Boise Kimber

Last updated

Boise Kimber (born February 9, 1959) is an American Baptist minister and civil rights activist. He is the pastor of First Calvary Baptist churches in New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut.

Contents

Political and community life

In Connecticut, Kimber has been described as one of the “powerful players within the black community”. [1] Locally, Kimber is President Emeritus of the Greater New Haven Clergy Association, a consultant to the office of Multicultural Affairs and the Multicultural Center at Southern Connecticut State University, a Fire Commissioner for the City of New Haven, a Director for Aids Interfaith Network, Inc., an advisor to local labor unions, and a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

Nationally, he serves as Director of Rev Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, Inc., the Conference of National Black Churches, and as Executive Director of the Social Justice Initiative.

Kimber formerly served as the Chairman of the New Haven Fire Commission, where he was embroiled in controversy after the union head accused him making racist comments. After Kimber stepped down from leadership, long-serving New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, Jr., who appointed Kimber, said he was “pleased that he acknowledged that they were inappropriate and demonstrated real leadership by not letting his leadership as head of the commission become an issue." [2]

Kimber is president of the Connecticut Missionary Baptist State Convention, and in 2013 was a candidate for president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., the nation’s oldest and largest African-American religious group. While addressing the Louisiana Missionary Baptist State Convention (LMBSC) in November 2013, Kimber said,

“We must speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, for those who are disenfranchised… we must have a voice… When was the last time you heard this convention talk about anything that was wrong in our world? We said nothing about Trayvon Martin; we said nothing about the (federal government) shutdown. We said nothing about gay and lesbian marriages." [3] Kimber was later endorsed by LMBSC President C.S. Gordon Jr. [4]

In July 2013, Kimber led a coalition of religious and social groups in a "Justice for Trayvon" vigil to press the federal government to investigate civil rights charges against George Zimmerman. Kimber said, "How many more times do we have to rally around justice for our children? How many more courts will free overzealous vigilantes who gun down unarmed American citizens and cry self-defense? Black and Brown American teens should feel confident that the American justice system also works for them; the Zimmerman acquittal tells them otherwise." [5]

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Kimber led a prayer service with Al Sharpton for the victims and survivors of the mass shootings. “We come here in solidarity with our brother and sister up the street to let you know your pain is our pain and your hurt is our hurt,” said Kimber. [6] On Sharpton's national television news show later that evening, Kimber added that, "We come tonight to ask that communities all over this country, let`s come together, stand together, and let`s begin to work with Congress, Senate and let`s make sure that our representatives understand what is happening within our communities." [7]

In 2014 Kimber partnered with a local businessman to announce the launch of a $1 million loan program for urban churches. [8] Additionally, he and the same businessman have been conducting job fairs in urban churches throughout Connecticut. [9]

In 2001 Kimber participated in a Congressional Lunch of Ministers; participants talked about revitalizing black and urban communities and the role of social institutions such as church and family in meeting that goal. [10]

In 2012 he hosted Sharpton at a get-out-the-vote rally. [11]

Kimber was recently honored at the National Action Network's national convention for his service to the church and the community. President Barack Obama presented the keynote speech that focused on the importance of protecting voting rights. [12]

On July 6, 2022 Dr. Kimber called for a hate crime charge to be brought against a 48-year-old white man who allegedly pushed an 11-year-old biracial boy off his bike in June of 2022. "Yes, the individual was arrested, but we feel as though this is more a hate crime than it is a risk of injury to a young kid," the Rev. Boise Kimber of First Calvary Baptist Church in New Haven said. "This case here is a case of harassment," Kimber said at a news conference outside Deep River Town Hall.

Early life and education

Boise Kimber was born in 1959 in Phenix City, Alabama to parents Milburn and Ruthie Kimber; he was the middle child of three children. He attended local schools and graduated from Central High School. Raised in the Baptist Church, he began preaching at age 15.

In 1981, Kimber completed his undergraduate studies at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, and in 1997, he earned a Master of Arts Degree in Religious Life from Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut. In May 2001, he completed his Doctorate Degree in Ministry at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. His approved dissertation title was Developing a Social Justice Consciousness in a Local Congregation. [13]

Personal life

Kimber is married to the former Shevalle Turner.

