  
  
  
 I guess it was about ten years ago, or maybe a little less, when I met Freddie Haynes, 
 and I met him in church. I tell my children, I'm not 
 one of those, dyed in the woods, primitive 
 Baptists, but I go to church. Why do you go to church all the time? Why do you do that? 
 Well, I've been going to church all my life, and I guess I just don't know how 
 not to go to church. But I also discovered you can find some 
 of the best people in the world in the church the best people. Now, I'm not 
 up here to push a sermon, either, Freddie, I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. 
 But I was fortunate enough to meet Freddie Haynes 
 in my church. And I did not know him initially, 
 but then the word got out and there was standing room only in 
 Harkin Memorial Baptist church. That church will seat about 5,000 people and there was 
 standing room only. I gotta go hear him. I went and I heard him. 
 The next day, I was fortunate enough to have dinner with him, 
 and we bonded. We developed a friendship, because we shared 
 a vision of America, where people 
 are free and can enjoy all of the liberties 
 of being a citizen of America... 
 life, and liberty and justice and freedom. So I said, "I gotta 
 have him part of this series." He asked me a little bit about it, but 
 then he agreed to do it. This is the 
 fourth time that he's been here, because my Dean said, 
 "I could hear him every year." And I imagine there are those of you who have heard him 
 before who've said the same thing I could hear him every year, because 
 of those that I have contacted to be a part of the series, 
 most of them came from the Civil Rights era. If you remember, I brought 
 Joe Lowery here. Joe is about 95 now, and 
 when Joe got here, and... the then-Dean saw 
 him dragging himself across the room, and he 
 said, "Oh my God, what did Bill Anderson bring here now?" 
 And then he sat him up on the stage, 
 and let him stand up there before a pulpit, and he 
 tore it up. He was so good,  
 the stories that he had to tell about the experiences in the Civil Rights Movement are 
 unequalled today. Joe Lowery is a, was a treat, then. He set the tone 
 for this series. And then,  
 Charles Adams. I said I had to have some contemporaries some people are doing it 
 today. Joe Lowery was then. I was then. 
 We're has-beens, but I said we need somebody that's doing it today. 
 Freddie Haynes was a natural. He was a natural, because he's doing it 
 today. And he comes prepared, he got his training 
 at Bishop College. I think they had 99%
 black folks at that college, 
 didn't they, remember, Bishop College? And he did further study 
 in... at Oxford University, just to see how the other folks 
 live so he could compare the two. And he says, you know 
 we... we folks down here at Bishop need some of the stuff they got at Oxford and vice versa. 
 So he has a church in... Dallas-Fort Worth area, 
 it's the, ah...  
 Friendship West, Friendship West. When he went there, they had about 200-300 members, and now they 
 have like 12,000 members, and they keep growing, because of the message 
 that he brings. Now, those of you who are ministers, 
 you've heard of Samuel DeWitt Proctor, 
 one of the greatest preachers of all times. 
 Of course, Samuel DeWitt didn't live forever, either, so as he died, 
 he brought up the next generation, and part of that next generation was Freddie Haynes. 
 And Freddie Haynes was telling us a little while ago, how 
 we have an obligation, where those who have helped us along this way, 
 we have an obligation to reach back, and bring somebody else 
 up. He's gonna tell you a little bit about that, in other parts of his work. 
 But he also is the author of "Healing Our Broken Villages" 
 and "Soul Fitness." I declare our villages 
 need to be healed, those who are known by my name 
 will humble themselves. Turn their face 
 then will they hear from heaven. Yes, we need our villages to be healed today. 
 Because there are those who want to turn the clock back, 
 take our voters' right away,  
 and emasculate, you know emasculate 
 the Bill of Rights and the Constitution it doesn't apply to you folks any more. 
 So he's received that B.A. degree from Bishop. 
 And he has a Masters of Divinity from 
 Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry from 
 the Graduate Theological Foundation that I told you, he did do further study at 
 Oxford University, so he has a wealth 
 of experience, a wealth of educational exposure, and 
 is valuable to this generation,and I am just proud to have 
 him with you today. Now, let me present to you, 
 Freddie D.W. Haynes. (applause) 
 (applause)  
 
 Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Let me express my 
 appreciation to the Michigan State community for 
 this wonderful opportunity. I shared at the breakfast this morning, that last 
 week I was in Los Angeles with Reverend 
 Al Sharpton, and Ervin 'Magic' Johnson came to the event. And 
 so I was trying to think of, how could I engage Magic in conversation, 
 and of course, that's real easy, because he is so gregarious 
 and gracious and after a while, I finally said I have to get a one- 
 upmanship on Magic, and so I said, 
 "Well, you just need to know that I'm speaking at Michigan State University next week, whacha got to say 
 to that." And then Magic's response was, 
 "Well, you are going to holy ground, and as a preacher you ought to know, you have to 
 kiss the ground when you get to Michigan State." I said, 
 "Man, it is going to be snow on the ground. I'm not kissing the ground until the summer." 
