Thoughts… from the Chairman

By Chris H. BennettSetting the record straight… Recently in this newspaper and on our broadcast stations there have been concerns raised about the Mount Zion Baptist Church of Seattle (referred to as Mount Zion). Because of on-going community concerns and misinformation related to our media groups there are three areas requiring immediate clarification for the record. These are: the right of concerned members of Mount Zion to publish adformerical in the Seattle Medium and in other local publications; Mount Zion’s discontinued live Sunday morning radio broadcast over KRIZ/KYIX/KZIZ after 21 years of partnership with these, our, radio stations–Washington State’s Only Locally Owned and Operated Broadcasting Radio Station network; and finally the organized effort and attempt to destroy, weaken and compromise the Black Press, particularly, The Seattle Medium Newspaper Group. Rights of Concerned Members to Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press The Sr. Pastor of Mount Zion on many occasions expressed his opinion that ‘church business belongs in the church’. This opinion was stated repeatedly during the “save our church campaign” organized by members of First AME (First Church) to save their church. Mount Zion’s Sr. Pastor from the pulpit on the Church’s prime-time-live broadcast over our public air waves blasted the press in general, and the Black Press in particular, for putting First AME’s business in the newspapers. In the opinions of many, this was NOT Mount Zion’s business. I was at that particular Sunday Morning worship service at Mount Zion (my church) where I had to force myself to sit through and listen to the Sr. Pastor as he blasted the black press in a bully pulpit style pastoral tirade. Like Mount Zion, First AME also had a radio ministry airing over our public airwaves at that time and like Mount Zion’s Sr. Pastor the then Sr. Pastor of First AME used the pulpit and the airwaves to blast some of the members of that congregation and the black press for airing his ambitious desire to sell all of First AME Church properties including the Church’s prime Seattle real estate and relocate the church to south King Country next to a stinky sewer treatment plant. We are proud of our abilities through our various media outlets to have assisted community friends, neighbors, families and extended families in getting those, apparent planned “For Sale” signs off First AME’s properties. Some First Church members, we are told, started tithing to an ambitious “Save our Church fund” at a local bank. Furthermore, we are now happy to report, according to a First Church member and retired King County Judge, the split church is apparently mending and healing — under their new pastor. Now if this was “church business” as Mount Zion’s Sr. Pastor claimed, why didn’t he practice what he preached? For the record, the Sr. Pastor on behalf of the Church purchased adformerical in the Seattle Medium and on our radio stations to rebut those of the concerned members of Mount Zion. In an effort to help reconcile the apparent evolving conflict both sides of the controversy were invited over our airwaves to appear on our very popular morning talk show Community Potpourri to address what was thought at that time to be a minor, resolvable controversy, but has since become known as the Mount Zion Mess. This debate could have been an excellent opportunity for the two interested parties to meet and possibly resolve their differences with perhaps some help from the Potpourri crowd, as we love to call these loyal supporters of civil rights. Furthermore the Sr. Pastor could have learned early on the ID of at least one concerned member who was willing and available to courageously appear before a public radio audience without cowardice to meet him (the Sr. Pastor) on common ground which was considered safe for both parties to confront and address with possible resolution the issues now known as the Mount Zion Mess.The Sr. Pastor of Mount Zion chose not to come on the planned day of debate but rather chose to come the following day when the concerned member was not available. As a result of this he received approximately 50 minutes of free airtime on Community Potpourri with no opponent to rebut his contentions and assertions. Were his actions in the spirit of going to your fellow church members or associates to seek remedies? Or was it divinely correct to blast those who disagree with the pastor and some officers over the public airwaves and to use the pulpit as a bully pulpit to intimidate members? If the concerned Members of Mount Zion are unable to seek and/or find remedies to their concerns about church business by taking these to the Sr. Pastor and other church officials then it is understandable why they chose to go public. Just as Mount Zion’s Sr. Pastor chose to unconditionally