Stay tuned to
meet a man whose father
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was the Alabama Grand
Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.
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My name is Yvonne Lewis
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and you're
watching Urban Report.
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Hello and
welcome to Urban Report.
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My guest today is Rick Blythe,
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Pastor and man
with a compelling story.
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Welcome to Urban Report.
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So good to be here.
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Thank you, thank you.
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So I had the
opportunity to meet you
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at the General Conference
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and I got just a
little taste of your story
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and I thought, you
must be on Dare to Dream
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on the Dare to Dream
Network and on Urban Report
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because your story
is just so intriguing,
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tell us about your
journey, your childhood,
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where were you born and raised?
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I was born at home,
delivered by a doctor
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in Piedmont, Alabama,
little, small Alabama town,
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and I grew up in
segregated South,
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and that has a lot to
do with my story today.
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Hmmm... hmmm... and
that was back in the '60s?
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Well, I was born in 1951,
and it was really a quiet time
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so... so, so, you
know, during the '50s
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but then in the
'60s it began to broil
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and I grew up in
that environment.
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And was it an integrated town,
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was it a very
segregated town in Piedmont?
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Like most of the
South, it was very segregated.
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Hmmm... hmmm... I
can remember, you know,
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even working at my
Uncle's Dairy Queens,
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it was a Mom- and Pop-type
thing but I remember one time...
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a Black man who had come
by and he was from up North
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and he went into the restaurant
and I visualized in my own eye
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my uncle jumping over the
counter with an axe handle
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and repelling
him out of the store.
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Because he wasn't
supposed to be in the store?
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No, he was not supposed
to be in the restaurant.
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Oh, in the
restaurant. In the restaurant.
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Hmmm... hmmm... hmmm... hmmm...
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I remember,
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I used to live in Alabama too
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when I was... and
that was in the '60s
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oooh, I'm telling my age now,
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and at the time,
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it was very segregated,
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I lived in
Huntsville and I remember
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my mom was very fair
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and so she could go into
the front of the restaurant
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she would go in and get the food
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and bring it
out to us in the car
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because Blacks
could not, at the time
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go into the front
part of the restaurant
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they have to go around the back,
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and my mother was very fair
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so she was able
to go into the front
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and she just
brought the food out to us
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but it was a very
dark time for the South,
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your family, was your
family an intact family
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you had a mom
and dad in the home,
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what was your
family like... life like?
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Well, we were an intact family
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it was my mother and my dad
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and I was the
oldest of six siblings,
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and it was intact
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but my dad was in control,
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it was one of those
typical, you know, you've heard,
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the wife is pregnant,
barefoot, and behind the man,
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Hmmm... hmmm...
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my dad did not even
let my mother have money,
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she couldn't buy the groceries,
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she basically just
did whatever he said
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and she had to
ask him for money,
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so we were
intact but it was like
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typical male
chauvinist kind of thing
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and he spent most of
his time in Birmingham
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where we learned later...
that he had another family
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but he lived in Birmingham
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and he worked in
the steel mills there
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as a carpenter
but then on weekends
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he would come
home but so many times
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we dreaded for him to come home.
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We have a picture of your family
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of your mom and your siblings,
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I don't think your dad is
in that particular picture
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but it's your mother,
so which one are you now?
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I'm the one...
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In the striped shirt or...
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The striped shirt.
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Okay, all right.
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Yes, that's me, I was
red-headed, freckles...
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Awww... and so your dad
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was absent,
even in this picture.
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Oh yes, he wasn't
there much of our lives,
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just came home on
the weekends... mostly...
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And we have a
picture of your father too,
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we should put that picture
up so that people can see
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what your dad looked like.
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Yeah, he was a handsome man
and my mother fell for him but
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you know, she just...
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she was a good,
Godly Christian woman
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she just married
the wrong man, Hmmm...
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but she did say
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the good thing that
came out of it was her kids.
