There is no racial reconciliation without reparations. Nearly 4 million African slaves were worth some $3.5 billion, making them the largest single financial asset in the entire U.S. economy, worth more than all manufacturing and railroads combined. Our ancestors built this country on unpaid labor. This corporation of the United States of America is still functioning on structural racism. We have solutions! We have developed a comprehensive blueprint for reparations. We are also ready to learn more from our community as to how we can close financial gaps and abolish the disenfranchisement of African Americans in WI permanently. This blueprint is a healing process that will address the spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, educational, cultural and financial well- being of a diaspora of africans who have never had the opportunity to properly heal in Wisconsin. Please join us in fighting for reparations. Sign & share the petition!

Deporting a lifelong New Yorker for struggling with addiction is cruel, and Governor Hochul could easily stop it by granting him a pardon!

We know all too well that it’s not enough for our political leaders to identify as people of faith if they actively fight against economic and racial justice. Many congressional leaders have done that over the years. Instead, we need to see faith in action. Faith without works is dead! We stand by leaders like Senators Warnock and Ossoff, who have committed to infuse new moral leadership into our national politics. As Warnock said in an MSNBC interview after his election, “I was [inspired] by the ways in which [Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.] used his faith to bring people together to solve big problems in the public square.” We the undersigned stand with Rev. Warnock and other political leaders who, grounded in justice and love for all, are committed to doing the same. (photo source: Jon Ossoff [@ossoff] Twitter)

The Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival continues to push the new federal administration to support the 14 Policy Priorities and establish plans of action for the first 100 days of office. As the new administration takes seat in DC, it is equally important that Illinois legislators support the priorities to ensure that the US Congress works alongside the administration to support a new moral and economic agenda. On behalf of the 140 million poor and low-income people in the country, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival – and our 45 state coordinating committees, thousands of religious leaders, scholars, economists, advocates and hundreds of supporting organizations – insists that the following policies from the Poor People’s Jubilee Platform take precedence during the first 50-100 days of the new administration and 117th Congress. Our 14 Policy Priorities: 1. Enact comprehensive, free and just COVID-19 relief 2. Guarantee quality health care for all, regardless of any pre-existing conditions 3. Raise the minimum wage to $15 / hour immediately 4. Update the poverty measure 5. Guarantee quality housing for all 6. Enact a federal jobs program to build up investments, infrastructure, public institutions, climate resilience, energy efficiency and socially beneficial industries and jobs in poor and low-income communities 7. Protect and expand voting rights and civil rights 8. Guarantee safe, quality and equitable public education, with supports for protection against re-segregation 9. Comprehensive and just immigration reform 10. Ensure all of the rights of indigenous peoples 11. Enact fair taxes 12. Use the power of executive orders 13. Redirect the bloated Pentagon budget towards these priorities as matters of national security 14. Work with the Poor People’s Campaign to establish a permanent Presidential Council to advocate for this bold agenda

