monstrous vampire bat. He was accidentally summoned forth in Professor Doboro’s attempts to awaken the Old Ones, and when he was banished before he could fully materialize by Sakura and Michelle, he vowed vengeance upon them, sending demonic forces to attack them. He is the villain of season 2B.

Hojo Doboro

A mad scientist who was kicked out of the university he once taught at due to his illegal experiments on the dead. He vanished for years, eventually coming back with an army of reanimated dead to seek the five keystones so he could summon forth ancient beings known as the Old Ones to re-write reality as he saw fit. He was the main villain of season 2A.

He supposedly stole a lot of his best ideas from other researchers. However, he is still incredibly brilliant.

He is heavily based on Herbert West and the Cthulhu Mythos. He also gets his name from one of the antagonists of the game Final Fantasy VII.

Orochi Overlong

A strange, lizard-like man who is also a powerful sorcerer. As is revealed towards the end of the season, he is actually the Yamata no Orochi trapped in a physical, human-like form, and his ultimate goal is to reclaim his original form so that he may rule over Japan once again. Using his considerably powerful magic, he blasts Sakura and Michelle halfway across the world and makes them travel across the planet to get back to him, with them only having 44 days to return to Japan before his plans are realized. He is the main villain of season 3, and the leader behind all the villains they end up encountering on their journey.

Jet

A former love interest of Samus from when she was a teenage student of master Ishida, he seemingly died when he fell off of a cliff during an assassin attack on the monastery. However, in season 4 he returned, and he returned seeking revenge against Master Ishida for failing him. He was apparently trained by a master known as “The Black Phoenix,” and with his newfound dark strength Jet seeks to destroy Master Ishida and all who stand in his way.

Akuma Kokuho

The Black Phoenix, an evil martial artist who was said to have made pacts with ancient demons so that he could be unstoppable and unkillable. He is the main antagonist of season 4. particularly part 4B where the full extent of his plans became revealed as well as his connection to Master Ishida: he was a former pupil who was rejected for his inability to reign in his violent tendencies, and became a disgrace to his family, who abandoned him. It was revealed that much of the mythology surrounding Akuma was nothing more than urban legend, but as it turned out he did have the ability to enhance his strength with dark fire and he also had a knack for coming back from supposed death.

MINOR ANTAGONISTS

Gemini

A creation of Professor Doboro, she was created when he stitched the halves of two twins killed by a serial killer together and brought them back to life. She serves as his bodyguard for much of his arc, though she ends up turning on him at the end.

Their original names were Sunny and Luna. Sunny was a platinum blonde, while Luna had black hair.

There is a line of stitches going directly down the middle of her body, from her forehead down.

Her stitches bleed if she becomes too stressed out. They are incredibly durable otherwise.

She has the powers of both sisters due to having both of their brains, or parts of them at least. From Sunny, she has fire powers; from Luna, she has ice powers.

Freya Darke

A young French woman who was turned into a steampunk cyborg by Horatio Blackmore. She acts as his bodyguard and the muscle for him for much of season 1. She abandons him after his airship crashes and goes off on her own; she has appeared antagonizing and helping out the heroes in equal numbers since then.

Morrigan Maro

A cannibal witch from the heart of Africa. She was tormenting a village with her black magic during the events of season 3. Sakura and Michelle were able to take her out with help from Lesedi.

She had the ability to absorb the power from anyone she has consumed. She had amassed quite a lot of power over the years.

Thot

A horny incubus and one of the many demons sent by Camazotz to kill Sakura and Michelle. He acted more as a minor nuisance than anything, and was easily dispatched almost every time he appeared on his own. By the end of the season, he had become smitten with Michelle and vowed to make her love him. He has appeared on a few more occasions to be a nuisance.

Kirk the Killer

An assassin with regenerative abilities from Romania. In his home country he is considered incredibly deadly, but he seems to frequently be on the end of absurd levels of abuse whenever hee appears. Debuting late in season 1, him getting comically slaughtered became a running gag in each of his appearances, save for his starring role in the Romanian episodes of season 3.

Cyrus Lovelace

A racist, homophobic preacher from the South who appeared in season 3. He had the power of a compelling voice, and could command people to do his bidding even against their will. He was a short, fat, mustachioed man.

Rika Ainia

A young warrior woman who was cursed by a witch whose husband she accidentally killed while sparring. The curse causes her to need to fight to the death with an opponent or else she will have to harm herself to ease the pain a bit; as her innate ability causes her to enter into a berserker rage when fighting, she more often than not would emerge victorious, having ended an innocent life. She ended up running afoul of Sakura and Michelle during season 4; however, as of the current episode her role has not entirely been revealed.

Giorgio Fuso, Dee Comporre, and Mr. Viticcio

The three deadly criminals who Sakura and Michelle helped Vinny take down. Fuso had the ability to generate magma; Comporre had the ability to shoot corrosive acid out of her mouth; and Mr. Vitticio could transform his arms into extending, flexible tentacles. All three were extremely dangerous foes.

Chicken Wire

An odd, cowardly man who appeared alongside Jet in season 4. Apparently Jet saved the strange man from dying; he gets his name because his mouth is wired shut as well as due to his cowardly nature. He seems to have some degree  of control over wires wrapped around his body, but to what extent is unknown. To all the world he seems rather unassming and buffoonish.

[bishopazariyah]

BISHOP AZARIYAH AND HIS BEAUTIFUL FAMILY!!!!

“THE REAL SUPERHEROES: HEBREW ISRAELITES”

