Pubdate: Thu, 18 Dec 2003
Source: Ledger-Enquirer (GA)
Copyright: 2003 Ledger-Enquirer
Contact:  http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/enquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/237
Author: Allison Kennedy
Bookmark: 
http://www.mapinc.org/people/Kenneth+Brown+Walker 

Bookmark: 
http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial 
Issues)

WHITE CLERGY RESPONDS TO I-185 TRAGEDY

Various Ministers Vow To Take Up Rev. Baker's Challenge

Nearly 40 years ago, the Rev. Tom Weise was forbidden to walk across the 
bridge with hundreds of civil rights activists in Selma, Ala. He got word 
from his bishop that he'd be fired if he marched. Twenty-five years later, 
he finally got to walk, in a more symbolic journey marking the movement 
from Selma to Montgomery.

Tuesday, Weise was one of the few white clergy present at the funeral for 
Kenneth B Walker, killed a week ago by a sheriff's deputy. A sister of 
Cheryl Walker, Kenneth's widow, is the secretary at one of Weise's two 
churches.

At a rally Monday, the Rev. Wayne Baker of the Interdenominational 
Ministerial Alliance issued a challenge to white clergy: Don't ignore this.

"To the white church," Baker said, "you dropped the ball during slavery. 
Your brand of Christianity brought about Jim Crow and segregation. You 
failed to show during the civil rights era. Now you have another chance to 
do the right thing."

Contacted Wednesday, various white clergy, including Weise, plan to take up 
the challenge.

"I would like to see Phenix City, at least, start an organization similar 
to One Columbus, or a committee on diversity," said Weise, pastor of St. 
Patrick's and Mother Mary Catholic churches. Mother Mary is predominantly 
black and St. Patrick's is mostly white.

"We have to start where we are," said Weise, meaning he'd at least like his 
congregations to participate more with one another.

In Columbus, the Rev. Jerry Sauls of University Avenue Assembly of God is a 
member of the Muscogee County Clergy Association. He said he would bring up 
the incident in his mid-week prayer meeting Wednesday night and would offer 
prayers for the grieving family. He also thinks the MCCA, a five-year-old 
interdenominational clergy group, should address the issue.

"We need to pray for this family. It's a deplorable thing," said Sauls. 
"Being brought up in the South, I understand this is potentially explosive.

"The white ministerial community should reach out to this family." He 
added, "It'd be great if there could be a meeting" between the clergy, 
Cheryl Walker and the deputy. Muscogee County Sheriff Ralph Johnson has so 
far refused to release the name of the deputy who shot Walker.

The Rev. Ronnie Culpepper, district superintendent of the Columbus District 
of the United Methodist Church, also attended the funeral at St. Mary's 
Road United Methodist, one of the congregations under his leadership. He 
knew Walker personally. He has made calls to Cheryl Walker and to Kenneth 
Walker's mother, Emily.

"I mainly want to be supportive of the family right now," said Culpepper. 
The other thing he's doing is waiting on investigators' results, urging 
patience. "Everybody's doing everything they can for the truth."

Because the shooting happened during the Christian observance of Advent, 
the four weeks leading up to Christmas, the Rev. Hal Brady of St. Luke 
United Methodist Church addressed the tragedy on the front of his current 
church bulletin. The message is titled "Christmas and Tragedy." In it, he 
extends sympathy to Walker's family, he speaks out against prejudice and 
discrimination and he applauds Sheriff Johnson's cooperation with outside 
investigators.

The whole Christmas "story is one of goodness growing out of evil, of hope 
emerging from out of the midst of tragedy and of love triumphing over the 
powers of hostility," he writes. "Christmas is God's design, and only 
Christmas makes sense out of life."

"I hope we can come together and work together," Brady told the 
Ledger-Enquirer on Wednesday. "We have to come to the table to discuss 
this. Out of this can come a stronger community. This is our prayer."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman