The Rev. David Brown, Lead Pastor and Deacon at Wharton-Wesley UMC in Philadelphia, was featured in this ViceTV national news story, Nov. 5, about the importance of voices of protest and peace amidst the city’s recent turmoil. That turmoil emanated from a highly contentious Presidential election, on the heels of the controversial police killing of Walter Wallace Jr., a knife-wielding African American resident with mental illness. VICE News talked to Brown at the church and to other leaders and protesters calling for justice in both politics and policing. The 10-minute segment begins at the 19:39 mark of the video.
“People need to know that the Church cares, pastors are active in the community and that the voices of the community are being heard,” the Rev. Evelyn Kent Clark, South District Superintendent, said in reaction to the Vice story. “But as clearly stated, if we don’t vote we don’t have a voice. I concur that the individual has to decide whether he or she matters or not. The system doesn’t have the right or the power to make that decision.”
As for the city’s outlook and the nation’s, Brown said, “Now the hard work of healing begins in earnest.”