If those of you in the Senate are willing to stand strong & wage a principled fight, some of your Republican colleagues may be willing to change. But if they can always force a compromise that ultimately covers up their tyranny, they will never change. I know it might seem strange for me as a preacher to take this position, refusing to just accept something & choosing to let the bottom fall out, even if it produces more suffering temporarily. But this wisdom comes from my faith. Do you remember the story? Moses would not compromise with Pharaoh. “Let my people go” meant all, not some. And it resulted in more temporary suffering on the path to full freedom. We must not forget that this is the week when Rosa Parks sat down on a bus & an entire community walked 381 days in the face of violence because they refused to compromise. Doing so, they exposed Jim Crow to the world & won new allies. If they had compromised for a more “humane” application of segregation or more “Negro” bus drivers, we may have never had the kind of civil rights movement that came into being. And perhaps you recall what the Scripture, in St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians, says about how Jesus could have compromised & not suffered, but it was important to expose the evil & injustice openly. The point I’m making is that many poor & low-wealth people would rather see you & others fight—and they would rather join you in that fight—than to see a so-called compromise that is not even half of what’s needed touted as easing pain though most of the pain would continue anyway. We hear you & others saying now that we have to do something, but when “centrist” Republicans had the leverage of the Supreme Court seat, they demanded nothing. Now they want to pass the least amount possible & act as though it is a compassionate act. They are all over the TV now touting the $900 billion. Where were they when the HEROES Act was first passed? For them to act as though they are coming to the rescue now is like throwing a drowning man a life raft with a hole in it when you could have given him a lifeboat with an inboard motor. It is cruel hypocrisy. You may get something done, but we would be mistaken as a society to celebrate your efforts & compromise. We cannot normalize the celebration of mediocre & always accept the least common denominator when it comes to poor & low-wealth people & the essential workers of this nation. If your gang of six had truly been moved by conscience, stood together, & fought for just relief before the Barrett confirmation, McConnell would have bowed & the president would have given in. This is not principled compromise but pitiful capitulation to a mean-spirited majority leader who is allowing even his own constituents from the mountains to the cities to suffer while he caters to the greedy & those with a lust for power above all else. To have to compromise in the midst of a deadly pandemic with over 265,000 dead feels like the Three-Fifths Compromise during slavery. It was wrong then, & compromise is wrong now. What is needed is character. McConnell & any who have helped the wealthy while they let the poor suffer & die will face the judgment of God. I say this with great love & tears for this nation. But the blood of all those who suffer & die needlessly is on the hands of the US Senate. Many of us believe that you all have not fought McConnell hard enough in the open. We know instinctively that if this disease was destroying the lives of the wealthy, the lives of senators & their families, there would be an all-out public battle. Imagine for a moment that suddenly the pandemic caused every senator to lose their income, their food, their homes, their health, & their lives. If that happened & McConnell was blocking help, there would be calls for the people to rise up, to march on the communities where politicians live. If there was compromise after this kind of fight, & it was a principled compromise that cut what the wealthy get so that the poor & low-wealth have everything they need, perhaps that could be morally justified. But the compromise being suggested now is morally indefensible, constitutionally inconsistent, & economically insane. Those of you who sit in the Senate can refuse to act or make backroom deals because the poor & low-wealth are so thoroughly dismissed. The word “poor” is hardly if ever even spoken on the Senate floor. And because the primary pain is felt by poor & low-wealth people & communities like those in Appalachia & Alabama, stalling & compromise have been the order of the day. This is the great sin of this moment. All those who are refusing to do right by the least of these are under judgment, not just in the hereafter but now. James, the brother of Jesus, speaking as led by the Spirit of God, said it like this: "Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you." With deep love for the people and hope that you will hear the Spirit of the Lord through my feeble words and human effort, BISHOP WILLIAM J. BARBER, II Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

To: Secretaries of State More than 222,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. We are faith leaders who face this election with the gravity of burial rites, sitting virtual shiva, and praying the Janazah for our people. Before this pandemic began, we were wary of the death toll. Nearly 700 people a day were dying of poverty before the pandemic. 133 million Americans with pre-existing conditions teeter on the edge of losing health insurance now. 140 million Americans, and growing, are low-income or poor. In 2016, over 1 million voters were denied their right to vote because of systemic racist voter suppression laws. As of today, the Senate has failed to renew the Voting Rights Act for 2,680 days. We cannot face this election season without their voices and stories within us. We cannot silently bury another member of our church, mosque or synagogue. We know who we are voting for this election season—every one of the 222,000 forever silenced. Every one of the 1 million-plus disenfranchised from voting. Every one of the 133 million, of the 140 million. Every one of us. Among our spiritual ancestors are those who endured violence and intimidation at every turn in order to vote: Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, Sister Antona, the Rev. James Reeb, and Jimmie Lee Jackson. Protecting our democracy and the right to vote is our sacred duty. We call on you now drawing from our collective moral center to insist that you fulfill your duty to execute a fair and just election that protects our democracy. We implore you to count every vote and ensure that voters are free of intimidation and harassment. As faith leaders in communities, we know that people are scared. We implore you to ensure voter safety in your states. It is our collective sacred duty to ensure a just democracy. In his famous line which has echoed across generations, the English poet John Donne wrote that we should “never send to ask for whom the bell tolls / it tolls for Thee.” When he wrote those words, church bells in an English village were used to call the community together for funerals. This year, as more than 7 million Americans have contracted covid-19 and over 222,000 have died, we have used bells, pots and pans to mark the evening shift changes by honoring the frontline healthcare workers who risk their lives every day to care for the sick. They do not have to ask for whom the bells toll. They toll for everyone who has stepped up to do their part in the midst of this global crisis. On November 3rd, in each of the 50 states, faith leaders and their communities will ring the bells, cast votes and publicly pray for a just democracy. We petition you to fulfill your role in this Election Season by ensuring all votes are counted and the election is free of intimidation and harassment. In the abiding Spirit of Love and Justice, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II President, 
Repairers of the Breach Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: 
A National Call for Moral Revival 
 Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis 
Executive Director, Kairos Center Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival 
 
