The deafening silence of African American civil rights organizations and churches

In this morning's Commercial Appeal, Wendi C. Thomas asks important questions about race, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression with regard to the police beating of Duanna Johnson. Thomas hit the nail on the head:

For Johnson, neither Rev. Jesse Jackson nor Rev. Al Sharpton have brought the national spotlight to town, and I think I know why.

Those who can be counted on to look out for the civil rights of black people are highly unreliable if that black person is gay, lesbian, bisexual and/or transgender.

It's time to recognize that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" (Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963).