Activists, Talk Radio Hosts Participate in “A Time of Love & Reconciliation”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2017
Contact for interviews: Evangelist Alveda King – 470-244-3302 or eugene@priestsforlife.org
Rev. CL Bryant – 318-458-1130 or guru@theclbryantshow.com
Ted Hayes at 424-248-4219 or apologyforgiven@gmail.com
Los Angeles, CA – To promote racial healing, Evangelist Alveda King, Rev. CL Bryant, Ted Hayes & Mike Siegel join with community and Civil activists across the USA on Monday, April 3, 2017 – the eve of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King assassination anniversary. It will kick-off a year-long campaign aimed at drawing attention to the federal government’s largely unpublicized House Resolution HR 194 the acknowledgement of and apology for slavery and subsequent discriminatory policies. This campaign will conclude with A Time of Love & Reconciliation on April 4, 2018, the 50th Anniversary of Dr. King’s death.
“In 2008, Congress made history by officially apologizing for chattel slavery in the United States and the subsequent Jim Crowism that plagued black people after emancipation. Everyone knows about the poor treatment, but few know about the rare act of contrition by our government and its intention to heal our nation,” said community activist Ted Hayes, a key organizer of A Time of Love & Reconciliation. “In my own experience, people knowing that this apology happened goes a long way in changing the minds of people holding negative opinions about America because of its treatment of the black community.”
Hayes and others will work with talk radio and television personalities of all political leanings to draw attention to HR 194, a resolution passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on July 29, 2008 that “apologize[d] to African Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow” and “expresse[d] its commitment to rectify the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African Americans under slavery and Jim Crow and to stop the occurrence of human rights violations in the future” A similar resolution was passed by the U.S. Senate almost a year later.
Organizers are recruiting radio and television hosts to read the content and discuss the meaning of the congressional slavery apology with their audiences. Increased knowledge of the apology, organizers point out, can significantly change the dynamics in the national narrative of race relations.
This national acknowledgement of the apology and movement for healing was initiated by Hayes, a community activist, and talk radio hosts Mike Seigel and C.L. Bryant. They are joined by civil rights activist Reverend Dr. Alveda King, the niece of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hayes said: “We are hoping this year-long campaign that begins on April 3 and culminates on the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s departure from our earthly plane will provide us the opportunity to finally address the race matters in a more balanced, hopeful way. When I have personally enlightened people about the fact that the government has apologized and committed itself to working with the descendants of those who were once enslaved, it changes their perspective and helps our society heal.”
Talk radio hosts interested in participating in the April 3 reading of HR 194, or participating at a later date, are encouraged to contact Ted Hayes by phone at (424) 248-4219 or by email apologyforgiven@gmail.com. The same contact information should be used for requesting surrogate guests.