Paul M. Washington

Mom’s Against Guns

Paul M. Washington — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:22:04 +0000

Moms Against Guns. My name is Lynne Honickman. I am a mom (and grandmom) against illegal handguns and assault weapons.
Two years ago I was becoming more and more outraged and frightened that little was being done in my city and state to save innocent people—mainly kids—from gun violence. That feeling of helplessness pushed me to consider what I could do. I felt that if I did nothing, I would become another bystander while kids in our cities and in communities across the state would continue to die senselessly. So in October of 2007, I launched a web-based campaign called “Moms Against Guns.”

Mothers In Charge

Paul M. Washington — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:08:51 +0000

Mothers In Charge :: Stop the Violence.

Mothers In Charge was founded by Dorothy Johnson-Speight as a community advocacy and support organization for families affected by violence. Dorothy Johnson-Speight’s 24 year old son was murdered over a parking space in December 2001.

The mission of Mothers In Charge is violence prevention, education and intervention for youth, young adults, families and community organizations. In addition, Mothers In Charge works with elected officials on legislation to support safe neighborhoods and communities for children and families and collaborates with community and faith based organizations.
Mothers In Charge will advocate for families affected by violence and provide counselling and grief support services for families when a loved one has been murdered.

Jazz & Spoken Word Concert Flyer

Paul M. Washington — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:52:45 +0000

Jazz & Spoken Word Concert Flyer

SIXTH ANNUAL WEEKEND OF PEACE

PRESENTS

A JAZZ AND SPOKEN WORD CONCERT

JULY 18th

FROM 2PM-8PM

NON-STOP MUSIC, POETRY, AND SPOKEN WORD FOR ALL AGES!

CHURCH OF THE ADVOCATE

18^TH FATHER PAUL WASHINGTON AVE (AKA DIAMOND STREET)

TO BENEFIT

THE WEEKEND OF PEACE

FRIDAY, JULY 31 TO SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2009

MINIMUM FIVE DOLLAR PEACE OFFERING

(UNDER 10 YRS, ADMISSION FREE WITH GUARDIAN)

FEATURING:

SONIA SANCEHZ-SHYSTER-TRIMICKA “MECCA” CRUMP-GOLDII, JADE & ICE-TIFFANI DEAN-COMMUSICATION JAZZ BAND-BERNARD COLLINS-SWAYYAH-MONICA McINTYRE-BARBARA MONTGOMERY-TANNIKA CHARAE-HARAMBEE WORLD AFRICAN CULTURAL DRUM & DANCE ENSEMBLE-STEPHANIE RENEE McNEAL-JAN JEFFRIES-MARCY FRANCIS-THE’ONE SUN’LION RA-QUEENZY LUV-SHAYNA SHENESS ISRAELl-DAMIN MILEY-VENDORS-SUPRISE GUEST

AND MORE…

FOR MORE INFO CONTACT THE WEEKEND OF PEACE BENEFIT COMMITTEE: TRIMICKA “MECCA” CRUMP 267-979-7182 – BARBARA MONTGOMERY 484-431-7474 - KEMAH WASHINGTON 484-432-1242

TO SEE LINEUP GO TO WWW.FATHERPAULWASHINGTON.COM

Lineup For July 18th Jazz And Spoken Word Concert

Paul M. Washington — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:45:35 +0000

Lineup For July 18th Jazz And Spoken Word Concert

2:00-2:10…MC

1) 2:10-2:30…Harambee World African Cultural Drum and Dance Ensemble

2:30-2:35…MC

2) 2:35-2:55…Marcy Francis, Stephanie Renee McNeal

2:55-3:00…MC

3) 3:00-3:20…Tanikka Charrae

3:20-3:25…MC

4) 3:25-3:45…Queenzy Luv

3:45-3:50…MC

5) 3:50-4:10…Tiffani Dean, Swayyah, Shyster

4:10-4:15…MC

6) 4:15-4:35…Harambee World African Cultural Drum and Dance Ensemble

4:35-4:40…MC

7) 4:40-5:00…Sun Lion Ra

5:00-5:05…MC

8] 5:05-5:25…Sonia Sanchez

5:25-5:30…MC

9) 5:30-5:50…Goldii, Jade & Ice, Shayna She’Ness Israel

5:50-5:55…MC

10) 5:55-6:15… Mecca, Swayyah, Shyster

6:15-6:20…MC

11) 6:30-7:00… Special Guest

7:00-7:05…MC

12) 7:05-7:25…Comusication Jazz Band

7:25-7:30…MC

7:30-8:00…Daymin Miley, Jam Session

Trial Points

Paul M. Washington — Fri, 29 May 2009 04:12:50 +0000

These are my statement to the court and Judge Karen Simmons. The rest of our statements can be viewed at http://www.heedinggodscall.org/gathering-home.

TRIAL POINTS

Your Honor, Being arrested January was never my intention. I did not go to be a nuisance nor did go to engage in any tumultuous behavior but I hear the cries from our children and knew I had to react to their cries, I knew I had to stand up and be a voice for those who have been killed or maimed by gun violence.

There were 12 of us who were arrested, that number has a special significance to us and to all religious people. There were 12 before us who also answered the call, “Whom shall I send, who will go for us?” Each of us answered just as Isaiah did, “here I am, send me.” So we are not unlike the body of 12 that served our Lord. We are here today because we serve our Lord and have been obedient to His will.

This day is very dear to me. It is my dad’s birthday; he would have been 88 this day. My Dad was Father Paul Washington. I could talk about his service to the community and to all of humankind but I only have a few minutes to try to convey to you my journey to Colosimo’s gun shop. I will simply say that he loved life, he loved everyone unconditionally and he loved the Lord. He never turned his back on anyone, he helped anyone and everyone. One person commented to me, “I heard your Dad speak once and when I did I heard the voice of God. What a man of extreme decency.” Chuck Stone a former Tuskegee Airman, an accomplished journalist from the Philadelphia Daily News, one whom 75 people surrendered to rather than to the police said, “To Fr. Paul Washington, the world will always be his pasture. As one of his sheep, I will be forever grateful for his gift of love that summoned me to a renewal of my life.”

My life was nurtured by his passion to help and guide those who were lost and broken, my principles were shaped by his love and compassion to those “other sheep,” the ones who society shuns and looks down on. I myself have served our community since I was a teenager. I was blessed by God because he has given to me that same compassionate heart and soul. It is a gift from God and am so very indebted to Him for the compassion that resides in me. Like all other blessings there are always two sides, the other cries out when a child is murdered or a mother is shot and killed. My soul weeps when I see the lives of innocent young adults being snatched away, it weeps when I see those who have been maimed, paralyzed, those who are now vegetables because of gun violence . When my soul is troubled like this it is then that what I am doing is reaffirmed.

I talk to a lot of young adults just to trying to encourage them, to see how they are, to see how much pain they are in. I talked with one young lady who was getting ready to graduate from high school. I asked her if she was going to college. She said no, I’m going into the service. Now I think serving one’s country is gallantry at its finest but I had to know why. We talked about the war in Iraq and I asked her, aren’t you worried that you might get killed? She replied, “I’d rather die there than die in the streets.” I talked with another young man who said he lost ten of his friends to gun violence and one died in his arms. I asked another young man who was on a path to destruction why, why do you do these things? He said, I probably won’t live to see 25 anyway, I’m having my fun now. When I hear their stories and feel the pain they are in, my soul tells me not only that it’s right to do something about gun violence but it tells me I must do something about gun violence.

Fr. Miller, my brother and I had been involved with many anti-violence and anti handgun events and programs, so when he said there was an interfaith group who wanted to address gun violence we jumped on board and joined Heeding God’s Call. After many meetings we decided that we should rally around some important issue, one that would help to change one or some of the elements that lead to gun violence. We decided to look at gun shops and the Responsible Retailer Partnership Agreement. After some research we were led to Colosimo’s Gun shop. We met with Mr. Colosimo and asked him to sign the agreement and he refused. We marched to Colosimo and asked him again, he yet again refused and that led us to be arrested and led us to this day.

Your Honor…you, our police officers, our religious leaders and everybody else here all seek and pray for the same things; peace, love, understanding and an end to the mindless gun violence that is tearing apart our families, our lives, our communities and our nation.

Gun violence is a battle that I will continue to fight and I pray all of us, our politicians, our law enforcement officials, our neighbors and yes, Mr. Colosimo included can all work together to put an end to gun violence.

Kemah

HEEDING GOD’S CALL

Paul M. Washington — Fri, 29 May 2009 04:12:22 +0000

The mission statement for the Gathering declares that the purpose is “to strengthen our witness and work for peace in the world by inspiring hope, raising voices, taking action.”

My 26 Court Date for The Colosimo Twelve

Paul M. Washington — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:59:39 +0000

Trial for “The Twelve” on May 26, Fr. Paul Washington’s Birthday

For those who remember my Dad, Fr. Paul Washington, May 26 would have been his 88^th birthday. Though he is not here physically, our family is still guided by his wisdom and love. We remember his unconditional love for everyone; we remember how he helped everyone who called on him and we remember his true love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We miss him but we know he is still grinning from ear to ear in the presence of our Lord. We still rejoice in his passing on to the place where our Risen Lord abides. To us it’s a good thing and sorrow has no place to abide here.

On May 26, there will be a trial for twelve of us who were locked up demonstrating at Colosimo’s gun shop at 933 Springarden Street. We asked Mr. Colosimo to sign the Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership¹ and when he refused we protested, we also protested because of illegal gun sales and straw purchases that the ATF and Brady Campaign² have confirmed happen there. The twelve of us were part of Heeding God’s Call³, an interfaith group that has been called by the Higher Power to do something about the senseless gun violence in our neighborhoods. Most of us spent 12 hours in lockup while one of us did 25 hours and were charged with multiple offenses.

I know if my Dad were here we would be in court together, facing the same charges. It’s an honor for me to walk in the footsteps of such a great disciple of Christ.

We ask for the support of our community and also ask for those who have lost loved ones to violence or those whose lives have been changed because of gun violence (any type of violence) to join us in support. Our tentative agenda that day is as follows;

8:00 AM Vigil of support, remembrance and prayer for the defendants and for the children and all whose lives are threatened and hearts are numbed in the face of the killing in our communities

9:00 AM Court opens, please come when you can for as long as you can

Room 1003 in the Criminal Justice Center at 13^th &Filbert

12:00 noon Rally - Inspiring HOPE, Raising Voices, Taking ACTION!

in front of City Hall, Northeast corner.

Afternoon Trial reconvenes

1. RESPONSIBLE FIREARMS RETAILER PARTNERSHIP

2. Ten Worst Bad Apple Gun Dealers in America (scroll to page 31)

3. In gun-shop showdown, neither side blinks | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/18/2009

If you have any questions please call me at 484-432-1242.

or call, Heeding God’s Call 267-519-5302

info@HeedingGodsCall.org website at www.heedinggodscall.org

Marching on Colosimo’s Gun Shop

Paul M. Washington — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:48:57 +0000

Heeding God’s Call, an interfaith group, asked Mr Colosimo to sign the Responsible Firearms Retail Partnershipjust a common sense non legislative document developed by Wal-Mat and the Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The document addresses issues such as daily inventory, gun shop owners accumulating trace data, computerized machine to determine whether or not the purchaser’s I.D. is legal or counterfeit and more controls and aides to help the gun shop owner determine whether or not he should sell a gun to the prospective buyer. When Mr Colosimo refused we protested in front of his store (933 Springarden St. Philadelphia). twelve of us were arrested two of the days we marched and protested. We have a trial date of May 26th where we will get a chance to tell our story. We continue to be at the store every Saturday from 11am-1pm and every Monday from 4pm-6pm. We welcome any support anyone or any Church, Masjid, Synagogue or organization can give. We look forward to continuing the good fight with Mr Colosimo, the NRA and whoever else continues to turn a deaf ear towards gun violence in our nation.
for more info call, 267-519-5302 484-432-1242 or email to gvp@peacegathering.org

anti-violence videos

Paul M. Washington — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:39:03 +0000

The Father Paul Washington Community Committee participated in filming some anti-violence videos.

The Truth And Nothing But The Truth As Witnessed By A Believer.

Paul M. Washington — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:22:55 +0000