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Yes, yes, so, your
dad was in Birmingham,
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you and your mom
and your siblings
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were in Piedmont
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and what kind of life
did you live in Piedmont,
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were you affluent, were
you... how did you live?
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He was Middle class,
he had a good Union job
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and we could
have lived comfortably
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but he lived in...
somewhat comfort...
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while we lived in poverty,
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I remember living in
the houses up on the stilts
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where the dogs
run though the house
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and I could see
cracks through the walls and
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we lived in poverty.
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So, how did your dad get
involved with the Ku Klux Klan,
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do you know how he
started with all that?
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You know... I really don't know.
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I don't know how he
started but, you know,
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people say that when
you're isolated, alone,
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you're bitter and you're angry,
you're looking for belonging,
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you're looking for a family,
and I think that that's...
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see, my dad had a bad childhood
so I think that's partly why
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but I began to
listen to conversations
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and I could hear and
the things that he would say
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and this is how I learned
but when he actually became...
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I remember he was
involved, all my life
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since I was a young thing.
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So you don't really remember
a time when he wasn't involved.
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No, I do not... no...
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And so, would he
come... this is...
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I'm asking these questions both
from an interviewing standpoint
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and also from a Black mentality
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because I tried to wrap my
mind around that kind of hatred
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and bigotry... how did
he... what was his perception
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of Blacks at that time,
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what did he think
about Black people?
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Well, you know, a lot
of people don't understand
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but he really thought... he
really believed in his heart
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that the Blacks were trying
to destroy his way of life,
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Okay. he really believed that,
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now, but, you know, somehow
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he never
instilled that hatred in me
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in fact the more
hatred he showed,
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the more secretly
I felt the other way
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and my mother felt that way,
and his own mother felt that way
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in fact the secret is...
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I believe that
most people I knew
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did not feel that way,
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they were just
afraid to speak it up
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Hmmm...
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because they were as afraid
of Klan as the Blacks were,
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and so... in fact
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my favorite
President, was Abraham Lincoln,
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and my hero,
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my childhood hero was
George Washington Carver,
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and I love peanut
butter to this day,
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and... but I
couldn't verbalize that,
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I couldn't tell it, you know,
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so we would always hear things,
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you know... that the Blacks,
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the Jews and the Catholics
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were going to try to
destroy this Country,
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and so... that's kind of...
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but he really
believed this, you know,
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he really believed
this, it doesn't excuse it
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but he really believed it
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and I believed to a large
extent... he was brainwashed.
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By his circle?
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Well, you know,
sometimes I think that
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when you grow up with
something missing in your life,
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you fill it with
something, and unfortunately,
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in his case, he
didn't fill it with God.
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In fact, he viewed himself as
a hell-bent, backslidden Baptist
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Okay...
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and so I just know that
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he was a bitter,
angry person, and I believe
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that that kind of
person looks for a scapegoat
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to blame their problems on.
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Absolutely, and also... a person
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who has low self-esteem
looks to make someone seem lower
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and so, that, I think,
is an interesting factor too
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but what's also
interesting to me
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is that you distanced yourself
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from that,
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you didn't want
to be like your dad,
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you didn't want to
hold his attitudes,
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you didn't want to
have anything to do
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with that kind of
mind-set, and it's a blessing
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that you didn't
live with him, I think,
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because you didn't
have that day-to-day...
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every day exposure to a hatred.
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Well, one time
when he came home,
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we had gone to town,
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and I was thirsty and so I
just automatically bent down
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and started
taking a drink of water,
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and I felt a slap
up against my face,
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and my ears were just
ringing, and I was in pain
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and I heard my dad say,
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"Boy, don't you ever drink
from that colored fountain,"
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except he used the "N" word,
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and "don't you...
you don't know how,
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you could get sick,
you could die from that,
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and so, I was just a
young kid and I'm like,
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you know, my
head is just spinning
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so... but one thing I noticed
that I wasn't hurt at all,
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so I'm thinking... You
didn't die after drinking.