Rev. Dr. Iva Carruthers 
General Secretary, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Rev. Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, D. Min. National Executive Director, Poor People’s Campaign Min. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove School for Conversion Rev. Abhi P. Janamanchi Senior Minister, Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church Bethesda, Maryland Rev. Dr. Beth Johnson Minister, Palomar UU Fellowship Vista, California Rabbi Rick Jacobs President, Union for Reform Judaism Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner Director, Religious Action Center Senior Vice President, Union for Reform Judaism

The poison which resides in the soul of America is being exposed in this moment of proclamation that Black Lives Matter. It is in this moment that U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has embraced Rev. Martin Luther King's “Why We Can't Wait” as the framing for the passage of HR-40. HR-40 demands remedies and reparations for the centuries of injustice and trauma suffered by African Americans in the United States. The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference and faith partners affirm the historic and continuing commitment and role the faith community plays in the advancement of reparatory justice and reparations for people of African descent. In 1894, Ms. Callie House and Rev. Isaiah H. Dickerson, along with four other pastors, launched the reparations movement, incorporating the National Ex-Slave and Mutual Relief Bounty and Pension Association. And with each generation thereafter, efforts have persisted to advance the call and cause to amend for the wrongs, repair the damage, and reckon with the past to right the future. People of faith are uniquely called and positioned to stay the course. Voices of the Black church, and recently, over the past twenty years from spaces within the white church, have pierced the silence around the complicity and role of the Church in the Transatlantic Slave Trade system, it's sacred rhetoric, academic institutions and their enduring consequences. The time for reparations is well overdue. In his 1964 watershed book, Why We Can't Wait, Martin Luther King declared: “While no amount of gold could provide adequate compensation for the exploitation of the Negro American down through the centuries, a price could be placed on unpaid wages.” The late Black theologian ministry leaders like James Hal Cone, Katie Cannon, Gayraud Wilmore, Robina Winbush, James Foreman and Theressa Hoover, to name a few, made the case and call to the Church. Denominations, including the United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Episcopalians and Presbyterians have even offered resolutions of confession, apologies for slavery and /or calls for dealing with reparations. Further, The 2004 Accra Confession attests that the issue of justice and reparations in the United States is also wedded to issues of reparations, debt relief and justice in Africa. In this evidentiary moment of racialized police violence, consequences of a global pandemic and political arguments for authoritarianism over democratic principles, America cannot wait and the world awaits. We, the undersigned faith leaders and organizations, declare that the moral compass and agency of religious institutions and leaders must be on the right side of the sacred texts and history. The silence of faith communities, old and new, must be pierced to unleash a new way forward toward reparatory justice and reparations. The evil causes and consequences of the enslavement of people of African descent, the truths about the original sins upon which the nation was founded must be acknowledged and addressed. Reparations requires truth-telling and a historical reckoning, justice not charitable giving, confession and atonement, commitment to non-repeat and restitution in a myriad of ways. The fact that the New York Stock Exchange sits upon a burial ground of enslaved Africans is quite telling and symbolic, but it must be understood that reparations can never be reduced to a heartless apology and a financial transaction. As an issue of justice, reparations is a journey of healing. We join the efforts of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, the National African American Reparations Commission and the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America to advance the cause for reparations and bring the light and works of true healing and justice to this nation. We support HR-40, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, and the Congressional Black Caucus as they continue the forward movement of the national legislation. “We Can't Wait” because we have waited long enough. For this nation and all who are heirs to its legacy, “This is the Overdue Season!” Rev. Dr. Iva E. Carruthers General Secretary, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. Chicago, IL Bishop Leah D. Daughtry Co-chair, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. National Presiding Prelate, House of Lord Churches Washington DC Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III Co-chair, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. Senior Pastor, Friendship West Baptist Church Dallas, TX Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II President, Repairers of the Breach Goldsboro, NC Rev. Traci Blackmon Associate General Minister of Justice and Local Church Ministries United Church of Christ Cleveland, OH David Crawford President, McCormick Theological Seminary Chicago, IL Rev. Ronnie Galvin Vice President for Racial Equity and the Democratic Economy Democracy Collaborative Washington, DC Rev. Dr. Michael Nabors Senior Pastor, Second Baptist Church Evanston, IL Bishop Frank Madison Reid III Ecumenical Officer, A.M.E. Church Presiding Prelate, Third Episcopal District of the A.M.E. Church Baltimore, MD Rev. Dr. Robert Turner Pastor, Vernon Chapel A.M.E. Church Tulsa, OK Dr. Jim Winkler President and General Secretary, National Council of Churches USA Washington, DC Learn more by visiting http://sdpconference.info