I once heard a sermon about the word of God and when God speaks to us (no, it wasn’t my dad this time!). In the sermon the priest exclaimed that, “seeing is not believing, we see and hear God’s Word every day but we can’t hear it and can’t see it, therefore we cannot comprehend what God is saying to us.” He continued to say, “If you believe then you can hear and see the Word of God, it’s then that you can understand what He is saying to us.” To me it was such a poignant revelation and twist to what I have thought I already understood but it made all the good sense in the world. So we see and hear the Voice of God each day but because we don’t believe we don’t comprehend what we hear and see. We have to realize when God speaks to us, if we don’t we are lost. A good example when Rodney King spoke on the violence that ensued after the terrible beating he got from the Los Angeles police when he exclaimed, “can we all get along, can we stop making it horrible for the older people and the kids. It’s not right; it’s not going to change anything. I love people, we’ve got to quit. To keep going along like this, to see a security guard shot on the ground, they will never see his family again, it’s not right, it’s just not right, we can get along, we all can get along, let’s try to work it out.” To those of us who believe, we heard God’s Voice crying out to us through Rodney King. Others made jokes about it all. We all remember the “can’t we all just get along” jokes. We heard them at work; we heard them in school and on the streets. To those of us who believe it was almost blasphemy to laugh at Rodney because we knew it was truly God who was speaking. When believers first heard Obama and his message of hope and change we immediately heard the same message of Jesus, “hope and change.” Let me declare to all right now that I’m not saying Obama is Jesus or even comparing Obama to Jesus but what I am saying is that his message is the same. There’s no question that God had His Hand in this whole political process. I won’t say that God is mixing politics with religion but when you look this whole thing in the eye you come to realize that there’s no way a Black man in America could have survived this all, win the democratic nomination and then win the presidency of America, the most prestigious job in the world by himself. Now if you don’t believe, you won’t agree. There were so many people all ages, all colors, all faiths, all over the world that were hanging on every moment, every second throughout the primary and presidential election process. At Obama’s stump speeches and rallies we saw our Black Grandmothers and Grandfathers crying, holding their heads in their hands overcome with the understanding that our validity as human beings had finally arrived. After soooo many years in the cotton fields, after soooo many lashings, after those dark days when they saw their brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and children hanging from trees. Hope and change is what we clung to throughout not only these last couple of years but for the last 400 years. Hope realized is when we heard people shouting out in the air of despair saying, “Obama is the next president elect, he will be our 44th President.” Tears poured through the eyes of our souls. We saw young Black men in the North Philadelphia streets 2 am in the morning driving in cars blowing the horns and shouting out for all to hear, “Obama, Obama, Obama.” They were dancing in the streets with Obama signs and banners. People were praising God for the election of Barak Obama. I suddenly realized that they are the same young men who hang out on the corners all day long with nothing to do, the same ones who sell drugs; the same ones who do drugs, the same ones who robbed the candy store; the same ones who killed another brother on the corner. We saw young women crying tears of relief because Christ had finally crushed the anguish of hopelessness. “Change can’t be far away, it just can’t be” they said, finally things are going to be better. They were the same young ladies that have to sell their bodies in the streets just to feed their babies, the same ones that have to work two jobs just to make ends almost meet. Our grandchildren, some as young as 5 and 6 years old knew something wonderful was happening, they too cried out, Obama, Obama, Obama.” They saw something in their parent’s eyes that they had never seen before and they gloried in it even though they knew not what it was. It’s amazing what just a glimmer of hope can do! Those of us who believe know that God is pleased when we thank Him for all that He has done for us. He is pleased when we give Him praise, He is pleased when we look upwards and exclaim, “thank you Jesus.” We can safely say that in no other time in history in any one given period have so many people thanked God in sacred unison for a single blessing that we have received from Him. God must have been greatly pleased. There was dancing, singing and tears of joy around the world when it was announced that Obama had won the presidential election!!! In Africa, in Japan, in Russia, in the Netherlands, in Australia, in France, in Paris, in the third world countries people had that same feeling that hope has sprung eternal, “everything is going to be all right, we are finally on our way to becoming a sane and compassionate world.” The angels must have been filled with joy, Gabriel’s horn was blowing for the believers to hear. The flowers in heaven by the streets He has paved in gold had to have been swaying side to side with joyful praise. The birds in heaven surely were chirping, “Praises to You Almighty God.” If we were dancing in the streets here on earth, I know Emit Tills, Martin, Malcolm, Gandhi, John, my Dad; those who hung from trees, those who were burned at stake, the abolitionists who fought for our freedom and everyone else in heaven had to be dancing in those pearly streets paved by God. This was such a spiritual experience never before witnessed by so many. One that I will never forget, one I will always treasure. I thank God I was able to witness it and thankful to be able to see just what was transpiring right before my eyes. Once again God chose the weak to confound the mighty. The Black man was at the bottom of the totem pole on this earth, the scourge of the earth but God lifted him on high for all to see. We who believe witnessed God in action and we watched every moment of it all. It was so great to see Him at work. No matter what the opposition did, it never made any difference. We heard all the attacks and negative comments and ads. In some cases it had the opposite reaction that they wanted. People began to say, we’re tired of the negativity, we’re tired of the same old politics. We want something new, we want hope, we want fairness, we want to talk first instead of bomb first, we want change. Those fiery darts they threw at Obama were all intercepted by the Angels of protection God put around him. If they could have seen all the protection God put around Obama they would have run into the hills, but they didn’t believe so they couldn’t see. God increased Obama’s greatness and comforted him on every side. I pray that God continues to protect Obama until his work predestined by God is done. We ourselves have to support Obama; we have to help him out in our homes, in our schools, on our jobs, in the streets and everyday in our lives. Now that change is finally here, now that we finally see hope we can’t let it die. Those young men and women who celebrated in the streets and around the world have to be able to hold onto that feeling, if they don’t the streets of despair will get worse. Their children need to see the delight of hope in their mothers and fathers eyes every day. We have to put a new sign in the entrance to our cities and around the world. Tear down the sign that reads as in Dante’s inferno, “Abandon all hope all ye that enter this place.” The new sign must read, “Hope lives here and change is coming.” Thank you Mr. President elect for allowing yourself to be an instrument of God. Please continue to lead and inspire us all to become the people, the citizens, the America and the world that God wants us to be. The residue of God’s Glory is still in the air and still in our hearts. Let us not waste this opportunity that God had provided us, it’s time to pick up the cross and march onward to Zion with Jesus at our side and with God up on high.
Kemah C. Washington

Father Paul Washington Community Committee
fatherpaulwashington.com