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so, I'm beginning to
think, "Whoa... " you know,
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I began to have doubts because
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these things just
didn't seem to be right,
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Hmmm... hmmm...
hmmm... I can remember
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living in Alabama too
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and I was from
New York originally
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and I'd moved to Huntsville
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because my dad
went back to college
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and he was about 30,
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and I remember that
there was a white fountain
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and a colored fountain,
the white fountain was up here,
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and the "colored"
fountain was down here
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and I... being from New
York, I don't know where my...
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my mother must have been in
some part of store or something
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but I called myself rebellious
and nobody was going to tell me
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where to drink, and I
drank out of the white one
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I had no idea that I
could have been in danger
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I had no idea that something
could have happened to me,
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I'm just thinking, "Huh,
nobody is going to tell me
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what to do, I'm from New York"
00:12:17.17\00:12:18.97
and I... I don't know
what I was thinking but...
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but it could have
been a dangerous situation.
00:12:21.70\00:12:24.11
Absolutely, but to
help in that thinking...
00:12:24.14\00:12:26.51
there were times
that I went along
00:12:26.57\00:12:32.18
because somethings...
00:12:32.21\00:12:34.52
I had no other understanding
00:12:34.55\00:12:36.22
except what my
mother gave me and so
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there were a lot of
things that I grew up
00:12:38.92\00:12:41.52
and my girls
help me now by saying,
00:12:41.56\00:12:43.43
"Papa, you can't say
that" and I was like,
00:12:43.46\00:12:46.06
"Why?" and they educate me
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because see... I didn't
mean anything pejorative
00:12:48.30\00:12:52.30
by some of the things but
it's things that were just
00:12:52.33\00:12:55.50
engrained in me as I grew up but
I didn't mean them in a bad way
00:12:55.54\00:12:59.37
but it was just... I
didn't know any better
00:12:59.41\00:13:01.64
it was ignorance.
00:13:01.71\00:13:03.04
Right, and you
know and I think that
00:13:03.08\00:13:04.41
that is a point that we really
should unpack a little bit
00:13:04.45\00:13:09.22
because so many
times we think that people
00:13:09.25\00:13:12.39
really mean something insulting
when actually it's ignorance,
00:13:12.42\00:13:17.43
they really don't know better,
00:13:17.46\00:13:19.19
because that's
all they've heard,
00:13:19.23\00:13:20.93
if that's all you've
heard then that's all you know
00:13:20.96\00:13:23.97
unless you're
horizons are broadened
00:13:24.00\00:13:26.57
and so at that time
and maybe into adulthood,
00:13:26.60\00:13:33.01
there were still some things
that you really didn't know
00:13:33.04\00:13:36.91
because of your upbringing.
00:13:36.95\00:13:38.41
Exactly. So I
think it's important
00:13:38.48\00:13:41.38
to understand that
and I think that's why
00:13:41.42\00:13:43.95
it's important for
people of different cultures
00:13:43.99\00:13:47.59
to come together and to talk
00:13:47.66\00:13:49.52
because that's
how you get to know
00:13:49.56\00:13:51.59
other people... as people.
00:13:51.66\00:13:53.40
And I think my dad
didn't want me talking
00:13:53.43\00:13:56.30
because I might find out
00:13:56.36\00:14:00.20
things that he
didn't want me to know.
00:14:00.24\00:14:03.97
Yes, yes, so now,
let's go back to your dad
00:14:04.01\00:14:08.61
was in the Klan
and people actually...
00:14:08.64\00:14:11.75
White people in the town
were also afraid of the Klan?
00:14:11.78\00:14:16.18
Oh! That's was...
00:14:16.22\00:14:17.55
that's eye-opening to me.
00:14:17.59\00:14:18.92
Oh! absolutely they were.
00:14:18.95\00:14:20.29
So they were
terrorized by the Klan
00:14:20.32\00:14:22.92
as well as...
like Black people were?
00:14:22.96\00:14:25.43
My wife's parents
00:14:25.46\00:14:29.36
were Christians and no
prejudice in the whole family
00:14:29.43\00:14:34.04
and they had a Black
lady that would come in
00:14:34.07\00:14:36.91
once a week for
housework and so forth
00:14:36.94\00:14:39.57
and they would invite her
to sit down and eat with them
00:14:39.61\00:14:43.75
and she would never do
it because she was like...
00:14:43.78\00:14:46.05
"No Mrs. Fitzpatrick,
00:14:46.08\00:14:48.02
I don't want to
get you in trouble,
00:14:48.05\00:14:50.49
I don't want to
get you in trouble,"
00:14:50.52\00:14:52.89
so they had no problem
with her sitting down and eating
00:14:52.92\00:14:57.43
but she wouldn't do it because
she respected them so much,
00:14:57.46\00:15:01.90
so, yes, even they...
00:15:01.93\00:15:05.60
many of the Blacks in
the South understood this
00:15:05.63\00:15:08.27
and so, yes,
there were many that
00:15:08.30\00:15:13.21
just were afraid to speak up.
00:15:13.24\00:15:15.54
Hmmm... how did
your dad treat your mom?
00:15:15.58\00:15:18.31
Well, I remember one time
he was coming home from work
00:15:18.35\00:15:24.69
on the weekend,
he was coming home,
00:15:24.72\00:15:26.92
and many times he'd
stop off at the bar,
00:15:26.96\00:15:30.29
and be drinking heavily,
00:15:30.33\00:15:31.79
and so she would never
know when he was coming home,
00:15:31.83\00:15:34.76
so she would try to
re-heat the food and so forth
00:15:34.80\00:15:37.53
well, this one time,
she wanted to surprise him
00:15:37.57\00:15:40.47
so she made pizza,
which we'd never had before
00:15:40.50\00:15:43.30
and it was Chef
Boyardee in a box,
00:15:43.34\00:15:46.61
and it had this
parmesan cheese she made this
00:15:46.64\00:15:51.11
and when he came home
00:15:51.15\00:15:52.75
immediately he was wanting
to know what that stink was
00:15:52.78\00:15:56.25
in the house from
the parmesan cheese
00:15:56.28\00:15:58.02
and it was cold and
he hit my mother so hard
00:15:58.05\00:16:04.16
that she had Bell's
Palsy on one side of her face
00:16:04.19\00:16:08.76
until the day she
died, and he said,
00:16:08.80\00:16:13.27
"Woman, I don't you ever to have
wop food in this house again"
00:16:13.30\00:16:17.57
and at another time,
00:16:17.61\00:16:22.14
I've seen my father actually
00:16:22.18\00:16:24.21
stick a fork in my
mother's leg up to her bone.
00:16:24.25\00:16:27.15
Oh my!
00:16:27.18\00:16:30.09
When I was a
child, we would go to bed,
00:16:30.15\00:16:34.32
we'd hear gun shots... we
would get up, we would run,
00:16:34.39\00:16:37.53
we would scream and go and
see if my mother was all right,
00:16:37.59\00:16:40.20
and it was my dad... drunk...
