And we actually had to outlaw lynching

4/12

An empty bottle of Courvoisier Cognac and a New Webster’s Complete Dictionary. 

Teddy tells me he had difficulty getting Antonia and Wesley to move on. He was gentle, given the hospital situation. How Wesley had come in last night during our meeting and said Yo,I know you and I have had our beefs but I got to take my woman to the hospital, can we bring our stuff inside? and Teddy had taken care of him. 

I tell Teddy about my morning with Occupy Faith. Reports of the national meeting in Oakland. Would have liked to have been there. They’re serious in Oakland. Everybody’s planning something for May Day. What will we do? I hear decriptions of one event we’re invited to take part in. How can we control the message? Someone asks. You can’t, I say. Even the Messaging Work Group can’t control the message. Someone else reports promises connected with a certain action. We’re invited to provide collar cover. They come with all good intentions, I say, but you cannot be romantic. You just cannot romanticize this. Green, red, black...at best there’s communication, don’t even think about coordination...we can control our own message, maybe..the best we can do is to be a pastoral presence...I tell this story to Teddy and he agrees with me. The coop is his main commitment right now. 

I talk with the staff at Project Reachout. They had actually been behind Antonia’s hospitalization last night. They fear that she is deteriorating. And they’ve got a back story on Wesley. Longtime street guy. Actually got him housed for awhile. But apparently the man has issues. Especially with women. They became such an issue at our neighbor B’Nai Jeshurun synagogue that BJ closed off its steps. I’m not going there. But we’ve got to do something. An intervention planned for Tuesday morning.

Runi has issues to discuss. Jean has issues to discuss. Lots of internal issues. Anxieties. Runi hanging and waiting for Jane. Jane asks me what I think. I say, they’ve got to get a social worker to do a group process, soon. No one in the group can handle this...Jane nods in agreement. She hugs Runi and takes off. 

Carol, Hope’s friend comes in. Turns out she’s from Wooster, too. Graduated three years ahead of me. Wooster continues to  turn out students with a conscience and heart for a better world. Didn’t realize it when I was there, the older I get, I find Wooster folks in the best places. That is where they believe they can make a difference.

Walter Francis White

Tonight is the Times Square Playwrights’ reading of Rudy Gray’s Conversations with a Kleagle...based on the true story of Walter Francis White who used his light complexion to interview a Klan leader in Lousiana. One of only many. His work ultimately led to national anti-lynching laws. (Yes, we actually had to outlaw lynching.) Rudy Gray himself is there with us to talk about his play. What he’d learned about Walter F. White and the early days of the NAACP. Wish more pople could have been there. This play is exactly what our church, our center, is all about. One of the actors, Doug Stone, goes back to Frog & Peach days in the Balcony Theatre. I say goodnight to Rafael and head home.