 And so he said, "Well, give Michigan State a big hug for me." 
 So I am indeed honored and humbled to have this privilege to share. 
 Every time I hear from Dr. Anderson about this, 
 experience, I don't care what I have on the calendar, 
 I move it around, because I have such wonderful memories from 
 having shared here. And every time, I am blown away by 
 the energy of the students here. So I want to 
 commend and appreciatively applaud the students for who you are, 
 what you are doing and for your great leadership. And just know this, 
 that every time Michigan State takes the field in football, 
 the court in basketball, you got a brother down in Dallas hollering 
 for you, (applause) so I am excited about 
 this opportunity to share with you, but especially 
 I'm just so turned on by the fact that 
 I guess the word is "turn up," by the fact that this lecture series 
 is appropriately named for a legend 
 in our time in Dr. William Anderson. He indeed 
 deserves this. We honor ourselves by naming this 
 lectureship after him. I had forgotten and the Dean mentioned this 
 that when you go to that marvelous Martin Luther King, Junior chapel 
 there at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, as 
 the Dean has mentioned, there is a marvelous portrait of Dr. Anderson 
 again, speaking of his inestimable contributions to 
 this country. Not just the Civil Rights struggle, because I'm 
 convinced it was a second American Revolution that helped us in 
 our journey toward a more perfect union. And you cannot write 
 the history of that second revolution without including 
 the name of Dr. William Anderson. And so (applause) to have him Amen 
 (applause)  
 to have him present me... I made a mistake in the class 
 earlier and compared it to a basketball player being 
 introduced by Michael Jordan. I'm in Michigan State, how 
 dare I say that somebody that wore Carolina blue (laughter) 
 would introduce me. And so I want to 
 rephrase that, and so I felt like a basketball player being 
 introduced by Magic Johnson, hall-of-famer. (applause) 
 Because indeed, Dr. Anderson is that to us 
 and so I appreciate him, I appreciated Sandy, who always 
 handles things just warmly, wonderfully and brilliantly 
 and of course, she well may be the brains behind 
 the outfits. So Sandy, thank you so much for your kindess and 
 hospitality. This Dean is absolutely amazing. I appreciate the Dean so much 
 and I appreciated him responding to my anonymous emails 
 because I am the one who anonymously says to you, 
 "Make sure you invite Freddie Haynes (laughter) for the lectureship." I have 
 I sent about a thousand out, I'll be sending them out next week, 
 inviting myself back. And oh yeah, 
 Dr. Anderson had me to reach out to someone that I know today and so 
 I bragged in a text to him about this lecture 
 series and his response on his way to doing something else 
 was, "let's make it happen." And so, I am excited, I 
 may just crash that party next year when that date is solidified. 
 So thank you so much for this opportunity. In light of 
 the historic moment that we find ourselves in, as it relates to 
 the 60-50 piece, which I think is absolutely powerful, 
 I thought it would be good for us today to discuss 
 in the moments I have to share with you, Trayvon Martin and the unfinished 
 business of the Civil Rights Movement. That's what I want to talk about during 
 our time together Trayvon Martin and the unfinished business 
 of the Civil Rights Movement.  
 Our ancestors of ebony hue found themselves traumatized and terrorized 
 as they were kidnapped from the shores of Mother Africa and brought 
 packed like sardines surviving somehow, the 
 insufferable horrors and hell of the middle passage to these shores, 
 not to be treated as citizens of what was to become 
 named, or referred to as "the New World," but instead to be treated 
 as shadow property. A part of what some had labeled "The Miafo" 
 or the "Great Suffering." So with that being the case, it is true 
 that our journey is best poetically characterized 
 by James Weldon Johnson, who, in that classic 
 "Lift Every Voice and See," poetically portrayed our painful plight and 
 pilgrimage, when he said, "We have come over a wave that with 
 tears has been watered. We have come treading our feet through the blood 
 of the slaughtered." How poetic that is, and yet, how on point he is, as he 
 portrays our painful pilgrimage on these shores, one that has been 
 characterized by both trauma and terrorism. And with that being the case, 
 I thought it would be good for us to take a look not only at that history of 
 overcoming such, coming to the point where through the Civil Rights struggle, led 
 by such persons as Dr. Bill Anderson and 
 Ella Baker and Septima Clark, not to mention Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Junior 
 and Medger Evers, we found ourselves as a nation undergoing 
 a second American Revolution that was joined by the likes of 
 a sister by the name of Viola Louisa, all the way from Michigan, as well 
 as others who made sure that this nation would live up to 
 the true meaning of its creed, expressed with such beautiful eloquence in 
 the nation's Constititution and Declaration of Independence. No other nation 
 can proudly point to such poetic brilliance as we find 
 in our Declaration of Independence and beautiful words of our Constitution. 
