[Oe List ...] Shirley Sherrod

[M. George Walters]

W.J.

Thanks for this. 

 

I saw Charlie standing next to Shirley in the waiting area before Shirley
went on Morning Joe, MSNBC this morning. Working with Charlie on the
Southwest Georgia Project, in voter registration and in other Civil Rights
endeavors was the single greatest experience during Seminary Years started
at the Southwestern Baptist Seminary in NYC where I was essentially ousted
which drove me to Union Seminary in NYC. It was also 1965 when Carol and I
had a cross burned in our yard in Raleigh North Carolina, the parsonage of
the Davies Street United Presbyterian Church where we were serving as a
student pastor family under Oscar J. McCloud who later became the head of
the United Presbyterian Church offices at the national Council of Churches
in NYC where you and I worked together.

 

Maynard and I both sent contributions to the SW Ga. Project a few short
years ago on the occasion of Charles' Birthday fund-raiser. You may also
remember that Kevin Charles Walters is named after Charles Sherrod, his
Godfather, who sang his first song to him when we brought him home from the
Hospital at Union Seminary in NYC in 1967 just before we moved to 5th City.
This was also before Charles and Shirley were married.

 

Charles sang "Georgia on My Mind" as only he could do it.

 

Sorry I am droning on so much but this awakens a lot of awe-filled memories.

 

With kindest regards.

 

M. George Walters

Resurgence Publishing Corporation

4240 Sandy Shores Dr

Lutz, FL 33558

USA

Tel: +1 (813) 948-7267

Fax: +1 (813) 333-1787

Mob: +1 (813) 505-9041

 

URL: www.ResurgencePublishing.com

Professional Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mgwalters

 

 

 

 

From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf
Of W. J.
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 17:33
To: oe at wedgeblade.net
Subject: [Oe List ...] Shirley Sherrod

 

FYI.

From: W. J. <synergi at yahoo.com>
To: Benjamin Todd Jealous <BJealous at naacpnet.org>
Cc: Ms. Kia Heath <KHeath at naacpnet.org>; Julian Bond <JBond at naacpnet.org>
Sent: Wed, July 21, 2010 2:25:34 PM
Subject: Shirley Sherrod

Mr. Jealous, I am pleased that you reversed yourself and applauded Shirley
Sherrod after the dustup which got her fired. You said your organization was
"snookered."

 

Yes you were. BUT, even taking into consideration your youth and the very
recent time frame of your association with civil rights, how could you have
missed the civil rights history that is associated, particularly in Georgia,
with the name SHERROD??

 

I don't personally know Shirley Sherrod, but I have known, worked, and
studied at Union Theological Seminary in the 1960's with her husband, the
legendary Rev. Charles M. Sherrod, who was one of the founders, and the
first field director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a
leader of the Student Interracial Ministry, an ally of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., and an organizer of the Southwest Georgia Project focused on the
voter registration struggle that went on for years in Albany, GA. Charles
went on to found New Communities, Inc., a not-for-profit organization in
Albany that worked with poor, mostly black farmers. The Sherrod family was
instrumental in advancing the lawsuit that finally put a stop to USDA's
racial discrimination with a $13 million dollar award to New Communities,
Inc.

 

Since you were apparently unaware of all this, you could simply have asked
Julian Bond. 

 

Or, using Google, you could have gone to the following web pages:

http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/witnesses/charles_sherrod.html

http://www.ruraldevelopment.org/shirleydirector.html

 

As one who is retiring and acknowledging a new generation of leadership, my
concern is that you new guys not publicly fall on your faces due to a lack
of knowledge and depth of appreciation for the history we all forged
together as much as a half century ago. We all deserve better than that.

 

Cordially yours,

 

Rev. Wayne Marshall Jones, MDiv, MFT

415/831-1537

 

 

 

 

 

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