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National
Historic Black Church In Washington, D.C. Sues Proud Boys Over Vandalization
Theodore Lumpkin Jr., A Member Of The Tuskegee Airmen, Dies From COVID-19
Theodore Lumpkin, Jr.,
a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen crew, has passed away just days away from his 101st birthday.
According to the Associated Press, Lumpkin passed away from COVID-19. No further details are available. His death was announced on Saturday (January 9) by his son Theodore Lumpkin, III.
He was an intelligence offi- cer with the Airmen, the first Black pilots in the segregated U. S. military and among the most respected fighter pilots in World War II.
Lumpkin, according to the AP, was a Los Angeles na- tive and passed away on De- cember 26. He was drafted in 1942 and assigned to the 100th Fighter Squadron in Tuskegee, Alabama. His unit
THEODORE LUMPKIN, JR.
escorted bombers in Europe. The Los Angeles Times re- ports that since his eyesight was good enough to serve as a
pilot, Lumpkin served as an intelligence officer who briefed pilots on missions.
“We’re carrying on his [legacy], but it’s an end of an era,” his son said.
Lumpkin’s wife, Geor- gia, told the Times he didn’t talk much about his experi- ences with the Airmen.
“We were married for a number of years until I heard about them,” she said. “When I realized who these guys were and what they’d done, I was just overcome at how much they persevered. They did not bow down. They achieved things that detractors said they couldn’t, weren’t capable of doing.”
Lumpkin is survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter, several grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
One of the most prestigious Black churches in Washington D. C. has filed a lawsuit against members of the white su- premacicst group the Proud Boys for allegedly burning the church’s Black Lives Matter sign.
The lawsuit was filed this week by Kristen Clarke, the head of the Lawyers’ Commit- tee for Civil Rights Under Law. It accuses the Proud Boys of attacking Metropolitan A. M. E. Church and “engaging in acts of terror and vandalizing church property in an effort to intimidate the Church and si- lence its support for racial jus- tice.”
The Metropolitan A. M. E. Church is just one of the
churches that was allegedly at- tacked by Trump supporters in D. C. during the December 12 protests. Video evidence taken outside A. M. E. shows men dressed in black and gold jumping the church’s fence and tearing down the BLM sign.
Clarke says she hopes the legal action will send a mes- sage to future groups looking to cause chaos. “The Proud Boys and other violent ex- tremists must understand that they cannot unleash violence with impunity,” she said. “We are prepared to use the courts to hold them accountable and stand up for the institutions and people targeted by their racistactions.”
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