 "We hold these truths to be held self-evident: that all men are created equal. 
 That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that are among these are life, 
 liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Of course, that birthed 
 the first American Revolution. But then, the second American Revolution took 
 place during the Civil Rights struggle. And yet, my brothers and sisters, you will 
 agree with me that as far as we have come, we still have a long way 
 to go. We still have a long way to go, and was that not sadly and tragically 
 expressed in the case of young Trayvon Martin 
 over the last two years. Trayvon Martin, at this point in his life, had it not been 
 for a Barney Fife wanna-be by the name of George Zimmerman, would perhaps be 
 a freshman, a second semester freshman imagine that, in college, if not 
 a second semester freshman, maybe Trayvon Martin had chosen 
 the route of going to get a job, or maybe Trayvon Martin was utilizing 
 the brilliance of this generation in technology, to not just get a job, 
 but to create some jobs. But Trayvon Martin, who could have been, never will 
 become because of what happened on that tragic evening in February 
 of 2012 there in Sanford, Florida. Trayvon Martin 
 was killed. Trayvon Martin no longer is physically 
 present with us, and yet Trayvon Martin becomes a metaphor, whose spirit 
 speaks to us to the unfinished business of the Civil Rights Movement. 
 And so, perhaps we can learn a lot from Trayvon Martin as we 
 contemplate what we need to be doing in what Dr. Bill 
 Anderson refers to as the next 60-50. Trayvon Martin has a word 
 that speaks to each and everyone of us. 17 years old and no longer 
 alive. Kanye West perhaps would interpret that by saying, "What's the life expectancy of 
 black guys?" The system's working effectively. That's why, with that 
being the case, we agree that Trayvon Martin is 
 a metaphor of one whose life was tragically aborted. 
 Parenthetically, I'm using a word abortion that the right likes to use, but 
 the right does not use it after a person is born. Does it not blow your mind 
 that there are those on the right wing especially the religious right 
 that will fight for our rights before we are born, but then do nothing 
 for our rights once we are born. (applause) And so Trayvon Martin 
 must be seen as one, even by those on the religious right, who 
 was aborted. His potential was aborted, his life was aborted. 
 One who could have been, never will become, because that is 
 abortion. And Trayvon Martin again speaks to us as a metaphor... 
 a metaphor of one who was labeled, a one who was labeled 
 labeled, labeled, labeled. I like that, "labeled." I think it's Ophra Winfrey 
 who suggests that to be black and male in what Mio Angelo refers to 
 as these as yet to be United State of America, is to be labeled a suspect. 
 A suspect. I use that, why? Because of the fact that during the trial 
 of George Zimmerman, which ironically became the trial of Trayvon Martin, is that not 
 a trip? I mean, Trayvon is dead, and yet Trayvon finds himself on trial. 
 Responsible for his own murder. And while being on trial, responsible for 
 his own murder, I was so aghast when the verdict came, 
 that angrily when someone asked me how did I feel, all I could do was say 
 I'm just a black man in America, trying not to get murdered, and then blamed for my murder while my murderer 
 gets away with murder. (applause) And so, Trayvon Martin is killed by 
 George Zimmerman, after being killed by George Zimmerman, tragically, the trial 
 takes place and Trayvon is labeled "a suspect" if you followed 
 the trial, you'll recall that when George Zimmerman was videotaped 
 "testi-lying" about the events of that February evening, there in 
 Sanford, Georgia, that George Zimmerman kept referring to Trayvon Martin as 
 a suspect, suspect. I was blown away. He kept referring to him as a suspect. 
 Oh, the suspect was armed, was he not armed with Skittles and ice tea? 
 Surely, he's dangerous. The suspect was wearing a hoodie oh yeah, it was raining. 
 I guess that's what you do when you're going through the rain on your way home into 
 your gated community to the home of your father. Trayvon Martin was 
 hunted and haunted, was haunted and hunted down, by one who 
 labeled him him as a suspect. One could say that Trayvon Martin was 
 a victim of racial profiling. I love the fact that the President of 
 the United States, Barack Obama, who has gingerly avoided 
 the mine field of race knowing that it would blow up in his face, politically, 
 but yet, the week after the Zimmerman verdict came down, President 
 Barack Obama shocked the press corps and most of us in the nation 
 with an impromptu press conference, where he transparently and thoughtfully 
 tried to share with America what was going on. The pain 
 behind what was being expressed by African-Americans and persons of 
 goodwill across this nation. And when he did it, he blew their minds by saying 
 earlier, I had said if I had a son he would look like Trayvon Martin. 