This nation is in peril. We are a divided nation. We must come together to save the integrity of our constitution. We have lost ground and dignity in the past four years due to unimaginable corruption and lack of leadership. We must pause the hate and systematic injustices. We must press forward to a nation of integrity that welcomes racial, religious, and LGBT equality. We must stop the tendency to go back 100 years and instead adopt policies that will honor science, save the integrity of the vote and bring together a divided nation for the sake of our children and their children's children. This moment is bigger than US. This is a deciding moment in the history of this nation. Will we stand up against white supremacy's threat to rear its ugly head? Will we stand for women's hard earned rights? Will we push back on foreign governments' attempts to control the White House? Will we honor those who protect our borders and have lost their lives for this country? Who will speak for the homeless? We are a better people when we vote our values that protect human rights, rather than destroy human rights. When it's all said and done which side will you choose to stand on? Will you be on the side of justice, freedom, and people's rights? Will you choose to vote for Humanity and Freedom, for all children and people regardless of sexual preference, race, creed or other qualifiers? Please join me and others in taking a stand for the right side of Justice by joining me and others who are set on causing as the late Congressman Lewis encouraged us to do... Causing GOOD TROUBLE. Vote your conscience on November 3rd and bring others along to save this nation from itself.

Woe unto those who legislate evil and rob the poor of their rights -Isaiah 10 We declare that no matter how much power humanity thinks it has, there is still the power of the people and the power of the moral arc of the universe. There is still the power of the Creator we still believe in. Any earthly power that tries to undermine these inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is wrong and must be altered. That’s not an idea we came up with. That’s what the Founders of this nation wrote down on paper. We know that to undermine the establishment of justice, the provision for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, ensuring domestic tranquility, and guaranteeing equal protection under the law is a violation of our deepest constitutional values and the very moral values of God. When we see this current Senate, under the leadership of Senate Leader McConnell, refuse to pass a stimulus bill because they care more about corporate greed and tax cuts for the wealthy than they do for people who are sick, dying, suffering economically and hurting, we declare that it is sin. When we see the attempt to steal Supreme Court seats over against their own assertion that it is wrong to do so after an election has already begun, that is sin. When we see the refusal to reform policing to protect and serve, that is sin. When we see the refusal to properly address the death and destruction of the coronavirus and to be more interested in denying healthcare than keeping people alive, that is sin. When we see attempts to throw doubt and sow discord, division, and deceit into the general election, that is sin. Before God and the values of our constitution, we’ve come today to render this judgment. We have come to remind you that in the economy of God, a nation is judged by how she cares for the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the immigrant, the sick, and the least of these. We have come to warn the Senate that your arms are too short to box with God. We have come to warn you that your unholy alliance with lies and manipulation and lust for power and racism will be your undoing and will bring harm to the nation. But we also say that you have the opportunity NOW to change. If you do not change, then as Frederick Douglass said in 1857, just maybe your actions, your attitude, and your arrogance is just one final link in the chain of events preparatory to the downfall of your entire system of scheming against the people and against the values of God. We declare that what you are doing will not deter people, but rather will embolden us to fight for the very things you seek to take away. The healthcare you seek to destroy will result in universal healthcare. The vote you try to suppress will result in a massive voter turnout and fresh laws to protect the right to vote. The justice you seek to withhold from the people will lead to a fierce commitment to restructure our judicial system and our courts towards the calls of justice. What you mean for evil shall work for good if you continue. The dye has been cast and judgment will be rendered and ultimately your trickery, your manipulations will fail! We are here as people of faith! We are here as people of love! We are here as people of peace! We are here as people of justice! We are here as people of hope! We are here as people of truth! We are here as people of collective