Commentary

IN MEMORIAM: Civil Rights Trailblazer Rev. Dr. Vernon Tyson Dies at 89

NNPA NEWSWIRE — “Vernon Tyson was like a father and bishop to me and the Moral Monday movement,” said the Rev. Dr. William Barber, the architect of the Forward Together Moral Monday Movement and president of the North Carolina Chapter of the NAACP. “Often his presence in our midst kept us focused and strong,” Barber said.

Published

8 years ago

January 1, 2019

Oakland Post

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

The Rev. Dr. Vernon Tyson “hoped to become a peacemaker,” his son Tim wrote in the 2004 biography, “Blood Done Sign My Name.”

However, Tim Tyson said, “Daddy wanted the black freedom struggle to behave itself in a way that would help him reassure white people.”

In other words, Black people who turned radical in reaction to the radicalism of white supremacy during the Civil Rights Movement, “didn’t cater to my daddy’s desires.”

Instead, African Americans had to confront “that hate in the streets,” but also in their own souls, “to create a new black sense of self.”

On Saturday, Dec. 29, the elder Tyson, a retired United Methodist minister who worked in churches throughout North Carolina, died at his Raleigh home.

He was 89.

“I am saddened by the passing of Rev. Dr. Vernon C. Tyson, whose fight for social justice in North Carolina will be remembered for generations to come,” said North Carolina Democratic Congressman G.K. Butterfield.

“Vernon Tyson was like a father and bishop to me and the Moral Monday movement,” said the Rev. Dr. William Barber, the architect of the Forward Together Moral Monday Movement and president of the North Carolina Chapter of the NAACP. “Often his presence in our midst kept us focused and strong,” Barber said.

NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., also remarked on the passing of Tyson.

“I personally and the NNPA express our sincere condolences to the family of the Rev. Dr. Vernon Tyson. He was a fearless freedom fighter in the pulpits and on the streets of North Carolina,” Chavis said.

The Rev. Tyson’s work on racial reconciliation as a minister in Oxford was central to his son’s memoir, according to the News & Observer in Raleigh.

While the Civil Rights Movement was in full flower in the 1950s, “white backlash” marked much of the 1960s, and by 1970 the nation was still in deep conflict with the ideals of racial equality, the newspaper noted.

As Tyson wrote, “The sugar-coated confections that pass for the popular history of the civil rights movement offer outright lies” about the racism and prejudice embraced by most white Americans.

Back then, a lot of white people hated black people and made no bones about it.

Rev. Tyson’s first church appointment was in 1952, two years before the U.S. Supreme Court declared school segregation unconstitutional.

“Rosa Parks sat down, Martin Luther King stood up, and something shifted in America,” the Rev. Tyson has said, according to the News & Observer.

“I was caught on the front lines of that dilemma. So, it is that the struggles that I went through lots of people went through in my generation,” Rev. Tyson said.

“My story is really the story of people without number.”

Tim Tyson said he and his father often traveled together to talk about the book, and his father was on set for every day of shooting for a 2010 movie.

“My father has put a little bit of ink on every page I’ve ever published,” Tim Tyson told the newspaper on Saturday after his father died.

The Rev. Tyson worked at churches throughout the state, including in Chapel Hill, Sanford, and at Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh.

“Vernon was a great soul,” said Hope Morgan Ward, a bishop of the United Methodist Church.

“He was both a preacher and a prophet and a pastor,” she said.

“He was brave. He was strong. He was a wonderful husband, father and grandfather. He mentored many clergy, including myself.”

Tim Tyson said his father loved “a very broad range of people,” including those who disagreed with him.

“He taught us both with his words and with his example that you needed to have the courage to be a prophetic voice but that nobody can hear you scolding them. Nobody can hear you if they don’t understand that you love and respect them.”

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Oakland Post: Week of October 14 – 20, 2026

Published

2 days ago

October 19, 2026

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Black History

OP-ED: The Black Church Writes AI’s Next Chapter

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — I implore my fellow faith leaders to use these tools. Start now and use them with wisdom. We count on each and every one of you to make sure our communities help write the next chapter of this story. This rapid change is not as unfamiliar as it may sound. My first understanding of AI came from using a calculator for the first time in grade school. We did not call it AI, but it was a tool that helped me work through mathematical equations hours more efficiently.

Published

2 days ago

October 18, 2026

Post News Group

For generations, the Black church has stood strong in our communities through every historical change this country has experienced. During the civil rights movement and in recent times, faith leaders have helped uplift Black sanctuaries to register voters, keep food pantries open for people in need, and sit with families in hospital rooms in their most desperate moments. When our people faced new trials, they could always look to our faith leaders and the church to lean in to help us be included in these transformative changes.

Artificial intelligence is the latest revolutionary change to impact our society, and much like other transformations before us, underserved communities often get left behind.

I was recently featured in a report entitled “Faith, Community & AI” and it found that people send ChatGPT more than 70 million messages a week about religion. Nearly 22 million involve studying sacred texts, and 16 million ask about religious practices and holy days. Our members make up part of those numbers. They bring questions of faith to these tools every day.

Pastors have noticed, and according to a September 2025 Lifeway Research survey of 1,003 Protestant pastors, 42 percent said they use or experiment with AI in ministry. I count myself among them.

I write my sermons by hand, through prayer and study. When I finish a draft, I ask ChatGPT this question: “Where might this sermon become unclear or difficult to follow for someone early in their walk of faith?” It shows me gaps in my preparation, like where I incorrectly assumed everyone would know the context of who the Pharisees were. Then, change comes from my own pen, not the robot. The tool helps me reach the person in the back pew while the message still comes from me.

If I could have my wish, our whole community would take a similar posture. We must use these tools, understand them, and most importantly be present to help shape them if we want to be included in the coming change.

I implore my fellow faith leaders to use these tools. Start now and use them with wisdom. We count on each and every one of you to make sure our communities help write the next chapter of this story. This rapid change is not as unfamiliar as it may sound. My first understanding of AI came from using a calculator for the first time in grade school. We did not call it AI, but it was a tool that helped me work through mathematical equations hours more efficiently.

It starts with training; there is no involvement without understanding. Free AI trainings have begun in our churches and community centers across the nation. Every faith leader should sign up and, when possible, encourage members of your congregations to join you. By learning how to use AI, we can better understand what it can do, make up our own minds about its impact, and have a say in how it shapes our communities.”

Next, we must be at the tables where the builders of these tools make decisions. Presence is the first step toward understanding, and that gap is only bridged through a coordinated effort. How can any tool serve a community well if that community is not part of the conversation? Our traditions, needs, and concerns must be accounted for, and Black faith leaders are already making that happen. OpenAI’s recent Faith report states plainly that AI should never become an arbiter of religious truth. I fully intend to hold the company to its word, and the most effective way I can do that is from inside.

I will close with this––we must diligently protect what only the church can give. A believer in Seoul, Korea quoted in the report warned, “if you pour every struggle into a private chat, your pastor and your friends may never learn you need help.” A chatbot will not sit with a grieving family or pray with you at two in the morning. As we adopt this technology, it is up to us to ensure it keeps people connected to each other and to their church.

Rev. Dr. Adolphus Lacey is senior pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York.

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Black History

OP-ED: The Black Church Writes AI’s Next Chapter

Published

2 days ago

October 18, 2026

Post News Group

Artificial intelligence is the latest revolutionary change to impact our society, and much like other transformations before us, underserved communities often get left behind.

Pastors have noticed, and according to a September 2025 Lifeway Research survey of 1,003 Protestant pastors, 42 percent said they use or experiment with AI in ministry. I count myself among them.