 But then he came straight home and said, no 35 years ago, I was 
 Trayvon Martin (applause) and when he transparently and thoughtfully testified, 
 did you not feel something in terms of our collective 
 skin crawling as a country, that the now-President of the United States 
 had gone through a season where he also had been 
 racially profiled. Hear his testimony afresh as he spoke 
 of the frustration of being followed 
 in a department store as if he was about to become 
 a thief. He spoke of what it meant to feel that he was a threat 
 as he boards an elevator and a woman clutches her purse 
 thinking that somehow his very presence signifies 
 a threat. Hear him afresh as President Barack Obama spoke 
 of being profiled walking by a car and hearing 
 the door suddenly lock as if he's going to, because of 
 how he looks do something damaging to that car. And so, Barack Obama 
 shocks the nation, the President of 
 the United States, the President says, 35 years ago, 
 I also was Trayvon Martin before I was elected 
 to the Senate, I understood the pain of being profiling. 
 Now of course, this is for another discussion, but there are those of us 
 who would say Mr. President, you were being real gracious, because you 
 have been profiled since you've been President (applause) of the United States... 
 but that's for another discussion. Again, President 
 Barack Obama reminded this country that race remains 
 unresolved. Racism still is something that we must 
 deal with. And so with that being the case, agree with me, 
 that there is some unfinished business to the Civil Rights Movement 
 and Trayvon Martin is that symbol. Trayvon Martin 
 speaks to all of us. You're not feeling me like I need you to, let 
 me see if I can give you some quotes since I'm at Michigan State University. 
 I think James Baldwin would put it this way: "Now, as then 
 we find ourselves bound. First without, then within, 
 by the nature of our categorizations." Well, you 
 didn't like James Baldwin, so let me give you Alice Walker. Alice Walker 
 spoke of being incarcerated by imputed 
 images. I like that Alice Walker is suggesting that we 
 find ourselves oftentimes incarcerated by 
 images others have imputed onto us. And so 
 Alice Walker talks about being profiled by 
 nature of the incarcerating images. We find ourselves 
 imprisoned by... if you didn't like Alice Walker or, who was it? 
 James Baldwin, maybe I can go with Beyonce's husband Hoova 
 I guess Jay-Z has to testify right now, because Jay-Z says, 
 "Blindfolded, expected to walk a straight line. Mind-molded, taught to love you, but 
 hating mind." Do you hear Jay-Z testifying that, in a real 
 sense, he's rapping about being profiled I'm not even done. 
 I'll give you one more... Paul Lawrence Dunbar, 
 as he says in sympathy, he speaks of being profiled and now encaged 
 like a caged bird. "I know why the caged bird sings. 
 Ah, me when his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, when he beats his bars 
 as he would be free. It is not a carol of joy nor glee 
 but a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core, but a plea to 
 upward to heaven he flings. I know why the caged bird sings." 
 He's not simply speaking of being incarcerated 
 in prison, he is speaking of the African-American 
 experience in this nation. Ironically, he is writing about 
 the same time that W. E. B. Du Bois, in his 
 classic, "The Souls of Black Folk" says the defining element of 
 being African-American in this nation is to find yourself 
 categorized as a problem. And then he rhetorically 
 raises the question, how does it feel to be a problem? 
 A problem that is not solved. A problem that 
 is managed. A problem that is put up with. But a problem 
 that is never-ever really solved. Yes, I'm suggesting 
 that even in 2014, my man Trayvon Martin 
 never became all that he could become, because 
 maybe America has some unfinished business as it 
 relates to the Civil Rights Movement. Unfinished business? Yes, 
 unfinished business. After all, when you speak to Trayvon Martin from 
 eternity he symbolizes the sad reality that the 
 justice system experienced from the bottom 
 up, is often criminal and unjust. I like that. Let me 
 do that one more time. The justice system, when it is experienced 
 from the bottom up in too many instances, is criminal 
 and downright unjust. And of course, we recognize that 
 because we've seen in recent days, how Lady Justice 
 evidently is peeping through the blindfold when it comes to 
 meeting our justice as it relates to cases of persons of 
 ebony-hue. Check this. I'm from Texas, please pray for me, because 
 there in Texas, we have this hang-em high mentality 
 so much so, that we lead the nation by far in the number of 
 executions. And sadly, there is an African-American 
 man right now who may be executed, by the name of 
 Duane Buck. Google him when you get a chance, and you'll 
 discover sadly, that Duane Buck is on death row, because 
 an expert witness, during the sentencing phase of the trial, had 
 the unmitigated racist gall to suggest that because 
 he is black, he is much more dangerous. It's his skin color 
 that makes him, that makes him dangerous. And the jury then 
 sentenced him to death. To execution. They are in the state of 
 Texas, again I'll repeat, the criminal justice system 
 experienced from the bottom up is often criminal and downright 
 unjust. I shared earlier the sad reality, again, 
 in Texas pray for us in Texas because in Texas 
 one judge, according to Channel 8 News, WFAA, which is 
 the ABC affiliate there is Dallas-Forth Worth the same judge 
 who heard a case where one who killed four people 
 and injured nine others, and the defense was 
 affluenza is now sentenced to what? Probation in a posh-type place. 
