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Volume XLIV
‘City ö/Roses’
Number 21
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God’s Prophet in Non-Violence
Local pastor writes
book on Dr. Rev.
Martin Luther King
by D onovan M. S mith
T he P ortland O bserver
Legacies can become embellished or blem­
ished in time, an even greater reality when
one remains an icon in death as he was in the
physical.
The globally recognized leader Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. is such an example. An
advocate for justice through non-violence
and unshakable Christian faith, King navi­
gated some of the worst acts of racism in
America, from the hangings of everyday and how his methods are applicable today in
black citizens to the murder and bombings of an era where overtly racist laws are no longer
innocent black children attending church.
on the books, but the symptoms o f oppres­
Rev. Dr. LeRoy Haynes Jr., a Portland sion against people of color largely con­
minister who has been on the front lines of tinue.
injustice issues nearly his entire life has
At 78-pages, the brevity o f “G o d ’s
explored King’s life in his new book “God’s Prophet” lends itself to an easily digestible
Prophet in Non-Violence.”
read, one that manages to recount some
The pastor of Allen Temple CME Church misconceptions about the late King, while
and the chair of the Albina Ministerial also paralleling some of the leader’s philoso­
Alliance’s Justice and Police Reform com­ phy with the author’s own life.
mittee, Haynes hopes his book drives home
Haynes, 64, was bom in Dallas, Texas.
the story of King’s own radical methodolo­ Like King, his own activism extends back to
gies to refresh or enlighten readers in a the Jim Crow discrimination laws of the South;
society still dealing with racism.
and for him, the Ku Klux Kian was not just
Haynes explores how King’s message of horror tales from the past, but realities he
non-violence and Christian faith was applied remembers today.
As early as 13-years-of-age, Haynes was
participating in demonstrations for civil
rights, including organized sit-ins with his
family and getting arrested for civil disobe­
dience. His early years would set him on a
path of resistance against white supremacy
and fighting black oppression that would
see him explore militant and non-violent tac­
tics.
Haynes managed to get accepted into the
University of North Texas as a student in the
1960s. While there, he’d join with an organi­
zation on campus called the Student Nonvio­
lence Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
At the time, the group was under the
c o n tin u e d
on p a g e 4 5