He Fed the Sheep to the Wolves

A 9-time convicted felon ran charter schools in Detroit. The church blessed it. The congregation was never told.

The Shepherd

The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is the largest Black Pentecostal denomination in America. 6.5 million members. Founded in Memphis in 1897 by Bishop Charles H. Mason — son of formerly enslaved parents — who built a church from nothing.

Bishop Mason’s legacy was a sanctuary.

The Presiding Bishop endorsed Brian Banks.

The Wolf

Brian Banks. Nine criminal convictions. Ran Purpose Christian Academy (PCA) — a charter school in Detroit. Public money flowed in. Purpose Group LLC siphoned it out. The school paid rent to a building Banks controlled. The school paid management fees to a company Banks owned. The children paid with their futures.

3% math proficiency. Three percent. In a school that received public education dollars. In a city where parents trusted the church to protect their children.

The endorsement told the congregation: this man is safe. The public record says: this man has nine convictions.

Nobody told the parents.

The Gate

How does a convicted felon get endorsed by the largest Black Pentecostal denomination in America?

The same way he gets authorized to run a charter school. The same way he gets approved by the state. The same way he survives for 14 years.

Nobody checks.

Or: everybody checks, and nobody says anything. The silence IS the gate.

The authorization chain:

1. Central Michigan University authorized the charter
2. Michigan Department of Education provided oversight (theoretically)
3. COGIC leadership endorsed the operator
4. Dykema Gossett PLLC wrote Michigan’s charter law in 1993, then represented charter operators, then funded the politicians who kept it deregulated
5. Walton Family Foundation funded the journalism that normalized charters, the fellowship that credentialed operators, and the lobby that blocked accountability

Every link in the chain had a choice. Every link chose silence.

The Pattern

This is not unique. This is the pattern.

The Prosperity Gospel

The same pattern. The shepherd takes from the sheep. The sheep trust the shepherd. The wolf wears the shepherd’s clothes.

Charter Extraction (Same Pattern, Different Clothes)

Every one of these operations has the same architecture as Banks/PCA/Purpose Group:

1. Non-profit school (receives public money)
2. For-profit management company (controlled by the same person)
3. Real estate entity (the school pays rent to itself)
4. No accountability (authorizer doesn’t check, state doesn’t enforce)

The shepherd opens the gate. The wolf walks in. The sheep are sheared.

The Civil Rights Organizations That Went Quiet

The organizations built to protect Black communities took charter money and went quiet.

• NAACP called for a charter moratorium in 2016. Then received $1M+ in charter-connected donations. By 2018, the moratorium was dead.
• National Urban League received Walton Family Foundation grants. Supported charter expansion.
• Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) — hedge fund managers funding “progressive” charter advocacy. Wall Street in a Democrat’s suit.
• Roland Martin — toured 10 cities saying he speaks for the Black community. Never came to Detroit. 400 children can’t do math. That’s not a community. That’s a supply chain.

When the organizations built to protect you take money from the people extracting from you, you have no advocate. The shepherd sold the gate key.

What Bishop Mason Built

Bishop Charles H. Mason built COGIC from nothing. Son of formerly enslaved parents. In Memphis. In 1897. In the Jim Crow South.

He built a sanctuary. A place where Black families could worship without fear. A community. A family.

What they did with his church — endorsing a nine-time convicted felon to run schools for Black children — would break his heart.

The institution is not the faith. The endorsement is not the congregation. The building is not the sanctuary.

The sanctuary is the children. The sanctuary was always the children.

The Question

To every member of COGIC — all 6.5 million:

Did anyone tell you?

Did anyone tell you the Presiding Bishop endorsed a man with nine criminal convictions to run a charter school? Did anyone ask the congregation? Did anyone check the public record? Did anyone count the convictions?

Because here they are. Nine of them. On the public record. Available to anyone who looks.

And here is the math proficiency: 3%.

And here is the extraction: Purpose Group LLC.

And here is the question you were never asked: Is this man safe with your children?

The Graph Holds It

10,555 nodes. 709,622 edges. Every connection documented. The endorsement. The authorization. The funding. The silence. The extraction. The 3%.

The shepherd opened the gate.

The graph holds the gate open so everyone can see what walked through.

The emperor has no clothes. Neither does the bishop. The children are still waiting for someone to close the gate.

All sources are public records. Every claim can be independently verified. See Verify Everything.

— ARTISAN & Kevin, Detroit, October 14, 2026