B2 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 , 2019
church six years later, told a simi-
lar story as he performed many of
his greatest hits for delighted fans
at the gala. He wrote “I Love the
Lord” for Union Temple’s youth
choir, he said, before Whitney
Houston made it a hit by perform-
ing it in the movie “The Preacher’s
Wife.”
Since Wilson began preaching,
the city’s population has changed
dramatically, growing whiter and
wealthier. And with it, the black
church’s influence has waned:
Wilson points out that several
churches that were once promi-
nent have moved out of the city
altogether, following their parish-
ioners into the Maryland suburbs.
Union Temple itself has shrunk
drastically due to gentrification.
When Wilson arrived in 1973, the
church had about 40 members; he
managed to grow that flock to
more than 7,500 at its peak in the
late ’90s. Today, Wilson Brown
estimates the membership at
1,500. And the pastors say the
exodus to the suburbs of their
members, who once walked toers who escorted him home in
style.
Wilson’s support for the man
who would eventually become
mayor again, then serve on the
D.C. Council until his death in
2014, was not just political but
pastoral. The minister officiated
Barry’s 1994 wedding, kept vigil at
his deathbed until 5 a.m., and
presided over his hours-long me-
morial service.
Tributes on Sunday revealed in-
fluence that went far beyond poli-
tics. Surprise guest Lebo M, the
musician whose voice famously
opens “The Lion King,” described
the welcome he found at Union
Temple as a homeless African
teenager. The movie musical he
helped create is “not a Disney
legacy, it’s a Union Temple legacy,”
he said, belting out his famous
“Naaaants ingonyama, bagithi
Baba!” for the crowd. “That’s a
Union Temple voice.”
The gospel musician Richard
Smallwood, whose father was the
founding pastor of Union Temple
before Wilson took over theWilson said he could name only
one regret — endorsing the mayor-
al candidacy of Anthony Williams.
He eventually found Williams’s
administration deeply disappoint-
ing and believed that he neglected
constituents east of the Anacostia
River, including by closing the Dis-
trict’s public hospital. Wilson was
so fired up that he ran against
Williams in 2002.
Wilson’s career entwined with
that of Marion Barry, the larger-
than-life mayor who defined D.C.
politics for decades. When Barry
was arrested for cocaine posses-
sion during his third term as may-
or in 1990, Wilson invited the
mayor and his wife to Union Tem-
ple and told the congregation to
give them “the most tumultuous
welcome ever in the history of the
world.” The churchgoers contrib-
uted $3,573 to Barry’s legal de-
fense fund that night.
Barry was sentenced to six
months in federal prison. Upon his
release, Wilson came to collect
him from the Pennsylvania prison
with six busloads full of support-pastor. Now, he’s glad to see a
woman as the lead pastor of a large
black Baptist church in Washing-
ton. “This is a fitting conclusion.”
Wilson Brown, 44, says she in-
tends to fill her father’s shoes as a
political voice from the pulpit of
Union Temple. “I don’t have to
re-create that. I was born in the
culture that my father, my mother,
the leaders of the church speak
out.... That legacy, that history,
that past allows me to continue to
walk in that path.”
When she is installed in April,
she will bring a new emphasis on
mental health. Her dissertation
research was on the impact that
gentrification has on the well-
being of displaced people. At
church, she wants to address what
she views as a neighborhood crisis
of displacement: “There is no oth-
er place that we can facilitate the
healing that is necessary. This is a
traumatic event.”
Last month, she brought in a
team of therapists to meet with
members after the killing of Atati-
ana Jefferson, a 28-year-old wom-
an shot in her own home by a Fort
Worth police officer who has been
charged with murder. “This is re-
curring trauma, incident after in-
cident. We’re opening the doors to
give people a place to come and
vent.”
Union Temple, she says, will be
a church “not afraid to direct you
to therapy in addition to worship.”
Watching that session, Wilson
says he was impressed, just as he
was when he showed up to a
meeting with plain paper hand-
outs while Wilson Brown pre-
pared a PowerPoint full of graph-
ics. “She brought in a battery of
fellow psychiatrists,” he said. “You
can see now why it’s time for me to
retire.”
While he’ll be retired from the
church, he won’t cease his com-
munity activism, he said. He’s
working on starting up a new
anti-violence program for D.C.
youth. He’ll keep following every
action taken by the D.C. Council.
“I am a follower of Jesus — that
is an unending job,” he said. Re-
tirement will only “free me up to
do more in the community.”
