Furman criminal trespass and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church

  This will begin a series of blogs on my drama with Furman and its criminal trespass policy of which I am the latest victim. Until January of this year I was convinced Furman was a grand place even with the unfortunate decision on Baseball during covid. At Furman I was an Argonaut for two years, in the Band a year and the Furman singers for several months. The fall of 1973 with Dicky Wilson of New Jersey I was co emcee for the Furman Homecoming production the Furman Follies.  McAslister auditorium was packed out with Vince Perone present and Herman Lay of potato chips and Pepsi fame. We did a grand job.

    My friend Jim Pitts recently deceased longtime Chaplain at Furman ssaid I was worthy of Furman's e    uivalent of the order of the Palmetto for my piece in the Christian Century in the early nineties about Furman's dilemma with SC Baptists. Dr. Johns snet me a note of thanks. President David Shi for several years was a reader of this blog, teasuingly calling it "illustrious" at one point. With Shi and Sam Hodges FU 77 and Coug Cumming, son of Joe who hired Marshall Frady at Newswek in 75l we consider ourselves the Marshall Frady fan club of Furman

     But I sent to a gahtering of the Furman faculty in January in late January, the dean of students rudely and arrogantly called out behind me to get to the point reading a Lee Atwater, quoting an Atwater memo interrupted me. When the meting was over I approached Dr. Kolb of the Sociology department and he said you weren't supposed top be here. I replied I'm kinda glad I was , and he said I'm glad you were here too!!

   Five days later I was notifed by Furman security I was charged with criminal trespass and if back on campus wiothin the year could be charge with 200 dollar fine and possibility of jail. And If I made appeals to anybody at Furman could be charged with Harassment.

    I Think all of this is a fiasco, a ridiculous over reaction and friends and classmates will be appealing to the Furman Thrive Committee in hopes I will be allowed on campus for the three day 50 Homecoming celebration including Homecoming Saturday and the next day Basketball exhibition in Renovated Timmons against Alabama

       Again this begins a series of blogs the first now about Monday and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church

        January 31, 2009. I was present at the 16th St., Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama.  on the October 6 of Monday  I went to the Berea Public Library but it was closed . Time to kill before Henry's BBQ i sucker punched myself and rode through the Furman campus. Never stopped but couple hundres yars outside the back fence near Dr. Huff's home I was pulled over by three Furman security including Lieutenant Johnson and Captian Smith   made it down to Henry’s on Wade Hampton for barbecue, but after that, I Visited the Judson bookstore on Main Street and read a few chapters of the new book by Butler Gallie 12 churches that have exemplified an era in Christian development since the time of Jesus. The 12th church is on the 11th church is the 16th St., Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama. I was there on January 31, 2009 and it was it was it was packed house I was standing under a window and when President Carter was speaking, he directed everybody’s attention to the window that I was standing beneath and he says look at that window. That’s the face of Christ that was blown out in the bombing of this church to kill the four little girls in 1963 To  my left two people down was Wayne Flynt, the Auburn professor the conscience of the state of Alabama and a few people down from him was the former governor Siegelman of Alabama 

   So  I was in good company that day Kate Campbell, the singer who open for Emmylou Harris in 2000 in Europe, sang some songs among us she is does a great cover of Kris Kristofferson‘s tribute to Martin Luther King and Gandhi my God they killed him and then later on the front steps, I talked to Marion right Edelman to great civil rights worker from Mississippi that was a great friend of Bobby Kennedy and set up a situation for her to come speak at limestone college in Gaffney, South Carolina my hometown a year later for the Martin Luther King weekend celebration.  She   spoke about a mile from my father‘s church when we were there in the in the 60s, so are the book doubles down on the murder of the girls it fails to mention the pastor there in the 30s whose son was at Union seminary with Dietrich Bon Hoffer. They were great friends in Bon Hoffer himself drove up old Highway 11 from New Orleans to upstate New York in 31 right in front of my mother’s home. She would’ve been seven years old eight years old at the time and and then later for 30 years, I live across the street from where I could see the highway that Bon Hoffer drove up so it’s a remarkable story 

   I didnt recognize anybody else from Furman in the audience that day but did have a great friend from Samfod, SGA Presidnet Todd Heifner who was acquainted then with Cherington Shucker now in development at Furman and member of the Thrive Committee

     More later so keep checking in the next three weeks as more unfolds