Written by Dr. Azariyah Ben Yosef

The greatest secret that is being kept in the world today is who the real children of God are. An important fact is that there is a real agenda aimed at Black Americans who are the only ones that are being targeted through the Western World’s Eugenics program. An agenda set forth by what the world calls the Illuminati. According to the Bible they are identified as the Synagogue of satan (Revelation 2:9 and 3:9).They have been the enemies to the Children of God since the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Greek. Unwittingly, they have been fulfilling Bible scriptures foretold by The Most High God of Israel (Genesis 3) to attack and destroy God’s Chosen Seed who remains in the earth today. This warfare has been spiritual, mental, and physical on all levels (Ephesians 6). They have used various tactics such as religion, that traces back to Ancient Babylon. This Elite has been behind the political, religious and educational system set to destroy the Children of Israel. The whole world has been behind this conspiracy against God’s children (Psalm 83). They in fact have always known who the true children of God are. The Children of God are in fact Negroes (Deuteronomy 28:68). This fact goes against all religious teachings, because we have been brainwashed into a satanic governmental system that is based on lies and is in fact committed to keeping the true identity of the Children of Israel a secret. This governmental system was identified publicly by U.S. President George Bush in the 1980’s -as the New World Order. A political masterplan that was originally set in place by the Egyptians. Which is why America models everything after Ancient Egypt (Exodus Chapter 1). These Illuminist powers used the blueprint of Ancient Egypt to systematically destroy the Children of God since their downfall after King Solomon’s reign. When they fell as a people they were enslaved by their enemies who are what the world calls Europeans today, but they are in fact what the Bible calls Edomites. These Edomites are in fact Caucasians according to the Bible, White people are the main enemies to the children of God. These enemies of God whitewashed mankind’s true history and the historical records of the Israelites. All in a coordinated effort to hide the real identity of God’s chosen people. They have used World Wars as a pretext to steal their homeland in 1948. The Jewish-Israeli people are in fact Romans and Jewish converts -not the true Jews according to the Bible and not of the bloodline of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. How could this happen? You may ask. Well the Bible answers that question. The Nation of Israel fell as a people due to disobedience to God’s laws, statutes, and commandments (Deuteronomy 28:15). This disobedience to their God (whose name is AHAYAH “I Am”), caused them to suffer curses that will plagued them forever and is a sign of who the real Jews are and how they will be scattered throughout the earth. During the 1600’s White Europeans saw an opportunity to take advantage of their downfall by conspiring with other Gentiles, such as the Africans to kidnap Negroes who are Hebrews and sell them into slavery. It is a common misconception that all Black people are the same. In fact they are not all the same, in truth the Black race is the most diverse race on the planet. Only the White race is all the same, this information has been proven by Anthropologists and History scholars around the world (Zondervan Bible dictionary). One may ask how did this race war between the Children of God and the Caucasoid hybrid race began. It was prophesied by the Most High in the Book of Genesis Chapter 3. When Eve betrayed her husband and made a covenant with satan. Satan promised her knowledge and power which is the reason why the world exalts women today (“Feminism” and Goddess worship), which is an abomination to God! A spiritual and racial battle was set in place when God told satan that there will be enmity (strife) between satan’s seed and God’s seed. Which means satan has a seed in the earth that is committed to destroying the seed of God (Genesis Chapters 25-27). This ancient battle was set in motion before the Great Flood during the days of Noah and resurfaced again with the birth of Jacob and Esau -two distinct nationalities (which means two different races of people). The descendants of Jacob became the children of God. The descendants of Esau evolved to become the Greco-Roman Empire. Esau’s lineage which is the seed of satan, officially put their plan in action to exterminate the Children of God in 70 A.D. When they laid siege against Jerusalem and forced most of the Hebrews to flee into Africa. This record is recorded in the books by the historian Josephus and the book “From Babylon to Timbuktu”, as well as many other historical records. The Hebrews a magnificent race of people that ruled all of Africa and before and after the downfall of the Roman Empire they ruled over Asia and Europe! According to historical records and in and outside of the Bible the Israelites continued to sin against their God. Which forced The Most High, AHAYAH to allow His children to be enslaved by their enemies time and time again and scattered them throughout the four corners of the earth. Which led to their final downfall during the Arab and Transatlantic slave trades. This takedown would begin a Gentile Coalition to set in place a plan of Eugenics and a system of perpetual slavery to keep the Children of Israel from ever becoming a nation again. Which is the real reason why America was established as a nation. The Romans became Jewish converts and financed the slave trades and created a western world society that became an extension of the Roman Empire (a “Rebirth”). Through this political and religious system they would keep the Children of God in constant physical and mental darkness. This system is called Zionism and Freemasonry. As identified by masons like Albert Pike in his book ”Morals & Dogma”. This elaborate plan would involve America’s most celebrated icons. Who in fact are not heroes but satanists. People like George Washington, Willie Lynch, Margaret Sanger, and Uncle Tom Negroes like Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and Jesse Jackson. The children of satan also set up a partnership with Negro religious and political leaders who were famous sellouts for bringing forth their New World Order agenda, to keep the Children of God in bondage in the New World which is called America! During the course of 400 years, this country has successfully carried on its racist and genecital conspiracy against Negroes to victimize them with poor housing, putting drugs in Black neighborhoods, promoting abortions, demonizing Black men, and forcing integration with White people and their institutions, and flooding the prison system with Black men due to false arrests and corrupt police departments. Which is why the American political and legal system has been encouraging the unlawful shootings and public executions of Black men all across America. Which is fueled by the Donald Trump Administration, which is the reason why the President and United States Congress is in agreement with building a border wall. They are fulfilling Bible prophecy listed in 2nd Esdras chapters 13-16. Their ancestors, the Romans did the same thing in 70 A.D when they set up a wall to starve out the Hebrews in Masada. The exciting and troubling times that are happening in America today, is in fact Bible prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes! Donald Trump’s true mission is to carry out the agenda carried on by Roman the Catholic Church. Which is why America is ramping up social immorality throughout the earth such as homosexuality and other sexual perversions like sodomy and sex trafficking. These are the vices that the Roman Catholic Church supports, which is why the news media is always revealing sexual perversions that Catholic priests are routinely involved in and being accused of. The enemies of God know who the real Jews are and are committed to enforcing a perpetual cycle of sin in America so that the Negroes who are Hebrews could never rise and come together or be a nation ever again. In conclusion, the solution to this growing problem is for Hebrews to return to their God YAHAWAH (or “YHWH” -YAHAWAH), obey His commandments, repent of their sins and be baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and The Holy Spirit (Matthew Chapter 28 and the Book of Acts Chapter 2), and separate from Gentiles. The greatest mistake of Hebrews in America ever committed was to listen to evil women who were sellouts like Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, and Cynthia Mckinney who pushed for integration and for Negro women to be leaders when the Black men were supposed to be the leaders of the Black race. Integration, mixing with Gentiles, and Feminism are an abomination according to the Bible. I highly recommend watching the historic documentary films: “Hebrew or the so called Negro” and “Hebrews to Negroes”. The truth that Negroes are the real Jews, and the Awakening of God’s Chosen people is spreading all over the world! If you are a Hebrew, I sincerely hope that you take part in this glorious Hebrew Israelite movement. Repent from your sins and return to The Most High -God of the Israelites, so that The Lord our Messiah (whose name in the Hebrew language is “YASHAYAH” or YAHAWASHI) can return and put these evil Gentiles who are our enemies into subjection and return YAHAWAH’s Chosen Remnant to their former glory as the true NATION OF ISRAEL (Book of Revelation Chapter 7)!

8/15/2020

augustaisraelites

Jeremiah Chapter 51 and Ephesians 6: It's Spiritual battle against good and evil (Jacob vs Esau) - The more we turn to our power YAHAWAH and obey His commandments with all supplication, the more our enemies will suffer, and their sufferings will ultimately lead to their destruction!! HalleluYah and QAM YASHARAHLA AHCHYAM!!! Endure persecution like a good soldier! 2 Timothy Chapter 2!!!! Prepare my brothers for "Jacob's Trouble" and focus on your family and your own salvation!!! Jeremiah Chapter 30, 2 Esdras Chapters 15 and 16!!!