US Supreme Court case Ricci v. DeStefano (2009)

As Chairman of the New Haven Fire Commission, in 2004, Kimber lobbied with other members to set aside the results of a firefighter's promotion exam, as no blacks qualified highly enough to have a chance at the available slots. Using the exam results would have promoted whites and a Latino firefighter to the available upper positions. The 20 firefighters who qualified for promotion under this exam filed suit against the city for its action.

In his concurring opinion in Ricci v. DeStefano (2009), Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito singled out Kimber for having political motivations in his decision to set aside the results. This brought Kimber into the center of the controversy and led to mass media attention. [14] Journalist Emily Bazelon of Slate referred to Kimber as "a convenient example of small-time race baiting and semi-thuggery." [15]

Philanthropy

In 2016 Don Vaccaro and Rev Kimber launched Grace Church Websites, a non-profit that offers local churches and nonprofit groups in the New Haven area a wide variety of free Web-related services, including domain registration, website maintenance, annual domain renewal, content management system, and hosting. Since February 2016, the company has worked with more than 600 churches and nonprofit organizations to launch free websites. [16] [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Haven, Connecticut</span> City in Connecticut, United States

New Haven is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2021 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Connecticut after Bridgeport and Stamford and the principal municipality of Greater New Haven, which had a total 2020 population of 864,835.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Sharpton</span> American Baptist minister, civil rights activist and talk show host

Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election. He hosts his own radio talk show, Keepin' It Real, and he makes frequent appearances on cable news television. In 2011, he was named the host of MSNBC's PoliticsNation, a nightly talk show. In 2015, the program was shifted to Sunday mornings. In October 2020, PoliticsNation was rescheduled to Saturdays and Sundays, airing at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time both days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodi Rell</span> 87th Governor of Connecticut

Mary Carolyn "Jodi" Rell is an American former Republican politician and the 87th governor of Connecticut from 2004 until 2011. Rell also served as the state's 105th lieutenant governor of Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John DeStefano Jr.</span> American mayor

John DeStefano Jr. is an American politician who served as the 49th mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, from 1994 until 2014. He was the Democratic nominee in 2006 for Governor of Connecticut, unsuccessfully challenging incumbent Republican Governor M. Jodi Rell. He was also the named defendant in the landmark 2009 U.S. Supreme Court case of Ricci v. DeStefano. John DeStefano is the son of a New Haven police officer. John and his wife Kathy DeStefano met at the University of Connecticut as undergraduates, where he also earned a Masters in Public Administration. Kathy DeStefano is a first grade teacher in West Haven, Connecticut, and they are the parents of two adult sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Bysiewicz</span> 109th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut

Susan Bysiewicz is an American politician and attorney who is the 109th lieutenant governor of Connecticut, serving since January 9, 2019. She previously served as the 72nd secretary of the state of Connecticut from 1999 to 2011. She was briefly a candidate for governor of Connecticut in 2010, before dropping out to run for Connecticut Attorney General. She was disqualified from running for the office by the Connecticut Supreme Court and announced in 2011 that she was running for the United States Senate in the 2012 election to replace the retiring Joe Lieberman. She lost the Democratic primary to U.S. Representative Chris Murphy, who went on to win the general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Action Network</span> Civil rights organization

The National Action Network (NAN) is a not-for-profit, civil rights organization founded by the Reverend Al Sharpton in New York City, New York, in early 1991. In a 2016 profile, Vanity Fair called Sharpton "arguably the country's most influential civil rights leader".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 United States Senate election in Connecticut</span>

The 2006 United States Senate election in Connecticut was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman won his fourth and final term in the Senate, under the Connecticut for Lieberman party banner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The First Cathedral</span> Church in Connecticut, United States

The First Cathedral, originally known as First Baptist Church, is a Black Baptist congregation in Hartford, Connecticut.

Michael P. Lawlor is an American politician, criminal justice professor, and lawyer from Connecticut. A Democrat, he served as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1987 to 2011, representing the 99th district in East Haven. Lawlor resigned from the legislature on January 4, 2011 to serve in Dan Malloy's administration as undersecretary for criminal justice policy and planning at the Office of Policy and Management.

Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557 (2009), is a United States labor law case of the United States Supreme Court on unlawful discrimination through disparate impact under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Figueroa (activist)</span> American activist

Juan A. Figueroa is a principal with Helene Figueroa at Soltaino Consultants, a strategic planning, applied research, advocacy and health philanthropy nonprofit consulting firm recognized for authoring an in-depth study on the health status of immigrants and refugees in Missouri (2019–present).

Karen Lee Torre is an American attorney based in New Haven, Connecticut, most notable for litigating the landmark Supreme Court case of Ricci v. DeStefano. The case was argued by Gregory Coleman before the United States Supreme Court.

The Phoenix Society is a black fraternal organization of firefighters in the Hartford (Connecticut) Fire Department. The organization was founded in 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lubbie Harper Jr.</span> American judge (born 1942)

Lubbie Harper Jr. is an American lawyer and judge who was the third African American to become a justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, serving from 2011 through 2012. While seconded to the court in 2008, he cast the deciding vote in Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, a ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in Connecticut. Harper also served as a justice on the Connecticut Superior Court (1997–2005) and on the Connecticut Appellate Court (2005–2011).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Connecticut gubernatorial election</span>

The 2018 Connecticut gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the next governor and lieutenant governor of Connecticut, concurrently with the election of Connecticut's Class I U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections. This race's Democratic margin of victory was the closest to the national average of 3.1 points.

L. Ronald Durham is an American civil right activist, pastor and a Baptist minister from Daytona Beach Florida. He has been a pastor at Greater Friendship Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Florida, leader of local National Action Network and has been in ministry for thirty-eight years.

Adrianne Baughns-Wallace is a television journalist, the first African-American television anchor in New England, and a member of the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame.

This is a list of George Floyd protests in Connecticut, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayoral elections in Hartford, Connecticut</span> Elections for mayor in Hartford, Connecticut

Elections are currently held every four years to elect the mayor of Hartford, Connecticut.

Mary Amelia Swift was an American teacher and textbook writer. Little is known of her early life, though she was raised in western and central Connecticut. In 1833, she became the principal of the Litchfield Female Academy, leading the school for three years. That year, noting a need to teach basic science and finding no adequate textbooks, she wrote First Lessons on Natural Philosophy–Part First. It was one of the first scientific texts written by a woman and was based on her observations of teaching needs from her classroom experience. Three years later she wrote a more advanced textbook for older children, First Lessons on Natural Philosophy–Part Second.

References

  1. ↑ Josef Goodman, "Master of the City: How Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. Ruled New Haven", Huffington Post
  2. ↑ "New Haven Fire Panel Chairman Steps Down", Hartford Courant, 13 June 2002
  3. ↑ National Baptist Convention presidential candidates tout platforms for 2014 election in New Orleans, New Orleans Picayune, November 2013
  4. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2014-03-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ↑ "Justice for Trayvon rally set for Saturday in New Haven", New Haven Register-Citizen
  6. ↑ "Sharpton: We must limit access to high-powered weapons", BET News, 19 December 2012
  7. ↑ , NBC News, 19 December 2012
  8. ↑ "Loan Agency Chief And Local Announce New Urban Church Construction Loan Program", Hartford Courant, 20 February 2014
  9. ↑ "Fast-Growing, Ticketing-Software Company Provides Opportunity To Job Seekers", Hartford Courant, 08 February 2014
  10. ↑ , C-Span
  11. ↑ "Sharpton urges black voters to exercise their votes"
  12. ↑ "Boise Kimber receives national award", National Action Network
  13. ↑ "Bio: Boise Kimber", Connecticut Baptist Convention
  14. ↑ Ricci v. DeStefano, a United States Supreme Court decision.
  15. ↑ Emily Bazelon, "Ricci's Competing Story Lines", Slate magazine , June 29, 2009.
  16. ↑ "Grace Church Websites launches free websites for Greater New Haven churches, nonprofit organization". New Haven Register.
  17. ↑ "Bridging the digital divide, company gives churches free websites". Religion News Service.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.