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 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 advertorials in the Seattle Medium and in other local publications; the discontinued live Sunday morning radio broadcast after 21 years of partnership with our radio stations-Washington State Only Locally Owned and Operated Broadcasting Radio Station-and Mount Zion Baptist Church of Seattle; 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 opinion that ‘church business belongs in the church’. This opinion was stated repeatedly during the “save our church campaign” organized by members of First A.M.E. (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 A.M.E.’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 A.M.E.’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? 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 using 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 infomercials in the local media, including The Seattle Medium Newspaper with documentation to support their ads. NOTE: The Seattle Medium has it own independent research and documentation.The over zealous attempt to ID the concerned members has apparently reached deep into Mount Zion’s Board of Deacons, Trustee Ministry and other church officials with expressed outrageous behavior, including- “crushing not defeating for we are not just interested in victory anymore…”- personal and individual lawsuits, according to The Seattle Medium’s source close to the mess, and affirmed by a top Mount Zion official.In all fairness, at least one of the infomercials was rejected because it didn’t meet The Seattle Medium’s Editorial journalistic discretionary standard of fairness and objectivity. 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 Hoild! ay 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 premission-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. Perhap it was on-going with the announced new broadcast for Mount Zion on the up-north conservitive white Christian Southern(white) Christian program station with little or NO Black audience. I guess the ice of one White Christian Conservtitive radio station is cooler than our three, well the wattage and Black audience is not. Once again, we the member are being asked by Mt. Zion leadership to pay our alegedly oppressors, and if you don’t pay your name will appear on a church polotical roster to church same you. 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” gamemanship, 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 t! he 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 Mysterious Alliance of Black Ministers?According to the white Executive Minister of the Evergreen Association of America Baptist Conference 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 according to the President of the Black Caucus of Evergreen Association, Pastor Donald Ward, he apologistly told the Medium that he as the president of the Black Caucus was unaware of this meeting and he didn’t attend, furthermore, he stated that he (Pastor Ward) never would have approved of such a meeting and it only takes one decinding vote to curtail such action. The Executive Minister of Evergreen Assoication did not want to identify the ! head of the Black Caucus of 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 by our media outlets. 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 in the eyes of the Black people who pay your salaries-compersarvation packages-the Black Community. Some of these packages represent nearly 15% of our wealthest Black churches gross income. Just as willie Lynch advised the slave owners to set examples to disobenicous slave by tieing a chain to each leg of the slave to horses head in different direction to establish contr! ol via fear. 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 and headed in different directions toward Evergreen Association of American Baptist Churches, 409 Third Avenue South, Suite A, Kent WA 98032 Willie Lynch style modern day chauffeur, beanie hats and all, with the Executive Minister in the rear seat. And none of you can be mistakenly for Morgan Freeman, the actor.Sr. Pastor at Mount Zion als purchased adformerical in the Seattle Medium newspaper