How could this happen here? Is it 2017 or the 1960’s? These questions have been asked numerous times since hundreds of white nationalists armed with torches and weapons clashed with counterdemonstrators in Charlottesville, VA. But while the nation expresses shock, bewilderment, and disbelief at the president’s defense of white nationalists and the events in Charlottesville, […]
On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, Donald J. Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States of America. Since that time black communities around the world have experienced an unpredictable cluster of raw emotions such as anxiety, anger, bewilderment, sadness, despair, and helplessness. Of course, these emotions are not unfounded. Because Mr. Trump has […]
Black History is More than Slavery By the Reverend James C. Simmons, Pastor of Baber A.M.E. Church and Chairman of Rise Up Rochester, Inc. On February 2, 2016, the United Postal Service released a stamp of one of our nation’s often forgotten founders, Bishop Richard Allen. Born a slave on February 14, 1760, Allen purchased […]
Black Lives Matter to Black People By the Reverend James C. Simmons, Senior Pastor of Baber African Methodist Episcopal Church and Chairman of Rise Up Rochester, Incorporated On Thursday, August 20, 2015, the precious blood of Raekwon Manigault, Jonah Barley, and Johnny Johnson was spilled in our streets and four others were wounded in a […]
In the constitution of the United States, penned in 1787, it states that that congressional representation is to be based on the “whole number of free persons” and “three fifths of all other persons,” a reference about African Americans. Known as the 3/5ths compromise, the founding fathers valued Africans enslaved in America and their descendants […]