8/17/20202

[pope-francis-quotes]

23rd February >> (@ZenitEnglish) #PopeFrancis #Pope Francis Sr. Veronica Openibo, SHCJ: Focus on Mission, not Fear: ‘The church must do everything possible to protect its young and vulnerable members.’

Sr. Veronica Openibo, SHCJ, Elected Leader of The Society of the Holy Child Jesus, spoke to the Summit on “The Protection of Minors in the Church” on February 23, 2019. Her topic: Openness to the World as a Consequence of the Ecclesial Mission. Following is the working translation of her talk provided by the Vatican.

******

Papa Francesco,

My brothers and sisters, good morning.

I begin this talk with a quotation from Luke Chapter 4. For me “Openness to the world as a Consequence of the Ecclesial Mission” is the mission statement of Jesus, that we also follow.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and anointed me to preach good news to the poor. The Spirit has sent me to proclaim deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favor. Luke 4:18-19

Abstract

For me, as a result of the self-understanding of her mission in the world today, the church needs to update and create new systems and practices that will promote action without fear of making mistakes. Clerical sex abuse is a crisis that has reduced the credibility of the church when transparency should be the hallmark of mission as followers of Jesus Christ. The fact that many accuse the Catholic Church today of negligence is disturbing. The church must do everything possible to protect its young and vulnerable members. The focus should not to be on fear or disgrace but rather on the church’s mission to serve with integrity and justice.

Introduction

The mission of the church flows directly from our deepest understanding of the Incarnation. Catholic Christianity is grounded in the belief in a God who chose to be one with the human world.

The self-understanding of the mission of the church must be a manifestation of the Christ we know as both human and divine. The whole of Christ’s mission was to reveal who God is and who we can become. This implies a total acceptance of all that is human andall that the power of God’s grace does to transform us into being witnesses of the divine. Our world-view, if Christian, must be based on respect and dignity for each human being.

At the present time, we are in a state of crisis and shame. We have seriously clouded the grace of the Christ-mission. Is it possible for us to move from fear of scandal to truth? How do we remove the masks that hide our sinful neglect? What policies, programs and procedures will bring us to a new, revitalized starting point characterized by a transparency that lights up the world with God’s hope for us in building the Reign of God?

Throughout the time of writing this presentation, my eyes were cloudy and I wondered what this could mean. Then I remembered the first time I watched the movie Spotlight – you all…some of you know it – the 2016 American biographical drama about the investigation by the Boston Globe in the America’s Boston, the cover-up by ecclesial authorities.

At the end of the film was a long list of cases and the dioceses where they occurred and reading about the number of children affected (and also later seeing the vast amount of money spent on settlements), tears of sorrow flowed. How could the clerical church have kept silent, covering these atrocities? The silence, the carrying of the secrets in the hearts of the perpetrators, the length of the abuses – we had one last night – and the constant transfers of perpetrators are all unimaginable. Presumably, there were significant signs in the confessional and in spiritual direction: I want to believe that. With a heavy and sad heart, I think of all the atrocities we have committed as members of the church: I am saying “we”, not “they”: “we”. The Constitutions of my own congregation reminds me: In Christ, we unite ourselves to the whole of humanity, especially to the poor and suffering. We accept our share of responsibility for the sin of the world and so live that his love may prevail. (SHCJ Constitutions #6). I think all of us must acknowledge that our mediocrity, hypocrisy and complacency have brought us to this disgraceful and scandalous place that we find ourselves as a church. We pause to pray Lord have mercy on us!

In Gaudete et Exsultate (164) we read that Those who think they commit no grievous sins against God’s law can fall into a state of dull lethargy. Since they see nothing serious to reproach themselves with, they fail to realize that their spiritual life has gradually turned lukewarm. They end up weakened and corrupted. Let us no say “they”: it is all of us. So many aspects of this statement from Pope Francis stand out for me on the issue of child abuse, as also these sentences from the PCB Preparation Document: A church that is closed/shut off is no longer church. Her mission would be thwarted. It’s not about giving up principles and secularizing the church, it’s about living visibly and perceptibly what we claim to be, or what and how we really are.

Yes, we proclaim the Ten Commandments and ‘parade ourselves’ as being the custodians of moral standards/values and good behaviour in society. Hypocrites at times? Yes! Why did we keep silent for so long? How can we turn this around for a time to evangelise, catechise and educate all the members of the church, including the clergy and religious? I often ask myself: Is it true that most bishops did nothing about the sexual abuse of children? I want to believe, and from that, I have read, some did act and some did not out of fear or cover-up.

We might say the church is now taking steps to arrest the situation but also to be more transparent about all the steps it had been taking privately over two decades, such as meeting with victims of sexual abuse, reporting cases to the appropriate civil authorities and setting up commissions, and many other things. The question today is more about how to address the issue of the sexual abuse of minors more directly, transparently and courageously as a church. The hierarchical structure and systems in the church – I believe– should be a blessing for us to reach the whole world with very clear mechanisms to address this and many other issues. Why has this not happened enough? Why have other issues around sexuality not been addressed sufficiently, e.g. misuse of power, misuse of money, clericalism – we felt that many times –, gender discrimination, the role of women and the laity in general? Is it that the clerical structures and long protocols that negatively affected swift actions focused more on media reactions?

Reflection

I would like to offer some reflections based on my experience as an African woman religious. I have lived in Rome for fifteen years – as a nun – and studied in America for three. So, I am familiar with these issues in the Global North. Probably like many of you, I have heard some Africans and Asians say, many Africans and Asians say that ‘this is not our issue in countries in Africa and Asia, it is the problem in Europe, the Americas, Canada and Australia.’ However, I worked throughout Nigeria in the area of sexuality education for nine years and heard the stories and counselled many people. In fact, one of the bishops, the first to invite me to his diocese, to speak with him, have a workshop with him, and he is a priest, he is present here: our bishop Akubeze. So, he saw the need and invited me. I realized how serious the issues were and still are and sharing a few of my personal experiences emphasise this fact. In the early 90s a priest told me there were sexual abuses in the convents and formation houses and that, as president of the Nigeria Conference of Women Religious, I should, please, do something to address the issue. A second priest in the early 2000s said that a particular ethnic group practiced a lot of incest , what I added to him: that from my personal experience incest is a world issue. A dying old man revealed to me he was acting strangely because of the sexual abuse he experienced as a teenager from the priests in his school. And recently I have heard from somebody, “I know that person, I have the same experience”. So, it must have been something that was going on in this school for years: the same school. A thirteen-year-old girl met her priest attacker 25 years later and he did not recognize her…

These are just short stories.

