While many – including several national, state and local legislators, and members of the clergy – are very reluctant to publicly voice their opinion on the Israel-Hamas war for fear of reprisals, Brooklyn Pastor Louis Hilton Straker, Jr. does not hesitate to comment on the conflict.
Pastor Straker – who was born in Brooklyn to Vincentian Sir Louis H. Straker, Sr., a former deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidadian-born Lady Linda Straker – told Caribbean Life exclusively early Wednesday morning that he also wants “a permanent cease-fire and a peaceful return of all” hostages.
But Pastor Straker made it clear that his views are “personal and may not reflect or represent” those of Reflections Church, in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, where he is the founder and lead pastor, or the 67th Precinct Clergy Council, Inc., otherwise known as “The GodSquad”, where he is an active member and serves as chairman of the Board.
Pastor Straker said “The GodSquad” is “the premier clergy-led, anti-gun violence organization in the City of New York,” under its Public Safety Coalition, combating gun violence and other related issues within the confines of the 67th Precinct in Brooklyn and throughout the city.
“I am hard pressed to find any morally upstanding and conscionable human being that can honestly justify the vicious attack on the lives of innocent men, women and children at the hands of the terrorist organization known as Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023,” said Pastor Straker, who also serves on the Advisory Council for the Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center in East Flatbush and “a proud member” of Mayor Eric Adams’ Caribbean Advisory Council, under the auspices of the New York City Office of the Mayor – Community Affairs Unit.
[Shirley Anita Chisholm, née St. Hill – who was born in Brooklyn on Nov. 30, 1924 and died on Jan. 1, 2005 – was the daughter of Barbadian and Guyanese immigrants.
According to Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, in 1968, Chisholm became the first Black woman to be elected to the United States Congress, representing, for seven terms – from 1969 to 1983 – the then 12th congressional district that focused primarily on the Bedford–Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. In 1972, Chisholm distinguished herself in becoming the pioneering, first Black candidate for a major-party nomination for President of the US and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Wikipedia said].
“This heinous act of violence not only destroyed the lives of approximately 1200 people, but also the family and loved ones who mourn their loss,” said Pastor Straker, a community activist, who is “fighting for justice and the human dignity of all those created in the image of God.”
“My heart goes out to everyone enduring unimaginable grief due to the lives that were stolen not only by way of fatality, but also some 250 people who were taken as hostages during one of the worst terrorist attacks in modern history,” he added. “Unfortunately, this bloodshed was met with even more bloodshed, predominantly by way of Israeli forces’ counter-attack in response to Oct. 7.”
As any nation, Pastor Straker said Israel has a right to defend herself, but asked, “Against whom? Is it against Hamas or is it against all Palestine?”
As the death toll rises in Gaza, with more than 23,000 killed and over 58,000 injured, he said many are left to ponder these questions.
“Who is the enemy?” Pastor Straker asked. “If you ask a majority of people with good conscience, they would emphatically declare Hamas as the enemy. However, of the approximately 23,000 Palestinians killed, Israeli forces estimate 8,000 Hamas soldiers have been captured or killed.
“This has left many to wonder, how does the Israeli government justify the disproportionate amount of civilian casualties, all in the name of ‘national security defense’, and the desire to wipe out Hamas?” he further asked.
Pastor Straker said the death toll of innocent Palestinians has caused many to question whether this is “retributive actions taken against Hamas or a mass genocide of the Palestinian people.”
“The answer to this is not as simple as what one would see with their two eyes,” he said, adding that “without the proper perspective, one might conclude that this is an Israeli-Palestinian conflict, when, in actuality, it is not a battle with Palestine, but an Israeli-Hamas war with massive civilian deaths.”
Pastor Straker said “it is no secret that Hamas has been using Palestinians as human shields in hopes of evading Israeli counter-attacks, believing Israel’s discretion in minimizing civilian casualties would result in their favor.
