In Black America; The Reverend Cecil Williams, Part 2

to From the Longhorn Radio Network, the University of Texas at Austin, this is In Black America. And if there is no mutuality, there is no diversity. This is why academia has a very serious problem, it must confront.

You see, because education in America says that there must be a teacher and there must be students. Well, that sounds good. That should be. But education in many ways says that how you teach children, young people, young adults, how you teach them is. You give them information and make sure that they give you back the same information you gave them. Education, I'd say, you give them information and let them tear it apart. Let them tear it apart. And when they tear it apart, accept the fact that they made tear it apart so much so that it may change you. The Rev. Cecil Williams, pastor of GLIDE Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco.

Recently, Rev. Williams opened the 1990-91 Religions Lecture Series at Southwestern University in George, South Texas. In April of 1990, Rev. Williams co-chaired the second national conference that focused on, quote, the black family community and crack cocaine, prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery, end of quote. The conference attracted more than 2,000 persons from across this nation. Rev. Williams received national attention when his church served more than 60,000 meals and provided human services for hundreds of those left homeless by last years, devastating earthquake in San Francisco. I'm John L. Hanson, Jr. and welcome to another edition of In Black America. This week, part 2, the Rev. Cecil Williams, pastor of GLIDE Memorial United Methodist Church in Black America. If we make a difference, if those of us who choose to make a difference, then we become original. We become, you need to be original and you need is to be creative, to never, never settle in, settle down, and say, we got it at last. Never, because once you say, I got it, you just lost it. You see, you just lost it. And there are a lot of arrogant people in the world who say they got it.

I just experienced one last Sunday at my church. I embrace people when they come to my church and as they leave at the 9 o'clock and 11 o'clock. And we average at my church on Sunday morning, probably around 2,500 people, 9 and 11. 40% of the people who come to my church are white. 40% black, 20% Asian and Hispanic. And I try to get everything else I can. It's a dangerous proposition. I'll tell you that right now. It's dangerous. Most of the people who come to my church will tell you that the theology that they have, the religious understanding that they have, is varied. I have some of the most conservative to the most extreme. For the past 25 years, the Reverend Cecil Williams has been the Minister of Liberation at Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco. From that position, he has been on the forefront of change as Minister, TV personality, author, lecturer, community leader, and a spokesman for the poor and those recovering from drugs and or alcohol abuse.

In February of 1990, Reverend Williams began an experiment that may become one of the most significant models in a war, not against drugs, but against addiction. Reverend Cecil Williams is the native of San Angelo, Texas, and is the graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. As part of his defense in the war on poverty, teen pregnancy, and drugs, Reverend Williams has set up a program at Glide Memorial that provides services for children, single parents, and the poor and homeless. Recently, Reverend Williams opened Southwestern University's Religion Lecture Series. Reverend Williams' topic focused on diversity as a revolutionary force in America, now part two, the Reverend Cecil Williams. And so, the four of us went with the kids, and they took us to a guy that didn't even know somebody's places, the kids knew the children knew, and we went with them, and after we had gone, my God, oh my God.

We got ready to go into one of the slave castles, which is one of the major locations there. And when we walked out, the man who took up the money to let you go in the slave castle looked up and said to us, oh no, you don't have to pay. You have already paid. I knew what he was saying. You see, in those slave castles, our ancestors were with rooms that were immensely small and also eerie, very eerie. Like, what could happen in here except death itself?

Standing in those small rooms where children, they had some for children, some for women and some for men, they divided up the families. And a lot of the women they took out and took upstairs to where the men who were the overseers and the owners of the project, raped them, molested them, misused them. Some died, some lost in mind, some could not exist. If you weighed less than 80 pounds, we were told by the historians, you did not get on the ship. Because right at that particular castle, you walked through what is called the door of no return. And when you do, the ship would be located there. And there was a gang plank, I'm sure. And you walk from the castle to the ship. But if you weighed less than 80 pounds, they would push you off for the sharks to eat you.

Because you would not be able to make it to the shores of America. I said to myself and I said to you, we talked about it. Paid my dues. We have paid our dues, our ancestors. And I thought about my grandfather who was an slave and I said he's paid his dues and all them other folks paid their dues. I got to pay my dues. And paying my dues means that what I must do is make sure that each person that I come in contact with or anywhere I go must be authentic. You must be who you are. Now what am I supposed to say? All right, here it is. One. If you want to know my theology, here's the bottom line. It sounds very simple, but it's probably one of the most difficult things in the world.

What I do is just simply say, I am accepted. And if I know and have experienced the fact that I am accepted, then I can accept you. And therefore, I don't have to demand that you be like me. I am accepted. I now know that since I am accepted, you are. The old Paul Tillick was the one who pushed that stuff. You know, as we pushed it, I came up on it, but I knew it all along. So I used to go to theological schools. And by the way, the United Methodist Church has finally invited me. I'm kind of there, y'all. You know, when it comes to the United Methodist Church, I don't go to conferences and I don't go to meetings and all that kind of stuff. Because it's a waste of my time. You know, I don't fool with that kind of stuff.

