By Michael Hernandez
NEWBURY PARK—Bishop Broderick Huggins and Godspeak Pastor Rob McCoy spoke on racial issues dividing America during Wednesday’s Fireside Chat with Pastor McCoy calling for President Donald J. Trump to address the nation on Juneteenth which celebrates the Emancipation Proclamation (which freed all black slaves in Confederate states) being read on June 19, 1865 in Texas—the last Confederate State to have the proclamation officially announced by Union Army General Gorden Granger at Galveston’s Ashton Villa. Texas at the time had an estimated 250,000 slaves. (Editor’s Note: The Trump 2020 Campaign has announced that President Trump will hold a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 19th.)
Pastor Broderick Huggins opened up Fireside Chat Episode 81 with a moving account of how his son was killed by four white police officers in Alameda in 2013 with 14 shots. “My son did not have a chance. He died almost immediately. You talk about injustice,” said Pastor Huggins who detailed how it took him two years to even get an official account of the shooting from law enforcement officials.
“Your son means no less than George Floyd and his story went global and your son’s did not,” said Pastor Micah Stephens, son-in-law of Pastor McCoy and Godspeak Administrator when responding to the story given by Pastor Huggins. “We are not doing (Fireside Chats) as entertainment to exploit someone to feel relevant or (that) your church is relevant.”
“We deeply love each other and this is only possible by the grace of God,” said Pastor McCoy at the start of the Fireside Chat. “I grew up the son of an affluent Navy Captain in a high school that was predominantly white in Coronado. We met in Oxnard at a pastors gathering when I was running for office and you are a Democrat and I am running for a Republican office. Yet, we become friends.”
“Our hearts were knitted together like a Jonathan and a David for such a time as this,” said Pastor Huggins who said he was drawn to Pastor McCoy by his “authenticity.”
“We are in a state in this nation where our cities are burning and we are pitted by the color of our skin,” said Pastor McCoy. “We are being erased if we don’t hold to a particular position that is being censored with rising tensions in a nation that is unprecedented.”
Pastor McCoy told Pastor Huggins that the Black community had been like a “ping pong” or pawn played by both Democrats and Republicans.
Bishop Huggins ended the evening by praying: “Father, you are the answer. We are here because we love you. We submit to you. We surrender to you and ask for your divine wisdom and guidance. Lead your people to a path of righteousness. Forgive us of our sins, for our shortcomings. I pray for America; for her healing; and for our communities; for our peace.”
“I want to be a bridge builder and cast a shadow of truth to move the pulpits of America and for people who want to do the right thing,” said Pastor McCoy.
Fireside Chat Episode 81 ended with all three pastors agreeing that “reconciliation should always be the end game.”
(Editor’s Note: Fireside Chats happen every evening at 7 p.m. on Godspeak’s YouTube channel. View Episode 81 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpLKyVdvnWA).
Michael Hernandez, Co-Founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service; editor of the History Makers Report and founder of History Makers International—a community nonprofit serving youth and families in Ventura County, is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor. He worked 25 years as a middle school teacher in Monrovia and Los Angeles Unified School Districts. Mr. Hernandez can be contacted by email at [email protected].
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Re Broderick Huggins shooting:
This wasn’t exactly a case of innocent black man killed by 4 racist cops. Here is another account:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2013/05/23/man-slain-by-sheriffs-deputies-in-march-following-east-oakland-car-stop-is-identified/
The author let this slip by and so did McCoy.
Neither account says what preceded this and led up to it. It’s outrageous that the video is still not available after 7 years and outrageous that allegedly only one officer had his camera activated.
If there were four officers on scene, there must have been a serious reason for that, which is somehow never mentioned. Ecstasy was allegedly found in the car. A loaded pistol was allegedly found in the vehicle.
Pastor Huggins said his son was not told why he was stopped or why he should get out of the car. I think people should be given a reason for something that extreme.
The racist, political usury of America’s black community is between the Democrat Party and Black Lives Matter – not the Republican Party.
Decimation and Abandonment are not the same. Abandonment is bad; decimation is evil.
It is a lie that “the black community has been a pawn between these [Democrat and Republican] parties.” (video at 23:21-31)
Thanks for this article. We need guidance from God to get through this where we are all measured by the content of our character, not the color of our skin.