“However, many question if that is truly so,” he said, noting that the media coverage, via social networks that have flooded timelines and news feeds globally, “has been inundated with photography and video footage of heart-wrenching images of innocent Palestinians, who have become casualties of war just as much as those whose lives were initially targeted on Oct. 7.
“This has resulted in a global outcry for a permanent cease-fire and an end to the siege on Gaza,” added Pastor Straker, stating that protests from all around the world have erupted, “many in support of the Palestinian people, whose lives have been thrown into chaos due to Israeli air strikes and ground attacks that have cut off valuable resources and destroyed over 100,000 buildings.”
Consequently, he said this has created “great tension worldwide — some violent — between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian supporters.”
Pastor Straker said the conflict has also “stifled the voices of those of good conscience in fear of being labeled antisemitic or Islamophobic for speaking up for what they believe is truth.”
Additionally, he said many politicians have “turned a blind eye to the injustice, as they have become beholden to the support of one particular group over another.”
Pastor Straker, therefore, infused the views of slain US civil rights leader, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “who once said, ‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter’, that ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’, and ‘The day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die.’”
“Yet, in the midst of all of this, innocent people continue to suffer and hostages are still unaccounted for,” Pastor Straker said. “From day one, I believe the primary focus in this tragic ordeal has been lost, and continues to overshadow the return of the hostages kidnapped and separated from their family and homes.
“This should have been paramount in Israel’s mission,” he posited, noting that a global call for a “humanitarian pause” resulted in a week-long cease-fire that resulted in 110 hostages being released.
“Why this was not pursued initially is beyond me,” Pastor Straker said. “I am a firm believer that Hamas must be stopped and eradicated, as with all terrorist organizations no matter where they are.
“But we must bring those who were kidnapped home now!” he urged, declaring that the bloodshed of innocent Palestinians and the destruction of Gaza have “produced nothing but outrage, division, strife, envy, hate and a deeper polarization of people against one another.
“In fact, while the Israeli Government believes that it is doing what is most prudent in destroying Hamas at any cost, my fear is they maybe radicalizing a whole new generation due to the unjust killing of innocent people,” added Pastor Straker, stating that “it is time for Israel to reevaluate its mission and overall strategy and consider that, which will result in a permanent cease-fire and a peaceful return of all kidnapped on that dreadful day. #BringThemHomeNow.”
More about Pastor Straker
After spending the first five years of his life raised in his mother’s hometown of Port-of-Spain, the Trinidad and Tobago capital, Pastor Straker said he returned to the United States to begin his formal education, and is a byproduct of the New York City Public School and City University of New York (CUNY) systems.
Raised in the church his entire life, Pastor Straker said he was sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, calling him to the office of pastor, in 2007, at the Reflections Church.
He said the church began with nine adults in his living room, “with little to no money.”
“But, by God’s grace, the ministry has now successfully grown, touching the lives of hundreds of people,” said Pastor Straker, adding that congregants have been enriched by his powerful preaching/teaching, and also have been empowered through the various programs and seminars designed to enhance the lives of people in the community and beyond.
Currently, under Pastor Straker’s leadership, the ministry is actively engaged in a multimillion-dollar project to build a new church home that, he said, “will be a resource to the community, equipping lives for this world and prayerfully the world to come.”
Beyond his numerous ministerial duties, committees and community partnerships, Pastor Straker said he “truly enjoys” lending his prophetic voice, as a fellow panelist on JRG Entertainment’s “The RESET,” every Friday morning at 10:00, with a host of esteemed panelists and over 750,000 listeners worldwide.
Pastor Straker is a devoted husband and father. He is happily married to the former Latanya T. Bryce for over 24 years. Together, they have produced two handsome young men, Louis III and Landon.
Pastor Straker said his ultimate desire and purpose in life is “to be a light and a reflection” of his Creator, “living a life, not just with success, but significance,” which, upon his “departure, will leave this world in a better place.”
