Mourning the Loss of a Great Social Advocate

For the better part of six decades, the Rev. Marion C. Bascom served as an advocate for voiceless, persecuted souls.

On Thursday, May 17, 2012, the Lord decided to call home his tireless champion for social justice.

The longtime pastor of Baltimore’s historic Douglas Memorial Community Church and a major figure credited with advancing civil rights, Rev. Bascom spent his adult life working to remove racial and socioeconomic barriers that prevented African Americans and other minorities from enjoying the promise of equality for all.

A peaceful protestor, Rev. Bascom skillfully used the practice of nonviolence to bring attention to and correct the mistreatment of African Americans.

As a child growing up in Baltimore during the mid-1950s through the early 1960s, I greatly admired Rev. Bascom’s advocacy for the disenfranchised. Rev. Bascom was a real-life figure both myself and my parents could relate to and have worked to emulate.

His legacy will live on through the passionate pursuit of equality and justice for all.

On behalf of the citizens of Baltimore and the entire City Council, I would like to extend my heartfelt sympathies to family, friends and parishioners during this time of bereavement.