Transparency

– So, let us not hide such events anymore because of the fear of making mistakes. Too often we want to keep silent until the storm has passed! This storm will not pass. Our credibility as a Church is at stake. I think Jesus told us, gives us a very strong statement: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe [in me] to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” Mark 9:42. So, my dear brothers and sisters, we must face this issue and seek healing for the victims of abuse. The normal process for clergy – in the past and still in the present in some areas – was and is to give support to ‘one of us’, to avoid exposing a scandal and bringing discredit to the church. I told my group yesterday. I used to use three “s”: “secrecy”; “silence”; and the last one is “solidarity” for men, and support for one of us. Women is the same, but the third one is different, you can ask me later… We must face this issue and seek healing for the victims of abuse. The normal process, as I said, is the support for men, but we find a way together. All offenders, I want to say, regardless of their clerical status, found guilty should be given the same penalty for the abuse of minors.

– Let us have courageous conversations rather than saying nothing to avoid making a mistake. I like this statement: We can make a mistake but we are not created to be a mistake and posterity will judge us for not taking action. The first step towards true transparency is to admit wrongdoing and then to publish what has been done – I repeat: we publish what has been done, and I think some of it has been published already. But we have to make it public – what has been done since the time of Pope John Paul II to heal the situation. It may not be enough or sufficient in the eyes of many but it will show that the church had not been totally silent.

– We must build more effective and efficient processes, based on research in human development – we use here human for mission –as well as civil and canon law, for the Safeguarding of Minors. Then give clear and comprehensive safeguarding policies and guidelines in every diocese that should be placed visibly in various parish offices and published on the internet. There must be better handling of the cases through face-to-face, transparent and courageous conversations with victims and offenders, where possible, as well as investigating groups. In many parts of the world, including countries in Africa and Asia, not saying anything is a terrible mistake as we have seen in many countries. The fact that there are huge issues of poverty, illness, war and violence in some countries in the Global South does not mean that the area of sexual abuse should be downplayed or ignored. The church has to be pro-active in facing it. I have read through some of the papers that were given out to us, in various parts of the world, many dioceses and conferences have written books. I didn’t see Nigeria in it. What I know, I worked with some of the booklets that the bishops produce in Nigeria: “call to love”, “I chose you”, “Guidelines for processing abuse of minors and vulnerable adults”. We need more of such in many parts of the world.

– The excuse that respect be given to some priests by virtue of their advanced years and hierarchical position is unacceptable. This argument states that many of the criminal offenders are old, some no longer alive, and that we should not hurt them or their reputations by taking away their priesthood in old age. We can feel sad for those who, when they were younger committed offences that are now being brought out to the open. But my heart bleeds for many of the victims who have lived with the misplaced shame – we had that yesterday – misplaced shame and guilt of repeated violations for years. In some of these areas the offenders did not even see these victims as persons but as objects.

– It is true, as a church, that we believe in repentance of the sinner, in conversion of hearts and the grace of transformation, as Jesus said to the woman caught in the very act of adultery: “Go and from now on do not sin any more.” says Jesus (John 8:1-11). This can create a strong dilemma for some, especially when we know that abusers have often been victims themselves. Do we need to probe deeply what we mean by justice with compassion? How can we help create the environment for prayer and discernment for the grace of God to enlighten us in the way of justice so that transformation and healing may take place for both victims and, I want to say, offenders? We would need to find out where throughout the world (not only in wealthier countries), are the best practices for doing this being developed and can we implement them? Many of these are to be found within the church. I think we have heard that in many of our small groups.

– In publishing the names of offenders, can we publish a complete set of information regarding these situations?

I want to suggest some strategic way forward

Strategic Way Forward

– It is becoming evident that victims that were listened to and helped psychologically and spiritually were healed. Can we train enough sensitive and compassionate people to offer this service in all countries including those places struggling to put food on the table? Are there ways of helping parishes heal victims using their traditional wisdom? Do we make use of preaching and other means to address sexual issues in society? How might dioceses share in a strategic way in providing culturally-sensitive education programs and training kits? Such materials, respecting the dignity of the human persons and emphasizing all unacceptable behaviours, could be used in parishes and schools, hospitals and other places of pastoral ministry. The UISG has promised that in the statement they made.

– How can we continue to address in very concrete ways the issues of prostitution and trafficking on an immense scale as well as personal infidelity and promiscuity around the world? There must be Catholics, alongside others with similar principles, in positions of influence in, for example, the film industry, TV and advertising. They could be encouraged to come together and reflect on their role in promoting a better view of the human person. Let there be a focus on society’s disservice to men in every patriarchal culture in the area of sexuality. From studies, I have discovered, and many have discovered, that for a long time society has accepted promiscuity, infidelity, especially in marriage for men, what is changing… thanks God! Let us investigate how better to use social media to educate people on the whole area of sexuality and human relationships.

– I want to say here: essential, surely, is a clear and balanced education and training about sexuality and boundaries in the seminaries and formation houses; in the ongoing formation of priests, religious men, and women and bishops. It worries me when I see in Rome, and elsewhere, our country included, the youngest seminarians being treated as though they are more special than everyone else, thus ideas about the status, exalted ideas about their status. This is encouraged because they assume they have already high status. The study of human development, human for mission, must give rise to a serious question about the existence of minor seminaries. I want to repeat that: the study of human development, human for mission, must give rise to a serious question about the existence of minor seminaries. The formation of young women religious, too, can often lead to a false sense of superiority over their lay sisters and brothers, that their calling is a ‘higher’ one. What damage has that thinking done to the mission of the church? Have we forgotten the reminder by Vatican II in Gaudium et Spes of the universal call to holiness? In addition, we need to ask responsible and sensitive lay people and women religious to give true and honest evaluation of candidates for episcopal appointments.

– Could each diocese be challenged to gather men and women of integrity: laity, including religious, and clergy, to form a joint commission sharing expertise about the documentary procedures and protocols, the legal and financial implications of allegations and the necessary channels of responsibility and accountability? A well-qualified person – lay, religious or priests is likely to be the best chairperson of such a group. In addition, they need to work out how best to face the serious issues of sexual abuse already exploding in some Asian and African countries in the same way that it has already elsewhere. Many people who were sexually abused by priests or others in pastoral positions will suffer as traumatic memories are evoked. Some people will be reminded that they could well be revealed as former or current abusers or accused of covering up such facts. Many in various forms of ministry will come across people, family members, adults and/or children, who have been or are being abused and need to know how to respond appropriately. Some allegations will be false which causes suffering of another kind. The impact of damaged faith in the church cannot be under-emphasized as a large number of Catholics are and will be angry and confused. We have seen that in some part of the world. People in positions of some authority also need to know what to say or do in terms of response when issues get to the media or to the press.