shooting at the ceiling,
00:16:40.23\00:16:43.37
mother would settle us
all down and get us in bed
00:16:43.40\00:16:46.27
and then, as soon
as we'd go to sleep,
00:16:46.30\00:16:49.10
he would do it again,
00:16:49.14\00:16:50.47
and so, we'd jump
up screaming again
00:16:50.51\00:16:53.38
and this is the
very emotional part
00:16:53.41\00:16:56.41
but this is how I grew up
and this violence eventually
00:16:56.44\00:17:01.18
escalated until I was
older, around 17-years old
00:17:01.22\00:17:07.59
and my father was drunk
and he wanted my younger sister
00:17:07.66\00:17:15.26
who was unlicensed to
take him to get more booze,
00:17:15.30\00:17:20.07
and, of course, the
family objected to that
00:17:20.10\00:17:24.87
and he began punching
and kicking my sisters
00:17:24.91\00:17:29.61
and then eventually he got
a pistol which was a 25 magnum
00:17:29.64\00:17:36.69
and my mother had my
baby sister in her arms
00:17:36.72\00:17:40.52
and my dad put the
pistol down to her head
00:17:40.56\00:17:43.66
and pulled the hammer back
and my house was full of guns
00:17:43.69\00:17:47.73
I mean... it was
just full of guns
00:17:47.76\00:17:50.77
and so I had asked my... I
knew things were escalating
00:17:50.80\00:17:55.37
so I asked one of my
sisters to get me a gun
00:17:55.40\00:17:58.81
and I put it up
on the Chifforobe
00:17:58.84\00:18:01.68
and so when my dad put
the gun down to her head
00:18:01.71\00:18:05.61
and pulled the hammer
back, I ran for my... the gun
00:18:05.65\00:18:10.29
and I came in to stop him
and when my mother saw me,
00:18:10.32\00:18:15.12
she jumped in front of us
and I went around like this
00:18:15.16\00:18:19.93
and I shot and it hit my father
00:18:19.96\00:18:22.93
and he passed...
he went unconscious
00:18:22.96\00:18:26.53
and he hit the chair,
and he was there unconscious
00:18:26.57\00:18:31.81
at that time my sister comes in
00:18:31.84\00:18:35.71
out of her bedroom
and she's holding herself
00:18:35.74\00:18:38.81
and she says,
"Momma, I have been shot,"
00:18:38.88\00:18:40.78
she said, "No,
honey, it was your daddy"
00:18:40.82\00:18:42.68
and she put out her hands
and blood was running out of her
00:18:42.72\00:18:47.29
and what we learned later was
00:18:47.32\00:18:50.03
that the bullet
had passed through him
00:18:50.06\00:18:52.69
and hit her, and it
lodged in her spleen,
00:18:52.73\00:18:55.30
near her spleen, and...
00:18:55.33\00:18:57.27
How old was she at the time?
00:18:57.33\00:18:58.87
Like 15... no maybe...
14 or 15, I don't remember
00:18:58.93\00:19:04.74
but it was 13- to 15-years old.
00:19:04.77\00:19:07.08
And we have a
picture of her on the screen.
00:19:07.11\00:19:09.48
That's a picture of
her... yeah... she did survive
00:19:09.51\00:19:14.12
she does have a
fragment of bullet still in her
00:19:14.15\00:19:18.69
and she actually was
paralyzed for a period of time,
00:19:18.75\00:19:22.79
but she survived
and we have a good,
00:19:22.82\00:19:25.46
strong relationship today.
00:19:25.49\00:19:26.93
Oh, praise the Lord for
that so, you shot your dad,
00:19:26.96\00:19:33.13
that is a very... that
has so many ramifications
00:19:33.17\00:19:39.31
first of all, how
old were you when you...
00:19:39.34\00:19:40.68
Seventeen.
00:19:40.71\00:19:42.04
Seventeen, and how did
your dad, when he came to...
00:19:42.08\00:19:45.18
did he die from this?
00:19:45.21\00:19:46.55
No, he did not.
00:19:46.58\00:19:47.92
So how did he respond
to you when he came to?
00:19:47.95\00:19:51.72
Well, see... we went to the...
00:19:51.75\00:19:54.66
part of the other story is...
