wfn.org | April 11-12 National March Against Hate,

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

Columbia, S.C.

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the 
U.S.A.
Contact: (404) 221-0025 or (803) 251-0243

NCC4/9/97                       FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATIONAL MARCH OF SOLIDARITY AGAINST HATE SET FOR 
APRIL 11-12
By Herb Boyd

A National March of Solidarity to Challenge Hate 
in America will be held in Columbia, S.C., during an 
April 11-12 assembly that will include a conference 
and the unveiling of a monument to commemorate the 
burned houses of worship.

"This monument will include the names of the more 
than 200 churches that have burned over the last 
couple of years," said the Rev. Terrance Mackey, 
Pastor of Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church 
in Greeleyville, S.C., the event's coordinator.  The 
U.S. Department of Justice has confirmed that many of 
these fires were racially motivated.

"Meanwhile, churches are still being burned and we 
are hoping this action, this march will provide 
further impetus to develop strategies and tactics 
necessary for eradicating the spread of hate and 
bigotry in our society," he said. 

The April 11-12 events follow on a conference held 
last year in Columbia, S.C., where church leaders and 
community activists from all over the nation discussed 
ways to combat the epidemic of hatred.  The march's 
sponsors are the South Carolina Burned Church 
Restoration Coalition, South Carolina Committee for 
Racial Justice, and Center for Democratic Renewal.  

Last week during a press conference at the march 
committee's headquarters in Columbia someone shot 
through the window, using a high-powered pellet gun.  
"They caught the person that did the shooting," the 
Rev. Mackey said, "and we have gone on record to let 
people know that we are not intimidated by such 
cowardly acts."

Featured speakers include the Rev. Dr. Joan Brown 
Campbell, General Secretary of the National Council of 
Churches; Jim Johnson of the U.S. Treasury Department; 
the Rev. C.T. Vivian, noted civil rights activist; 
Detroit communicator Joann Watson; Don Rojas, manager 
of the Burned Churches Project; Rose Johnson, Director 
of the Center for Democratic Renewal; and Ron Daniels, 
Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

"We hope to have many of the pastors from the 
burned churches at the march," the Rev. Mackey said.  
"It will also be a moment for us to memorialize the 
work of the late Rev. Dr. Mac Charles Jones, who died 
in March.  We sorely miss his leadership, and it was 
his inspiration that is at the heart of this march."
-end-

2

 -0-