Conclusion

We know that the greatest issue is the proclamation of the gospel in a way that will touch the hearts of the young and old. We are called to proclaim the good news but we must BE good news to the people we serve today. No wonder Pope Francis has declared the month of October 2019 The Extra Ordinary Missionary Month. I come back to my opening passage: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and anointed me”.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and anointed me to preach good news to the poor. The Spirit has sent me to proclaim deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour. Luke 4:18-19

As an indicator or postscript, I emphasise the following:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon each one of us, and especially those present here.

has anointed all of us. We have heard that during the reports from groups that yes, we are here for serious business and issues have been taken care of.

to preach good news to the poor, the poor beingthe vulnerable, protecting especially defenceless children, seeking justice for the victims of abuse and taking steps to prevent this abuse from recurring.

to proclaim deliverance to the captives, for me the perpetrators are in need of deliverance, conversion and transformation, and we should not forget that.

and recovery of sight to the blind those who are not seeing the issues, even some of uspresent here, or focusing on protecting ‘our own’, or keeping silent or covering up need recovery of sight

to release the oppressed and to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour by taking the necessary steps and maintaining zero tolerance with regard to sexual abuse we will release the oppressed. This is our year of favour let us courageously take up the responsibility to be truly transparent and accountable.

Returning to the title of this conference, I just want to say one passage that has inspired me is:

You are the light of the world – I think we are the light like that this morning in the prayer – A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.

I read with great interest many articles about the Pope’s reactions in the case of the Chilean bishops – I think you remember the story – from a denial of accusations, to anger because of deception, the Pope felt, and the cover up, to the acceptance of resignations of – I thought three, but I red again two of the bishops. I admire you, Brother Francis, for taking time as a true Jesuit, to discern and be humble enough to change your mind, to apologize and take action – this is an example for all of us.

Thank you, Pope Francis, for providing this opportunity for us to check and see where we have acted strangely, ignorantly, secretly and complacently. I believe we will change, with great determination, our total approach to reporting abuse, to supporting the victims, to getting the right people to mentor and give support to victims and, above all, to doing what we can to protect minors and vulnerable adults from any form of abuse. Thank you, too, for providing women religious, through the executive of the Union of Superiors General (UISG), an opportunity to participate in this conference. This is the first time ever that we have had all the members of the executing of the women come to a meeting like this. Usually, the men come, but the women we were “pick three people and it must be this, this, this…”. Women have acquired a lot of useful experience to offer in this field and have already done much to support victims – there are women who are also offenders – and also to work creatively on their own use of power and authority.

I hope and pray that at the end of this conference we will choose deliberately to break any culture of silence and secrecy among us, to allow more light into our church, as a model Church. A model takes care of the children and continues to be a model to take care of the children. Let us acknowledge our vulnerability; be pro-active, not reactive in combating the challenges facing the world of the young and the vulnerable, and look fearlessly into other issues of abuse in the church and society.

I want to end with this, by reminding ourselves of Pope Francis’ own words: A Christian who does not move forward has an identity that is ‘not well… The Gospel is clear: the Lord sent them out saying: ‘go, go forward’! The Christian walks, moves past difficulties and announces that the Kingdom of God is near.

I pray: we will move forward, pass these difficulties. Surely.

Thank you.

23rd FEBRUARY 2019 16:50SEXUAL ABUSE AND PROTECTION OF MINORS

[douxreviews]

Quantum Leap - Season Four Review

Since season three was mostly leaps of the week, they made an attempt to shake things up with season four by playing with the formula a bit.

But as always, Quantum Leap is at its best when it does arc episodes about Sam and Al, as they again did in the premiere and the finale. There were a few other strong episodes as well.

4.1 "The Leap Back" (June 15, 1945)": In the fourth season premiere, Sam got to play a brand new character: Dr. Sam Beckett. For the past three seasons, we've been leaping with a Sam who had partial amnesia and was completely disconnected from his real life. Here, he was finally dynamic, brilliant scientist Sam, and surprisingly, married Sam.

Mimi Kuzyk did a terrific job as Sam's wife Donna, another brilliant scientist who kept her existence a secret from leaping Sam because she knew that it would make it harder for him to complete his missions. That was darned selfless of her, and that made her feel worthy of him in short order, since our Sam is quite a guy. I also thought Donna waiting for Sam gave us an obvious parallel to Beth, who waited years for prisoner of war Al to come back from Vietnam.

We finally got a lengthy visit to the actual Quantum Leap Project, with interior decoration that made it look as if Al's handlink exploded. We finally met Gooshie, Dr. Beeks and Ziggy, who changed gender in this episode. As Sam became reacquainted with his life and his wife, he and Al reversed roles and Al got to be the leaper who had to fix what once went wrong (and in Al's lifetime, 1945), while Sam's glee as he got to be the hologram was adorably funny. "Revenge is mine. Thus sayeth the hologram!"

Of course, Sam had to re-leap to save Al, so the status quo was too quickly re-attained. Honestly, I would have loved seeing Sam at home and observing and Al leaping for a few episodes.

4.6 "Raped (June 20, 1980)": You'd think an episode about a man occupying the body of a young woman who'd been raped would be uncomfortable, awkward, preachy, and/or cliched — but no. Instead, it was one of the best episodes of the series, because they did it right.

Sam leaped in because Katie, the victim, was having difficulty testifying against her attacker. Scott Bakula's performance as Sam in Katie's body was terrific; calm and matter of fact, Sam fought on Katie's behalf, refusing to accept the way the townspeople and police kept blaming the victim.

Although I always dislike the way trials on television seem to happen instantly after a crime, the strongest scene was Sam testifying on the stand by simply repeating Katie's own words, as Al held her hand. Even though the reason Al did that was so that Sam could see her, it was also a physical way of showing Al and Sam showing their support of Katie. Excellent episode.

4.7 "The Wrong Stuff (January 24, 1961)": Quantum Leap took on animal experimentation as Sam leaped into a test chimp, and they did a good job acknowledging all aspects of a difficult topic. This is the only episode in which Sam leaps into a non-human. I really liked the little nod to Planet of the Apes when Sam tried to write a note.

4.22 "A Leap for Lisa (June 25, 1957)": The lesson of "A Leap for Lisa" is that whenever they go back to the well and do an episode about Al's past, it's a winner. I'd mostly forgotten this one and it was such a pleasant surprise, the best episode in the season, with the possible exception of "Raped."

Sam leaped into 23-year-old Al and it appeared that he was supposed to save Al's married girlfriend Lisa from dying in a car crash, but Al was so bemused by encountering his younger self in the waiting room that he arrived late, in time to watch Lisa die. Sam's interference changed history so that Al would be convicted of the murder of his commander's wife, Marci, and at one point, when probability went up to 100% that Al would die in the gas chamber, the hologram of Al vanished and was replaced by another observer named St. John (Roddy McDowall, and I loved that they brought in an A-list actor to play the part). When Sam solved the murder, young Al had to leap into his earlier self in order to save himself, Lisa and Marci.

