Transcription
Give an honor to God, who is the head of my life, to the family, certainly to Bishop Richardson, Bishop Stockton, and all of the clergy. Let me give special thanks to our brother and minister, beloved Reverend Tim Gilligan, who thought it not robbery to open the doors of this church so we could have this service for AJ. He never asked what was going to be said or what was going to be done; he said, "This is a house for everybody." It is this strength that I believe, Bishop, that God gave him, which is why he is blessed with this congregation. I don't know if I would open my doors for our shopton if I was Tim, but he did, and I want him to know that we appreciate him and his congregation.
I'm also grateful to Reverend A.R. Bernardo, pastor of one of the largest ministries in this country, who came down from New York and said, "I wanted to be here with you," and he is here. Also, Reverend Bestune, our field director, Reverend Stephen Marshall, and Steph—they're all traveling with me for man. I want to thank Sabrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, and certainly, I want to give special thanks to my brother, my little brother, who has risen to every occasion to stand for what's right. I call him the Attorney General of Black America, Attorney Ben Crump. [Applause]
I want you to turn to the book of Deuteronomy, 22nd chapter, 6th and 7th verses, and it reads: "If a bird's nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the edge, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall surely let the mother go and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days."
Many years ago, I got the call about a case in Florida of a young man killed in boot camp called Motley Anderson from a young lawyer I did not know named Ben Crump. Ever since then, many years now, every time he called me, I came because he never misled me. Many people do things to enrich themselves, many to get publicity, and as stated here, I appreciate everybody saying that because we all have different callings. God calls us all to do different things. At the same time, you read the Bible; God didn't tell everybody to do the same thing. God gives you different gifts and different talents. You just heard the choir—some sing soprano, some sing alto, some sing tenor, some baritone, and some just move their lips and can't sing at all. But it all takes a choir, and my calling was social justice. Some callings are other parts; all of us operate off our belief in God.
So, I heard my friend and brother introduce me, who heads out Tallahassee Champion RV homes, talk about the cameras, and he's right—we didn't come for the cameras. But if me coming helps you get here, I want the cameras to show up. I'll apologize for that because the world needs to know that we shouldn't be at a funeral this morning. They want to bury what happened to AJ. We are not going to let you bury it; we're not going to be quiet about it, and we're not going to apologize for standing up for it. We are not going away quietly. What happened here is wrong, and we come to stand with this family to call out these strong women, young activists that have stood with Pam and these children. They're not the problem; they're trying to expose the problem.
And people will say, "Well, that is not my way. I believe we ought to do something more quiet and settled." Well, if you're scared, say you're scared. [Applause] Then sit down and shut up and let some of us that ain't scared say what needs to be said. But don't distort what we're seeing. A lady asked me this morning—I work out early in the morning—she said to me, "Is it going to be violence?" I said, "Is there going to be violence?" Shooting somebody through a locked door is vandalism. These young folks that marched and stood up, they have not been violent. The violence is what happened to AJ. Don't act like we're violent; we're here because of violence. Well, are they angry? Yes, we're angry, but we're not mad. We discipline our anger to get justice and fairness, and we can't fight hate and violence by operating with hate and violence because that only helps those that want to act like AJ was like that. If we go out here and do some violence, they'll say, "See, that's what she was afraid of." We got more sense than that.
But don't act like we should not be concerned. Don't act like there's something incongruous to me about how y'all can talk about everything, but I haven't heard the state officials talk about a woman shooting through a door at a mother standing up for her children. [Applause] I mean, I'm confused when you have state officials that could stand up for some that are indicted for yes, for your knowledge, but can't stand up for a mother that's just standing up for her four children. I heard it said that Florida is where "woke" dies. Well, what is the opposite of "woke"? The opposite of "woke" is to be asleep, and we're not going to sleep no more. [Applause] Maybe we took a nap and let you get where you got, but we are awake now, and you will not ever get away with this.
Now, Mr. Richardson didn't say their tendency to shop them blame it all on me, but I want us to be clear that there is no way we can live in a country where people that are not under threat can take the lives of unarmed people, and it not be a threat to all of us. Before they asked me, "Grandma, why'd you come?" I said very simply, and I want to be clear: I did not come for any other reason. When I talked to Pam about her daughter, and she told me about Isaac and Israel and Africa and Titus, many of y'all see me on TV but don't know I was raised by a single mother. My father left when I was 10. I grew up on welfare and food stamps. The only thing between me and jail was my mother. Most of my friends went to jail doing wrong. My mother made me go to church. The only thing that protected me from the gangs was my mother. And when I heard that story, I thought about my story. That's why I read this from Deuteronomy, because too often in our communities, particularly in the Black community, what we can depend on is our mothers. I'm not down on fathers; sometimes, social order for us is a certain situation, but mama is there when nobody's there.