[email protected]church from the Anacostia neigh-
borhood, is to blame.
But Union Temple isn’t going
anywhere: One of Wilson’s priori-
ties was paying off the mortgage —
an achievement so significant that
Ayanna Gregory, the singer and
daughter of comedian and civil
rights activist Dick Gregory who
wrote a song in Wilson’s honor for
the party, included it in her lyrics:
“Pastor Willie Wilson made sure
that my Jesus looked like me,” she
sang. “Self-determination!... And
they bought the church building;
they paid it off!”
Wilson Brown said the church
staff wave away every offer they’ve
had to sell the property. “Some-
body has to be in the city. Some-
body has to do that work. We’re
going to do that,” she said.
Days before his retirement par-
ty, Wilson sat in the empty pews at
Union Temple, looking up at the
painting of black heroes as the 12
disciples that he had commis-
sioned for the huge front wall of
the church. Marcus Garvey. Doro-
thy Height. Carter G. Woodson.
Mary McLeod Bethune.
He worries that the black
church today isn’t as vigorously
involved in political activism as it
once was. “Millennials believe in
God and Jesus, but in fact, they
don’t see the relevance of the
church. That’s a real issue right
now,” he said. He blames the ap-
peal of the prosperity gospel,
which has led throngs of church-
goers to focus on their own materi-
al success instead of social con-
cerns.
But he is not worried for his own
church.
“I’m feeling great,” he said. “I’m
leaving behind someone I know
will carry on the work.”
He said he has known for well
over a decade that his daughter
would succeed him. She started
working at the church as an assis-
tant pastor 10 years ago and be-
came a full pastor three years ago.
When she finished her PhD in
counseling at Loyola University of
Maryland last May, he knew it was
time to hand her the reins.
In 1978, he said, he was kicked
out of a local Baptist ministers’
group for ordaining a woman as aattendees at a sold-out retirement
gala on Sunday night.
“For a lifetime, you have been
shepherding the people of Wash-
ington, D.C.,” said Mayor Muriel E.
Bowser (D), who brought her
young daughter to the gala. “You
have lived the belief that power
concedes nothing without a de-
mand.”
Wilson entered the event in re-
gal fashion, sitting beside his wife,
the Rev. Mary Wilson, on decora-
tively carved wooden thrones atop
a platform that was wheeled in by
a procession of men carrying gold-
en staffs. At the head table, he
joined his daughter, the Rev. Anika
Wilson Brown, who will succeed
him in April as the head pastor at
Union Temple.
Speakers throughout the eve-
ning recounted Wilson’s history of
activism, often dwelling on the
times he provoked controversy. In
1986, Wilson accused the Chinese
American owner of a carryout res-
taurant in Anacostia of racism
against black customers, and led a
three-month boycott of the shop
that some viewed as rightful but
others thought was unfairly harm-
ing a small business, or inflaming
tensions between Asian and black
communities in Washington.
In 1999, three white D.C. Coun-
cil members questioned Wilson’s
nomination to the board of the
University of the District of Co-
lumbia, claiming the pastor was
insensitive and divisive on issues
of race. He was eventually ap-
proved, 11 to 2.
“If you know Christ, you’re on a
cross — like my brother has been,”
Louis Farrakhan said, referring to
Wilson, his friend of more than 40
years, as a spiritual sibling. “He
has not been loved by everyone....
He’s living by the word that he
preaches.”
In a recent interview, Wilson
said his proudest achievement
was helping organize Farrakhan’s
momentous 1995 Million Man
March. (Farrakhan, the inflamma-
tory civil rights leader, spent the
largest portion of his lengthy
speech on Sunday talking derisive-
ly about his own critics.)
WILSON FROM B1
Willie Wilson, one of D.C.’s most influential pastors, celebrates his retirement
KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST
Some of those gathered for the retirement gala of the Rev. Willie F. Wilson react as gospel musician
Richard Smallwood performs some of his best-known songs. The singer’s father was the founding
pastor of Union Temple before Wilson took over the church six years later.BY CLARENCE WILLIAMSD.C. police arrested a 26-year-
old man on charges that he broke
into a sleeping woman’s home
early Sunday morning, punched
her in the face and raped her.
The crime occurred two days
after the suspect was released
from custody on misdemeanor
charges of theft, assault and as-
sault on a police officer, accord-
ing to police officials and court
documents.
