Dear Sharpton Staff:
My late father had several
overused expressions. They were:
“It’s so simple.”
But first, you had to “Put your receiving set on.”
In other words, Listen!!!
As you can see below, I
discovered yesterday Rev. Lee had died. How I was informed of this is a long
story.
I spoke to this man twice
on your recommendation.
To get to the point, I
smell foul play regarding his death at 34.
Of course, the Saint Louis American does not.
During the Ferguson
unrest, their reporting was far better than the Post-Dispatch, and that was me on the #97 bus with the American in my lap. I participated in no
protest back then, and none since. I have proven I’m related to Howard Hughes,
Sr., however, no one cares! (In St. Louis, Missouri). The drug dealers, crooks,
rancid politicians, Hollywood rejects, and dirty cops outside LA care very
deeply.
To “bottom line it” as
daddy also said, I’d love to give Lee’s widow the letter I never sent him. Our
first and longer conversation was about Rev. Sharpton’s planned visit to a
church I’d driven by thousands of times. As GUNSHOTS grew louder and the
thieves thicker, I spoke with Rev. Lee again. Given my notoriously bad mail
service, I hoped he could come pick up the letter. “Too busy” he said. Copies
of the letter were then stolen, but I believe I have the original envelope at
this motel where I have been “stuck” for 12 solid months.
I did not attend that
event out of safety concerns for Lee, myself, and Rev. Sharpton. (Following the
news lately?) As a rule, if my dad talked about someone, even though a
Republican it meant he liked you. “How about that Al Sharpton?” Charles E.
Hughes said to me more than once. He’s looking a bit Secret Service today. Why?
His “cover” was dis-incorporated in 1970, but he fancied himself as still
“working” when I left town in late 2007. Nobody wants my books or screenplays
because Charlie was so damn “secret.” Do you people understand evil? I’m not
the best Catholic ever baptized, but evil
is ruling your nation today.
Don’t believe me? Say so! At
holiday time in 1962, dad was told this: “He can’t hit the broad side of a
barn.” They were discussing Lee Harvey
Oswald. It was mighty quiet at grandma’s house in 1963. Charles got out of
LBJ’s doghouse. Could I get out of Obama’s? I thought the voters could not do
worse, then we got Donald J. Trump!! As a shabby looking black man said of
Barack in Los Angeles, “He didn’t do much for me.” My ongoing Trump joke is:
“Has the Bay Area been nuked yet?” One word: INCOMPETENT. What am I requesting?
Help!
Have a great day,
William Hughes
Obituary: The Rev.
Carlton Lee, pastor of Michael Brown Sr., dies at 34
By THE ST. LOUIS AMERICAN • JUN 15, 2017
“God is not
going to judge you by your behavior in heaven. He’s going to judge you by what
you did on earth,” The Rev. Al Sharpton said at the funeral for Michael Brown
in August of 2014 at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church.
“He will say,
‘when Michael Brown, an 18-year-old boy, laid out in the streets of Ferguson —
what did you do? What did I require of you?”
The Rev. Carlton
Lee, senior pastor of The Flood Christian Church, was among the first to take
action after Brown was fatally shot by a police officer.
On Tuesday, June
13, Lee died suddenly from an apparent heart attack. He was 34.
“Stunned to
learn about the death of Rev. Carlton Lee,” Sharpton said on Twitter. “He
worked with us as a NAN rep in Ferguson, MO for Mike Brown. I can’t believe he
is gone.”
Lee's death was
confirmed first to The Root online news magazine, by sources close to the
family and in a post Tuesday on The Flood Church Facebook page.
“The pain of
dealing with the transition of our pastor is massive,” the post read.
Lee went from
relatively unknown man of faith in the St. Louis region, to vocal faith leader
in the months of unrest in response Brown’s death.He represented the Ferguson
chapter of Sharpton’s National Action Network.
He stood by
Brown's family members during news conferences in the weeks that followed.
“We want an
arrest, indictment and charges brought against Darren Wilson,” Lee told
reporters in front of the Ferguson Police Department in August 2014.
None came to
pass, but he stayed committed to what he felt he was led to do as the Brown
family pastor.
Lee prayed over
and baptized Michael Brown Sr. as the family prepared spiritually for the
outcome of the looming decision as to whether or not St. Louis County
Prosecutor Bob McCulloch would issue an indictment against Wilson.
On the evening
before a grand jury decided to not indictment Wilson , Lee urged protesters on
the stretch of West Florissant Avenue, near the Canfield Green Apartments,
where Brown was shot to remain calm and peaceful. At the same time he was doing
so, his own church on the other side of West Florissant mysteriously burned to
the ground.
“The police
called me and told me the church was on fire,” Lee told NBC News. “I was in
complete disbelief. I didn’t think anyone would set a church on fire.
I feel like one
of my children has died. I put my blood, my sweat, and my tears into this
church, getting this church built from the ground up.
To see that it
was taken down in a few minutes is really heartbreaking.”
Lee was featured
in The Washington Post for his work in Ferguson. The newspaper also covered the
loss of his church’s sanctuary during the height of the unrest.
“This last
couple days had just been crazy … Since August the ninth, it’s been real
crazy.” Lee told The Washington Post just after the fire. “I’m thankful for
life, and for my wife, my children, our parents. . . . If I lose everything that I have, but I
still have my joy, I have enough to build it all over again.”
The Flood was
still in the process of rebuilding, and worshipping at a temporary location on
West Florissant Avenue, at the time of Lee’s death.
He seemed
especially hopeful and optimistic about the future of his ministry in his final
Facebook message on June 5, which sang the praises of his members for “walking
into their assignments” with respect to employment, education and
spirituality."
“As their
pastor, it’s humbling to see them grow,” Lee said of his parishioners. “I’m so
appreciative for each and every one of them.”
Lee is survived
by his wife, Chanel, and their five children.
The couple just
welcomed their fifth child, daughter Cassiah Royalty Lee, on May 28.
Final
arrangements are pending.