00:19:54.69\00:19:57.53
is that I had panicked
when I saw my sister shot,
00:19:57.56\00:20:03.03
so I ran outside
00:20:03.06\00:20:04.77
and when I did, I hit
my head on the low porch
00:20:04.80\00:20:07.87
and I fell backwards on
the concrete and I passed out,
00:20:07.90\00:20:12.21
so... but I came
to... and when I did,
00:20:12.24\00:20:15.54
my dad had revived
and he was driving the car
00:20:15.58\00:20:18.75
my mother was in
the passenger seat
00:20:18.78\00:20:21.12
and my "shot"
sister was in the middle
00:20:21.15\00:20:23.28
and I was in the back seat,
he had dragged me to the car,
00:20:23.35\00:20:26.25
and he had a rifle in my throat
00:20:26.29\00:20:29.02
and we were
headed to the hospital
00:20:29.06\00:20:31.73
and he says, "If
this girl dies," he says,
00:20:31.76\00:20:34.16
"I'll shoot you and then
I'll kill the rest of us"
00:20:34.20\00:20:38.03
well, my one brother
had... he had left the house
00:20:38.07\00:20:41.47
and he found the local
Law and they stopped him
00:20:41.50\00:20:45.37
and when they did, he
pulled the rifle toward them
00:20:45.41\00:20:49.18
and he said, "This
is a family matter,"
00:20:49.21\00:20:51.98
he said, "you
better get out of here. "
00:20:52.01\00:20:54.75
And did they know, as policemen,
00:20:54.78\00:20:56.48
did they know your dad
was from the local KKK?
00:20:56.52\00:20:59.02
Oh, absolutely, they knew
him and so they let him go.
00:20:59.05\00:21:01.59
So they actually
took orders from your dad,
00:21:01.62\00:21:05.29
you're dad said...
Yes, they let him go.
00:21:05.36\00:21:07.26
Oh my!
00:21:07.30\00:21:09.60
And so we were going
into the next county though
00:21:09.66\00:21:13.23
and when we got there
the County Sheriff met us
00:21:13.27\00:21:16.84
and they pulled
us out of the car,
00:21:16.87\00:21:18.94
they arrested... the
threw my hands behind my back,
00:21:18.97\00:21:22.24
they arrested my
father, and I basically said,
00:21:22.28\00:21:25.51
you know, "You
can put me in jail
00:21:25.58\00:21:27.95
but please don't put
me in the cell with him. "
00:21:27.98\00:21:29.92
Well,
eventually, it's a long story
00:21:29.98\00:21:34.76
but eventually they let me out
and they put him back in jail
00:21:34.82\00:21:40.43
and
basically... all they did was
00:21:40.46\00:21:42.60
put a restraining order on him,
00:21:42.63\00:21:44.73
he moved to
Birmingham with his other family
00:21:44.77\00:21:48.87
and there was
some relative peace
00:21:48.90\00:21:51.87
but even during that
time, he would still torment us,
00:21:51.91\00:21:55.71
he would come back to our house
00:21:55.74\00:21:57.28
and shoot at... toward the house
00:21:57.31\00:21:58.75
and I remember
spending nights in a barn,
00:21:58.78\00:22:05.22
in the middle of January
00:22:05.25\00:22:07.49
and even my wife...
after I was in the ministry,
00:22:07.52\00:22:12.76
after many years,
00:22:12.79\00:22:16.56
he would call my wife up
at 3 o'clock in the morning
00:22:16.63\00:22:19.37
and threaten our
children... his grandchildren...
00:22:19.40\00:22:22.10
It still evokes a lot of
emotion in you now, doesn't it,
00:22:22.14\00:22:27.98
after all these years...
00:22:28.01\00:22:29.34
After all these years,
00:22:29.38\00:22:30.71
one thing my
dad taught me though
00:22:30.75\00:22:32.51
and that was... what not to be.
00:22:32.55\00:22:34.35
Hmmm... hmmm... yes...
00:22:34.38\00:22:37.92
But, you know, the thing
that kept me going was my...
00:22:37.95\00:22:43.49
this calling of God on my
life, Jeremiah one talks about,
00:22:43.53\00:22:49.00
"I called thee before
you were formed in the belly"
00:22:49.03\00:22:53.00
and my great-grandmother,
when she first saw me
00:22:53.03\00:22:56.91
told my mother that this
man is going to be a preacher
00:22:56.94\00:23:00.14
Hmmm... and so
that calling was in me
00:23:00.18\00:23:03.55
and I just had
that feeling and...
