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- By Native News Online Staff
The Apache Stronghold, on its way to U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., made a stop on their “Journey of Prayer”in the city of Montgomery, Alabama, the birthplace of the civil rights movement and home of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. first served as a full-time pastor.
This church and Dr. King played a central role in uniting the local community in the struggle against what King called the evils of materialism, militarism, and racism.
The Stronghold was reminded that in 2013, Apache Stronghold's Executive Director Dr. Wendsler Nosie, Sr., in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, received the Presidential Award from the National Progressive Baptist Convention, becoming the first Native American to receive the award.
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Dr. Nosie remembered how humbling it was that people in the East thought of him in the West and that these struggles for civil and human rights are connected to what this whole journey to the supreme court is all about. The struggle for freedom continues as Dr. Nosie reflected, “It’s time to use all our combined voices for civil and human rights to fight for Mother Earth, the greatest gift God has given us.” So far on this journey we are happy to see that the churches are bringing in the importance of protecting Mother Earth. We have to make the air, the water, the earth a priority because we will only be able to stop the shattering of human existence by protecting God’s greatest gift, our Mother Earth.
Around the corner from Dr. King’s first church sits the Civil Rights Memorial with the black granite stone wall with the famous phrase that Dr. King used from Amos 5:24 that the struggle for freedom would not be satisfied “. . . until justice rolls down like the waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” The future of our human existence depends on whether we will listen to Mother Earth and act together with her so that justice will roll down like a mighty river. So, we ask you to please keep us in your prayers as we move East to continue our prayer journey to the Supreme Court to stop the shattering of human existence and to protect Mother Earth. It’s time to wake up the people of this country to stop the desecration of all our spiritual connection to Mother Earth and Usen (God).
The Progressive National Baptist Convention recognized Dr. Nosie as an emerging leader for his work. Dr. John Mendez, pastor emeritus of Emmanuel Baptist Church of Winston Salem, North Carolina recalls Dr. King's work among Native people during the Poor People's Campaign. “Dr. Wendsler Nosie emerged as a leader among the Apache people continuing Dr. King's struggle for the equality of Native People and commitment to saving the earth. It is important that we come together in this struggle.”
Apache Stronghold will file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on September 11, 2024.
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