It was so much fun to see Al talking to "Bingo," his younger self, in the waiting room. It was also fascinating that Sam initially leaped into Al in the middle of a From Here to Eternity erotic dream on the beach, too. Has Sam ever leaped into someone dreaming before? Did that happen because his mind is linked to Al's?

What's also fun is how this episode inadvertently relates to Star Trek. Charles Rocket's character was called "Commander Riker," a character on Star Trek: The Next Generation; Terry Farrell, who played Lisa, would join the cast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine the following year (1993), and of course, Scott Bakula went on to star in Star Trek: Enterprise in 2001.

Honorable mention

4.11 "The Play's the Thing (September 9, 1969)": A nice episode about ageism. I liked how Sam saw nothing wrong with being a younger man in love with an older woman, and how he immediately and passionately defended Jane's choices and helped her achieve her dreams. Anna Gunn from Breaking Bad had a nice supporting role as Jane's daughter in law.

4.15 "A Song for the Soul (April 7, 1963)": Scott Bakula in an African American girl group, as he backed up the daughter of a preacher who wanted to break into the big time. (The daughter, not the preacher.) This one was sweet. Plus I think it was the first time Sam leaped into a black woman. I particularly liked the sedate gray outfit Al wore in church. (Well, "sedate" for Al.)

4.16 "Ghost Ship (August 13, 1956)": Despite an occasional uncomfortable resemblance to Airplane!, this was a good one about a plane stuck in the Bermuda Triangle. It also featured a very young Carla Gugino.

4.19 "Moments to Live (May 4, 1985)": Sam leaped into a star of daytime drama, and Kathleen Wilhoite and Pruitt Taylor Vince kidnapped him for embarrassing reasons. Well written with good acting, and I'm glad that they (mostly) didn't play kidnapping and mental illness for laughs.

What didn't work

There were a few episodes that I thought were poor, and a couple that made me outright uncomfortable. Starting with...

4.12 "Running for Honor (June 11, 1964)": Al as a homophobe? Yes, I get that even somewhat recently, a majority of people were against gays in the military, but I'd like to think that anyone who dressed the way Al did would be a bit more open-minded. At least Sam was understandably disgusted by his attitude and what happened in the episode changed Al's mind, and I doubt anyone would do an episode like this today. We've come a long way in 25 years.

4.13 "Temptation Eyes (February 1, 1985)": Another attempt to do something new, although I don't think it worked. Tamlyn Tomita played a genuine psychic who fell in love with the real Sam, he fell for her, and they actually got to spend a few weeks together. But the acting and writing were poor and cliched, making it more of a miss than a hit. And that's too bad, because I'd always thought it would be nice if Sam got a vacation in the middle of all that leaping.

4.14 "The Last Gunfighter (November 28, 1957)": My word, this one was terrible. It was like they wanted to do an old west shoot-out but couldn't, so they did it anyway. What town in 1957, even one with a corrupt sheriff, would allow two old men to have a gunfight in the center of town? Innocent bystanders, anyone?

4.18 "It's a Wonderful Leap (May 10, 1958)": Another unsuccessful attempt at something new, this time with Liz Torres from Gilmore Girls as a genuine guardian angel. What bothered me more than I can say was Al doing fat jokes along with even worse Latino jokes. Liz Torres deserved better than this.

4.20 "The Curse of Ptah-Hotep (March 2, 1957)": Intended to be a rip-off of King Tut's tomb and Howard Carter with mysterious deaths, but with the budget of a one-hour TV show, anyone with any knowledge whatsoever of archaeology would find this episode painfully bad. I mean, the mummy comes to life and everything. And John Kapelos, who is usually pretty good, played an Egyptian archaeologist (the John Rhys-Davies role in Indiana Jones) with an accent that sounded like a cross between Russian and Spanish. I haven't finished rewatching the series yet, but this might be my least favorite Quantum Leap episode ever. Certainly my least favorite in season four.

Bits and pieces:

-- Notable actors (other than the ones already mentioned): Neal McDonough, James Morrison, Glenn Morshower, Joseph Gordon-Levitt at the age of ten, Harry Groener, Eriq LaSalle, Bob Saget and Amy Yasbeck.

-- Famous people: There was a little boy named Donald Trump in a New York City cab with his father in "It's a Wonderful Leap." I saw it coming and said out loud, "No, no, please don't."

-- As usual, there were a number of homages to movies, including The Rainmaker, The Defiant Ones, the Indiana Jones movies, and A Few Good Men.

To conclude

Although there were still many strong episodes in season four, I think seasons two and three were a bit stronger. Am I wrong?

Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

[patriotsnet]

Which Of These Individuals Were Radical Republicans

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/which-of-these-individuals-were-radical-republicans/

Which Of These Individuals Were Radical Republicans

The End Of The Movement

January 6th Hearings Were Absolutely Terrible For Republicans

The Radical movement was coming to an end, its agenda superseded by concerns about the economy, which had been hit by recession in 1873.

In the Congressional elections of 1874, the Democrats took control. Southern State legislatures gradually reverted to the Democrats as well, and the reforms of the Radical Republicans began to be rolled back.

In the highly controversial 1876 presidential election, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes managed to win power despite losing the popular vote, when he promised Southern States that all federal troops would be withdrawn.

After this, civil rights were no longer enforced in the South, and the former Confederate states brought in the so-called Jim Crow laws.

These laws allowed the segregation of white and black people, and although they did not explicitly state that black people could not vote, the conditions that had to be met in order to vote were disproportionately unfavourable to African-Americans. The inequality imposed by the Jim Crow laws persisted for almost a century.

Image sources:

What Did The Radical Republicans Stand For

Radical RepublicansRepublican

The Radical Republicans believed blacks were entitled to the same political rights and opportunities as whites. They also believed that the Confederate leaders should be punished for their roles in the Civil War.

Additionally, what were three policies that the Radical Republicans proposed for reconstruction? On the political front, the Republicans wanted to maintain their wartime agenda, which included support for:

Protective tariffs.

Liberal land policies for settlers.

Federal aid for railroad development.

Thereof, what was the Radical Republicans plan?

The Radical Republicans reconstruction offered all kinds of new opportunities to African Americans, including the vote , property ownership, education, legal rights, and even the possibility of holding political office. By the beginning of 1868, about 700,000 African Americans were registered voters.

Did the radical Republicans favored emancipation?

Radical Republican. Radical Republican, during and after the American Civil War, a member of the Republican Party committed to emancipation of the slaves and later to the equal treatment and enfranchisement of the freed blacks.

