1 million new voters is our goal

Washington, D.C.- The National Black Church Initiative declares its support for Pastor Jamal Bryant's Empowerment Temple's movement to register 1 million voters on Easter Sunday. We commend Pastor Jamal Bryant for his extraordinary leadership in representing the finest tradition of the black church to empower those of us whose backs are against the wall and need to be empowered to use our votes to change our communities.

Reverend Anthony Evans, President of NBCI says: "Pastor Bryant should be commended on this great effort and we intend to work with him until this goal is reached. I have authorized all of our churches to follow the leadership of Pastor Bryant on this issue."

We keep being reminded that voting is not just essential, it is the essence of a democracy. One vote can count as a million votes when it is cast with power. All Black churches, all 150,000 of us, 34,000 of which are represented by NBCI, should register at least 20 members of their congregations who remain unregistered to vote. Our call as a church community is to make sure everyone is included in the voting process and empowered to make a difference. This voting registration program conforms to NBCI's Civil Society Initiative.

Rev. Jamal Bryant locks arms with the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. during "Justice for Trayvon" rally last month. National Urban League President Marc Morial locks arms on the other side. Bryant has started new organization to address civil and social inequality - The Empowerment Movement.

By Hazel Trice Edney 

This Sunday morning, April 8, millions of people will head to Easter services to hear the Gospel on the day that some call Resurrection Sunday. But, for many, this year will be different.

Pastors of dozens of congregations across the nation will not only preach the good news of a risen savior; but they will also call for their congregants to resurrect the movement for equality and justice in America by registering to vote. A million new voters is the goal.

"I really felt like I couldn't see or hear where the Black church was becoming engaged in the national conversation relative to the politics of America," said the Rev. Dr. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, pastor of the 8,000-member Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, who is leading the drive. "I couldn't hear a voice. I really felt like there was a void and our generation was really listening to hear one. And out of that I called the churches together to see what we could do collectively, realizing that there is strength in numbers."

He continues, "You can listen to Black Radio, Christian Radio or watch Black Christian television hours on end and not hear pastors say anything of social regard. And I think that this is a call for pastors and the people back to the front lines and to get off of the side lines."

Rev. Jamal Bryant says the Black Church has been too quiet.

Bryant, former NAACP National Youth and College director,  has called on his pastoral colleagues to raise their prophetic voices through the vehicle of a new non-partisan organization - The Empowerment Movement. The initiative is being birthed amidst tenuous political and social circumstances, including national debates over issues such as same sex unions, President Obama's health care initiative and the horrendous shooting of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla.

Bryant, who led a Justice for Trayvon rally in Sanford last month, was elected by pastors from at least 30 different denominations as president/CEO of the new organization. They have all agreed to use their pulpits this Sunday to preach both spiritual and political empowerment.

"'Resurrect the movement' is the name of this weekend," Bryant says in a telephone interview. "Since the assassination of Dr. King we've seen a real slump in activism in consciousness in the Black church and moreover in the Black pulpit."

Dr. King was assassinated April 4, 1968, 44 years ago this week. He was founder of the now 57-year-old Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization now getting its footing back after several years of turmoil in leadership.

"All of the churches had been making statements singularly, but not collectively," says the 40-year-old Bryant. "And the Black church really has not moved in a collective arm on a national level since Dr. King's SCLC initiative. So, I think when you do something positive many times the press doesn't pick it up. But, I think that if all of us would come together and beat the drums somebody will hear it."

On Sunday, pastors across the nation will not only appeal for voter registration, but people will also be instructed how they can register on their cell phones and lap tops. Facebook and Twitter will also be engaged in the movement with more information found at www.Empowermentmovement.org.

Still, convincing an apathetic people to register and then actually go to the polls and vote will be a major challenge that Bryant readily acknowledges:

"I think a lot of us African-Americans think they've arrived into equality with a Black President and with the beacon light of billionaires like Bob Johnson or Magic Johnson or Oprah Winfrey. It gives us a false sense of security. In instances like Trayvon Martin, our wake up call, we've still got miles to go."

Among the 25-30 congregations participating in the drive are AME, CME, AME Zion, Baptist, Bible Way, Church of God in Christ, Full Gospel, Gospel Music Workshop of America, United Covenant Churches, Harvest Churches, Fellowship of international Word of Faith, Church of God, according to a release.

