For the most part, the invocation before the City of Brownsville Commission meetings has always been a sedate affair.
Led by Pastor Brad Burke, from Embassy of the Spirit, of Brownsville, it usually calls for guidance for the mayor and the commissioner as they decide on budget and city policy.
On Tuesday, Burke deviated from his normal prayer and at the end asked for a moment of silence "in remembrance of Charlie Kirk who passed this week of despicable violence, and it's always despicable."
A review of the taped meeting indicates that no one objected at the time to the injection of the national political controversy into city hall, except for one listener who followed Burke outside the chambers into the hallway and questioned him for bringing the issue to the city commissioner chambers.
Yolanda Speece, who attends every city commission meeting and addresses its members criticizing the city police and its administrators confronted Burke and challenged him over bringing the politically divisive subject up at the meeting.
"I don't agree that he should have injected politics into the prayer at a public meeting," she said later. "Who elected him anyway? No one is cheering over Kirk getting killed, but a lot of us didn't agree with his views on women rights, his views on blacks and minorities, or the treatment of migrants. It wasn't up to the pastor to inject those divisive issues in the invocation at city hall."
After she followed Burke into the hallway, participants inside the city chambers could hear a discussion outside where Speece was confronting the pastor on his inclusion of the moment of silence. As a result, two Brownsville Police Department officers were sent to investigate the disturbance. The fracas ended peacefully and Speece said that the two policemen followed her out the door.
Now she says that she will demand that the city commission institute a rotation where other spiritual leaders in the community can take turns delivering the invocations during meetings.
"I don't see why he (Burke) should be the only one to deliver the invocation," she said. "He doesn't represent my views or the views of the entire community. Kirk said some very divisive things about women and minorities, LGBT and immigrants that don't go well in a predominantly Hispanic city like Brownsville. I don't see why they allow him to have free rein. They need to get rid of him and get someone else who unites instead of divides."
59 comments:
Keep on stoking the fire Montoya. It's very obvious where you stand on Kirk.
Yolanda Speece
The Boner Killer
So we will only pray for whatever and whomever she sympathizes with. Sounds coherent to me.
Fuck him. Dead is dead.
Loser.
Pastor of hate. I wish there was a God so these assholes could wake up in hell.
Every city needs a person like Yolanda Speece. Good speaker, pure action and a seeker of Justice. She confronts the police, the City Commissioner and now a pastor. Good for her. Go Yoli.
Montoya guilty if he posts about current events. Montoya guilty if he doesn't post for four days. Montoya, keep posting.
Good for him. waaaaa! Fucking crybaby Juan.
Montoya, the non-believer who would've thought!
Get rid of that pastor!
Shit on him.
What does that have to do with anything? Maybe you're just using her as an excuse because your boner got murdered and bludgeoned years ago.
Why are you praying or sympathizing for anything? What does it matter what she thinks? Maybe pointing out bias and how the city conducts his business should concern us all. Would you have had a problem with Burkes, if he had asked for a moment of silence for Hitler's birthday? How is this any different?
Much like you were crying now anonymous. I can see those crocodile tears. We all know it's like Fox News. It's fake
Racist mofo pastor
What does Charlie Kirk have to do with the price of rice in China when it deals with Brownsville? Before the bigot was killed I had never before heard his name. The lady is correct this pastor is divisive. How sad. They are coming out of the woodwork.
Isn't Pastor Burkes supposed to be impartial and work toward uniting the community? How is talking about an honoring a man with a moment of silence when throughout his life he has incited hatred and violence?
Stochastic terrorism ...look it up
Stochastic terrorism..
Look it up and defend it...
She's not going to fuck you so don't compliment her...
It's cool that you all find Pastor Burkes toxic but if we really want that man gone, maybe a lot of us need to show up to the city commissioners meeting and demand that he be removed and that the city commission vote to put several people on rotation to present the invocation. That's how they did it before he came along. I don't know what he said or what he did to worm his way into the city commission but he's not going anywhere until enough people complain about him. If no one complains then he's going to be there until the day he dies. We don't need him there.
And the brownsville Chamber of commerce on a paid trip to DC
For what?
Thanks Vicente Gonzalez
When they die they won't have a peaceful rest.
Fuck Charlie Kirk. . . Burn in hell!
The thing is, if the city commission, mayor and city manager said nothing after he said that, my question is where do they stand?. They say that silence is complicity right? Does this mean that they agree with Charlie Kirk's statements about women, people in the LGBT community, black and Brown people like the people that make up 90% of the Brownsville area, and other marginalized groups. He also said that we should not exhibit empathy. So basically this is what Pastor Burkes was defending and endorsing as a representative of the city of Brownsville. His position is unofficial but his words and his actions are official. The city needs to decide whether or not to get rid of the pastor but it doesn't look good if they keep him.
The thing is you all slam on Yolanda but guess what? She's at those meetings constantly trying to make the city better and safer for all and not just people who were related to someone important in the city. We all live here so all of us should be respected equally. It isn't respectful to condone and to endorse someone who doesn't even respect the people in our community or the people in this country...
Plus if you don't like what Yolanda ,is saying, maybe you need to show up at those city meetings and speak up.
If NFL teams can say no to giving Charlie Kirk a moment of silence, why is it that in Brownsville Texas where 90% of the population is Hispanic and half of that are female, our city commission, mayor and city manager could not say no to Pastor Burkes request for a moment of silence. Did they even know he was going to request that moment of silence? Are they complicit with disrespecting such a large portion of our community?