00:23:03.58\00:23:06.85
you know I never had hate
or animosity toward anyone
00:23:06.88\00:23:12.95
Yes.
00:23:12.99\00:23:14.32
and I just felt
the calling of God
00:23:14.36\00:23:16.46
and it was that...
00:23:16.49\00:23:18.96
that combined
with a sense of humor
00:23:18.99\00:23:21.66
that's just kind of helped
me cope through these years.
00:23:21.70\00:23:24.53
Yes, yes, and look at
the contrast between you...
00:23:24.57\00:23:27.80
and we have a picture of your
dad in his Ku Klux Klan gear,
00:23:27.87\00:23:32.64
look at the
difference between you
00:23:32.67\00:23:36.08
and the way God has led
you and where your dad was
00:23:36.14\00:23:41.28
I mean, he was full of
rage and anger and hatred
00:23:41.32\00:23:46.39
and God has given you a spirit
of love and of peace and of joy
00:23:46.42\00:23:50.96
that's what God does,
how did you find the Lord
00:23:50.99\00:23:53.33
we just... I can't
believe our time is gone
00:23:53.36\00:23:55.63
how did you find the
Lord in the midst of all this,
00:23:55.66\00:24:00.10
I know your mom was a Christian
00:24:00.14\00:24:01.47
but how did you find
Jesus really... for you?
00:24:01.50\00:24:05.21
Well, you see, my... I
grew up early as a Baptist
00:24:05.24\00:24:09.11
Baptist-Methodist background
00:24:09.14\00:24:11.28
so I've learned about
the beautiful grace of God
00:24:11.31\00:24:13.72
and then my
mother had been studying
00:24:13.75\00:24:15.95
Garner Ted Armstrong and
the Worldwide church of God
00:24:15.98\00:24:19.09
and she learned
about the Sabbath
00:24:19.12\00:24:20.89
so I embraced the Sabbath,
00:24:20.92\00:24:22.86
so then I learned about
the law of the justice of God
00:24:22.92\00:24:26.73
but when I became a
Seventh-day Adventist,
00:24:26.76\00:24:29.40
I married the "grace"
and the "law" together
00:24:29.43\00:24:32.03
Oh, come on...
00:24:32.07\00:24:33.64
yes, yes... Come on now...
00:24:33.67\00:24:35.30
but what was happening
after all this happened,
00:24:35.34\00:24:40.38
I joined the Navy and I
think there's a picture of that
00:24:40.41\00:24:43.51
but... kind of
escape all this...
00:24:43.55\00:24:46.92
what I grew up with,
everything was turmoil,
00:24:46.95\00:24:49.95
and I was escaping God,
I was escaping the trouble
00:24:49.98\00:24:52.62
but what
happened was... is that...
00:24:52.65\00:24:55.02
I ended up in the Navy
00:24:55.06\00:24:56.39
and my new boss was
a Seventh-day Adventist
00:24:56.42\00:25:00.70
and so I ran from
God right into God.
00:25:00.73\00:25:04.77
Look at God...
look how He operates.
00:25:04.83\00:25:08.84
Amen and so he invited
us to a series of meetings,
00:25:08.87\00:25:12.21
we went to
two-and-a-half series,
00:25:12.24\00:25:15.04
and at the end of that, my
wife and I accepted Christ,
00:25:15.11\00:25:21.28
we accepted this great message
00:25:21.32\00:25:23.05
and somehow after learning
this message, you just...
00:25:23.08\00:25:26.89
everything just began to
come together and I understood
00:25:26.92\00:25:30.73
because I
understood good and evil
00:25:30.76\00:25:33.70
but I never
understood the great controversy
00:25:33.73\00:25:35.63
and it just put
the picture together
00:25:35.66\00:25:37.83
you just put it
together you know.
00:25:37.87\00:25:40.00
Yes.
00:25:40.04\00:25:41.37
And I had lived in
the great controversy
00:25:41.40\00:25:44.01
in my life. Yes, yes.