 That same judge gave a young, 14-year-old 
 African-America child a 10-year sentence to prison, 
 because he punched someone and accidentally killed them, and now 
 he's serving time, not in a juvenile prison, but in 
 an adult prison. Same judge, but vastly different 
 sentences. And with that being the case, you will agree with me that 
 there is something about experiencing the justice system from 
 the bottom up that will cause one to conclude that the criminal 
 justice system is unjust and it's downright 
 criminal. I think it's who? Michelle Alexander, who challenges 
 this nation prophetically with her indictment of the criminal 
 justice system, as she refers to it as the "new Jim Crow." 
 In which she dares to declare that a new cast 
 system has been set up by mass incarceration. 
 And now, there is legal there is the re- 
 legalizing of oppression and racism through 
 the new Jim Crow of the criminal justice system, which, 
 through mass incarceration, feeds our prison industrial 
 complex. I'll give you this... you do know that we live in a nation where, sadly, 
 many states are gauging how many prisons they 
 are going to build by the test scores of children in 
 the third and fourth grade in urban schools. Is that not interesting? 
 After all, to me, if you're going to get it right, why don't you 
 correct your educational process on the front end, instead of 
 building prisons (applause) on the back end? Well, I'm simply suggesting 
 that there is unfinished business of the Civil Rights Movement 
 symbolized by Trayvon Martin, and we must understand 
 that Trayvon Martin reminds all of us of the failures of a 
 justice system that in many instances is criminal when it comes 
 to people who view it from the bottom up. But that's not all 
 Trayvon Martin continues to speak to us, of the fact that you 
 can be persecuted when you are profiled. I'll do that again, 'cuz I 
 kinda like that. Profiled in order to be persecuted. 
 Labeled in order to be limited. To be limited and even 
 justified being eliminated. I'm liking that. That's kinda good right there. 
 Because Trayvon Martin was profiled by George Zimmerman 
 as a suspect, and that justified the elimination 
 of Trayvon Martin. That blows my mind, because 
 Trayvon Martin, you will remember, was going home to his 
 father's place in a gated community. Even a gated community 
 was no protective gate for Trayvon Martin. 
 Trayvon Martin was killed in a gated 
 community. We know about what goes on in the hood, because 
 we live in a nation that is more concerned about the economics 
 of the gun than the affect of the bullet. You didn't like that, 
 but you know that I just told the truth. (laughter) Because it's the economics of the gun, 
 that keeps us from doing anything sensible about the effect 
 of the bullet. And so when we see Trayvon Martin murdered 
 that night at the hands of one George Zimmerman, we cannot 
 help but question the fact that Trayvon Martin was 
 persecuted because he was being profiled. And so the 
 question I raise right now is, what was it that contributed to 
 the mindset of George Zimmerman, that caused him to look 
 at Trayvon Martin and conclude that he had... that he was 
 a suspect? There was something that contributed to his mindset. 
 You're not feeling me. So right now, I'm not concerned so much about 
 who killed Trayvon Martin, as I am what killed 
 Trayvon Martin. Because if we don't deal with the "what," we'll continue 
 to have a lot of "who's", who engage in the mass murder of 
 Trayvon Martins in... on the streets of our nation's cities. 
 And so here we have a mindset. That's what it is a mindset 
 that is fed in this nation. We saw that played out 
 just recently, when Richard Sherman had to educate this 
 nation in the aftermath of the vitriolic and vicious response 
 to what Richard Sherman did immediately following a heated 
 game against a hated rival, down 
 ... the San Francisco 49ers. And so here is Richard Sherman, 
 and he's speaking in a very heated fashion, and the next thing 
 you know, he's being attacked viciously as a thug, and 
 Richard Sherman, taking his degree from Stanford, said it's quite ironic 
 you label me a thug. Is "thug" now the new way 
 of saying in a sophisticated fashion the n-word? He's 
 educating us to the fact, it's not just a "who" that killed Trayvon Martin, 
 it's a "what" that killed Trayvon Martin. Until we deal with 
 the "what" we will not ever experience the true 
 humanity that this nation espouses as it relates to living 
 by to the true meaning of its creed. So what can we do as we 
 move from where we are to where we ought to be? 