Johnson’s Bold Reconstruction Stance

After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865, Vice PresidentAndrew Johnson , a former U.S. senator from Tennessee, was thrust unexpectedly into the highest office in the nation. Instead of waiting for Congress to convenean event scheduled for December 1865Johnson abruptly put into effect his own plan for readmitting the Southern states into the Union and reorganizing their state governments.

Expected to deal harshly with those who had rebelled against the Union, Johnson surprised everyone by treating them leniently. Owing to Johnson’s liberal signing of presidential pardons, many Confederate military and civil leaders were able to regain power in the South. The governments they formed then went about trying to recreate the conditions of slavery, using laws called Black Codes to limit the economic options and civil rights of the former slaves.

You May Like: Did Trump Say Republicans Are Stupid

An African American Institution Of Higher Learningwilberforce University

A group of Ohioans, including four African American men, established Wilberforce University near Xenia, Ohio, in 1856, and named it after the famous British abolitionist, William Wilberforce. When the school failed to meet its financial obligations, leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church purchased it in 1863.

The articles of association of Wilberforce University, dated July 10, 1863, state that its purpose was to promote education, religion and morality amongst the colored race. Even though the university was established by and for people of color, the articles stipulated that no one should be excluded from the benefits of said institution as officers, faculty, or pupils on account of merely race or color.

1 of 2

Constitution Of The National Woman Suffrage Association

Despite the Fifteenth Amendments failure to guarantee female suffrage, women did gain the right to vote in western territories, with the Wyoming Territory leading the way in 1869. One reason for this was a belief that giving women the right to vote would provide a moral compass to the otherwise lawless western frontier. Extending the right to vote in western territories also provided an incentive for white women to emigrate to the West, where they were scarce. However, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and others believed that immediate action on the national front was required, leading to the organization of the NWSA and its resulting constitution.

How was the NWSA organized? How would the fact that it operated at the national level, rather than at the state or local level, help it to achieve its goals?

Read Also: Who Are The Three Republicans Running Against Trump

Read Also: 115th Congress By Party

The Reconstruction Acts Of 1867

By the beginning of 1867, only one former Confederate state, Tennessee, had been readmitted to the Union. The other ten states were still undergoing reconstruction. In early March, Congress passed the First Reconstruction Act. This act divided the South into five military districts and established martial law. It also listed the requirements a state must meet to be readmitted into the Union. Each state had to include universal male voting rights in its constitution; receive approval of its constitution from the majority of its voters; and ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted citizenship to ”all persons born or naturalized in the United States” and declared that states could not deny any person ”life, liberty or property, without due process of law.”

To give the First Reconstruction Act sharper teeth, Congress passed the Second Reconstruction Act later in March. This act put the military in charge of protecting voter registration efforts to make sure that no one, especially the African American, was refused his right to vote.

What Were The Goals Of Reconstruction For Radical Republicans

They wanted to prevent the leaders of the confederacy from returning to power after the war, they wanted the republican party to become a powerful institution in the south, and they wanted the federal government to help african americans achieve political equality by guaranteeing their rights to vote in the south.

Recommended Reading: What Is The Lapel Pin The Republicans Are Wearing

Read Also: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Andrew Johnson: Domestic Affairs

On April 15, six weeks after Andrew Johnson was sworn in as vice president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Had the assassin’s plot gone as planned, Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Secretary of State William Seward would have also been killed. As it turned out, co-conspirator George Atzerodt had stalked the vice president but lost his nerve at the last minute. Johnson, who was staying at the Kirkwood House hotel, rushed to Lincoln’s bedside when he was told of the attack. A few hours after Lincoln’s death, Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase swore Johnson in as President of the United States. Republicans were relieved that Johnson had not been killed and could provide continuity; they thought that he would be putty in their hands and would follow the dictates of Republican congressional leaders.

The Question of Black Suffrage

Phase I: Presidential Reconstruction

Phase II: Congressional Reconstruction

Off-Year Election Showdown

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

What Was The Radical Plan Of Reconstruction

These Republican Con Artists Weren’t Ready For Cenk Uygur

After the election of November 6, 1866, Congress imposes its own Reconstruction policies, referred to by historians as Radical Reconstruction. This re-empowers the Freedmans Bureau and sets reform efforts in motion that will lead to the 14th and 15th Amendments, which, respectively, grant citizenship to all

Recommended Reading: Did Trump Call Republicans Stupid In 1998

Iv Reconstruction And Women

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton maintained a strong and productive relationship for nearly half a century as they sought to secure political rights for women. While the fight for womens rights stalled during the war, it sprung back to life as Anthony, Stanton, and others formed the American Equal Rights Association. , between 1880 and 1902.;Library of Congress.

for all

The AERA was split over whether Black male suffrage should take precedence over universal suffrage, given the political climate of the South. Some worried that political support for freedmen would be undermined by the pursuit of womens suffrage. For example, AERA member Frederick Douglass insisted that the ballot was literally a question of life and death for southern Black men, but not for women.23 Some African American women challenged white suffragists in other ways. Frances Harper, for example, a freeborn Black woman living in Ohio, urged them to consider their own privilege as white and middle class. Universal suffrage, she argued, would not so clearly address the complex difficulties posed by racial, economic, and gender inequality.24

Republicans Sweep The 1866 Elections

During the campaign of 1866, most support for Johnson came from the Democratic Party, whose members tried to play on white fears about expanding rights for blacks. They claimed, for example, that the Republicans wanted to give black workers an advantage over white workers. Meanwhile, the Republicans also campaigned hard and used dramatic language and images to discredit Johnson. As recounted in The Era of Reconstruction: 18651877, Indiana governor Oliver P. Morton called the Democratic Party a “common sewer and loathsome receptacle, into which is emptied every element of treason North and South, every element of inhumanity and barbarism which has dishonored the age.”

When the election results came in, the widespread lack of support for Johnson was evident. The Republicans had won by a huge margin. They were now solidly in control of every Northern state legislature and government; in addition, they had more than the two-thirds majority needed to pass bills in both houses of the U.S. Congress. As the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress met in December 1866, the Radicals were at their most powerful.

Don’t Miss: Did Trump Call Republicans Stupid In 1998

Two Different Plans For Reconstruction

During the months following the April 1865 conclusion of the Civil War, the U.S. Congress was the stage for another kind of battle. A group of senators and representatives known as the Radical Republicans opposed the Reconstruction program put forth by President Andrew Johnson . Having gained that office unexpectedly when Abraham Lincoln was assassinatedonly days after the wars endby an enraged Southerner, Johnson had surprised everyone with a plan that allowed white Southerners to virtually recreate the days of slavery. The Republicans had managed to win public support for their own vision of a reconstructed South, which they saw as a place where free labor and industry would thrive and where, most importantly, access to equal civil and political rights would allow African Americans to become full, responsible U.S. citizens.