And so the next week after next, I'm flying with a team of my people and my wife was going to Washington. We'd be there for a week. I'm presenting a paper. I told them, I don't present no papers. You know who this is? Don't ask me to. First of all, I already changed 10 things this morning. For you, now you think I'm going to give them a paper. So they say, well, two weeks ago, you said this? No! See, I come from that tradition, which says that if I am a liberation minister, theologian, human being, that always, for me, action precedes reflection. See, I used to believe that if I believed, I could do it. Now I do it and then I say, I do believe because I have done what I have done. Did you just hear what I said? You see, the important thing is that ain't no need of you trying to be black when you white.

And ain't no need of you trying to be black, white when I black. And ain't no need of you being trying to be straight when you gay. And ain't no need of whatever the case. You know, ain't no need to just go on. Go on! Because your diversity is caught up in your authenticity. And power! Now let me go on and talk about what is really dangerous about diversity. What is really dangerous about diversity also. What really is radical about diversity is that you provide the opportunity for folks to take your own. And my church on Sunday morning, anybody might stand up while I'm preaching and take me on. Of course, a lot of folks will take me on their own drugs. And since I know about that, I know where they're coming from.

You know, all I need to do is just kind of say, yeah. And then I put my mind over so they can say it. And then after they say it, you know, there were ministers there from Michigan sent by General Motors just to experience what we're doing so they could try to deal with drugs back in their community. And they came in the Sunday morning, they were there. I don't know why it happened. Don't ask. Again, I did to set it up. But while the celebration is going on, we have a celebrate. We don't worship at my church. We celebrate. I got a jazz band and gospel group. And we get down. I mean, down. You know, you don't come in my place saying, where's the quiet section? Ain't no quiet section in my church. And if you, I see some folks sneak out like, well, and I say, oh, Lord, they can't take it. You know, you can tell. They don't want, they don't want to have to live the experience of getting loose. They don't want to have to risk feeling something.

They don't want to have to feel joy and power. And they would rather, oh, that says some of them said to me, where's God? I don't know where God is. You know, they're always asking me that, where's God? Like I have located God that morning somewhere. You know, they always say, well, like God is over at that church. And if I could only get in touch with that church, I could bring God over to my church. I don't know what... I know I'm supposed to know because I'm the minister, right? But I don't know. I'm the minister. I don't know. The dude comes down that morning and they had released him from a psychiatric center. Which we have, many of the psychiatric centers send over that people on Sunday mornings to glide

because we don't, what we celebrate. Now, can't you see what I'm called in, folks? I mean, all of this stuff. If it's not drugs, it's merely disturbed. If it's not that, it's people who are crying. It's people who are hungry. People who are homeless. I'm like, my God. Let me regard it. Where are you, God? Sometimes I really, I don't, you know. He comes down the aisle. And I'm sitting on the front seat because I'm listening to the music, you know? Looking at the music. And I got folks who are very alert and sensitive to what's going on because anything can happen, you know? At our church. That's what makes it so interesting. So good. No, it's not interesting, it's good. It's just good. And then all of a sudden, when he gets right there, he sees me, walks over and it just happened to be in a seat there.

Thank God, if you were there, there's more than thank you for putting him right there because as soon as he sat down, the music hit him and he jumps up and said, oh, yeah, he's a yeah! Oh, he went through a thing, you know? And I said, and he looked over and he said, oh, see, so, so, so, so. So I jump up and I embrace him. Which is what I do. I don't care what you got, I embrace you. I don't care what you're doing, I embrace you. It's not a strategy. It's a feeling. It's a commitment. It's my authenticity. I love you. And I don't do, so talk about it. I just go and do it. And sometimes I'm in great jeopardy, my life is. But I do it anyway. And so I did. And he began to cry. And I just did then held him. And when I finished, he said, can I say something? And I stopped the music.

I said, yeah, I'm saying. That's what I like. We don't have no ritual at my church. And we don't do it a certain way. We just do it. The spirit moves us, and we move with the spirit. And, you know, oh, we're going to take up an offering. But, uh. And when he had finished, he just said, I'm on medication. I came here because I needed something that I could not get over at the place where they have me locked up. And when he said that, the people went wild. You know how they, they just, I've never seen white people act that way before in my life. You know, when you're not sure you just stand up, Math and a shoutman, and I say, look, don't white folks,

man. Shoot. This is something... Now they had to say that, no more, because, you know, white folks needed now. That was in time. A plow. The reaching out for that young man. He had to get back at a certain time. So before we finished, they, he went out and they took him back. those menestice from the Church of God, very conservative clergy, from the Baptist Church, some of them, very conservative, etc., very conservative. Came to me afterwards and said, we now have found the Church. We are not the Church. Here is the Church. The condition of people have a lot to do with diversity. And what we do, I'll talk about that this afternoon,

but 90% of the women in our program have been sexually molested by members of that family. I'll talk more about that. I'll talk about physical abuse and all that other stuff, just like that. The Church used to use these to be, could become, academia could become, there are institutions who promote, who set out the goal as the place to come for growth, to learn, to understand, to be able to face the world, to confront the world, to be able to do what you have to do.

