 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
September 3 , 2007 • VOL. 45, NO. 15 • Oakland, CA
Hundreds remember
slain journalist
at funeral Mass at St. Benedict’s
 |
|
Chauncey Bailey’s ex-wife Robin Hardin kisses his casket during the funeral Mass for the assassinated editor of the Oakland Post. To the left is Bishop Allen Vigneron. GREG TARCZYNSKI PHOTO |
As many as 1,000 family members, friends, co-workers and community members
attended the Aug. 8 funeral Mass for slain Oakland journalist Chauncey
Bailey at St. Benedict Church, where he was a member for 18 years.
Father Jay Matthews, pastor, a longtime friend of Bailey, was the main
celebrant of the Mass.
Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post weekly newspaper, was shot and killed
the morning of Aug. 2 while walking to work.
Devaughndre Broussard, whom police say admitted to the shooting, was reportedly
upset about a critical article Bailey was preparing to write about Your
Black Muslim Bakery, an Oakland organization that helped struggling families
and men just out of prison in the 1960s and ‘70s, but which has
been accused of criminal activity since then. Broussard worked as a handyman
for the bakery and was arrested Aug. 3.
Father Matthews called Bailey’s death a “wake-up call”
for Oakland. He said in a telephone interview with Catholic News Service
Aug. 10 that he hoped it would inspire the community’s leaders to
take responsibility for the city’s future.
“This is the turning point,” he said. “I do not want
to ever celebrate a funeral like that again.”
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., attended
the service. Dellums said Bailey’s death has presented him with
his greatest challenge since becoming mayor in January.
Father Matthews likened Bailey’s death to a kind of martyrdom and
said he hoped it would help young people to consider making a difference
through the “vocation of journalism.”
“Martyrdom, in the history of Christianity, never diminished the
number of Christians; it always increased the number,” he said.
“Our martyrs did not die in vain. People saw their courage and people
witnessed their faith. If they could live the way they lived and die the
way they died, there’s something in that, and we need to embrace
that.”
Bailey’s commitment to journalism was first and foremost a belief
in what his community could accomplish if he provided them with meaningful
information, Father Matthews said.
“His legacy to this community is first that we must be committed
to one another,” said Father Matthews, who is an African-American.
“He always went after the kind of information people could understand
and appreciate. The love that he had for his faith and for his community
certainly came out in the work that he did.”
Before becoming editor of the Oakland Post, Bailey worked for 12 years
as a reporter at the Oakland Tribune. He also co-founded a small cable
TV station, wrote a screenplay for a film, and was working on a documentary
about poor communities in Vietnam, Father Matthews said.
“(Bailey) was truly a multi-tasker because he was so wedded to his
career,” he said. “It was 24/7 for him.”
In July, both men were honored by the Black Expo at a dinner for the top
101 black men making a difference in the Oakland area. Father Matthews
said he and Bailey sat at the same table that night. Father Matthews’
mother and sister were there with some members of the parish.
“He had a wonderful time that evening, being with us,” he
said. “And that was just a couple of weeks ago.”
