Rep. Barbara Lee was joined by Pastor Michael McBride, a Bay Area native, national faith leader, and racial justice activist, as her guest to President Biden’s State of the Union Address to Congress on Tuesday, February 7.

“I can think of no better guest for this year’s State of the Union than the East Bay’s own Pastor Mike McBride, who has dedicated himself to the fight for racial justice and Black liberation through faith, education, advocacy, and community building,” said Rep. Lee. “As someone who has been at the forefront of the movement for community violence prevention and ending police brutality, his presence is particularly poignant as the national discussion on reform continues following the death of Tyre Nichols. Voices like his are critical as we reflect on our future and what is needed in the East Bay and across the country.”

“I am honored to join my Congresswoman Barbara Lee as her guest at the State of the Union,” said McBride who is lead pastor of The Way Christian Center in Berkeley. “I am a survivor of police violence and an advocate for reimagining public safety. Far too many of us know the trauma daily encounters of violence have on our collective psyche. Now is the time to move beyond rhetoric, symbolism, and incrementalism.

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“We have models that can reduce harm and disproportionate contact with Black community members while also helping to dramatically reduce gun violence in our neighborhoods. We cannot be stuck in a daily cycle of police abuse and state violence that ruins lives.

“As I listen with my Congresswoman to the remarks of President Biden, I am hoping to hear a serious and urgent plan to tackle this issue. LIVE FREE invites Congress, mayors, and city councils who have the power to reimagine community safety to lean in on behalf of its most venerable citizens in the spirit of equity and justice. We can have peace in our time – if we choose it,” McBride said.

Michael McBride (known as “Pastor Mike”) is a native of San Francisco and has been active in ministry for over 20 years. Pastor McBride’s commitment to holistic ministry can be seen through his leadership roles in both the church and community organizations. A graduate of Duke University’s Divinity School, with a Master of Divinity with an emphasis in Ethics and Public Policy, McBride founded The Way Christian Center in West Berkeley, where he presently serves as the Lead Pastor.

McBride is the executive director of LIVE FREE USA, a national nonprofit that sees a world where every person is safely and peacefully connected to community. He is a national leader in the movement to implement public health and community-centered gun violence prevention programs, which have contributed to a 50% reduction in gun-related homicides in Oakland and many other cities across the country.

He is a co-founder of the Black Church PAC and the National Black Brown Gun Violence Prevention Consortium, which work to center Black and Brown gun violence prevention practitioners and scale up life-saving interventions related to urban and communal violence.

Regarded as a national faith leader, active in the Ferguson uprisings of 2014 and many subsequent uprisings, he helps bridge, train, and support millennials and religious institutions working on racial justice and Black liberation.

Pastor McBride has served on a number of local and national task forces with the White House and Department of Justice regarding gun violence prevention, boys and men of color, and police-community relationships.

In 2016, he was appointed as an Advisor on President Obama’s Faith-Based Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He has been a frequent contributor to the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN, the Huffington Post, and many other media outlets providing commentary on issues related to faith and racial justice.

This report comes from Rep. Barbara Lee’s Media Relations Office.

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