 As we move from this chaotic moment to a moment of community, to utilize 
 the language of Martin Luther King, Junior, I would say, 
 "Let's pick up the baton of the Civil Rights Movement" because evidently 
 they got something right. There are some lessons we can learn 
 from the Civil Rights Movement. And what I love about it, is that now, we have 
 an opportunity to instead of sanitizing the movement but to go back 
 and truly study the movement, and learn lessons 
 beyond what we have been taught as we have tried to 
 romanticize and sanitize that movement, because it was not 
 romantic. It was a movement where persons of goodwill 
 came together believing America could become a whole lot 
 better. I love that fact that when you look at the Civil Rights 
 struggle, it did not start May 17, 1954, 
 the Civil Rights movement began during the post-reconstruction 
 backlash as it stirred one Ida B. Wells to 
 fight against lynching. As it gave birth to the Niagara Movement. 
 And today, in 1909, on this very day, the NAACP 
 was born. Don't miss this as a multi- 
 racial, anti-lynching, fighting racism unit. 
 And then after that, you had others to pop up, who made up their minds 
 that America could and would become better. And all of that 
 set the stage for a ground-ground swell 
 that led to the Civil Rights Movement. And the Civil Rights Movement again 
 does not begin May 17, 1954 with 
 Brown vs. Board of Education, where there were several cases 
 that came together from different parts of the country, and then 
 led by the one and only Thurgood Marshall arguing before 
 the Supreme Court, we then gave birth to Brow 
 the, to the decision in Brown vs. Board of Education, and here is what 
 is so profoundly powerful... it literally overturned 
 Plessy vs. Ferguson, which in 1896 had legalized 
 discrimination. And now, May 17, 1954, 
 we discovered that, through Brown vs. the Board of Education 
 the back to legalized discrimination has 
 been broken, and then that, of course, sets the stage for what takes place 
 in the '50s, so that Rosa Parks responds, inspired 
 by the courage of one Mama Till, who had received 
 the broken and bloated body of her beloved 13-year-old son 
 Emmett Till. And then she said, "I'm not going to have a closed 
 casket funeral" to the undertaker who had inquired, but I want 
 the casket to remain open that so that this nation and the world 
 can see the hypocrisy of the way America is practicing 
 democracy and then, Rosa Parks said she was so inspired 
 by what Mama Till had done, that in December, 
 it was no moment when Rosa said, "my feet are tired." 
 It was the moment when Rosa said, "I'm sick and tired of racism 
 and segregation and legalized discrimination." And that's when 
 Rosa took her seat and Martin King, Junior was then 
 propelled as a 26-year-old recent graduate of 
 Boston University, with a Ph.D. pastoring now 
 the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church there in Montgomery, Alabama. 
 And for 381 days, they broke the back 
 economically of the bus system there in Montgomery, Alabama. 
 And as a consequence, we had the beginning of a movement 
 that then found itself manifest profoundly and powerfully 
 when students then picked up the baton and students at 
 North Carolina, students across the south made up their minds that they 
 were going to take a stand in dignity. And when they took that stand 
 in dignity, the nation moved closer and closer 
 toward becoming what it could and should become. 
 And then, of course, the Albany movement, led by one 
 Dr. William Anderson, who not only joined in with SNCC, 
 but invited Dr. King to Albany. And Dr. King, in his last 
 message was quite profound, as he reflected on Albany 
 and said there in Albany, Negroes straighten up their backs 
 and whenever you straighted up your back you're going somewhere, because no one 
 can ride your back unless you bend it. And I think that's the first point 
 we learned from the Civil Rights struggle, and that is, it's time 
 America, to straight up our backs. It's time to 
 envision what we can become in spite of where we are right now. 
 I think that's what happens when you straight up your back your viewpoint changes. 
 Because as long as you're bent over you're looking down, but the moment 
 you straighten up your back, you can see a lot more. No wonder 
 Dr. King could declare in the midst of a nightmare of legalized 
 segregation, "I have a dream." Why? Because his back was 
 straightened up and he could see beyond where he was, to what could become 
 and maybe that's what we need to do in 2014 
 and that is to straighten up. I know it's kinda dark right now, when we look at 
 mass incarceration, the case of Trayvon Martin, Duane Buck. 
 Kenrick Johnson. Ernest Hoskins and the case in Jacksonville, Florida 
 even right now. But here's the good news: It's when things get dark, 
 Dr. King said, that's when you see the stars. Well, I'm not 
 Dr. King, I'm Freddie Haynes, so let me give it to you Freddie Haynes style. 
 And that is, if you go into a theater, here's your shout right here. 
 When you go into a theater, before the main movie comes on, 
 if you get there in plenty of time, you discover that 
 the theater lights are up, but the moment they get ready to show the previews 
 of coming attractions, that's when it gets dark. You didn't shout. 
 I gotta give it to you again. You don't get a preview of what's 
 coming until things get dark. And maybe that's where we 
 are in 2014. Things may be dark. There is 
 nothing going on with Congress in terms of correcting 
 the ills of this nation. It's dark. Mass incarceration has 
 us at 2.3 million people in prison today. 