The sexual assault victim told
police that she was asleep in her
residence in the 3600 block of
13th Street NW about 6:20 a.m.
when the assailant hit her in the
face with his fist and then raped
her, according to a police report.
Police said they believe that the
man, who fled on foot, came in
through a window.
Police arrested Theodore Tins-
ley, of no fixed address, Monday
on charges of burglary and first-
degree sexual abuse.
Court documents show that
Tinsley had been arrested in a
separate case only days before.
That encounter occurred as
police officers were investigating
the Wednesday theft of two bot-
tles of vodka from Downtown
Liquors, in the 3700 block of 14thStreet, according to a police re-
port. On Thursday afternoon, the
victim in that case spotted the
alleged thief, whom police identi-
fied as Tinsley, and called 911,
which brought police to the
scene.
Officers said Tinsley ran and
hid in an alley in the 1400 block of
Spring Road NW, where police
found him. Police said Tinsley
charged at an officer while swing-
ing his fists and punched an offi-
cer in the body and face. Tinsley
struck a second officer in the
chest, charging documents said.
A D.C. Superior Court judge
released Tinsley on Friday afterhe pleaded not guilty at a hear-
ing, court records show.
As a condition of his release,
Tinsley was ordered to appear
Monday for a mental health as-
sessment, according to a court
order.
A misdemeanor status hearing
is scheduled for Dec. 11.
Thomas E. Lester, an attorney
who represented Tinsley at a
hearing on the assault and
theft charges, declined to com-
ment Monday. It was not imme-
diately clear whether Tinsley had
a lawyer in the sexual assault
case.
[email protected]THE DISTRICT
Suspect in theft, assault later arrested in rape
It could not be learned which of
the two men was stabbed.
Authorities were called to the
restaurant in the 6200 block of
Livingston Road in the Oxon Hill
area about 7 p.m. after a fight was
reported. The fight spilled outside
the restaurant where the stabbing
occurred.
The victim was described as a
resident of the Washington area.
Donelan said police are looking
for the assailant and called on him
to turn himself in.
[email protected]
[email protected]BY MARTIN WEIL
AND LYNH BUIA 28-year-old man was fatally
stabbed Monday night during an
argument involving a chicken
sandwich at a Popeyes restaurant
in Prince George’s County, Md.,
police said.
The dispute began when one
man cut in front of another in a line
specifically for ordering a sand-
wich, said Jennifer Donelan,
spokeswoman for the county po-
lice. Popeyes resumed selling its
popular sandwich Sunday.MARYLANDMan fatally stabbed in fight
at Popeyes in Pr. George’s
tions for discipline, including a
reprimand or censure. It could
also strip Evans of all committee
assignments, a measure that
failed on a deadlocked vote over
the summer.
A federal grand jury has is-
sued subpoenas for documents
related to Evans and his clients,
and FBI agents searched the
lawmaker’s Georgetown home
in June. Evans says he has
spoken to federal prosecutors,
but he has not been charged
with a crime.
He also faced repercussions
for using his government email
account to solicit employment
from local law firms. In the
emails, he touted his influence as
an elected official and chairman
of the Metro board as a reason to
hire him. The D.C. Board of
Ethics and Government Ac-
countability in August fined Ev-
ans $20,000 for misusing the
city’s email system.
Evans has also faced political
fallout from his ethics scandals.
He has drawn six challengers in
the June 2020 Democratic pri-
mary — his first electoral opposi-
tion in a decade — and some
activists are collecting signa-
tures to force a recall election.
[email protected]disclose his clients to his staff,
the report says.
All but one of Evans’s consult-
ing clients refused to speak to
investigators, most invoking
their Fifth Amendment rights
against self-incrimination. One
client, former EagleBank chief
executive Ron Paul, said health
issues precluded him from being
interviewed.
Colonial Parking chief execu-
tive Russell “Rusty” Lindner told
investigators he understood that
retaining Evans’s consulting firm
was a way to purchase “greater
license for [him] to take Jack’s
time” and to “use him as a
sounding board.”
“The investigation identified
no evidence of ‘deliverables’ —
e.g., written reports to clients on
business or political trends or
developments, advice on specific
projects, or introductions to
landlords or other business part-
ners,” the report says. “According
to Evans, his clients were mostly
paying for the value of having
him available on short notice if
he could be helpful.”
The rest of the 13-member
council is planning to meet in
two weeks to review the report
and question the investigators.
The council has several op-speaking to a senior official in
the mayor’s office to find out if
the city government was going to
renew a lease on a Willco proper-
ty.
