Demand Florida Leaders Cease & Desist From Sowing Division
Media Advisory for Thursday, September 7
Contact: Steph.Derstine@berlinrosen.com and Erica.Noll@berlinrosen.com
Diverse Group of Denominational Leaders, Pastors Pledge to ‘Take Back the Mic’ From Haters
In Wake of Racist Dollar General Killings, Launch Season of Repentance, Demand Politicians ‘Cease and Desist’ from Sowing Division
JACKSONVILLE - Diverse faith groups, including major religious leaders, heads of denominations, pastors, the Florida Council of Churches and Repairers of the Breach announced Tuesday they are joining together to launch a season of repentance, confession, fasting and prayer, calling on elected leaders in the state and nationwide to cease and desist from sowing division and hate.
The moral movement to “take back the mic” from those who seed hate will kick off Thursday, September 7 with a press conference, followed by 10 days of fasting and prayer; sermons from the pulpit about the culture of violence and death and how we can use our voices to make a choice for life, love and justice; a mass meeting on the 60th anniversary of the bombing at the `16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham that killed four little girls; and a petition delivery by students of Edward Waters College demanding leaders stop using public office to spew hate against Black people, trans people, immigrants and others.
“It’s time to take back the mic so truth and love and justice ring loud, not lies and division and and hate,” said Bishop William J. Barber II, president of Repairers of the Breach. “We need to get serious, mobilize and speak out so division and hate do not have the last say in this democracy, in this moment of history.”
“Time for Truth and Love, to Take Back the Mic and Be Silent No More” comes on the heels of the racist murders of Angela Michelle Carr, Jerrald Gallion and Anolt Joseph Laguerre Jr at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville by a man who “hated Black people”, according to the local sheriff.
As Bishop Barber wrote in the Guardian last week: “We have hateful rhetoric coming out of the mouths of politicians at the highest levels in Florida every day. From the governor to the former president, it’s hate against Black history, hate against wokeness, hate against trans people, hate against immigrants.”
The governor spends every moment he can attacking, attacking, attacking, but never addresses the fact that there are 9.5 million poor and low-wealth people in Florida, accounting for 45% of the state’s population. More than 2.5 million Floridians do not have health insurance. Hurricane Idalia is the latest reason we need to spread love and not sow division.
“When the extremist governor and others are more interested in lying about history than making history and insuring people have health care; when haters in public office tell us to live hating, hurting and harming one another rather than saying pay workers a living wage and fully fund public education; when they use their office to say hate trans people and hate immigrants, it’s time for truth and love to take back the mic and be silent no more,” Bishop Barber added. “We must focus on transforming the lives of the 10 million poor and low-wealth in Florida so they can live, be liberated and enjoy the pursuit of happiness.”
WHO: Diverse group of Florida and national faith leaders
WHAT: Press conference announcing season of repentance calling on haters to stop sowing division
WHEN: Thursday, September 7, 2023, 11 AM ET
WHERE: Saint Paul AME Church 6910 New Kings Rd. Jacksonville
Voices from the Coalition
The Very Rev. Kate Moorehead Carroll, Dean, St. John Cathedral, Jacksonville, said: “We gather to cry out to God, praying that the three victims who died Aug 26 will not have died in vain, but that their deaths might spur this city and country to awaken to the violence on our streets, to build better systems to care for the mentally ill and work for justice and peace among races. Let us work together across all lines of difference to bring peace and justice to our city. Please join with us in fasting and prayer for we need a miracle, we need reconciliation and we need peace.”
Bishop Frank Madison Reid, III, 11th Episcopal District AME Church, said: “Business As Usual Is No Longer Acceptable! We must make sure that out of this MOMENT of grief, loss and suffering that a MOVEMENT is birthed that changes the political policies, the cultural environment, the societal indifference, and the spiritual confusion that is making us numb to ongoing acts of hatred, guns violence, murder, and social death.”
The Rev. Dr. James T. Morris, Central Florida District Presiding Elder, CME Church, President of the Florida Council of Churches, said: “The vicious hate crime perpetrated on innocent Black citizens of Jacksonville must not be viewed or responded to in a vacuum. The lives of these persons, their families, friends and the entire community matter. It is therefore incumbent upon us to see this tragedy as an opportunity to do all in our power to make sure it doesn’t happen again. To this end, we must all take responsibility and use the power of our collective vote to make sure those who support unbridled gun laws and systematic racism are voted out of office.”
The Rev. Dr. Mark L. Griffin, Pastor, Wayman Temple AME Church, Jacksonville, said, “Words matter. We must realize that sowing seeds of division and racism eventually produce a harvest of hate, violence and unrest. Such a harvest manifested itself in a Dollar General Store on August 26, 2023. Let us work together to silence the rhetoric and encourage common decency in our discourse, so that seeds of love and unity will produce a harvest of community and togetherness. ‘Life and death are in the power of the tongue.’ - Proverbs 18:21.”