00:25:44.04\00:25:45.97
People say... you
know... I hear people say
00:25:46.01\00:25:47.61
"Get ready for
the time of trouble,"
00:25:47.64\00:25:49.68
and I said, "Time of
trouble doesn't worry me,
00:25:49.71\00:25:51.91
I have already
lived through it. "
00:25:51.95\00:25:53.28
What would you say,
Pastor Rick, to that person
00:25:53.31\00:25:57.19
in about one minute,
that person who is bound
00:25:57.22\00:26:01.26
by hatred and bigotry and anger,
00:26:01.32\00:26:04.36
what would you
say to them right now?
00:26:04.39\00:26:06.96
I would say that
really, "God is inside of you,
00:26:07.00\00:26:11.80
if you would
grab hold of His hand,
00:26:11.83\00:26:13.17
He'll lead you to victory
and no matter how many doubts,
00:26:13.20\00:26:17.07
it doesn't matter
where you're born,
00:26:17.11\00:26:18.67
what your station in life is,
I was just an old cotton picker,
00:26:18.71\00:26:22.48
common Southern fellow
00:26:22.51\00:26:24.78
with no hope of
ever reaching anything
00:26:24.81\00:26:27.98
and I have been a
missionary, I have been a pastor
00:26:28.02\00:26:31.49
and I have traveled this world,
00:26:31.52\00:26:32.85
and I have seen God
perform miracle after miracle
00:26:32.89\00:26:36.89
in my life, and you know,
00:26:36.93\00:26:38.86
I don't say that God
will perform a miracle
00:26:38.89\00:26:41.50
just like He did for me,
00:26:41.53\00:26:43.20
but God has a
miracle for each one of us,
00:26:43.23\00:26:46.20
if we just trust Him. "
00:26:46.23\00:26:47.87
Yes, yes, yes,
thank you so much,
00:26:47.90\00:26:50.51
you know, your story is just...
00:26:50.54\00:26:53.07
it's so
intriguing and so compelling
00:26:53.11\00:26:56.04
because people can be
wrapped up in hate and bigotry
00:26:56.08\00:26:59.11
no matter what
their race or nationality,
00:26:59.15\00:27:02.28
or ethnicity, you
can be Black and bigoted,
00:27:02.32\00:27:05.62
White and bigoted,
it's the character,
00:27:05.65\00:27:08.92
so we thank you so much
for being so transparent
00:27:08.96\00:27:11.99
and for sharing your
story and for being with us.
00:27:12.03\00:27:15.03
Thank you for asking me.
00:27:15.06\00:27:16.40
Absolutely, and I hope
you'll come back some time
00:27:16.43\00:27:18.83
and tell us some more,
00:27:18.87\00:27:20.27
I have a feeling
there's more to this story,
00:27:20.30\00:27:22.80
we didn't get all of it, so...
00:27:22.84\00:27:24.87
And I want to write a
book about this and I wonder
00:27:24.91\00:27:28.28
if this will be of
interest to others too.
00:27:28.31\00:27:31.11
Absolutely, I think you
should absolutely write a book
00:27:31.15\00:27:34.18
and you know what, when you do,
00:27:34.22\00:27:35.68
we'll bring you
back on to Dare to Dream
00:27:35.72\00:27:39.65
on to Urban Report and
have you talk about it.
00:27:39.69\00:27:42.22
That's an incentive isn't it?
00:27:42.26\00:27:43.99
It is, it is, it is...
00:27:44.03\00:27:45.53
well thank you so
much for joining us
00:27:45.56\00:27:48.03
you know, Pastor
Rick showed us today
00:27:48.06\00:27:50.63
that you don't
have to be caught up
00:27:50.67\00:27:53.13
into hatred and
bigotry, just reach out to Jesus
00:27:53.20\00:27:58.11
and He will be there for you.
00:27:58.17\00:28:00.34
Thanks for joining
us, join us next time,
00:28:00.38\00:28:02.81
because it just wouldn't
be the same... without you.
00:28:02.84\00:28:04.65