Why did the city leadership remain quiet? I also don't recall them offering this to legislator and her husband and their family dog that were murdered in their home. Where was their moment of silence? Where was that moment of silence when all of those children over the years have been slaughtered in school by shooters?
The miniscule difference between Charlie Kirk and Hitler is simple. Hitler murdered millions. Kirk murdered no one.
The same will be said about you and all your family members.
The losers are those who don't have the intelligence to debate a man of such intelligence and instead resort to murder.
How did Charlie Kirk affect you or your family in a negative manner? This individual was a debater. But your hostility toward this man is only because of his political affiliation. Get over it. Get some help with your radial and hateful mentality.
To protest ICE!
So much for compassion.
Everyone who works at the city including myself does not like this guy and we all completely agree on a rotation. That was inappropriate of this so called “pastor” to do as he brought in his own views upon a meeting that had zero relevance to the events that had occurred. Burke, if you’re reading this, we’re all tired of you, we all don’t want you to say the opening prayer, please take the hint and stop showing up.
Current city employee
Can this Pastor please pray for the release of the Pedro Cardenas police altercation video? Can this pastor please pray for a great journalist to do a deep dive into how he (Cardenas) is a commissioner in a district he doesn’t live in, faked a divorce, had his fake-divorced wife apply for grants at BCIC, got the money, and then sold the restaurant. Burke, please pray for the release of the Epstein files and the Cardenas files. We as a community deserve the truth!
Este pastor republicano y racista curiosamente se casó con una mexicana hasta las chanclas. Al exterior es conservador y aliado de Trump y sus causas, pero en la noche se cobija con la raza y le encanta
It was all a show to make money.
Is he Cowen's friend?
This so called pastor who is supposed to be messenger of God "backs" someone who promoted "no empathy." There is so much wrong with this picture.
Oh crap, this city employee just might get canned as well.
Don’t know this lunatic but sounds like a typical democrat. A radical who needs attention.
Ya deja las drogas pendejo!
The truth is that you democratic lunatics are brainless.
Hopefully soon former employee. The city doesn’t need idiots like you .
So you don’t believe in God. Sorry for your loss.
Moment of Silence for Robert Redford. Now the City of Brownsville has to offer a moment of silence for all our people.
Invite a Fireman to do the Moment of Prayer. Invite a doctor, a teacher, a nun, a young person from our community. There are a lot of religious people in our community, give them a chance to share their skills and talents.
Free pastoral services. Who else are you going to get for free.
Let's cut through the chase. A great majority of Democrats have turned away from religion. So no pastor would have gotten away without some type of criticism. Most Democrats have instead turned towards freaks of nature , criminals, hate and violence.
So no se puede expresar en ingles mejor que regrese a su país. No se necesita mas ignorancia en mi país.
Democrats are too ignorant and too indoctrinated to accept the truth.
You are just glorifying a lunatic because you agree with her narrative. Just another democrat in desperate need of mental help.
If he chooses to follow a religion he might need to let go of his lies and hatred.
The killing of the innocent children in Uvalde still holds dear in the heart of many Texans. Most of us mourned and prayed. We will never forget this horrible tragedy. So don’t bring up politics when any individual is murdered. Death is final and effects many lives.
This is blant truth that Brownsville is run by Gringos. This pastor requested prayer for someone who was only out to earn money. Did he request prayer for Erasmo Castro how about the man that had something to do with the college?
Oust his punny Christian soul from the meetings! Is he receiving a salary from the tax payers of Brownsville?
8:16 AM Thank you for expressing yourself.
I don't see anyone fighting to get in there and pray! the guy does this for free. From the kindness of his heart. If you can find someone better go for it. Maybe he would appreciate someone else saying the prayer, for once but no one is free from sin, no not one. Not even I. and believe me this city needs all the prayer it can get. Yolanda, get over it. you're so petty!
Boy. I guess you really can't fix stupid. Charlie Kirk said derogatory things about Latinos, children of immigrants, women, LGBT people, Muslims and anybody who doesn't look like him. That is how he affected my life and the people I love...
I have a lot of friends and family who are LGBT so when you're attacking them you are attacking me personally. That is what the problem is and that is why that Pastor needs to go because what he is doing is he's disseminating hate! His political affiliation is irrelevant. His desire to endorse a controversial harbinger of hate on behalf of the city and the city commission is not Good. It doesn't make the city look good. The moment that they were put in a position to endorse a hate monger he pretty much put a horrible mark on the city of Brownsville. It's no longer the All-American City when they are espousing hate. They may not have said it but they did not disagree. He did it in a way where nobody disagreed and he put them all on the spot. For someone who is supposedly unofficial his behavior is pretty official.. It doesn't look good and the election is coming up...
Capital idea old sport! We need to get rid of him because he's been there for almost 20 years. He gets to determine who gets to do the invocation and he gets to determine what they have to say. So he sensors and he picks and usually the people that he picks are out of his church no other church and no other people that aren't familiar with them or related to them are allowed. That's not very godly! Everybody's talking about how he is being attacked but he attacks other people and by endorsing Charlie Kirk he's basically attacking a lot of people in our community. He's toxic and he has to go. Please show up to the city commission meetings and demand that he be removed from that position permanently. He should be banned. Brownsville should not be a city of hate and by endorsing Charlie Kirk it made our community seem hateful.
I think people have the intelligence that's why they don't bother with him. He is an idiot and there is proof of that
I agree but as it said in the play Julius says you're by William Shakespeare, it says that the evil men do lives on and the good is often turd with their bones...
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