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| The pass you see around my neck is proof of our success: at first, they had burly guards at the doors barring our entry, and then, by a miracle, the Methodist hierarchy granted us unfettered access and we greeted people at the doors. Photo / Kelli Busey Author Activist / Methodist General Conference Fort Worth Texas, June 4, 2008. |
Back in the day, I participated with Soulforce and the Reconciling Ministries Network in actions meant to bring attention to the harm being done by religions that opposed equality. Our purpose, in my view, was to help conservative churches understand what they were doing and to help them return to the ways of Christ. Our acts of civil disobedience were always peaceful and most often planned with the knowledge of the Churches and local law enforcement.
Religion News Service: Evangelicals divided over what faith demands as immigration tensions deepen
The individual who was the reason for the peaceful action by BLM and others is David Easterwood, a pastor at the Cities Church and the acting director of the St. Paul ICE field office. As the ranking local ICE official, Easterwood is, by association, complicit in the execution of Renee Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti by masked ICE agents. This would have been unthinkable back in my day, that is to say, after the KKK stopped hanging people in the name of our lord.
RMN Statement: This Is Not Enforcement. This Is State Violence.
The Justice Department’s swift investigation into the church disruption stands in contrast to its decision not to open a civil rights investigation into Good’s killing by an ICE officer. The department has not said whether it will open a civil rights probe into the killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal officers, Religion News Service reports.
