By Katherine R. Dougan
Editor, The Mississippi Link
PEARL, Miss. - Members of 100 Concerned Clergy of Jackson protested Tuesday morning, Dec. 12, outside the Rankin County Youth Court building in support of a minister who was forbidden by a Youth Court Judge to counsel a jailed member of his congregation.
The Rev. Hosea Hines, pastor of College Hill Baptist Church in Jackson, is under orders from Rankin County Youth Court Judge John Shirley not to counsel his jailed congregation member. The member has a case being heard in Youth Court. The judge also ruled to prohibit the church member’s family from attending services at College Hill Baptist.
“Nothing can separate us from God or the love of Christ, not life, nor death, nor angels – or principalities such as Rankin County court,” said Rims Barber, paraphrasing the Gospel of St. Paul.
Barber is a retired minister and director of Mississippi Human Services Agenda in Jackson.
“We’re outraged on so many levels,” Jackson ACLU Director Nsombi Lambright said, adding, that the incident was part of the “ongoing system of injustice in Rankin County. “First Amendment violations are persistent here,” she said.
Racism in the mid-1960s is what brought Barber to Jackson, he said. “Rankin County was a bad place then,” Barber said.
“This is a symptom of a disease,” said Rev. Adolphus Weary, the president of Mission Mississippi. “Racism lurks under the surface,” he said, adding, “Incidents like this bring it to the surface.”
“I don’t think this would have happened had it been a white child at the First Baptist Church of Brandon,” Barber said.
The ministers, church members and concerned citizens crowded together on the porch outside the Youth Court building, sheltered from the pouring rain.
A lone baritone voice started singing, “Come by Here, Lord,” and other voices quickly joined in, adding harmony. As the singing became louder, a court police officer – one of about a half dozen – asked the members to stop because the volume of the singing was disrupting proceedings inside the building.
Then the ministers began to quietly pray.
Some of the protesters, such as the Rev. Jesse “Pops” Sutton, said the issue is bigger than race – the issue is about freedom.
“This is bigger than Rankin County – this is about freedom of worship and freedom of speech,” Sutton said. He is pastor of New McRaven Hill Missionary Baptist Church, a church in Jackson’s Westside community. Sutton said he was there to offer his support as a minister, as president of the congregations of Jackson Baptist churches, and as dean of the Baptist association.
“This involves every pastor – black and white,” Sutton said. “We’re not going to stop here; this thing’s got to be cleared up. We’ve got to get the word out,” he added.
“This situation is appalling. Here is a judge that’s never read the Constitution. When they take office they swear they’ve read the Constitution, but this judge has not,” Barber said.
The Rev. Ed McBride said the judge might have overstepped his bounds. Under orders from Judge Shirley, the Rev. Hines is not allowed to talk to media about the case. Beverly Pettigrew Kraft, media contact for the Administrative Office of Courts, said she was not familiar with the case. “Nobody is allowed to comment about Juvenile Court proceedings,” Kraft said.
“Things still remain the same,” the Rev. Paul Luckett, pastor of Blessed Trinity and St. Paul United Methodist churches, said. “I think it’s a travesty. The pastor (Rev. Hines) is just trying to do what’s right.”
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