Bryant concludes, "It is my prayer that just as the religious right has been very strategic in lifting their voice and speaking to their issues and concerns that The Empowerment Movement will really be the epicenter of social-spiritual consciousness for this generation of African Americans."

The National Black Church Initiative

believes that Wal-Mart lied about their health plan to cover workers

Always low morale, always

Washington DC - The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches comprised of 15 denominations and 15.7 million African Americans dedicated to the eradication of racial disparities around the world, is urging all religious communities to stand together in solidarity against Wal-Mart's exploitative labor practices. Most recently, after promising to do otherwise, Wal-Mart has reduced its health care benefits to its already underpaid workforce. Our Black Church leadership partners - 66,000 churches nationwide - are called upon to use the full force of our combined 100,000 churches to draw attention to the imperative of reforming Wal-Mart's mistreatment of its workers and the need for good wages and good health benefits for all Americans. We intend to use the full weight of our collective wealth and political might both domestically and globally to bring attention to this problem.

After a period of trying to convince the American public that it had changed regarding its treatment of its workers, Wal-Mart has returned to its old ways. Specifically, it has informed its 1.4 million workers that all future part-time employees who work less than 24 hours a week will no longer qualify for any of the company's health insurance plans. Furthermore, any new employees who average 24 to 33 hours per week will no longer be able to include a spouse as part of their health coverage but children will be eligible for coverage. Following a nationwide trend, premiums for those eligible for coverage will also rise by as much as 40% which will make the health plan too expensive for many employees who already pay high deductibles that exceed 20% of their annual pay.

The company argues that these health benefit reductions are necessary due to rising costs but in this time of profound economic distress, this is devastating for Wal-Mart's employees only half of whom currently qualify for any health benefits.Surely a company that made $15.3 billion in profits last year and whose founding family ranks amongst the wealthiest in America, can afford to provide its employees with decent health care. Moreover, since Wal-Mart is a bellwether employer whose employment practices are emulated by other corporations, the significance of this decision to slash health coverage should not be underestimated.

In the past, as reflected in a previous press release-"National Black Church Initiative Calls For All Businesses toCover Their Full and Part Time Workers with Health Insurance"--we have supported Wal-Mart's efforts to reform its employment practices. We lauded Wal-Mart for agreeing to offer part-time employees including those working less than 24 hours per week, health insurance after a year of employment at a cost of $250 per year for family coverage. We thought that Wal-Mart intended to set a good example for other corporations to follow.

However, as Wal-Mart has changed, so too has our position. Rev. Anthony Evans, the President of the NBCI declares: "It is a shameful, immoral act when a corporation continues to lie about the benefits that it gives to its employees. The NBCI supported Wal-Mart in our previous press releases but we now know that we were misled to believe that Wal-Mart is an honorable company. But now we have seen the truth and the truth is that they do not care about any of their employees, especially African-American women and poor women that they continue to exploit."

Indeed, many other were misled as the New York Times has noted that over the last few years Wal-Mart has been engaged in a deliberate and apparently fraudulent campaign to mollify critics of its employment practices by offering ostensibly better health care benefits to its employers. What makes matters worse for American society as a whole is that Wal-Mart's refusal to pay good wages and provide decent health benefits is tantamount to cost shifting as the burden for the health and wellbeing of Wal-Mart's workers must be absorbed by local communities since these workers inevitably must rely upon public assistance to have their basic needs met. This is corporate irresponsibility at its worst.

However, in the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision that makes it much harder for employees to launch class action lawsuits and in period of high unemployment that undermines the power of labor, Wal-Mart has dropped the façade of civility and has returned to its blatantly exploitative labor practices. We supported the class action lawsuit that was brought by the company's female employees as part of their effort to address gender discrimination at Wal-Mart. Likewise; we will support efforts to hold Wal-Mart to account for its regressive labor practices and lack of commitment to fairness in dealing with its employees.

You can reach the National Black Church Initiative at:

P.O. Box 65177

Washington DC 20035

202-744-0184

dcbci2002@gmail.com

www.naltblackchurch.com