Opponents of proposed slot machines used a gathering of Maryland’s black church leaders to denounce any new gambling institution, as those leaders hope to use a likely influx of black voters to rail against slots.
“This is quite a visible and rallying issue in our Maryland churches,” said Louis-Charles Harvey, presiding elder of the Potomac District Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
“We must keep this issue before us, as it will greatly affect our community, and we must encourage people to get out there and vote.”
And with the nation’s first black presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, on the ballot, church leaders said they believe they can pull a large number of black voters from areas like Baltimore City and Prince George’s to vote against the proposed 15,000 slot machines.
“This is only the beginning. Churches are localizing through this conference to spread the word about the evils of slots,” said Wendle Billips, a delegate from Mount Pleasant AME church in Owings Mills, who was attending the Potomac District conference at Greater Mount Nebo AME Church on Friday in Bowie.
The Potomac District consists of more than 40 churches, with 35,000 members, most of whom live in Maryland, Harvey said.
Many religious and elected black leaders have come out against slots, including the Maryland National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and three of its county chapters.
The Nov. 4 referendum asks Marylanders if they would support installing slot machines at five locations, where the resulting revenue will primarily fund education, though some money will go to slots operators, the horse industry and assistance in fighting gambling addictions.
Comptroller Peter Franchot held a news conference with the AME leaders during Friday’s event, and was preaching to the choir — most church groups have come out against slots, and in Prince George’s, most of its leaders have opposed the machines.
And the rhetoric at Friday’s event was pretty much the same as it has been at many anti-slots rallies: The machines will adversely affect the poor, bring more crime and give taxpayer money to gambling interests.
But Franchot and others used the event as a call to arms for church leaders to push against a measure that proponents said will save the state’s budget, education funding and horse breeding industry.
“Put it in the church bulletins and fliers, talk to your family members … so we can take back control of our destiny and vote, ‘No,’ ” Franchot said.