You May Like: How Many Senate Seats Did The Republicans Pick Up

Battles Over Reconstruction Policy

During fall 1865, as a response to the Black Codes and worrisome signs of Southern recalcitrance, the Radical Republicans blocked the readmission of the former rebellious states to the Congress. Johnson, however, was content with allowing former Confederate states into the Union as long as their state governments adopted the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. By December 6, 1865, the amendment was ratified, and Johnson considered Reconstruction over. Radical Republicans in Congress disagreed. They rejected Johnson’s moderate Reconstruction efforts, and organized the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, a 15-member panel to devise more stringent Reconstruction requirements for the Southern states to be restored to the Union.

In January 1866, Congress renewed the Freedmen’s Bureau, which Johnson vetoed in February. Although Johnson sympathized with the plights of the freedmen, he was against federal assistance. An attempt to override the veto failed on February 20, 1866. This veto shocked the congressional Radicals. In response, both the Senate and House passed a joint resolution not to allow any senator or representative seat admittance until Congress decided when Reconstruction was finished.

Also Check: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Freed Persons Receive Wages From Former Owner

Some emancipated slaves quickly fled from the neighborhood of their owners, while others became wage laborers for former owners. Most importantly, African Americans could make choices for themselves about where they labored and the type of work they performed. This account book shows that former slaves who became free workers after the Civil War received pay for their work on Hampton Plantation in South Carolina.

Hampton Plantation Account Book, 18661868. South Carolina. Handwritten manuscript. Page 68 Page 69. Miscellaneous Manuscript Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/african-american-odyssey/reconstruction.html#obj6

The End Of Radical Reconstruction

The end of Reconstruction was a staggered process, and the period of Republican control ended at different times in different states. With the Compromise of 1877, army intervention in the South ceased and Republican control collapsed in the last three state governments in the South. This was followed by a period that white Southerners labeled “Redemption,” during which white-dominated state legislatures enacted Jim Crow laws and, beginning in 1890, disenfranchised most blacks and many poor whites through a combination of constitutional amendments and electoral laws. The white Democrat Southerners’ memory of Reconstruction played a major role in imposing the system of white supremacy and second-class citizenship for blacks, known as “The Age of Jim Crow.”

Many of the ambitions of the Radical Republicans were, in the end, undermined and unfulfilled. Early Supreme Court rulings around the turn of the century upheld many of these new Southern constitutions and laws, and most blacks were prevented from voting in the South until the 1960s. Full federal enforcement of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments did not occur until passage of legislation in the mid-1960s as a result of the African-American Civil Rights Movement .

Also Check: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Grant Is Elected President

The 1868 presidential election would be the first in which African Americans would participate, and they would play an important role in the election of the next president, Ulysses S. Grant . A career army officer and a hero of the Civil War, during which he had helped carry out such presidential orders as the Emancipation Proclamation, Grant had shown no previous interest in politics. His stance as a moderate made him an attractive candidate for the Republican Party, which wanted to put forth an individual who would represent stability during a troubled period in the nations history. To oppose Grant, the Democrats nominated a rather colorless figure, former New York governor Horatio Seymour . Their campaign centered on the theme of maintaining white supremacy at a time when, racists maintained, blacks were threatening to take over the country.

The sight of black people voting in the 1867 elections to choose convention delegates had been difficult for many

Impeachment Of Andrew Johnson

Republican Leader Could Be Prosecuted For Threatening Telecom Companies

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson by the Senate 1866

In 1866 the Radical Republican Congress sought to remove President Andrew Johnson from office. This was part of the power struggle between Johnson who sought highly lenient policies towards the former Confederate states and the Radical Republicans who wanted a harsher version of Reconstruction as well as more forceful protection of the rights of the newly freed southern black population. Ultimately the impeachment, which was not popular or supported by the general public, failed by one vote.

Also Check: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Freedmen Navigate Legislative Shoals

In order to regulate the activities of newly freed African Americans, national, state, and local governments developed a body of laws relating to them. Some laws were for their protection, particularly those relating to labor contracts, but others circumscribed their citizenship rights. This volume, compiled by the staff of General Oliver O. Howard, the director of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Landsusually called the Freedmens Bureauprovides a digest of these laws in ten of the former Confederate states up to 1867.

Laws in Relation to Freedmen, U.S. Sen. 39th Congress, 2nd Sess. Senate Executive Doc. No. 6. Washington: War Department, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1866-67. Pamphlet. Law Library, Library of Congress

Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/african-american-odyssey/reconstruction.html#obj13

The Freedmen’s Bureau Bill

One of the first actions Congress had taken after refusing to recognize the Southern legislators was to create a Joint Committee on Reconstruction to investigate and report on conditions in the South. Already reports were arriving that documented the mistreatment of blacks in the South. Perhaps the most revealing report was compiled by ex-Union general Carl Schurz . As the new year began, it was clear that the agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau, the federal agency established in March 1865 to assist the former slaves in their transition to freedom, needed more power to punish those who denied blacks their rights or physically assaulted them. To that end, Senator Trumbull introduced a bill to extend the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau and broaden the power of its agents to protect blacks.

It came as a surprise to almost everyone when President Johnson vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau bill. He claimed that it was not necessary and too expensive to extend the Bureau’s life and even asserted, as noted in A Short History of Reconstruction, that giving blacks assistance was unfair to “our own people” . Even Johnson’s supporters had urged him to sign the bill, as it would help to keep the moderate Republicans on his side. Congress immediately overrode the bill, and it became law.

Recommended Reading: Why Do Republicans Wear Blue Ties

Senator Revels On Segregated Schools In Washington Dc

Hiram R. Revels became the first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate in 1870. In 1871, he gave the following speech about Washingtons segregated schools before Congress.

According to Senator Revelss speech, what is social equality and why is it important to the issue of desegregated schools? Does Revels favor social equality or social segregation? Did social equality exist in the United States in 1871?

Though the fact of their presence was dramatic and important, as the New York Times description above demonstrates, the few African American representatives and senators who served in Congress during Reconstruction represented only a tiny fraction of the many hundreds, possibly thousands, of blacks who served in a great number of capacities at the local and state levels. The South during the early 1870s brimmed with freed slaves and freeborn blacks serving as school board commissioners, county commissioners, clerks of court, board of education and city council members, justices of the peace, constables, coroners, magistrates, sheriffs, auditors, and registrars. This wave of local African American political activity contributed to and was accompanied by a new concern for the poor and disadvantaged in the South. The southern Republican leadership did away with the hated black codes, undid the work of white supremacists, and worked to reduce obstacles confronting freed people.