power! We speak out against stealing a Supreme Court seat We speak out against refusing just stimulus We speak out against the sins of stopping police reform We speak out against the sins of stealing healthcare We speak out against the sins of stifling living wages We speak out against the sins of separating families We speak out against the sins of injustice! We cry out as the souls who have died without justice, Breonna Taylor. We cry out as the souls who have died fighting for justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We cry out as the 205,000 souls who have died because of the mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, Our Family. Where is their justice? It’s rising up! Justice is rising up in the voices of 140 million poor and low-income people in this nation Justice is rising up in our vote Justice is rising up in the vision of life we have for our future We rise as people of justice We rise as people of truth We rise as people of faith We will continue to rise up!

We are calling on people of faith and moral conscience to pledge today to register two voters in Florida, for each formerly incarcerated person the governor is attempting to disenfranchise. By signing below, we’ll send you an email with step-by-step instructions on how you can register people to vote in Florida. Thank you for pledging to stand up for all Floridians and to protect the vote in this critical election! So much as at stake and we need every vote possible to advance true justice and equality for all. Will you take the pledge?

The Commission’s director recently scoffed at such concerns, characterizing the Commission’s report as nothing more than “reflections on the nation’s founding principles.” And we know from Secretary Pompeo’s repeated comments, including at Thursday’s public presentation of the report, that he will seek to use the Commission’s report to justify marginalizing certain rights, thus diminishing human rights advocacy and stifling demands for accountability for those whose rights have been violated. Such politicization of human rights—and of freedom of religion in particular—is dangerous, particularly now when the forces of authoritarianism are on the rise globally. We urge members of the Commission to consider the risks of complicity in such an effort and use this comment period to ensure that the final version of the Commission’s report firmly upholds the universality and indivisibility of rights as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This will put the United States in the best position to stand up for religious freedom around the world. For our part, we will steadfastly defend the freedom of all people to follow their faith, while standing firm against the use of religion to suppress human rights for the most vulnerable people. Sincerely,* Rev. Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft, Executive Minister for Justice, Education & Movement Building, Middle Collegiate Church Robert Bank, President and CEO of American Jewish World Service Susan Barnett, Founder, Faiths for Safe Water Rabbi Sharon Brous, Founder and Senior Rabbi, IKAR-LA Rev. Jennifer Butler, CEO, Faith in Public Life Shaun Casey, Georgetown University Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, Executive Director, NETWORK; Leader of Nuns on the Bus Shane Claiborne, Co-Founder, Red Letter Christians Miguel H. Diaz, PhD, Ambassador to the Holy See, Ret., Loyola University Chicago Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director, DignityUSA Rev. Nathan Empsall, Faithful America Dr. Sharon Groves, Vice President for Public Engagement, Auburn Seminary Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, Fellow, Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative, Center for American Progress Prof. Dr. Hille Haker, Richard McCormick Endowed Chair of Ethics, Loyola University Chicago Lisa Sharon Harper, Founder and President, Freedom Road, LLC Rev. Dr. Katharine Henderson, President, Auburn Seminary Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Executive Director, T'ruah Valarie Kaur, the Revolutionary Love Project Rev. Jacqueline J. Lewis, PhD, Senior Minister, Middle Collegiate Church Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews, Deputy Director & Director of Clergy Organizing, Faith in Action Dr. Keisha E. McKenzie, Auburn Seminary, New York, NY Rev. Brian D. McLaren, Author Rabbi Jack Moline, Interfaith Alliance Elaina Ramsey, Interim Executive Director, Red Letter Christians Bishop Gene Robinson, The Episcopal Church Simran Jeet Singh, Visiting Professor, Union Theological Seminary Maggie Siddiqi, Director, Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative, Center for American Progress Michael A. Vazquez, MTS, Religion & Faith Director, Human Rights Campaign Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Transformative Change Ahmed Younis, JD PhD, Former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Deputy Special Envoy (GEC), Department of State Rev. Katey Zeh, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

