Center and Partners Organized Program Against Police Brutality in NC
The Rev. Dr. Bradford Lilley speaking at Belk Library
Weeks before the killing of George Floyd, the Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies welcomed the Rev. Dr. Bradford Lilley to campus for conversations with students, faculty and staff as well as an evening presentation on “The ‘High Point Four’ and Struggles Against Racism and Police Brutality in 1970s NC.” The visit was the Center’s contribution to the Black History Month events on campus and continued its successful past co-operations with Intercultural Student Affairs, the Black Student Union, the Black Faculty and Staff Association and Appalachian State University’s Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Willie C. Fleming. The timeliness of the event - even before the national and global protests - was underscored by an overflowing lecture hall that had audience members standing in the hallway to listen to the speaker.
The Rev. Dr. Bradford Lilley serves as Senior Pastor at Shekinah Glory Church International. He has been in the pastoral ministry in NC for thirty years. In the early 1970s, he was a member of the Winston-Salem chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP), the BPP’s only chapter in the South. Founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was an anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, and anti-racist party organization that began with initiatives to protect African American neighborhoods and prevent acts of police brutality. Lilley spoke at length about the work of the BPP, including the launch of Free Breakfast Programs in several NC cities and the frequent police violence in the state that the chapter sought to end. During the Q-and-A, participants discussed the collaboration and conflicts of the Panthers with the Jewish community and police brutality in the US today.
The Rev. Dr. Bradford Lilley serves as Senior Pastor at Shekinah Glory Church International. He has been in the pastoral ministry in NC for thirty years. In the early 1970s, he was a member of the Winston-Salem chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP), the BPP’s only chapter in the South. Founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was an anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, and anti-racist party organization that began with initiatives to protect African American neighborhoods and prevent acts of police brutality. Lilley spoke at length about the work of the BPP, including the launch of Free Breakfast Programs in several NC cities and the frequent police violence in the state that the chapter sought to end. During the Q-and-A, participants discussed the collaboration and conflicts of the Panthers with the Jewish community and police brutality in the US today.