Hometown Hero Reverend Bernell Butler has Passed but His Impact Lives On

Esther Gatica 

A courageous and resilient advocate, activist, Navy veteran and beloved minister, Reverend Bernell Florence Butler Sr. passed away on Friday, January 3, 2025. 

A close friend to many and an integral part of the Black Voice News and IE Voice legacy, he, along with family, clergy, and community leaders, organized nonviolent protests to demand justice in response to the tragic death of fellow Riverside native Tyisha Miller, on December 28, 1998. A story that placed a worldwide spotlight on the City of Riverside, police brutality and the Black Voice News publication. 

Bernell was born in Riverside, California on August 17th, 1957, to Lenore and Laurence Butler. He was one of seven siblings. 

He had a humble upbringing and his childhood was shaped by the values and beliefs he learned accompanying his mother to church growing up. After high school, Bernell lived in several California cities until, pursuing a deeper understanding of others, he decided to move to Oklahoma where he joined the Navy and served several tours of duty. Later, he joined the Navy Reserves. Bernell described his choice to join the Navy as the best decision he ever made outside of giving his life back to God. 

His life’s next higher calling came in his pursuit of becoming a minister. Inspired by the great sermons of evangelist Billy Graham and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., he eventually served under the leadership of one of his brothers, Elder Dewayne Butler. Bernell received his first minister’s license while in Oklahoma, under the tutelage of Doctor Malcolm Colby. He described his denomination as Pentecostal, the Church of God in Christ.

Given he had a minister’s license, Bernell was one of a few Black chaplains in the Navy. He served on a ship with 5,000 to 6,000 people of all denominations. He described it as almost like a floating city. All these experiences of integration and yet, lingering segregation, in addition to being a descendant of those who once picked cotton and other hardships, helped shape his viewpoint on pursuing unity and justice in whatever room he entered. 

Bernell eventually migrated back to California and worked for Southern California Edison. His calling to serve the Inland Empire community  deepend into advocacy and activism unexpectedly when on December 28, 1998, his cousin, 19-year-old Tyisha Miller, who treated him more like her “Uncle Bern,” was tragically shot in her car by Riverside Police. This devastating injustice catapulted him and his family into action. With support from figures like Johnnie Cochran, Jesse Jackson and local organizers, he brought national and international attention to the case. 

Their non-violent efforts including marches, protests, shutting down the freeway and talking to the press, spearheaded primarily by Hardy and Cheryl Brown, publishers emeritus, Black Voice News, led to significant reforms. These reforms include the formation of Riverside’s Community Police Review Commission to try to prevent more tragedies of biased police brutality. He helped to organize the Tyisha Miller Steering Committee that met for a year and a half with local ministers, professors and community members to incentivize unity and foster education on better safety protocols for Black citizens. 

In March 2024, Bernell  was interviewed by Scherly Virgill, project manager of the Homegrown Heroes series,  for the People’s History of the Inland Empire Digital Oral/Video Archive filmed at the Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California in Downtown Riverside. The full interview is available for review here. 

Featured in the Homegrown Heroes series, Reverend Bernell Florence Butler will be remembered as exactly that—a hometown hero—remembered as a man who stood up for his family, his community, his principles, his faith and the endless desire to spread the gospel and pursuit of justice.