EXCERPT from a speech given at St. John's Episcopal Church's Soul Supper, January 2017:
“After the Army I came back home and…I began to hear about a man named Martin Luther King, Jr., who was leading a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. I was so fascinated with him until I kept up with every move that he made… In 1964, I met with a group of ministers and we decided that because Martin Luther King had led the bus boycott in Alabama, we ought to do something in Memphis. Five hundred ministers decided on Sunday night at the church there on Lauderdale and Linden --- now Martin Luther King Blvd --- that we were going to meet Monday morning and ride every bus in Memphis. And even if our coats were drenched with blood, we were going to integrate the buses in Memphis. We met on Monday morning at 9:00. There were not 500 ministers there though. In fact, there were not 5 ministers there. There were only two: the late Reverend Samuel Billy Kyles and me. Along with Jesse Turner, Brother Dotson, and three other lay persons. We decided that, in spite of there being only seven of us, we would still ride the bus that Monday. Jesse Turner, Dotson, and I boarded the #7 Crosstown. We rode on the bus, and the driver told us, ‘Boys, you’re going to have to move back. You can’t sit up here. This is for whites.’ I said, ‘We’re very comfortable. And we’re not going to move.’ He got off the bus and went to a telephone and called in. Came back and got on the bus. We were still on the front seat. When we got around to Union and Crosstown, we saw nothing but an array of red lights up by the old Sears building. Fourteen squad cars had blocked off the traffic there to take three African-Americans off the bus. That they did. They took us off the bus, rammed us up beside the bus, frisked us down like common criminals, and arrested us. On the way to jail, the late Jesse Turner asked me, ‘Reverend, would you offer a word of prayer?’ In the squad car. I said, ‘Sure.’ I began to pray. And when I got down to the part, ‘Lord, forgive these police officers, for they know not what they do…’ about that time, the policeman said, ‘Preacher you gonna have to end that prayer.’ He had one hand on his billy club. Of course I had one eye closed and one eye open, and I saw his hand on that billy club, so I said, ‘And Lord, Amen.’ They took us on to jail.” [Hear the full speech at http://www.stjsoulworks.org/soul-suppers]
“After the Army I came back home and…I began to hear about a man named Martin Luther King, Jr., who was leading a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. I was so fascinated with him until I kept up with every move that he made… In 1964, I met with a group of ministers and we decided that because Martin Luther King had led the bus boycott in Alabama, we ought to do something in Memphis. Five hundred ministers decided on Sunday night at the church there on Lauderdale and Linden --- now Martin Luther King Blvd --- that we were going to meet Monday morning and ride every bus in Memphis. And even if our coats were drenched with blood, we were going to integrate the buses in Memphis. We met on Monday morning at 9:00. There were not 500 ministers there though. In fact, there were not 5 ministers there. There were only two: the late Reverend Samuel Billy Kyles and me. Along with Jesse Turner, Brother Dotson, and three other lay persons. We decided that, in spite of there being only seven of us, we would still ride the bus that Monday. Jesse Turner, Dotson, and I boarded the #7 Crosstown. We rode on the bus, and the driver told us, ‘Boys, you’re going to have to move back. You can’t sit up here. This is for whites.’ I said, ‘We’re very comfortable. And we’re not going to move.’ He got off the bus and went to a telephone and called in. Came back and got on the bus. We were still on the front seat. When we got around to Union and Crosstown, we saw nothing but an array of red lights up by the old Sears building. Fourteen squad cars had blocked off the traffic there to take three African-Americans off the bus. That they did. They took us off the bus, rammed us up beside the bus, frisked us down like common criminals, and arrested us. On the way to jail, the late Jesse Turner asked me, ‘Reverend, would you offer a word of prayer?’ In the squad car. I said, ‘Sure.’ I began to pray. And when I got down to the part, ‘Lord, forgive these police officers, for they know not what they do…’ about that time, the policeman said, ‘Preacher you gonna have to end that prayer.’ He had one hand on his billy club. Of course I had one eye closed and one eye open, and I saw his hand on that billy club, so I said, ‘And Lord, Amen.’ They took us on to jail.” [Hear the full speech at http://www.stjsoulworks.org/soul-suppers]
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