And that's why when this woman degraded them and they ran and got their mother, the mother stood in the way. Don't you feel guilty about nothing; your mama chose to stand in a dangerous way for you. She chose you over her. That's what mothers do. That's why we celebrate your mother. But God, she said to Jesus, "She served; will give a rest." She was a good mother. [Applause] Isaac, Israel, Africa, Titus, don't grow up feeling guilty. Don't say, "Mama wouldn't have died if it wasn't for me." No, mama chose to stand up for you. [Applause] Because mama knew if she allowed people to degrade you and she did not stand up for you, that you would grow up with a feeling that you were something that could be degraded. She would rather show that you were somebody than risk the danger of her being silent.
And one thing I want y'all to do for us is I want you to go and be everything she wanted you to be. I told Isaac, "I want you to go on to college, and one of your brothers and sisters go on and be something. And if you don't have the money, call me. Say you showed up at my mama's funeral; I need to go to college." Because just like I showed up here today for you, I want to sit at your graduation, and I want you to put your fists up and say, "I'm AJ's boy." What they meant for bad, God will make good. [Applause]
Then they said, "I hope y'all won't bring race into it." When this woman called them the n-word, when she said, "This ain't no Underground Railroad, slaves," she brought race into it. Don't act like the National Action Network and the NAACP brought in race; she brought in race. You can't take back what she said. In fact, she didn't take it back; she admitted it. She said, "I said what I said." [Applause] And why don't you admit if it was the other way around, and a Black woman shot through a door at a white kid, you would have arrested her that night? [Applause]
Pam, Friday, I was in Mississippi for the 60th anniversary of the killing of Medgar Evers. I went to the house that Medgar Evers lived in. He was doing the voter registration drive, and he drove home that night, got out of his car in his driveway. I took my daughter with me and stood in that driveway when a man blew his brains out to give us the right to vote. I sat with his wife, who's 90 years old now, Merlie Evers. We're getting ready to have a march on Washington, August 26th, the anniversary of Dr. King's march, with his son and daughter-in-law and I. And I thought about how many people suffered, paid a price, and died to bring us this far. And it wasn't only Blacks; it was Whites that marched. Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner died. Viola Liuzzo died. And when I looked down here in Florida the other day, getting the newsreels of what was going on around AJ, don't get confused. I saw young White kids with Black kids marching right here. Those young activists that made this issue an issue were from all communities because right is right and wrong is wrong, and we've got to stand together against wrong.
We must not forget that God uses us to operate in the time in which we live. Sometimes, Dr. Stockton, Bishop Stockton, we want to pick the parts of the scriptures that we like. We like the results without what makes the results. We want the omelet without the egg. But you got to go by the whole thing. You know, rich is not going to some churches. Preachers say to me right now, "We honored to have you, but stay away from civil rights and politics. Just stay in the word." And I said, "Okay, what? Maybe you got a different Bible than I got, so give me your edition of the Bible." Because my Bible, the second book, was about the Exodus of slaves from slavery—politics. Well, my Bible had David made king—that's political. Solomon king—that's political. That's the win against the genocide of a whole people. If you take all that out of the Bible, you ain't got much left. You want to shout, but you don't want to work.
I grew up in the Church of God in Christ. People talk about, "One day I'm going home to get my rest." Rest from what? You ain't done no work to get no rest. "Soon I will be done with the troubles of the world." You ain't done nothing about the troubles of the world. I was not born at a time that they walked to the Red Sea. I wasn't born at a time they went to Georgia. I wasn't there when Goliath mocked the Israeli army. But I was there when they shot Trayvon. I was there when they choked Eric Garner. I was around when they put their knee on George Floyd's neck, and I was around when they shot through the door at AJ. And the same God that was at the Red Sea, the same God that was at the Jordan, the same God could come into Ocala, Florida. God ain't stopped hearing us; we stopped hearing God. If we stand up, God will hold us up. If we would have faith, God will give us the power.
I know some of you are afraid of the opposition, but they ain't got more money than God. They ain't got more power than God. They ain't got more strength than God. God will make a way for His children if you got the faith. And faith is not what you could figure out. Faith is not what you could calculate. Faith is not the end of a well-laid plan. Faith, Pastor Bernard, is when it don't make sense, when you can't figure it out, when you don't know what is going to add up to, but you step out anyhow because you don't believe He brought you this far to leave you. Now, we didn't come by calculation; we didn't come by just a strategic plan. We come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord, trusting in His holy word. He never, He never, He never failed me yet. [Applause]
I hope all of you that are here will help this family. I hope that y'all will support these young sisters that started the fund for the family. I hope all the churches will write a check. Don't say, "We're with you." Take out a pen and write a check. [Applause] I've already written mine; we're going to write some more. I want these boys to show what AJ would be proud of. I want these children to be examples, and I want them to know that we're going to stand up all the way through these legal proceedings. They're going to try every maneuver to drop these charges, but when they shot at AJ, they were shooting at all our models, and we can't let this go. We can't hear no rationalization because we shouldn't be here this morning. She can't cry alone. These boys and girls are going to go through some rough days, and we got to be there for them because it could be us. If they allow an unarmed, caring mother to go without being accounted for, it puts all of us at risk.