 Michelle Alexander says more black males are in prison today then 
 we had in slavery in 1850. It's dark. But because 
 we are straightening up our backs, we are seeing in the darkness, 
 previews of coming attractions of what America can become. 
 We can become that nation where justice rolls down like 
 waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. We can 
 become that nation that is that beloved community, where every community 
 is a community of opportunity. Where people, 
 where people can fulfill their God-given possibilities. I hope you see 
 that right now. Because if you see it, it means you have straightened up your back 
 and you're looking beyond where we are, to where we ought to be. 
 Is that not what college should be about? College should be about 
 envisioning what we can become. College should be about 
 Langston Hughes: "Hold fast to dreams. For if dreams die, life is 
 a broken wing bird that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams, for if 
 dreams go, life is a barren field, frozen with snow." 
 When we hold fast to our dreams of what we can become, 
 here's your shout right here: we become so obsessed with our 
 ought, that we are never discouraged by what is. I'll do that 
 again, because I'm so obsessed with what can become, 
 that I'm not going to get too down about what is right 
 now, so I start living every day with my mind on my 
 ought, in spit of what is. Knowing that if I keep moving toward my ought, 
 my ought is going to become what is, and "is" got to give it up 
 to the ought. (applause)  
 And so we're straightening up our backs... 
 not only are we straightening up our backs, but I have to quote who is it Taylor 
 Branch, who does a marvelous job tracing the Civil Rights 
 struggle, and in the opening... and in the opening, or the first piece that 
 he does on the Civil Rights struggle, it's called I love it "Parting the waters." 
 Parting the waters, I love that. Because, of course, as a preacher, he's using 
 a biblical metaphor, parting the waters. I'm talking 
 Moses parting the waters and defeating for once and for all, 
 Pharoh's oppression. I love that metaphor, why? Because 
 parting the waters says to all of us, on the one hand here's some preaching 
 right here, a way can be made out of no way. Don't give up, keep looking up. 
 But parting the waters also challenges us to take stands 
 against unjust structures that still exist in this 
 nation. Please, always remember that the Civil Rights struggle 
 was successful not only because people came together 
 of different stripes and hues, it was successful because 
 the Civil Rights struggle brought about a change in public policy. 
 Public Policy was changed. The 1964 Public 
 Accommodations Act. The 1965 Voting Rights Acts, which 
 the Supreme Court is doing everything in their power to gut 
 by way of its strength and enforcing power. And so we're 
 talking about a season where public policy became 
 a reflection of the meaning of justice. Michael Eric Dyson 
 says that justice is what love looks like in public spaces. 
 Justice, Michael Dyson says, is when my group wants for your group 
 the privileges of my own group. And when we reach 
 that mindset as a nation, then we will be parting 
 the waters as we stand against unjust structures that are... 
 still allow for Trayvon Martins to take place. I'm almost done. This thing 
 is just getting good to me. So let me wrap it up with this: not only must we 
 part the waters, not only must we straighten up our backs, but 
 please remember this, and this is profound and important, and that is 
 even if Dr. King was and I believe he was the drum 
 major for justice, please bear in mind, the thing didn't get done 
 unless the band played on. You see, Dr. King 
 was the drum major, but no music is going to get played 
 if you just have a drum major run out on the field, and the band 
 is not out there with every department playing their... 
 with every section playing their note to bring about a harmony that makes 
 the band sound so good. Go to a football game in the fall 
 and you let the drum major just run out there by themselves, and the band 
 doesn't follow, guess what? The drum major looks kind of crazy. 
 But you let the band follow the drum major and every section do their part 
 to contribute to the harmonizing piece, and before you know it, 
 we make beautiful music together. And that's what we can 
 do as a nation. We can make beautiful music together. 
 Do you not know? And this blew me away, Dr. Anderson, so you can teach us more about this. 
 I was studying this week about the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. The Highlander Folk 
 School, they, they trained Rosa Parks and 
 Scepter McClark and Ella Baker and others, and the Highlander Folk 
 School was so powerful because whites and blacks came together to 
 live in an egalitarian environment in Tennessee. You didn't shout. 
 I gotta do that one more time. This is in the south in the '40 
and '50s. And the Highlander 
 Folk School said, when you come here, we're going to teach you 
 non-violent resistance. We're going to teach you how to live together 
 as brothers and sisters, and in the '40s and the 50s, blacks and 
 whites from around the country descended on Highlander 
 Folk School, and they did not live in segregated quarters, they lived 
 together in learning how to live together once they 
 left there, and they learned how to organize communities. They learned 
 how to stand in non-violent resistance, or peaceful 
 resistors against the violence that they would endure. 
