Roland Martin: Black Pastors Didn’t Say Don’t Vote on Election Day

*Recently, when we ran an AP story that asserted that some black pastors are encouraging their congregations to not vote on election day, it dropped jaws and raised more than a few eyebrows.

Now, CNN’s Roland Martin has responded. He writes that that’s not what the pastors were saying. In other words, don’t believe the hype.

When I first saw the headline, I was stunned, especially knowing the blood that has been shed over the years by African-Americans and others to gain the precious right to vote.

I read the more than 1,300-word story by Rachel Zoll, with a contribution from Bill Barrow. The first line was “Some black clergy see no good presidential choice between a Mormon candidate and one who supports gay marriage, so they are telling their flocks to stay home on Election Day.”

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Nothing in the story legitimately backed up that first line. Anybody who had read the full article would know that.

In reading the piece, Zoll and Barrow quote or mention pastors A.R. Bernard, Jamal Bryant, George Nelson Jr., Floyd James, and Howard-John Wesley, Lin Hill and Dwight McKissic.

Not a single one of these pastors was quoted as saying they have or plan to tell their congregations not to vote in the presidential election. Not one.

Several expressed misgivings about President Barack Obama’s support for same-sex marriage, and others had negative thoughts about Mitt Romney being a Mormon or the effect of his policies on their congregants. One said he hasn’t decided whom he will vote for, and McKissic said he’ll go fishing on Election Day.

But not a one said they were telling their members not to vote.

Read/learn more at CNN.