ANC2C02 Forum

"This church is in the business of saving souls", is what the interim pastor of the Third Baptist Church told ANC 2C02 Commissioner Kevin Chapple. However, it seems that the church is taking orders from a source more worldly than spiritual. On the demands of ECCA President Leroy Thorpe, Commissioner Chapple is now barred from the church, as are my neighbor Martin Moulton, and me, Charles Walker.

Mr. Moulton and I heard yesterday afternoon that Councilman Jack Evans was going to be at the meeting, and we wanted to ask him some questions. We arrived before the meeting started. We attempted to enter the meeting along with Councilman Evans and his staff member Windy Rahim. In a scene more reminiscent of Birmingham, Alabama circa 1963 than Washington, DC in 2008, Leroy Thorpe physically barred us at the door, while Jack Evans breezed past.

Thorpe called the ever attentive police, and lo and behold, a police car pulled up in front of the church before he was even off of the phone. Apparently, tending to the demands of Mr. Thorpe is quite a high priority for the Third District of the MPD, probably higher even than dealing with the crime wave in the neighborhood.

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Officer Torres duly served Mr. Moulton and me with barring notices, based on demands which the interim pastor of the church proxied to the police from Mr. Thorpe.

Commissioner Chapple entered the ECCA meeting while Jack Evans was speaking. Commissioner Chapple was ejected, and was also barred from the church. And, Councilman Evans was there for the whole thing.

As a shamefaced Councilman Evans was leaving, I asked him why he attends meetings where members of the public, and even elected representatives of the area in which he is speaking, are not allowed to attend. His lame reply was, "well it was his (Thorpe's) meeting", as if Councilman Evans could not even have protested the exclusion of people from the meeting. He should be ashamed. He wasted no time in making his escape.

No elected official or city agency should waste any more time on this husk of a civic organization, which is today nothing more than a vehicle for the weird vendettas of its president. The Third Baptist Church needs to evict the ECCA parasite from its premises before it brings itself into further disrepute. We now have a new community organization, the Convention Center Community Association (CCCA) which has open, effective, and productive meetings, and does not exclude people.

“When you exclude people, that's not Democracy.”
— Sen. Barack Obama, from a CNN broadcast Feb. 4, 2008

Contact Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans to voice your concerns: (202) 724-8058.