 That happened at the Highland Folk School. The Highlander Folks School becomes 
 a preview, there is it, of coming attractions, of what America 
 can become when we take seriously the meaning of 
 America in terms of its intent. And so, yes, Dr. King 
 was a mighty good drum major. Dr. King dreamt a mighty 
 good dream, but don't forget those other unnamed heros 
 and she-roes, who helped to bring about the American Revolution, 
 part two. That simply means you don't have to be Dr. King in 
 order to bring about a new America. You can be you. 
 And watch God use you to make America what America can 
 become. Don't wait for the next Dr. King he ain't coming. 
 Don't wait for the next Dr. King, why? Because you have that 
 responsibility. That's why I love to quote Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, 
 who brilliantly and prophetically said in a free society,"some are guilty, 
 but all are responsible. All of us have a responsibility to make America
a better place," and so whatever 
 section you are in the band, play your tune. Whatever section 
 responsibility you had... if you've got to play the drums, drum on. 
 If you've got to toot your horn, toot on. But all of us must 
 toot our horn of peace and justice and liberty for every single 
 one of us in this nation, or if we do not 
 this nation will devolve into a chaotic hell that 
 is beneath the original intent of our Founding Fathers 
 and, I gotta give it to you like this, our second 
 generation of Founding Fathers, Dr. Anderson and the Civil Rights Movement. 
 I close with this, this is so good right here Dr. Zan Wesley Holmes Junior tells 
 of an African fable where these... where some persons 
 died, and when they died, don't miss this, they were immediately 
 escorted to heaven, and when they were escorted to heaven, they said, 
 "Oh, so we are... we are going to get in?" And the angel Gabriel said, 
 "Yes, you're going to get in. Why?" "Well, we just wanna see what hell looks like before we 
 go to heaven. So will you show us what hell looks like as long as we don't have to stay?" 
 And Peter said... and Gabriel said, "Yes, I'll show you what hell looks like, and then you've got 
 to come back to heaven, that's where your reservation is." And so they said 
 Cool and the Gang, just show us what hell looks like. When they get down to hell, 
 Peter opens up the gate... and Gabriel opens up the door and is aghast at what he sees. 
 A horrific, a hideous and ugly sight. The sight is 
 horrific, because around a banquet table that is 
 laiden with lavish delicacies, there are 
 individuals who are sitting around the banquet table, 
 and their arms are in slings, they are broken, and because their arms 
are in slings and broken, they are sitting in front of 
 a banquet style-type food, a banquet style table and they are 
 reaching for the food, and every time they try to feed themselves, 
 the arm is broken. So you know what happened? They would try to bring the fork 
 up to their mouth and the food would fly by their face and hit 
 the wall on the back. So you had food on the table, you had food on the wall, 
 and you had emaciated bodies that were dying of hunger. 
 Is that not a hellified situation? I mean, think about that for a moment. 
 Imagine being hungry, food is in your face, and you can't 
 even feed your face. That's some hell right there. And so Zan said 
 at that moment there they are now, saying, oh my God, this is horrible, 
 we got to get out of here. What is heaven like if this is hell? And Gabriel 
 says, "Let's go on to heaven now." When they get to heaven, the door opens 
 similar scene. People are sitting around the table, their arms 
 are broken in slings, but everyone is joyous and happy, 
 everyone feels good about themselves. And so the man says to 
 Gabriel, "What's going on? Why is it that they are happy 
 they're all so full and eating. What's the difference between 
 heaven and hell?" To which Gabriel responds, "Keep looking, 
 and you'll discover in heaven as in hell, everyone's who sitting around 
 a table that is laiden with lavish delicacies, in heaven 
 as in hell, everyone around the table, their arms are broken, 
 and in a sling. But here's the difference in heaven as 
 opposed to hell we've learned how to feed each other. And so 
 as a consequence, you see when you look in heaven, that persons 
 are turning toward their neighbor and feeding their neighbor, instead of trying 
 to feed themselves. Will America become heaven or hell? 
 It depends on if we make up our minds. It's not just about 
 me feeding me, it's about us learning to feed one another. 
 Because when we feed one another, that's when 
 the lion and the lamb will lie down together. When we feed one another, 
 that's when income inequality will shrink, and the have-gots 
 will no longer exploit the have-nots. When we feed one another 
 that's when this nation will be one of liberty and 
 justice for all, excluding ya'll, when we learn to 
 feed each other, that's when America will truly be America 
 and when that happens, we can say, "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of 
 liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers and mothers 
 died. Land of the Pilgrims' pride. From every mountainside, let 
 freedom ring." Let's do that. Let's let freedom ring, and when we 
 do that, Trayvon Martin will not have died in vain, because 
 we will have continued learning lessons from 
 the Civil Rights Movement. We've got some unfinished business to do. 
I've got one thing to say, since we have unfinished business to do
: the meeting is now called to order, let us now conduct 
 unfinished business. (applause) 
  
