Sunday, September 17
Rev. Edward Pinkney will be the guest speaker for the 11am Service. The conversation will continue at 1:30 at a community meeting where he will have more time to speak and engage in a Q and A session.

Almost twenty years ago a black resident of Benton Harbor, Michigan, Edward Pinkney, started court watching and speaking out about the injustices he witnessed in Berrien County courts against young black men. In his efforts for justice, his speaking out led to a recall petition for the mayor of Benton Harbor, leading to his imprisonment for 2 1/2 years.
In 2014 Truthout wrote “On December 15, Rev. Edward Pinkney, a leader in the struggle for social and economic justice for the residents of Benton Harbor, Michigan, was sentenced to serve up to 10 years in prison, on the basis of thin circumstantial evidence that a few dates had been altered on a recall petition against the city’s mayor, James Hightower. The recall was prompted by the mayor’s continued support for tax evasion by the Whirlpool Corporation, the Fortune 500 company and $19 billion global appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Benton Harbor.

A Green Party email alerted us to his imprisonment in Marquette Branch Prison where this 67 year old community activist was put into solitary confinement with no phone privileges to the outside world. A member of Mqt. UU social justice committee visited him weekly, others wrote letters and petitioned (denied) to visit. Days before we were to bring his wife, Dorothy Pinkney, to visit him in the UP, he was shipped out to a prison an hour from his home.

Members of the congregation have continued to support Rev. Pinkney’s efforts to bring justice to his community since his release in June. He will speak to the Mqt. UU Congregation, 1510 M-28, Chocolay Township at 11 a.m. service on Sunday, September 17th and again at 1:30 at a community meeting where he will have more time to speak and engage in a Q and A session. Come and hear Michigan’s political prisoner, Rev. Edward Pinkney.