House Bill 9013

    Florida House of Representatives - 1999                HR 9013

        By Representative Bush






  1                         House Resolution

  2         A resolution in memory of the Reverend James W.

  3         Stepherson.

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  5         WHEREAS, the Reverend James W. Stepherson, a revered

  6  and respected religious and civic leader in the Miami-Dade

  7  area, passed away September 8, 1998, at his North Miami home

  8  at the age of 84, and

  9         WHEREAS, James W. Stepherson was born and reared in

10  rural Georgia, where he began his career as a minister and

11  married his wife, Effie, and where they raised their sons,

12  James II, Johnny, and Hilton, and daughter, Jeanette, and

13         WHEREAS, in 1960 Reverend Stepherson, with his wife and

14  daughter, moved to the Miami-Dade area to become pastor at

15  Antioch Missionary Baptist Church of Brownsville, which he

16  transformed from a wooden shack to a towering church and for

17  which he was pastor until 1995 and pastor emeritus for the

18  ensuing 3 years, and

19         WHEREAS, in addition to establishing his religious

20  leadership, Reverend Stepherson soon displayed his skills as a

21  civic leader, becoming the founding president of P.U.L.S.E.,

22  People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality, which was

23  formed in 1981 to exact fair treatment for African-Americans

24  at work and in court and which he led for 3 years, and

25         WHEREAS, Reverend Stepherson fought many battles with

26  local employers to grant African-Americans equal access to

27  jobs, including that against Florida Power and Light Company,

28  in which he urged African-Americans to pay their utility bills

29  with pennies until the company's hiring practices changed, and

30  other equally successful ones against Southern Bell, the

31  Dupont Plaza Hotel, and the Miami-Dade Police Department, and

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 1999                HR 9013

    544-146-99






  1         WHEREAS, during the trial of Luis Alvarez, a Miami

  2  Police Officer who shot and killed Nevell Johnson in Overtown

  3  in 1982, which led to civil unrest in that community, Reverend

  4  Stepherson and P.U.L.S.E. led protests against use of the

  5  privilege of peremptory challenge to exclude African-Americans

  6  from the jury, a privilege which was eventually changed as a

  7  result of similar protests nationwide, and

  8         WHEREAS, to the end, Reverend Stepherson directed his

  9  efforts to reshaping and improving the community of which he

10  was a part, insisting that it be fair and inclusive, and as a

11  result he affected not only the Miami-Dade area but also the

12  entire state, NOW, THEREFORE,

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14  Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of

15  Florida:

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17         That the House of Representatives honors the Reverend

18  James W. Stepherson, in memoriam, for his religious and civic

19  leadership and extraordinary contributions to the Miami-Dade

20  area and the State of Florida.

21         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution

22  be presented to Mrs. Effie Stepherson as a tangible token of

23  the sentiments expressed herein.

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