skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Pastor Calls for Peace, Justice in Wake of Freddie Gray Case Acquittal

play audio
Play

Friday, June 24, 2016   

BALTIMORE – As the nation reacts to the acquittal in the Freddie Gray case, there are calls for justice and for peace.

Rev. Tom Harris at Govans Presbyterian Church in Baltimore says you can't have one without the other.

He's disappointed a Baltimore judge acquitted Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. of second-degree depraved-heart murder in the case, and says voices need to be heard so change can happen.

"We are all racist and we have to be aware when our biases are clouding our judgments,” Harris says. “It's not that anybody can just take that out of their soul, because I think it's all part of our brokenness as people, but we can try to be aware of it and be conscious of it and how it's affecting our judgments and our decisions. "

Gray died in police custody in April 2015. After being arrested, he was shackled and put into a van driven by Goodson but was not secured in a seat belt, and suffered a severe spinal injury on the way to the police station. He died a week later.

Harris says as public servants, police need to make sure they don't abuse power.

"The police are the ones with the power,” he stresses. “They are the ones that are armed, and they represent the government which has the power, and so we need to work to limit the powerful so everyone has a chance."

Harris says conflict is part of living together, and a church's role isn't to quash that, but instead to bring people together to have a dialogue. He says protesters have a right to voice their opinions.

"I think that we often look at the protesters and say, 'Don't be violent,' and we often forget that these are the people who have had violence done against them for a very long time,” he states. “Nobody's stood up and tried to stop that violence, so I think we have to be careful of being hypocritical."





get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021