Like the prophet Isaiah, we say: “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.” In this moment, we serve notice to the powers and principalities that the Righteous God we serve compels us to demand: 1) the Trump administration immediately and fully, with equity and compassion, utilizes the power of the Defense Production Act of 1950 to mobilize manufacturers to produce the necessary personal protective and life-saving equipment such as facemasks, gloves, and ventilators. These materials must be equitably distributed (without excessive price gouging) and readily available in health care and social service settings that serve Black and poor communities; for low-wage essential workers on the frontlines of the pandemic; and in congregate settings such as prisons and homeless shelters. 2) the Trump administration works with state and local public health officials to set up testing sites and field hospitals in Black and poor communities hit hardest by the pandemic with a focus on communities in rural and urban settings that have experienced a massive wave of hospital closures over the last 10 years. 3) the Trump administration calls on the 14 states that have not expanded Medicaid to do so now and that all states provide immediate eligibility for Medicaid to workers who become unemployed during the pandemic. 4) Congress passes a fourth COVID-19 recovery bill that focuses on communities of color and poor and low-wealth communities and that it ensures living wages and paid sick leave for all employees, adequate childcare, rent forgiveness, a full moratorium on utility disruptions and high-quality, free, universal, health care as a human right. 5) the federal government coordinates efforts for the timely and uniform collection and release of data on race/ethnicity and other relevant demographics including poverty and geography for COVID-19 cases and deaths in order to further identify health inequities and mobilize resources to address the disproportionate impact on Black communities and other marginalized racial groups. In the tradition of the prophets of every generation and Jesus, we will continue to speak hope into this situation of death and suffering of our people who daily have to navigate assaults against their human dignity -- the right to clean water, clean air, affordable housing, access to health care and a fair and just judicial system. We cannot and will not be silenced, for no virus or physical distancing can separate us from our call to challenge nations to care for the least of these among us. Sincerely, Bishop William J. Barber II, D.Min. Pastor, Greenleaf Christian Church President, Repairers of the Breach Goldsboro, North Carolina Rev. Dr. Frederick Douglass Haynes III Pastor, Friendship-West Baptist Church Dallas, Texas Rev. Eddie L. Anderson Pastor, McCarty Memorial Christian Church Los Angeles, California Rev. Traci Blackmon Senior Pastor, Christ The King United Church of Christ Florissant, Missouri Dr. Amos C. Brown Pastor, Third Baptist Church San Francisco, California Rev. Dr. Leslie D. Callahan Pastor, St. Paul’s Baptist Church Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Rev. Eddie Carthan Pastor, Good Samaritan Ecumenical Church Tchula, Mississippi Bishop Yvette Flunder Pastor, City of Refuge United Church of Christ San Francisco, California Rev. Dr. Cynthia L. Hale Senior Pastor, Ray of Hope Christian Church Decatur, Georgia Rev. Terry Melvin Associate Minister, Second Baptist Church Lackawanna, New York Rev. Lionel Murphy Pastor, Tchoupitoulas Chapel Reserve, Louisiana Rev. Dr. Gina Marcia Stewart Pastor, Christ Missionary Baptist Church Memphis, Tennessee