offer his support for the embattled, former First AME Sr. Pastor, those concerned members of Mount Zion apparently took a chapter out of the “Save our Church” book at First Church in order to save their church-Mount Zion. Apparently, organizing and putting resources and time into saving Mount Zion include purchasing adformerical in the local media, including The Seattle Medium Newspaper with documentation to support their ads. NOTE: The Seattle Medium has its own independent research and documentation. In all fairness, at least one of the adformerical was rejected because it didn’t meet The Seattle Medium’s editorial, journalistic discretionary standard of fairness and objectivity.The over zealous attempts to ID the concerned members of Mount Zion have apparently reached deep into Mount Zion’s Board of Deacons, Trustee Ministry and other church ministries with threats of personal and individual lawsuits and expressed outrageous behavior, including statements such as — “crushing not defeating for we are not just interested in victory anymore…”– according to The Seattle Medium’s source close to the mess, and affirmed by a top Mount Zion official. Is this the type of rhetoric a church should embrace?If organized efforts by ministerial alliance associations try to force the ID of concerned members of Mount Zion by attempts to destroy the Black Press via pulpit ministry codes using Holy War maneuvers against the Black Press, then you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to determine what might happen to those concerned members of Mount Zion if they were identified.For the record, this disrespect and disregard for the Black Press by the two Pastors go back several years to when the Sr. Pastor at Mount Zion and the then Sr. Pastor of First AME were the ONLY persons to object to this writer being in a called community meeting with King County Executive, Ron Sims and King County Sheriff Dave Riechertt over the killing of Robert Thomas, Sr. by an off duty King County Deputy Sheriff. Neither the County Executive nor the Sheriff publicly expressed any misgivings about me being in the called community meeting, Today, I still wonder WHY these two newly arrived to Seattle Pastors objected to my presence or as they put it ‘the press’ meaning the Black Press? If they would have known their history they should have know that it was under my leadership as President of The Black Press of America that started and lead the successful drive to impeach the Gov. of Az. Edward Mecham, after he recinded Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday in AZ. If they had simple ask anyone, including the person that had the cell phone on during the community planning meeting for Sheriff and the County Executive and that same person was observed later giving a ride to at least one of the newly arrived pastor in a fancy Jacquar car to the community meeting, they would have been told that this writer DIDN’T need these nor seek these newly to Seattle pastors, or anyone permission-never has, never will-to help Black people and the Black Community in General. If they had connected the dots in the community or in their church, even King County Executive Ron Sims would have told them that. Dissolution of over 21 years of partnership with State’s Only Black Owned Radio Stations…Like most of you I, also, wonder why after over 21 years of live prime time broadcast service, over the air waves of our three radio stations and our broadcasting networks with 10 years FREE and the next 11 years at huge discounts, all un-acknowledged except by the pastor emeritus, the Sr. Pastor expressed a desire to remove Mount Zion from our broadcast ministry as was confirmed by a Trustee and a Deacon. For the record this 21-year arrangement between Mount Zion and Kris Bennett Broadcasting, Inc. (Washington State’s only Locally Black Owned and Operated) radio stations began with a gentlemen’s hand shake agreement under the previous pastoral administration and was affirmed by the congregation in an annual business meeting. Unfortunately, this 21 year radio ministry partnership with Mount Zion ended un-gentlemanly without a single phone call from the Sr. Pastor nor the Chairperson of the Trustee Ministry at Mount Zion, even though it was said from the pulpit on Easter Sunday that negotiations were on-going for the broadcast ministry, well it wasn’t with us. Perhaps it was on going with the announced new broadcast for Mount Zion on the up-north conservative, white, Southern (white) Christian program station with little to NO Black audience. I guess the ice of one White Christian conservative radio station is colder than our three. Well our wattage and Black audience are far greater (colder) by any stretch of the imagination. Once again, we the members of Mount Zion Baptist Church of Seattle a black Church are being asked by Mount Zion’s