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Edited on Sun Apr-03-05 10:54 AM by H2O Man
In his autobiography (Nigger) Dick Gregory quotes from one of his most beautiful and moving speeches, which dealt with "where were you when they crucified the Lord?"
Dick had been in jail in Selma, and then when he was bailed out, he preached the message at a local church.
"It's amazing how we come to this church every Sunday and cry over the crucifiction of Christ, and we cry over these things that are going on around and among us. If He was here now, and saw these things, He would cry. And He would take those nails again. For us, for this problem. ....
"So it's coming down to this. You have to commit. You're going through the same thing today that folks went through when the Lord was crucified. 'Who else is with this Christ,' the Romans asked. And everyone just stood there. And prayed silently. And they went back and said, 'I prayed.' No, sister, I didn't even see your lips moving.
"Were you there when they crucified the Lord? It's a nice song to sing. But this time, you have an opportunity to be there. Sure would be a heck of a thing, twenty, thirty years from now, when they're singing a song about these days, and your grandkids and great grandkids can stand up and say, 'Yeah, baby, he was there, my grandfather was there!' And you can nod your head and say, 'Yeah, I was there.'
"I'd like to tell you a story before I leave. I talked to the father of one of those kids who died in that church in Birmingham. He said to me, "You know, Gregory, my daughter begged me to let her demonstyrate, and I told her no. I told her she was too young. And she looked me in the eye, and she said, "Then you do it, Daddy." '... These kids in Selma aren't doing anything just for themselves. There's nothing selfish about what they're doing here. .... (They're) not saying, 'Let's stand on rooftops and throw bricks .... (or) Let's get some butcher knives and some guns and make them pay for what they've done.' (They're saying,)"We want what you said belongs to us. You have a constitution ... that hasn't worked for anyone but you.' .... For some reason God has put in your hands the salvation of not just America -- this thing is bigger than just this country -- but the salvation of the whole world ... Freddom will run all over this town. But you have to get behind (these kids). Get behind your kids in this town. " (pages 199-205)
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