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Show Conference addresses racial justice "Confronting Racism: Making Room for All God's Children" was the theme of the 17th annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Conference, United Church of Christ, which recently met in Colorado. The Bountiful Community Communi-ty Church participated in the meetings. The Rev. Paul Sherry, president of the United Church of Christ, gave the keynote address. He urged the people of the Rocky Mountain area to "seize the real opportunity to work for racial justice now." The Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. executive director, UCC Commission on Racial Justice, continued con-tinued the theme. 'Fully one-fourth of all black males aged 24 to 29 are incarcerated in prisons today," he stated. A 25-year veteran of the civil rights movement, Chavis told how he spent four and one-half years in North Carolina prisons during the 1970s as a member of the famed Wilmington Ten, "the first official case of political prisoners in the United States." He noted that on Dec. 4, 1980 the U.S. Fourth Court of Appeals overturned the "trumped up conviction," clearing the records and names of those who had been convicted. The annual meeting passed resolutions advocating moving to an open and affirming process, mobilizing against hate groups and caring for world resources. |