leadership to pay through tithes and offerings our alleged oppressors (these conservative radio stations), and if you don’t pay your name will appear on a church political roster as non paying, non giving with inflammatory verbal overtures of non supportive and unchristian. Is this the “witness’ so often referred to in the e-mails from Mount Zion’s apparent opponents of the Concerned Members of Mount Zion? For the record an agreement was sent by Kris Bennett Broadcasting and acknowledged received by the Trustee Chair and copied to the Sr. Pastor and other Trustees. The Trustee Chairman wrote via e-mail a desire to continue the live prime time broadcast while Mount Zion determined what other broadcasting options were available to them. Okay, right! Can you believe this immature request of their attempted “wait and see” gamesmanship, in writing? However, in a good faith effort for the 21 YEARS OF broadcast partnership and a spiritual plea from the co-chair of the Deacon Board to allow the Palm Sunday broadcast to go forward Mt Zion’s Palm Sunday service broadcast was aired. Again, not a word of appreciation or a simple ‘Thank You’ was received from either the Sr. Pastor or the Chairperson of the Trustee Ministry. The final self-imposed deadline by the Trustee passed and the following day the Trustee’s “Dear John” response came; it was too late. The avails of the possibility of an opening on our radio broadcast were announced via our radio stations, and within hours it was spoken for and properly affirmed. We went about this in a business-like manner. We did not hold Mount Zion hostage as one of the Trustees claim in an e-mail after we broadcasted the Palm Sunday service; nor did we attempt to “blackmail” Mount Zion into signing the agreement as the chair of Trustee Ministry at Mount Zion implied in the Mount Zion’s advisory council meeting last Friday evening. Believing The Black Press, HER, or Her Mysterious Alliance of Black Ministers?According to the white female Executive Minister of the Evergreen Association of American Baptist Conference (HER) and a member of Mount Zion, Marcia Patton’s e-mail, “There has been a storm brewing in the Black press because of unsigned letters in the Medium from Concerned Citizens of Mt. Zion about recent Mt. Zion affairs. At a meeting of Black clergy called by the Black Caucus of Evergreen the letter in the attached link to a petition was drawn up.” Well, just before Friday’s Rhythm and News Broadcast, I received a surprising unsolicited phone call from Pastor Donald Ward, President of the Black Caucus of Evergreen Association, expressing apologies for the actions of the Black Caucus. Pastor Ward, in his verbal apologies to the Seattle Medium stated he, the President of the Black Caucus, was unaware of this meeting; he didn’t attend such a meeting; furthermore, he stated he (Pastor Ward) never would have approved of such a meeting and, he said it only takes one nay vote to curtail such action. It was apparent during my phone contact with the Executive Minister of Evergreen Association that she did not want to identify the head of the Black Caucus and it was only at the end of our little chat that she reluctantly said it was Pastor Ward. She asked me not to call him because he was ill and grieving the death of his son killed in Iraqis This tragedy was shared through our media outlets as our prayers and condolences went out to Pastor Ward, his family and friends. So, to all you Black Pastors; Herbert, Robert, Walter, Steve, James, Jim and those that were invited and knew, anyone of you could have STOPPED this organized infamous Willie Lynch style attempted lynching of the Black Press by the Evergreen Association and its Executive Minister. All of you as trained products of the Black Community are just as guilty as the white Executive Minister in the eyes of the Black people whose hard earned dollars pay your salaries including huge benefit compensation packages for some of you. Some of these packages represent nearly 15% of our wealthiest Black churches gross income. Some of these churches have income in millions of unaudited dollars. Just as Willie Lynch advised the slave owners to set examples for disobedient slaves by tying a chain to each leg of the slave and have the horses pull in different directions. The resulting inhumane act witnessed by slaves would establish control via fear for over 400 years. As far as we are concerned each one of you tried to tie chains around the different legs of the Black Press and attach them to your vehicles while you headed in different directions toward Evergreen Association of American Baptist Churches, 409 Third Avenue South, Suite A, Kent WA 98032 in a Willie Lynch style modern day chauffeur, beanie hats and all, with the Executive Minister in the rear seat. And none of you can be mistaken for Morgan Freeman, the actor.