DEMONSTRATORS CAMPING OUT LOOK FOR SOME HELP

After two nights of camping out at a city street corner known for drug
dealing, demonstrators calling attention to North End problems want more
help from clergy and their parishioners.

Last weekend, about a half-dozen people took turns sleeping in tents near
the corner of Mather and Brooks streets in an attempt to discourage drug
dealers and to inspire residents to take an active role in combating crime.
Other demonstrators showed up for a few hours to support the campers.

The campout attracted few ministers, mainly because the event took place on
the busy Easter weekend, said Hartford NAACP President Thirman Milner, who
helped organize the demonstration. Milner said he and others had
distributed fliers about the campout to some churches, but had not
specifically asked people to participate.

Milner said he hopes to meet with the Rev. Wayne Carter, president of the
Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, to discuss how pastors and
parishioners of churches in the Hartford alliance might participate in
future campouts.

"For this to be successful, the churches need to be involved," said Milner,
a former mayor.

Calling it a citywide dilemma, Milner believes attacking the drug problem
has to be more than a "one-block-on-a-weekend" fight. Community and church
leaders need to be willing to explore what's behind north Hartford's
problems with homelessness, unemployment and poverty, he said.

Milner compared north Hartford's plight to the civil rights movement of the
1950s and '60s, when the church was key in fighting for social justice.

Because pastors are leaders, they can influence parishioners to take an
active role in upcoming protests, he said.

"The quality-of-life issues are the moral issues that churches should
assist in addressing," he said.

The campout did attract a few pastors, including the Rev. Michael Williams
and the Rev. Himi-Budu Shannon, pastor at St. Monica's Episcopal Church on
Mather Street.

Some congregants of St. Monica's participated in the campout. Shannon said
he kept his church open through the weekend so that demonstrators could
pray at the sanctuary, meet with other church members and use the bathrooms.

"I think we, as a community, and church leaders need to identify with the
solving of the problems that exist in our city," he said. "Our church is
committed in any possible way."

Carter, head of the ministerial alliance, said Wednesday that he had
participated in several protest marches calling attention to crime in the
city, but was away during the Easter weekend.

A pastor's many obligations to a congregation can prevent him or her from
attending each day of a continuing demonstration, Carter said, but pastors
can encourage staff and parishioners to become involved.

Carter said he has not met with alliance members to discuss their role in
future protests against drugs and violence, but he was willing to play an
active role through "prayer and presence."

"We need to eradicate this," Carter said. "We need to use every method to
attack this successfully."

Participants in last weekend's demonstration plan to continue camping out
at other north Hartford street corners during the coming months, said the
Rev. Cornell Lewis, a protest organizer.

Echoing Milner's views, Lewis said black churches have historically been at
the forefront of social struggles in the United States. If clergy become
involved, the greater the likelihood that their parishioners will follow,
he said. When more people get involved, they will find their actions making
a difference, he said.

The corner of Mather and Brooks streets on Wednesday was clear of the drug
dealers that the previous weekend's campout targeted, Lewis said.

"This shows that people can come together and make a change, even on a
small scale," he said. "We're just trying to show people that things are
not hopeless."