FIFTH EPISCOPAL DISTRICT

African Methodist Episcopal Church

PRESS RELEASE

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                   CONTACT: Mrs. Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker

Friday, March 4, 2011                                                                                 (323) 494-9493; jdupontw@aol.com

BISHOP KIRKLAND -  PRESIDING OVER 14 WESTERN STATES IN THE USA LEADS MEMBERSHIP IN STAND FOR JUSTICE

Where/When: Friday, March 4, 2011 11:45 AM at the 2011 Mid Year Conference of the Fifth Episcopal District of the AME Church held at the LAX Hilton Hotel 5711 W Century Blvd – Los Angeles, CA 90045

What: The members of the Fifth Episcopal District, covering 14 western states voted unanimously today to Seek Justice in the homicidal killing of Rev. Marvin Louis Booker (an ordained minister) by Denver Sheriffs. “It is our calling to support the Booker Family, join with the Shorter AME Church family and fulfill the legacy of the African Methodist Episcopal Church – to speak truth to power”, declares Bishop Theodore Larry Kirkland, the presiding bishop of this region. “We will not accept the blatant disregard for the lives of any human being, and we are acutely aware of the continued killing of people of color by law enforcement under the color of “justifiable homicide”, he continues.  “We recognize that this type of injustice plagues all of us in our local areas, “continues the Rev. Spencer Booker, brother of the late Rev. Marvin Booker. “And the time to protect our loved ones, the average resident, and everyone is now!”, declared the members of the Social Action Committee, chaired by Mrs. Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker.  The 7 member committee, after deliberating over a two day period and conducting a fact finding review recommended  and received approval of the Fifth Episcopal District of the AME Church to initiate the following action:

1.  Call for an Immediate Investigation by the US Dept of Justice. 

2. Call for a Deliberative Hearing by the National NAACP (similar to the hearings being convened in Houston). 

3. Gather information via our local churches of similar incidents and create a database of this type abuse of civil and human rights to add to the national database being assembled.

4.  Gather in Denver & Requst the support of the entire AME Church. Join with  the Booker family, the Shorter Church family and other victims of abuse by Denver police and sheriff departments, taking a stand to say, “Enough is enough”.  Our own Rev. Spencer Booker, his 82 year old father who is a retired Itinerant Elder in the 13th Episcopal District and their spouses are standing on the wall.  They must not stand alone. 

About the  African Methodist Episcopal Church

The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church is the oldest black denomination in the United States of America, founded in 1787. It provides services in the USA, on the continents of Africa and Europe, in the Caribbean region, and in the countries of Canada, India, Amsterdam and Bermuda. Bishop T. Larry Kirkland   is the assigned Episcopal leader of fourteen western American states for the AME church and President of the church’s governing body – The General Board. .

About Bishop Kirkland:                                                                                                                                                      Bishop T. Larry Kirkland, Sr. was elected and consecrated the one hundred fourteenth Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1996 in Louisville, Kentucky. His first assignment was to the Seventeenth Episcopal District encompassing the countries of Zaire, Zambia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi and Zimbabwe. After four years of international service, the General Conference of 2000 assigned Bishop Kirkland to serve as the Ecumenical Officer for the Denomination. He served in Ninth District (Alabama). In 2001, he served as the President of the Council of Bishops. In 2008, he was elected President of the General Board.