Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou - The Riverside Church

Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru SekouOsagyefo (oh-sah-GEE-fo) Uhuru (ooh-WHO-roo) Sekou (SAY-koo)Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou is an author, documentary filmmaker, public intellectual, organizer,pastor and theologian. Considered one of the foremost religious leaders of his generation, Rev.Sekou is the founding Senior Minister of The Freedom Church of New York City. He hasforthcoming collection of writings, Gods, Gays, and Guns: Essays on Religion and the Future ofDemocracy.Raised in the rural Arkansas Delta, he is a third generation ordained Elder in the Church of Godin Christ (Pentecostal). Rev. Sekou has served as the Special Assistant on social justice to theBishop for the Church of God in Christ in New York. At Judson Memorial Church in New York,he served as a Senior Community Minister. He managed a food pantry, HIV-AIDS,and homeless feeding program as the Social Justice Minister at Middle Collegiate Church. Heauthored the critically acclaimed Urban Souls, which takes a refreshing approach to the spiritualcrisis in America. He delves into Hip-Hop, religion, homophobia, sexism, race, and politics withorganic insight. Princeton Professor of Religion Cornel West penned the preface, writing: “Rev.Sekou has the most in depth and concise analysis of youth that I have ever heard." Rev. Sekouwas a fellow-in-residence at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. As an Ella Baker Fellow atNew York Theological Seminary's Micah Institute, he serves a chief strategist for organizingclergy for economic justice in New York City.Rev. Sekou has given over 1000 lectures throughout the country and abroad, including HarvardDivinity School, Princeton University, University of Virginia, and the University of Paris IV- LaSorbonne, and Vanderbilt University for the African American Lectionary Conference. He hasstudied continental philosophy at the New School, systematic theology at Union TheologicalSeminary, and is currently studying religion at Harvard University. Rev Sekou is a contributingeditor of The Fellowship Magazine. He was also a Freeman Fellow with the historic Fellowshipof Reconciliation.He served on Platform Committee for the National Political Hip Hop Convention, as well asSenior Adviser on Urban Public Policy for the Kucinich for President 2004 Campaign. Rev. Sekoudirected a community center in the notorious Cochran Housing Project in St. Louis, MO. Rev.Sekou is a Professor of Preaching at the Seminary Consortium of Urban Pastoral Education inthe Graduate Theological Urban Studies Program in Chicago, IL.In response to the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, Rev. Sekou moved to New Orleans for sixmonth and founded the Interfaith Worker Justice Center for New Orleans. Rev. Sekou was thefounding national coordinator for Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq (CALC-I). CALC-Irepresented over 300 faith based institution and organization around the country working toend the war and occupation in Iraq. On September 26, 2006 CALC-I led a civil disobedienceaction opposing the war and occupation of Iraq at the White House. Over 370 people werearrested including sixty religious leaders.

As an "International Ambassador" for the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Rev. Sekou is aStatesman for peace and justice throughout world. He co-led an interfaith delegation to Haitione month after the tragic earthquake. He built toilets alongside the Haitian people. Based ona Lecture he delivered in Beirut, Lebanon, his short documentary film, Exiles in the PromisedLand: The Quest for Home focuses on the plights of Palestinians, Iraqi, and post-Katrina NewOrleans. The film was accepted at the Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival. Rev.Sekou was a delegate to the People's World Climate Change Conference in Bolivia. He was adelegate to the Interdependence Day Conferences in Istanbul, Turkey and Berlin, Germany. Hehas played a key role in civil and interfaith diplomacy negotiations with the Iranian government.Recognizing his distinguished work as Public Scholar and Intellectual, the Institute for PolicyStudies-the nation's oldest multi-issue progressive think tank in Washington, D.C. appointedRev. Sekou as the first Associate Fellow in Religion and Justice. Recently, Rev. Sekou receivedthe Keeper of the Flame Award by the National Voting Rights Institute and Museum in Selma,AL.