Evans arranged for a meet-
ing with his consulting client
EastBanc Technologies and city
officials to “pitch software initia-
tives that might lead to city
contracts.”
Evans also arranged for his
clients EastBanc and Willco to
meet with council member
Kenyan R. McDuffie (D-Ward 5)
to discuss potential projects in
his district.
According to the report, Evans
told investigators that these ac-
tions were motivated by the
public interest rather than his
paying clients. Evans told The
Post that arranging meetings
with officials and assisting Will-
co with city agencies amounted
to constituent service work that
his office would provide for any-
one.
The firm also found that Evans
failed to disclose his clients, as
required by council rules, and
gave contradictory explanations.
Evans told investigators that he
relied on his staff to identify
potential conflicts of interest but
also conceded that he didn’tutilities. He suggested to Manatt
that he could sign Exelon as a
client and later got the job. Evans
said his actions were appropriate
because he pushed for the merg-
er before starting work at
Manatt.Evans, while representing
the parent company of Colonial
Parking, used his legislative posi-
tion to block the mayor’s pro-
posed tax increase on commer-
cial parking lots. Evans said he
has consistently opposed in-
creases on parking lot taxes.
Evans and his staff repeated-
ly assisted the development com-
pany Willco in dealing with is-
sues at city agencies, includingInvestigators found no ethics
violations in at least eight other
instances of potential conflicts
examined by the firm. For exam-
ple, they found Evans did not
break rules prohibiting law-
makers from using staff for
non-council functions when he
had his chief of staff spend
“limited” time on his consulting
business.
Evans, who has worked for
several prominent local law
firms, formed his own consulting
company in 2016. He contracted
with 10 entities, “mostly local
busi nesses owned by Evans’s
close friends or acquaintances,”
the report said.
D.C. lawmakers earn about
$140,000 and are permitted to
have outside employment but
are required to avoid conflicts of
interest.
The firm’s 97-page report de-
tailed instances in which Evans
took official action that affected
the financial interests of his
clients and employers.
Among the findings:
Evans repeatedly acted to
support a controversial merger
between Pepco and Exelon while
he was negotiating for a job at
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, a law
firm handling the merger of theics rule while serving as chair-
man of its board. Evans resigned
from the Metro board, and the
D.C. Council stripped him of the
chairmanship of a powerful com-
mittee and decided to conduct its
own review of his activities in the
past five years.
As a council member, Evans
“repeatedly participated in his
official capacity in ‘particular
matters’ in which his outside
employers or his personal cli-
ents had direct financial inter-
ests, failing to recognize the
inherent conflict that should
have been disclosed and ad-
dressed,” O’Melveny & Myers
concluded.
“He received over $400,000
for doing little or no documented
work for consulting clients most,
if not all, of whom were also
‘prohibited sources’ under the
Code of Official Conduct,” the
report said.
Reached Monday night, Evans
disputed the law firm’s findings
and said his conduct was appro-
priate. He said his legal team,
which had access to the report
over the weekend, planned to
issue a detailed 40-page response
Tuesday.
EVANS FROM B1
Longtime D.C. Council member disputes finding that he violated ethics rules
“According to Evans,
his clients were mostly
paying for the value of
having him available on
short notice if he could
be helpful.”
Report by O’Melveny & MyersSubscriber Exclusives
Access subscriber benefits at washingtonpost.com/my-post.A Real “Trill”: Free Tickets to Bria Skonberg
on November 21 at City Winery
The trailblazing trumpeter, vocalist and songwriter has sung with Michelle Williams
of Destiny’s Child, played with U2 at the Apollo and shared the stage with the Dave
Matthews band. “If Louis Armstrong and Doris Day could somehow be the same person,
they’d be Bria Skonberg. With her outstandingly Satchel-mouthed trumpet solos,
charismatic singing and sunshine personality, [she] continues to shine a light on...
New Hot Jazz...” (Wall Street Journal)Music to Our Ears: Free Tickets to San Fermin
on November 22 at 9:30 Club
The visionary project of composer and songwriter Ellis Ludwig-Leone, pop group
San Fermin made its debut with Downtown Records (2013), a self-titled LP hailed by
NPR as “one of the year’s most ambitious, evocative and moving records.” The group’s
new album The Cormorant I (October), is a mix of 8 tracks. “There is pressure building
beneath the tenderness of these reflective pieces, and when it bursts,
it is glorious.” (Exclaim.ca)