I don't understand. I searched through all of the TV; I searched through all of the newspapers, and I don't see the outrage. I mean, they get outraged about certain things taught in school. You get outraged about migrants coming to Texas. You get outraged about those that have a different lifestyle. But I've been checking my Google; I can't find out—does DeSantis have laryngitis? [Applause]
I'll tell you this, Pam, in our letter, the program goes on. I told a congregation yesterday in Upstate New York, when I started getting known, Dr. Bishop Richardson, a reporter called me from The New York Times. He said he wanted to do a profile on me, and he had to travel with me. I said, "What does that mean?" He said, "I'm going to run with you for a week or two, see what you do, write it down; we want to understand where you're going and who you are." And we went, and he sat with me at my radio show. He sent me to other interviews, sat in some strategy meetings, sat in some other gatherings. Crump, we went to different events, different affairs, got to Saturday morning action rally. Every Saturday, we do a rally, and then the staff meeting. One of the staff members said to me, "Reverend Al, you know you can't bring him to church with you tomorrow." I said, "Why not?" He can't write my story without going to church. He said, "Well, you know, he may not understand how we have church." I said, "Yeah, but that's part of my story."
And I told them we went on the rest of the day, and I told him when I dropped him off that night, I said, "I'm going to pick you up about eight in the morning; I want to bring you to church with me." And the pastor told me, he says, "All right, I've always been intrigued by the Black church; I'm glad you're doing that." And I looked at him; I said, "I didn't know whether to be insulted or not." I said, "Well, what do you mean?" He said, "Well, you know, my church, we're so quiet and serene, and you all are so passive and expressive. Maybe you can explain it to me." I said, "All right." We got this service the next morning, Pastor Bernard. We stood out in the vestibule, and I was getting ready to come down and sit next to my pastor on the pulpit. And as I got ready to leave him to be seated in the back, he said, "Let me ask you a question." I said, "What?" He says, "Look down on the left side, the left aisle. There's a man that keeps doing his hands like this, up and down. What does that mean?" I said, "Well, you don't know that man's story. That man, five years ago, had been diagnosed with cancer. They told him he had six months to live. He came that Wednesday night to prayer meeting, and he got on his knees. I was sitting on the pulpit, and I heard him saying, 'Lord, you are a doctor that never lost a patient. There's more medicine in the hem of your garment than all the pharmacies in town. If it be your will, I want you to heal my body.' That was four and a half years ago, and every time he comes in the church house and he thinks about what God did for him, all he can do is just clap his hands."
I got ready to go; he said, "Wait a minute, but there's a lady in the choir. She's doing this, keeps waving a hand. Is she waving at somebody? What's she doing?" I said, "Oh no, that lady came home one night; her house had burned to the ground. She didn't have any insurance; she didn't have anything left. But she said, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord.' And somehow, God brought back everything she lost, and when she thinks about how she lost everything and God brought everything back, all she does is just wave her hand." [Applause]
I said, "I got to go to the pulpit now." And he said, "Wait, I gotta ask you one more." I said, "What's that?" He said, "There's a lady in the center about four rows back. She keeps jumping out of her seat, and as she jumps up, she kind of leans to the side, looks like she's going to fall down, but she doesn't fall down, but she can't stand up. Explain to me what that is." I said, "Oh, you don't know that lady's story. That lady came up from the South and built herself up in the North, got married, had a little boy and a little girl. Her and her husband owned a corner store, had a little construction company; they did well, moved out to the Queens section of New York, middle-class folk, used to buy a Cadillac every year. One day when she woke up, her husband had walked out with her daughter from an earlier marriage. He had a child with his stepchild, abandoned her and a little boy and a little girl. She ended up watching them come and take the Cadillac back. She came and tried to keep the bills going, but they turned the lights and gas off. She couldn't pay the utilities. Finally, she couldn't keep the house any longer; she had to move into the heart of the ghetto. She got on welfare, got food stamps, did side jobs as a domestic worker. She used to walk her little boy to the subway to go downtown to scrub floors, and she would tell him, 'Don't worry about nothing; God will make a way. I don't know when; I don't know how, but God will make a way somehow.' And she's lived to see that little girl and that little boy grow up and be somebody. And when she thinks about how she lost everything, but God brought her through anyhow and brought her children through, brought her little girl and little boy through, she jumps up out of her seat, leans to the side, and just jumps up and down." [Applause]
Pastor Bernard, I stepped away from him, but I got three steps away from him, and I turned back around and I told him, "The reason I know her story is I'm her little boy. He walks with me; he talks with me; he tells me that I'm his own. God will, God will, God will, God will make a way. Yes, He will, yes, He will, yes, He will." [Applause]