James Perkins Jr. Kicked Me out of African-American Church

Well, last night, Thursday, May 12th, 2011, I played a part in something that certainly made me understand and connect more with the emotions of former cult members.

I was excommunicated from a church, a black church here in Selma. I can't think of the name off the top of my head, because it was dark when I arrived and didn't see the sign, but I'll post the name soon.

Yes, for the first time in my entire life I was requested to leave God's house, a Christian place of worship and one of those people requesting that was the ex-mayor James Perkins Jr after Ronald Smith with the Freedom Foundation and the pastor of their church, the Selma Community Church, told everyone present that he couldn't remain in the same room with me.

I spent the entire day with a integrated group of volunteers from Selma working in Tuscaloosa and was in the process of dropping the last volunteer off at a local stop the violence meeting located in a local church a couple of blocks north of J.L. Chestnut. At the request of Mark Myles who had just spent the day with me, I entered into the church to sit in and listen in on a community stop the violence meeting only to find out that it was mainly a Freedom Foundation and Perkins event instead of a community event, although there were some others there, it appeared to me that Perkins was running the meeting and although Ronald Smith wasn't contributing anything, the way he acted later, I do question the authority he had in that particular stop the violence campaign.

I sat peacefully and quietly for approximately 20 minutes or so, and then Perkins singled me out and asked me to tell everyone my name to which I replied "My name's Dewayne Allday and I just wanted to say that it's a commendable thing trying to figure out ways to stop the violence in Selma". Those were the first words spoken by me. Perkins commenced to explain what they were doing but was interrupted by Ronald Smith who stood up, pacing the floor and announced that he couldn't be in the same room with me, that I was a thorn in the side of the Freedom Foundation since day one, that I was a racist and that I was one of the ones that called into the radio station all the time on their show and on whbb... Then he told everyone that there was "nothing good at all inside Dewayne Allday". He told everyone that he was going to have to leave because he couldn't stand to be near me.. That's when Perkins stated that he didn't realize who I was and that he was glad to now be able to put a face to the name and connect all the dots together.

I was the only white person in the room except for Gwen Brown and one guy I recognized as Freedom Foundation (can't think of his name). Perkins asked me what I wanted to say about the allegations and I calmly told them all that I certainly wasn't a racist and that there were plenty of African-Americans in this community and elsewhere that would vouch for me without even batting an eye, and I said that as far as calling into any radio show, I have never called not even once, and I listen very rarely; in front of Ronald Smith's peers I called him a flat out liar. This was very easy for me to do even considering I was somewhat at a disadvantage to debate since I really only was friends with one person in the room. However, everything I said, I said looking them straight in the eye and without hesitation.

There were probably 12 people in the room at the church and they started asking me a string of questions... a couple requested that I leave the facilities. One asked me what I had against the Freedom Foundation. I told them the Freedom Foundation was a cult and that Allan McConnell who worked with Watchman Fellowship, one of the nation's most recognized cult monitoring agencies as well as several other nationally recognized cult specialists had labeled them so. I told them there were some serious issues within the group. I told them that I knew nothing about the group until I met Mark Duke in person and the hair stood up on the back of my neck and more red flags went off about him than ever before in my life that he was evil.

Perkins asked me if I thought black people were inferior to whites. I was a little confused about the basis of his question, whether he was speaking about a race as a whole or whether he was asking me specifically if I felt superior to him, but I replied that I look at the individuals intelligence and heart, and it doesn’t' matter what color, whether black, white, Asian or Mexican. He asked me if I were a Christian. To which I replied "since the age of 13".

Someone asked me what I thought the Freedom Foundation was doing to which I replied "cults are a huge money maker... a manipulative front...fake....I said that there is a whole lot of money to be made in the cult business..."

One guy said that the entire white community supported the Freedom Foundation until they [the Freedom Foundation] started driving around with black folks in their vehicles] to which I told them that there was email evidence that their church had been labeled a cult prior to them even moving to Selma... that there was a married couple who had been attending some of their church meetings and the woman wanted to bring her minister to listen in at a meeting and via email Shawn Samuelson got angry with her and called her a goat and told her she didn't want her coming back but at the same time Shawn and Gwen were "circling" the lady's husband sweet talking him and telling him negative stuff about his wife, encouraging him to continue going. After the wife accused them of being a cult, Mark Duke's email actually came into play where he even threatened to sue the woman if she ever mentioned them being a cult or him a cult leader again. I looked at Gwen who had a "deer in the headlights" look on her face and said "you were a part of all those emails and correspondence Gwen.. what do you have to say.. You know exactly who I am talking about don't you...?" No response at all...

There was a little more ongoing debate before Perkins announced he was making an executive decision that he felt was in the best interests of the group and that was to request that I leave the premises, and some of the others agreed, although I could tell that some of them were contemplating some of the things I had said, even one had mentioned he had heard talk of the group being a cult... One had made some comments prior to all that going down that indicated to me he didn't trust them...

Although they asked me to leave, Perkins did follow up and say that he would like to follow up with me at lunch one day on the topic to which I replied, "I'd be up for it any time", and I sincerely mean that. No matter what he did or what I said either then or now should stop a civilized dialog and share our thoughts.

That was my first experience being kicked out of a church. I can very well picture former and present cult members being chastised and ridiculed in front of the others. Now I understand just all the more clearer how a cult works and how a "Christian" church is so much better than that. I understand now completely that if Ronald Smith and James Perkins would kick a person out at someone else’s church, then certainly they would handle themselves in the same manner in their own churches. It's not like I went there with ill intent. I was dropping someone off and they invited me in. I think stopping the violence in Selma and working towards that goal is a worthwhile and commendable thing. I do however question the motives of this particular group. What happened to me makes me think back about a sermon Mark Duke with the Freedom Foundation did when they came to Selma when he said that they were planning on getting political and would be kissing babies and doing whatever they needed to do to gain control and get power over the people in this city and if anyone would like to get a copy of that sermon to hear it in his own words, I'd be glad to find you one. I was sitting quietly in the meeting, even paid them a compliment that stopping the violence was a commendable thing until Ronald Smith ostracized me and made completely false allegations towards me in front of group of people who knew nothing about me. Although I can try to relate with Perkins position there was no reason to request me to leave. I would have left on my own. However, there was someone who asked me if I would be willing to work with the Freedom Foundation with what they were doing, I said that I would not be able to work with the Freedom Foundation, and I stated that I don't think many people would, especially after being treated like that. Keep in mind that had Ronald not attacked my character and lied about me the way he did, I would have listened quietly and eventually exited the building without a single peep of controversial talk.

In retrospect, I wish I would have given every single person in the room my phone number in case they wanted proof of the allegations that I made. I hope that something good comes of all this.

Ronald Smith and Gwen Brown have no place in any Anti-Violence programs since I'm convinced in my heart they put a racist pig in Colorado up to threatening me and my life and then letting that guy get airtime and lie about me on their radio show. In my opinion, this group is horribly bad for Selma, and I certainly believe there is plenty of evidence out there to support my opinion. As Forrest Gump would say "and that's all I've got to say about that".