You see, to be able to make sure that you empowered, when you leave from here, you are being empowered. Now, now, now, what are we saying? I mean, essentially just saying that, somewhere somehow, if that be the case, then it seems to me that at the bottom of all of this, it's freedom. And what is freedom? Well, freedom is the engagement of a pluralistic society, by which all of the people participate in justice, and all of the people participate in possibilities, and all of the people participate in opportunities, and all of the people participate in becoming,

not only individually, but community, with each other, and that we move to choose to be who we are, and how we live our lives, freedom means turning the choice, but before I get into that, I want to get into this freedom really means finally. Possibility. I looked up the Latin word for possibilities, and the Latin word for possibilities is Pase. And I heard a city of halls and Pase. This is my Pase. This is my Pase. And I said, hey, I got a Pase. Because the Pase helps to create possibilities, freedom. All right, if you, most of the folks I read, I'll go through a long list if you want me to, suppose the folks I read, most of the folks I encounter,

are talking about the 1990s as being, that with me moves toward community, community, support groups, if you please. Okay, we are now going to form new parties. Because it brings freedom to us, and you cannot have real diversity unless there is freedom there. So if somebody disagrees with you, they disagree with you. Accept it, work with it, live with it, and then tell them they're arrogant afterwards. No, I'm really pulling you away. But if you want to say it, if that's the way you feel you say it, what I really wanted to say to you this morning was that diversity is dangerous because it empowers, it brings about authenticity,

and finally, it can be a possibility for all of us. And I want my possibilities, I'll tell you now, I won't, I ain't gonna let nobody take away my possibilities. The only person that's gonna take away my possibilities now, now that I know who I am and where I'm going, the only person is me, and I ain't gonna do that no more to myself, to myself. Here? This morning we were talking about what really empowers. I remember coming to Austin, how many years ago, when you operated on 1963, 30 years? 30 some more years.

She didn't want to really tell me, you know, I know why she's doing it. Don't tell all that. I came here because my sister was being operated on, and we went to the operating room, after she was operated on, she was in recovery, and the doctor says given her three months ago. And after I talked with her for a short time, she looked up at me and she said, honey, I ain't gonna die. I'm gonna lose because I, and then she went on to tell me what she had to live for. And what I saw, and what we talked about this morning, was the power of decision, how often we give up, because what we do is defer to other folks all of our possibilities of choice,

how often we give up, because what we do many times is defer to God and to the church the possibilities of our choice. There is power in choice, and every time you make a choice, you then live with the consequences of the choice. If you do that, you've got something going for you. I'm gonna talk about pain this afternoon, and I want you to know that that's my good stuff, too. Pain is something. But possibility of choice empowers people. See, what we don't often do is allow for the possibilities of choice. Have you ever done something, and you said, oh, God, if I only thought about, if I only, if I only, that if I only, if I only means that you may be learning something,

you learn something from the, if I only, if I, oh, yeah, now I got it, now I got it. From that now I got it, now I got it. You're learning something because of the choice you made. That's power. Power is poetry. And you be sure you call Dan until I said that. My wife is a poet, so. And she's getting ready to go to the East Coast, to read her poetry. Power is... Group. Power is grip. Power is old.

Power is flow. Power is vitality. Power is... Power is greatness. Power is integrity. Power is integrity. What do you sell your soul for? Who do you sell yourself to? Anybody selling themselves in the bank? I sell myself to the Methodist Church. Nobody else. Yes. Now I got to be honest with you. I know what the church has meant to me. It gave me the possibilities. But I got a message for the church. And my message to the church is, I bring you good news. And the good news I bring you today is that you must arise. Arise now.

You don't live in the past. No, do you live in the future? Arise now. Says Isaiah. Arise now. You think you live your life. You don't live it in the past. You don't get caught. I'll give you more of that this afternoon. Don't get caught up in what happened to you. The Reverend Cecil Williams, pastor of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco. Speaking at Southwestern University, religion lecture series, Enjoys Town, Texas. I would like to thank Lemuriel Smith for her assistance in the production of this program. Remember, views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or the University of Texas at Austin. Until we have the opportunity again for in Black America's technical producer, Dana Whitehair. I'm Johnny O. Hanson, Jr. Please join us again next week. Music Cassette copies of this program

are available and may be purchased by writing in Black America cassettes. Longhorn Radio Network, communication building B, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. That's in Black America cassettes. Longhorn Radio Network, communication building B, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. From the Center for Telecommunication Services, the University of Texas at Austin, this is the Longhorn Radio Network. I'm Johnny O. Hanson, Jr. join me this week on in Black America. Diversity is the wave of the future. That in the 1990s and then as we enter into the year 2000.

Part two with the Reverend Cecil Williams, past of GLIDE Memorial United Methodist Church, this week on in Black America.