Ronald Myers: Easing pain, spreading joy

Flags of Freedom (American and Juneteenth) 

For Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D. (the name says it all),
pain is not just confined to the physical  realm.

Ordained by the Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dr. Myers nevertheless went on to

make the relief of physical pain a central part of his ministry. 

Wikipedia reports that in 1990, he became “the first ordained

and commissioned medical missionary to America’s poorest

region, the Mississippi Delta…”  This commission came from

the Wisconsin Baptist Pastors Conference, and prompted the following 1990 description of Myers in The New York Times:  “There aren’t many doctors like Ronald Myers, a jazz-playing, Baptist-preaching family practitioner whose dream has always been to practice medicine in the kind of place most other doctors

wouldn’t even stop for a tank of gas.”

While in the Delta, Myers became acutely aware of the terrible conditions that African-American catfish workers endured.  His ministry expanded once again to include their plight.  To this end, Myers founded the National Campaign for Justice and Hope.  Through this campaign, Myers managed to educate national and international audiences about these workers.  Myers also supported an historic (and winning) 1999 class-action lawsuit against the federal government for loan discrimination against Delta farmers.

Rev. Myers is also a leader of the Modern Juneteenth Movement, which is lobbying to make Juneteenth (the commemoration of the federal enforcement of slavery’s end in Texas) a national holiday.  In 1994, Myers was elected chairman of this advocacy effort by a group of peer leaders from across the country who had met at the Christian Unity Baptist Church in New Orleans.  As part of his overall commitment to the popularization of Juneteenth, Myers also founded the National Association of Juneteenth Jazz Presenters.  He performs jazz nationwide, promoting June as “Black Music Month.”

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Myers#cite_note-15

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth

Copyright June 22, 2012 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved