|
|
|  | NCIC
Enews
| |
In this issue:
Welcome Letter from Reverend
Greggory Brown
President of NCIC Board
U.S Congresswoman Barbara Lee Holds News Conference with Allen Temple Baptist Church
Reverend Dr. Ramona Tascoe Helps in the Congo &
Leads Triage Team in Haiti After the Earthquake
Walter Hawkins Remembered
Reverend Phil Lawson Profile
|
| | REMEMBERING WALTER HAWKINS
 | Bishop Walter Hawkins, May 18, 1949-July 11, 2010
|
| | Grammy
Award Winner Bishop Walter Hawkins put the Gospel of Jesus Christ to
work at the Love Center changing lives and saving souls. His Love
Center was the first Black Church in the U.S. to create an HIV/AIDS
Ministry in the 1980's at a time when it was not fashionable to to
proclaim one had an HIV/AIDS program.
NCIC
President, Greggory Brown Acknowledges KTVU General Manager, Tim McVay
for responding to NCIC request via board member Dr. Ramona Tascoe and
media activist and publicist Jackie Wright to stream the funeral
services and cover the historic celebration of life at the Paramount
Theater in Oakland.
NCIC
is humbled to have been an instrument to help give the world access to
the ceremonies of a great man of God. May the work of Bishop Hawkins be
blessed to continue to help people in need.
|
|
|
|
Northern California Interreligious Conference
Fall 2010
"Racism is a violation of Human Rights"
|
|
 | Bay Area Pastor, Reverend Gregg Brown
(4th from Left) Marches in Arizona.
|
Northern California Interreligious Conference
4335 Virginia Ave
Oakland, CA 94619
(510) 536-6700
Dear Friends,
Join us. There is a Place for You.
This
fall as we see the headlines once again concerning the injustice of the
Oscar Grant case and remember the actions of Arizona,
and yet hear
of the courageous actions of legislators like U.S. Congresswoman Barbara
Lee working for faith-based ministries, know that there is a place for
your voice and it is with the Northern California Interreligious
Conference. NCIC is a place where you can shed light on injustice and
encourage and support the progressive actions that are going on in the
faith community.
We are pleased to announce that we are gathering
our people, people of faith, to come together around the great work of
NCIC. As we look at the specters of injustice in the financial realm
in the United States and across the world, as we see the State of
Arizona's policies against the least, as we see the search for peace and
justice in cases like the Oscar Grant death in the Bay Area, and as we
see a void of the voice of the people of faith in the marketplace, the
need for the Northern California Interreligious Conference is very
evident.
READ ENTIRE WELCOME LETTER
CLICK HERE TO READ ARIZONA MARCH NEWS RELEASE
********************************************************************
|
NCIC Salutes Congresswoman Barbara Lee
for Supporting the AIDS Ministry of
Allen Temple Baptist Church
in wake of Zimbabwe Detainment
 | | U.S.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee thanks Allen Temple AIDS Workers: (left to
right )nurses David Greenberg and Greg Miller, Dr. Anthony Jones and
ministry chair Gloria Cox-Crowell and Reverend J. Alfred Smith, Jr.
(far right) |
| (Click Image to Hear Congresswoman Lee.)
|
NCIC commends
the media that covered the October 27, 2010 news conference with U.S.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, among them ABC 7 and KTVU, two out of the
seven major TV stations in the Bay Area.
A true champion for change, as co-author of an Emergency
AIDS Plan, Congresswoman Lee is seeking funding to increase
the humanitarian work of the Allen Temple AIDS Ministry and others.
The AIDS-related work of Congresswoman Barbara Lee includes:
- Congresswoman Barbara Lee is co-author of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
- Congresswoman
Lee and 100 of her colleagues are calling for the U.S. to increase
contributions to the Global Fund (fighting AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria) from $4 billion to $6 Billion
- 5.7 million lives across 147 countries have been saved via the Global Fund to date
- Congresswoman
Lee's efforts led to the elimination of the HIV travel and immigration
ban that opened the way for the International AIDS Conference held in San Francisco in 1990 to return to the U.S. It will be held in Washington, D.C. in 2012.
- Congresswoman Lee was instrumental in the reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act
that will continue to allow for lifesaving AIDS treatment to reach
people in need, along with supporting ongoing community outreach
programs and services, and training for clinicians
********************************************************
NCIC Calls for Action to Assist Haiti
| | Dr. Ramona Tascoe performs surgery in Haiti days after the earthquake. (Click image to see video). |
The
headlines about Haiti in the news once again, with reports of possible
cholera outbreaks, is a reminder that NCIC is requesting the public's
help in supporting the work of one its board members. Dr. Ramona
Tascoe was instrumental in helping save lives in Haiti within days
after the earthquake. A board member of NCIC, Dr. Tascoe was able to
deploy to Haiti to help make a difference. Her presence was not
only for medical purposes but also to help with human rights issues.
