[Mpls] A Black Minister takes the money/ Black Bourgeoisie

[Jim Bernstein]

No names means no story!  Why does the Spokesman-Recorder continue to
engage in the tar and feathering of all black clergy?  Stop the
slander!!!

Jim Bernstein
Fulton

-----Original Message-----
From: mpls-bounces at mnforum.org [mailto:mpls-bounces at mnforum.org] On
Behalf Of Shawn Lewis
Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2004 6:54 PM
To: mpls at mnforum.org
Subject: [Mpls] A Black Minister takes the money/ Black Bourgeoisie


EDITORIAL  
 
Beware those who prey on grief
By: Booker T Hodges
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 5/12/2004 

I want to warn you off the bat, readers, that this 
will be an ugly column.

The string of violence has gotten off to somewhat 
of an early start this year. We have had a sting 
of murders involving our young people, and these 
murders are tragic and stressful on the families 
and loved ones of the victim and the perpetrator. 

Often when these crimes happen, there's some community 
activist or group that wants to offer their services 
to the family. Not all these people are well intentioned, 
as mentioned in the Spokesman-Recorder during the 
Tyesha Edwards tragedy, when some uncleansed minister 
tried to get money from the family for services that 
they never offered. 

Prayer vigils are often held to honor fallen youth. 
At these vigils, people are sometimes asked to give 
money to benefit the family and help them with the 
grieving process. The Hodges Investigative Team (H.I.T) 
has uncovered one case in which the family didn't 
receive any of the money that was collected on their 
behalf. I will not name the minister or the victim's 
family because of fear of retaliation against the minister. 

Many people reading this will know what I am talking 
about. A couple of months ago, a young person died 
violently, and there was a peace vigil held in response 
to his death. During the vigil there was an offering 
taken up, and my best guess would put the total 
offering between $700 and $1,000. 

After the vigil, some of us who gave money met with 
the family and asked them if they had received the 
money from the vigil. They informed us that they 
hadn't, and in disgust, I had to investigate. 

When we asked the minister, minister-1, where the money 
went, he informed us that he had given the money to 
another minister, minister-2, to deposit in the bank. 
So we went and asked minister-2 if he had received the 
money from minister-1. Minister-2 said that he hadn't 
received any money from minister-1, even going as far 
to show us the deposit book from the memorial fund set up.

After speaking with minister-2, we went back to speak 
with minister-1, and minister-1 continued to lie to us. 
He told us that he had taken the money to the bank, but 
that he could not produce any deposit slips. After 
going in a merry-go-round with minister-1, we just 
decided to drop the issue. 

I mean, is it worth embarrassing a minister for less 
than $1,000? The Lord will judge them at the gates of 
heaven when it is their time. I just want people to 
realize that, as more and more of our young people become 
victims of violence, there will be those who offer to 
help them for kickbacks. These people should be ashamed 
of themselves, and because of my personal promise not 
to personally attack anyone, I won't name them.


The Black Bourgeoisie is trying to kill us

Recently, I sent out an inflammatory email attacking 
the mayor's choice to lead the Minneapolis Civil 
Rights Department. I was wrong for sending out such 
an email, but nonetheless, his choice to lead the 
civil rights department was a poor one. 

I felt that the civil rights department needed someone 
who is more of an activist. The mayor's pick is well 
qualified on paper, but where has she been in the 
struggle for civil rights over the years? Has she 
attended any marches? Any prayer vigils? Spoken out 
against any wrongdoing in communities of color? 

These are all questions that community members would 
like to have asked her had they been able to, but the 
mayor tried to slide her through without the community 
being able to question her. When I questioned his 
appointment, I was personally attacked by a bunch of 
Black Bourgeoisies. 

The same group of Black Bourgeoisies who wouldn't and 
haven't challenged White people for anything that they 
have done to us as a people found the courage to 
challenge me. If these bourgeoisies were to fight White 
people as hard as they have tried to fight me over the 
past week, Black people would be in a whole lot better 
shape than we are in now. 

By some accord I am a public figure, so I really don't 
care who attacks me. But when it is a group of people 
who love Black people so much that they can't live in 
our neighborhoods, it bothers me, because they always 
stick their nose in our business 
http://www.spokesman-recorder.com/News/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=43211&
sID=16
Posted by Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood



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