In addition to saving lives she helped ensure patients were treated
with dignity even in the midst of a disaster. Dr. Tascoe is planing
to return to Haiti.
Those interested in assisting NCIC as it supports Dr. Tascoe,
can send contributions to NCIC, 4335 Virginia Avenue, Oakland
California, 94619 and earmark Haiti Relief. Your contribution can help
make a difference.
|
|
|
|  |
|
NCIC Board Member Helps In Congo
 | Jubilee Celebration at Kimbanguist
Temple in NKamba, DRC. |
The
October screening of the Kinshasa Symphony by Germans Claus Wischmann
and Martin Baer at the 33rd Mill Valley Film Festival provides another
link to be
aware of the grassroots efforts of one local doctors in
helping to bring awareness to the Congo.
Northern
California Interreligious Conference Board Member, Dr. Ramona Tascoe,
National Director of Health for the Kimbanguist Church/USA, appointed by
Spiritual Chief Simon Kimgangu Kiangani of the Kimbanguist Church, took
part in the country's recent Jubilee amid very sad realities.
Epidemic
rape, torture, and violence remain problematic along the border of East
Congo as it interfaces Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi. Women of all ages
and small girls are targets of terrorism by mercenaries seeking
valuable minerals that are found richly in the villages of these poor
women. Out of fear and physical devastation, these women abandon their
land (rich in precious coltan, copper, and other minerals) and become
leprous outcasts to communities they leave behind who fear for their
own safety. Governance is particularly weak in this Great Lakes region,
as evidenced by poor policing and a failure to find and prosecute the
purpetrators. Working through a 200 bed relief clinic established by
the Kimbanguist Church in Bukavu, Dr. Tascoe is performing a needs
assessment to guide planning
 | | Rev. Tascoe, MD. (seated far right) with Madame Chantal Muzito, wife of DRC's Prime Minister (seated center). |
for future
missions of hope and help. Dr. Tascoe who also met for two-hours with
Madame Chantal Muzito, wife of Congo's Prime Minister, has been
invited to return before December 2010 for a guided tour by Madame
Muzito and Congo's First Lady, Olive Kabila Kabangi.
Dr. Tascoe states: "The
50th Anniversary of Independence is of dubious distinction. Human
Rights violations in east Congo, impacting women and girls of all
ages remains the cloud that obscures the celebration. Epidemic rape, as a
primary strategy of greed, terrorizes women and families to flee
mineral rich land. Human suffering exceeds 500,000 victims in the
past 10 years. Like oil that flowed in the Gulf, effective measures have
yet to be enacted. Global relief agencies can bandage the wounded, but
the collective goodwill of nations like the US, China and the EU, that
benefit from the plunder of abandoned mineral-rich property, is
required to reverse this morbid trend."
 | | Rev. Dr. Tascoe flows with the Holy Spirit as she preaches in DRC. |
NCIC
is helping Dr. Tascoe become part of the solution in the Congo. You
can help make a difference too. Make your tax deductible contribution
in support of NCIC's Congo mission with Dr. Ramona Tascoe. Fight back
the atrocities in the Congo by making a contribution to help the work
of Dr. Tascoe. Please
send your checks or money order to NCIC, 4345 Virginia Ave., Oakland CA
94609. Earmark: "Congo Mission" to give specifically to assist the
work of Dr. Tascoe. Your contributions to the on-going work of NCIC
are also welcome.
Dr. Tascoe recommends reading a short background on the Congo on the World Council of Churches website. Click Here.
|
|
| |
|
MEMBER PROFILE
NCIC Board Member Stands For Social Justice
Excerpts from the Equal Justice Society e-Newsletter Immigration and the Black Community: Conflict or Common Interest:
Reverend Phil Lawson spoke next,
highlighting the interconnectedness of the immigrant and African
American struggles and their linkages to global economic forces.
Reverend Lawson  pointed
out that issues related to immigration cannot be understood
separately from transnational economic conditions such as the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which contributed to large-scale
displacement of traditional rural communities throughout Mexico. NAFTA
is just one piece of an overall trend in which juridical and economic
régimes create a world in which capital flows ever freer, having the
effect of uprooting populations.
Reverend Lawson also pointed
out that just as questions of immigration are intrinsically linked to
globalization, so too are issues of social and economic justice for
the disenfranchised population in the United States. By demonstrating
the ways these economic policies have also harmed African Americans,
BAJI helps create an understanding of the reasons African Americans
are experiencing vulnerability and displacement. At the same time they
are hoping to help African Americans understand the experiences of
immigrants by engaging in activities such as taking delegations of
African Americans to the U.S.-Mexico border to understand the
conditions that immigrants face when making an unauthorized entry to
the United States
Let your members know about the latest news for the ministry. Highlight your mission statement and the goals of the ministry. (READ MORE)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
